Seven Seconds

Pointing Fingers

Moving through the city, they finally stopped on a rooftop a few minutes away from Marinette's.

And once again, Rena Furtive crossed her arms and glared at Chat Noir.

"Hi Rena," he said awkwardly.

"We need to talk," she replied, not mincing words.

"Yeah, I kind of assumed that."

She was not amused. "Tell me what happened the night Marinette almost got akumatized."

Okay, that was unexpected. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Tell me how you got involved. Like, were you on patrol and saw an akuma flying by? Then you followed it and stopped it from landing on Marinette? Is that what happened?"

Why was she asking? This was super strange. "Uh no, it's not," he admitted.

"Then what happened?" she demanded.

He shrugged. "I just saw the news report and figured that Marinette would be upset. So I went to check on her."

And for a moment there was nothing. Then Rena stormed forward and pressed her finger into his chest. "I knew it!" she screamed. "You liar!"

"I... I'm not lying," he sputtered, backing away.

She moved forward. "You've been lying to my best friend. You knew that she was Ladybug the whole time. And you've been lying about it!"

"No," he insisted. "I didn't know. Not until she told me the other day."

"You liar!" she repeated, pressing her finger harder. "I knew you weren't good enough for her. And when I tell her that you've been lying, this relationship will be over."

No no no. This couldn't be happening. "Rena, I'm not lying. I didn't know!"

"Yes, you did! You just proved it!"

"What are you talking about?" Chat Noir asked, completely confused.

Rena Furtive finally retracted her finger and turned away in a huff. Then after a second she faced him again. "You couldn't have known that Marinette would be upset. And do you know why? Because no one knew that she was dating Adrien."

And Chat Noir's stomach twisted up, realizing that she was right.

"Adrien's father made them keep it a secret," Rena continued. "The only people that knew about it were their families and the kids in our class. So there's no way you could have known to check on her." She stepped up to him again. "I'll tell you what really happened. You saw the news report, and went to check on Marinette because you knew that she was Ladybug. And you wanted to know why she kissed another guy. Am I right, or am I right?" she finished with disgust.

Chat Noir didn't know how to respond. Even though Rena was only half right, this was still really bad.

"Now you have two options," she kept going. "You can either admit it to her yourself, or you can let me tell her. But either way, she's going to find out, and this relationship is going to be over."

"No," he finally had to argue. "I love Marinette, and I can't lose her."

"She doesn't love you back! She's in love with Adrien! This whole relationship is just a rebound. And if you really loved her then you'd want her to be happy. You're just being selfish!"

"Marinette won't date Adrien again. She told me several times that she's not going to give him another chance."

"She just needs more time!" Rena argued. "Adrien is the love of her life, and I know that she'll give him another chance eventually. But that won't happen if you're around distracting her."