A Miraculous Romance Story by Summer Cheng

Chapter 8 I owe you

          Adrien and Marinette are both silent as he walks her back to her place. Once at the porch, Adrien says,  "Well, we are here."  He is not sure what to say next. He still feels sad because her ex-boyfriend tried to drown her.  He hears her sigh and thinks, is she going to be all right?
 

       "Adrien, I do not how to think you.  I mean you did save my life and all," Marinette says. 

    "Oh, do not mention it.  I  could not let you drown that is all," Adrien says. He blushes and hopes she does not notice. He already knows she is not into him.
  

   "Honestly, you are too modest. If you want you can stay here for the night," Marinette says. 

     Marinette smiles at him and thinks, what do you say, Agreste.

 Adrien replies, "I can not impose on you. Besides, I  am sure it would look bad for me to stay the night and..."

  "I see, your reputation is important to you.  I did not mean for us to sleep together if that is what you worry about anyway.  I meant you could stay in the guest room.  I would stay in my room. So, you see there is no problem.  None that I can see anyway," Marinette tells him.

 Adrien shakes his head. He thinks, any more time with you is bad news.  If I stay here too long I will kiss you.  He sighs, unsure how to tell her the real reason he has to no needs to go home. 

 "Here, at least drink this before you go," Marinette says. She hands him a cup of hot chocolate.

   Adrien stares at her in surprise as he takes a sip of the cocoa. He smiles when he notices she put a few marshmallows inside the cup.  He wonders, why is she so nice to him?  It is not like they are friends are anything.  He is not sure what they are after today.

  Adrien's  POV:
   Should I stay here or go home?  He yawns.  The swim did wear him out and his shoulder does still hurt.  Besides, should he leave her alone after she almost died?  What if the girl wakes up from a nightmare and finds him gone?  He shakes his head at his own indecision.


  Marinette's POV:

 I wonder what he thinks in that head of his?  Well, whatever it is sure has him puzzled. 

 She decides not to trouble him and goes to the kitchen inside. She fixes a small meal.


A  few minutes later, Marinette places the tray of chicken salad sandwiches down in front of him.  "Here, you need to eat!  I mean I can not let you starve now can I?" Marinette says.

 "I am not hungry," Adrien says.

"What?   Why not?" Marinette asks. She feels his forehead and notices he is burning up.  She thinks, oh dear he must have gotten sick when he pulled me from the ravine.

"Marinette, I," Adrien begins to say and suddenly feels weak.
 
"Adrien, oh no!  You are sick, I am so sorry.  I will take care of you.  It will be okay, I owe you." Marinette says.

 
Marinette picks him up, sets him on the sofa, and places a wet cloth over his forehead. Then, she sits beside him to eat a few sandwiches. She puts the rest in the refrigerator, removes the cloth, and gasps when she sees the temperature. She notices it reads at 102.4  F.  She tries hard not to panic.

 She calls Master Fu, and says,  "He is burning up, should I take him to the hospital or just give him pain medicine?"

*on the other phone line... "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, give him the pain medicine, then recheck his temperature if it is worse than before then you can call the hospital." Master Fu answers.

"Okay, thank you and good day, sir," Marinette says. She hangs up.

   Marinette gets the pain medicine and hands it to him.  Adrien, groans, but takes the medicine. 

     Marinette watches him roll over and soon hears him snore as he drifts off to sleep. She checks his temperature thirty minutes later, and it has dropped. She smiles, washes her hands, and goes to her room.  She prepares for bed and soon drifts off to sleep.

   Adrien remains asleep on Marinette's sofa.  The whole time he tosses and turns. It seems he has a bit of a nightmare as he rests.  This is brought on by the horrible day he just had and the fever.