Chapter 3: Family

                                    

                                          
"Marinette? Who are they?" Marinette sighed, she almost forgot about them.
                          
"Marinette? Are you okay?" Liela said in fake sweetness, acknowledging the 2 very handsome boys behind her. Kai squinted slightly, he could tell she was a fake from a mile away. He felt Marinette's hand freeze slightly. She took a breath and said,
                          
"Lila these are my friends from China, from when I lived here." keeping her voice steady. She didn't deserve to know, she could find out the hard way. 
                          
"Oh, well it's wonderful to meet you!" she said slowly and clearly, as she were talking to a 3 year old.
                          
"A pleasure to meets friends of Marinette" Marin replied in perfect French. Liela blushed slightly in embarrassment.
                          
"Right, your class will be driven to the hotel by the bus," he said motioning to the sleek white bus parked behind them.
                          
"All right class, form a straight line, I'll take the register then quietly get on the coach." Mme Bustier called. The student grumbled a bit and formed a makeshift line along the side of the bus.
                          
She turned a smiled to Marinette, "I suppose you will be going with your friends?"
                          
"Yes Miss." she replied.
                          
"And also, just between the two of us, you always were my favourite. I could tell you are more than you're willing to let on, so I pardoned you for being late all the time." she said with sincerity. She nodded and walked away towards the class. 
                          
"Ready to go home?" Marin asked.
                          
"I've been ready the moment I left it" she replied. They all packed into the limo with Ai Zien carrying Marinette's bags, and sped of towards the home. Marinette soaked in her surroundings, relishing the fact that she was home. Just as she had along the years, her country had as well, new buildings and stores had cropped up and busied the bustling streets. The smells of spices and traditional herbal medicines were filling in the air and the noise of the traffic and the people yelling brought a smile to her face. Paris was great most of the time, but sometimes it could get a bit dull, she thought as the car took a sharp swerve around a truck carrying wooden logs. They soon drove away from all that, through a heavily guarded gate and entered a tunnel of trees, decorated with wildflowers of every colour. This was the entrance to the estate, the very beginning of the royal gardens.
                          
She remembered when she and her mother planted some of the wildflowers growing here with their own two hands. She remembered on how she insisted the royal gardeners to let them help, and all the fun they had with them all. She remembered how dirty they had gotten afterwards, and both of them had gotten scolded by the royal advisor like little school girls, but something about her face told her that he didn't really mind. The memories flashed before her eyes, their laughs and squeals echoing in her ears. Those days were the best of her life, like something out of a fairy tale. She thought those days would last forever, she thought her parents would never leave her, and that she would always be here, where she was happiest. How innocent and naïve those thoughts seemed now...
                          
They were now driving up to the front doors of the castle, imposing and majestically towering above them. Ai Zien opened the limo doors and they all climbed out, a wave of nostalgia hitting Marinette. The doors opened and almost immediately a blur of blue came rushing out and threw itself on Marinette. Marientte for the first time in a while didn't flinch at the sudden physical touch, but embraced it .She didn't need to look to know who this was. Her motherly touch was something she had craved for since she was young, and even though Sabine was there for her, it just wasn't the same. 
                          
"I missed you my little Mei" she whispered softly.
                          
"Missed you too Mama" she whispered back wholeheartedly.
                          
A part of her wanted to stay in her embrace forever, but she knew that wasn't possible. Slowly she pulled herself away and looked at her, and what she say was emotionally killing her. Since... the incident happened she had taken up all responsibility for the country, sinxe her father... wasn't in their world anymore. Marinette always believed he would never be truly gone, and he would watch over them from above, like their own guardian angel. Ruling alone wasn't easy. Bridgette's  face that used to always look like it was smiling was now slightly sunken, that sparkle in her eyes was dimmed, her posture almost drooping.
And her mother looked tired. So unbelievably tired. Her mother almost looked like... her. The past few years had taken their toll, just like they had on her mother, both of them crumbling under responsibility, and personal problems on top of that, all on their own little dainty shoulders. Like mother like daughter I suppose.
                          
"Come in, come in dear!" She finally said, after regaining her senses, a newfound happiness in her face. 
                          
"Are you hungry? Tired? It was a long flight here, did everything go OK? " she bombarded, and Marinette almost felt like she was 4 again, before reality crashed down on her again like a wave of cold water. She smiled,
                          
" I'm fine Mama, everything went fine, now you tell me are you OK? How have you been? "
                          
" I'm fine, thought that should be my question I'm the mother here, it's my job to look after you, not the other way round." 
I haven't been able to look after you since, I wasn't there. I.. might as well do it now, right? She thought almost guiltily. She knew it wasn't her fault, but somewhere in the back of her mind she still blamed herself. She missed so much of her only daughter's childhood, hadn't been there for key parts of her life. Birthdays, school events, first project, and wasn't there to help her when she needed it. Tom and Sabine did it, not her. It was then who taught her how to bake, taught her some martial arts, helped with her school projects, organised her birthday parties, cheered for her when she won awards, not her. She had grown so much, changed so much, in reality, did she even know her very well at all anymore? She shook herself out of these thoughts to take Marinette to her room. It was a large circular room and  had navy blue walls, with a pale pastel pink circular bed and white sheets, with a beige carpet. There was a walk in closet, a table at the side and a cupboard with fabrics and threads od every colour and mannequins at the side. Marinette smiled at the sight of her old room, seemed just like yesterday...
                          
"I'll let you rest then, I'll see you later my little flower." She kissed her forehead and walked of towards the royal advisor, who had a book and brush in his hand, being the traditional man he was. He nodded with a small smile at Marinette, and walked off. Marin also left because either royal business for the coronation, and also to take some weight of his mother. She turned towards Kai, standing silently, looking like he was contemplating about something. 
                          
" Kai, you ok?" She asked. He looked up, smiled and replied,
                          
" course I am" she knew something was up, but she didn't pry.
                          
"Mei," he said suddenly, 
                          
"Mei, if something were bothering you, you would tell me wouldn't you?" 
                          
Marinette tensed a little, just a little, and said, 
                          
"Of course I would." At this he smiled a bit, that beautiful smile which are her wish she could push him against a wall and kiss the living daylights out of him. He took her hands in his,
                          
"Look, I know you  almost better than anyone Mei, I can tell when somethings wrong, I just want to know you trust me enough to tell me." Marinette relaxed, and smiled. Not the one she had practised to make her seem OK, a genuine, happy smile.
                          
"I trust you, Kai, I really do." She said softly. She really did, but she couldn't tell him for his own safety, if the circumstances were different, maybe this would be too.
                          
His lips softly touched hers, as light as a feather, and then Kai left as well. All that was left was to move into the room.
                          
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1418 words
                          
And one more update complete! Hope you all liked it! I wanted to also thank you for the hugeee amount of reads and votes my other book has gotten (if you haven't read it pls do check it out, its a daminette fanfic!) I also know that ppl from all over read wattpad books, so pls do put in the comments where you're reading from! I love to read your  comments. So pls vote, comment and share.
                          
Stay safe!
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