Unbroken

Chapter 6

It was dark by the time Adrien and Marinette left from her balcony. It all felt so surreal. A little over a week ago Adrien felt like his whole world was imploding around him, now the woman he loves more than anything in the world was wearing his ring. His ring, that he had chosen, not his father. There was hope in his heart, but there was a long way to go yet, and explaining all this to Marinette's parents was the first step.

Marinette carefully concealed her engagement ring for the moment by holding her left hand in Adrien's. Sabine and Tom were still in the kitchen and stopped when the two entered. "I have some soup on the stove." Sabine explained calmly. "It will stay warm if you would like to talk first before dinner."

The group walked into the lounge room all the while Adrien never let go of Marinette's hand as they sat down on the couch. Tom and Sabine sat opposite on the armchairs and waited for Adrien to begin.

The blond took a deep breath and looked at Marinette. "I don't know where to start." He said. She smiled at him reassuringly and brought her other hand over the top of their clasped ones.

"Start with what your father had planned with Mrs Tsurugi." She prompted.

"Right, okay." Adrien nodded before turning back to Marientte's parents. "My father, as you know, is a businessman. I have a contract with him for my employment and, as such, my father feels he can control all aspects of my..."

"Your father made you sign an employee contract?" Sabine questioned shocked. Adrien swallowed his embarrassment.

"Yeah, he did, and he likes to control every facet of my life. As such he decided he wanted me to marry Kagami because it would look good for our Asia Pacific expansion, and in order to broker a merger with Tsurugi Industries. This would also force me to leave Paris and live in Japan."

"That's awful." Sabine frowned. "Did Kagami have any say in this? I always remember her as being a very quiet and obedient girl."

Adrien shook his head. "Kagami can be strong and hold her own, but when it comes to her mother and expectations, it's harder. Kagami doesn't want this anymore than I do, but her hands are tied. It's up to me..." He turned his head and gave Marinette a loving smile. "...us, to put a stop to this because I'm the one in love with someone else." He lifted Marinette's left hand and kissed the back of it, forgetting that there was a little something there catching the light.

"Marinette." It was Tom's voice this time. "What's that on your finger?"

Marinette felt her cheeks pink up. "Well, you see Adrien's father brought the marriage plans up to take place in twelve days time. But Nathalie found a loophole in Adrien's contract. He can have the contract renegotiated upon his marriage."

"And your father wants you to marry Kagami?" Tom questioned.

"He does." Adrien replied, empathising the he part. "But the contract didn't specify that. I have asked Marinette to marry me, and she said yes."

Tom and Sabine stared at each other, a silent conversation passing between them. Adrien started to fidget. He knew that logically they didn't need permission to marry, but he didn't want to cause a rift between Marinette and her parents. He knew it was asking a lot and maybe they didn't think he was good enough for their daughter. Sabine turned back to the couple. "So, you're faking a marriage to change your contract?"

"This isn't fake!" Marinette retorted with an annoyed tone, but Adrien calmly patted her knee.

"It's okay Mari, I can see why it would look that way. Please Mr and Mrs Dupain-Cheng, I promise you there is nothing fake about this. I love Marinette with my whole heart. I don't want to marry anyone else. Even if I refuse to marry Kagami, my father can use my contract with the company to force me to leave and go to Japan. This is the only way we can stay together. I had already bought a ring because I intended to marry Marientte, we're just doing it a bit sooner."