My new Mandarin Teacher

Work, work and more work

Terrified, I peered out the front door window and saw that a supernaturally large robot was ravaging the city. Cars were being thrown around. People were running frantically away from this monster. I briefly checked the situation and stood up. Far and wide, there was not a human being to be seen.

"It's time to save the city. Tikki, spots on!"

Immediately, I swung toward the mischief-maker and met Cat Noir there as well. He was already busy fighting the robot. I positioned myself near him and after a few unspectacular moments the robot was also defeated. We safely brought the child who had been akumatized to this robot to his parents, who were also present at the scene.

Cat Noir and I, as usual, always fist bumped each other after a successful fight and stayed at the scene of the spectacle for a while.

"Long time no see, kitty.", I greeted belatedly. Cat Noir laughed.

"Missed your kitty, I see?", and put his arm around my shoulders. Elegantly, I dodged him and took his arm and spun it around once. Cat Noir, as I know him, I playfully spun with him naturally.

"Don't kid yourself too much. After all, you're not as cat-tastic as you always pretend to be either.", and poked him lightly on the nose. He let out a snort so loud I thought he was about to start crying. To keep up the supposed seriousness, I pressed my lips together and not laugh off with him.

"That's what only you think, but you'll already that my purrfection will still make a pawsitive impression on you.", half-laughing, he started ruffling my hair. I took his hand and waved it off my head slightly annoyed, but then somehow I had to start laughing. I looked up into his face, hoping he didn't notice my laughter. He was already looking at me with love and comfort when I met his gaze. Damn, he must have noticed. I quickly tried to save myself from this embarrassment.

"Were there any problems while I was gone?", I asked him, this time with an officious gesture. He raised his eyebrows and looked somewhere through me at the horizon.

"No, there were no akumatizations, fortunately. Probably Hawk Moth took a week off too." he quipped with a serious undertone. He knew as well as I did that Hawk Moth would never take a week off. Otherwise we wouldn't have seen him in Shanghai. It's been bothering us long enough anyway, who Hawk Moth is and why he needs our Miraculous. If only we knew his motive. I sighed.

"Hawk Moth has caused us enough problems already. Eventually, I'm sure we'll figure out what his behavior is all about." Cat Noir nodded in agreement, crossing his arms.

"I have to go, got some non-superhero chores to do," I said after a short while.

"You go ahead, I'll stay here for a bit.", I stopped for a moment, but Cat Noir seemed far way too interested in the horizon. Without another word, I moved away from the spot and swung away.

~~**~~

Just before I arrived home, I detransformed and entered. My parents were cleaning up the bakery. I greeted my parents and helped put away the last of the leftover pastries. The dishes had already been put away in the dishwasher, so I cleaned the sales counter.

"How was your first Chinese lesson with Adrien today?" mom asked me as she mopped the floor. Dad, who was working in the back, of course, hadn't let that question slip either, and he hooked up.

"Yes, tell us, how was it?", Dad still shouted in huge enthusiasm.

My parents were really curious about Adrien. They are always immediately all ears when his name comes up. And that's only because I like Adrien. Yeah well, maybe I act a little different around him, but you don't have to start a parade right away.

"It was quite nice," I replied briefly, hoping there would be no more questions. But I quickly realized that they weren't going to let me go with that answer. I rolled my eyes.

"Alright... It was very interesting. I learned that Chinese is a tonal language. And there are four tones that change the meaning of words depending on how they are used.", Dad's eyebrows furrowed, but Mom on the other hand was beaming like the sun.

"Not bad. I'm so proud of you for starting to learn Chinese, sweetheart!", Mom came up to me and hugged me tightly. After a short while, she broke away from me, but held me by the arms.

"If only I hadn't been so stubborn and taught you Chinese when you were a child.... It wouldn't have changed your nature," Mom sighed. The sadness on her face was great. My mom told me why she refused to teach me Chinese back in those days. She was afraid that my French would suffer and I wouldn't make friends at school that way. I clasped my hands on my mom and she looked up at me.

"It's never too late to learn something new and widen your horizons. Whether I learn Chinese as a child or as a teenager, it doesn't make any difference. The main thing is that I learn it.", and smiled at my mom. Mom's look soothed and we hugged. Dad came up behind us and gave us both another pretty big hug.

"Marinette is right. It's never too late to acquire new knowledge. Besides, now she has a wonderful opportunity to spend time with Adrien." I guess I hadn't heard right. Dad can really never let go of this Adrien topic either.

"Dad!", and looked at him grimly. However, I couldn't hold that look for long and started laughing. Dad and Mom laughed heartily and together we remained for a moment in this warmth.

~~**~~

I entered my room and sat down at the desk. Reluctantly, I rummaged out my school things. Those stupid homework assignments were also always to be done at such inappropriate times. But unfortunately, I couldn't leave it unfinished either, since it was Ms. Mendeleiev's homework that was supposed to be turned in by tomorrow. And since I was already late for class today, I have to compensate with my work.

I opened my chemistry book and read the chapter on acids and bases. This topic was really not my thing, yet I summarized how a chemical reaction occurred between an acid and a base. The acid gave its protons, the positively charged part of an atom to the base, which took it up. Also, acid-base reactions are what are called equilibrium reactions, which means that the reaction can go both ways.

I carefully placed a page of written text in my binder and cleaned up my desk. I wiped away the crumbs from the croissant that were scattered on the floor and put on my sleeping clothes. Adrien seemed to have enjoyed the croissant. Tired, I lay down in bed and closed my aching eyes. Today was a really exhausting day and the repetition for Chinese can wait until tomorrow.