Keeping It Fair (Adrienette AU)

18

MARINETTE

Things haven't been going well for our team the past few days.

"Marinette? We got another cancellation."

"Again?" I sigh in frustration and push myself off my desk.

My colleague nervously follows me as I saunter to the other meeting room where the rest are working on keeping our engagements with the other organizations intact.

Due to the amount of calls and e-mails we've been receiving regarding the status of our future visits, we decided to receive them in one meeting room to stay organized (and a bit level-headed out of the stress).

"Another cancellation?" I utter as I enter the room.

Some of the people in the room look at me when they hear my voice, but immediately go back to their work at hand. They also have their own stressors.

"Yes," Chloé answers from the side and walks closer to hand me a piece of paper.

I take it from her and read through its contents. It's short but heavy. The letter merely says that they wish to cancel Nordic's future endeavors with them.

Chloé keeps her lips pursed as I let my hand fall to the side in frustration.

"What the hell," I mutter under my breath.

"I tried calling them again but they still wouldn't accept it."

"I wouldn't want to force them, as well," I breathe out heavily.

Someone suddenly walks past Chloé and I to leave the room in a jiffy.

Chloé sets her lips in a thin line and decides to gaze at the floor. I know who went out of the room. Honestly, it's another cause of stress of mine.

Nath still refuses to talk to me or even be in the same room with me.

We did talk when I arrived back at the car that day after the earthquake, though I did not tell them about the one-week agreement. Nath has not spoken to me ever since then.

Other than that, the stupid agreement by that pest is still bothering the heck out of me because I am on the verge of breaking it. I've started to give up on my pride when I knew that things were not going well since that moment.

At first I hated the instant he brought up that stupid agreement and how I agreed to it. Now I hate myself for wanting to break it. The mere fact that I have these thoughts running in my mind rent-free is crazy. It's making me delusional and I can't function well.

If I'm suffering like this, then I'll make sure to let him suffer too.

"Continue sending letters of appeal to those who have not received one from us," I instruct Chloé and place the document back on the meeting table where the rest are working. "Show that we're persistent, not desperate. And to those that turned us down after the letter of appeal, don't try to reach out anymore."

Chloé replies, "Got it." Then she hands over a stack of documents to another co-worker who has been staying attentive to whatever I was instructing. "Is there anything else that needs to be done?"

I rub my forehead as I remember something important for tomorrow. "Oh shoot, we're leaving in the morning, right?"

"If you're referring to the candidate visit, then yes. Our flight is in the morning."

"I can't believe I forgot about it for a moment there," I groan and head out.

"Wait, where are you going?" Chloé inquires, following me out of the room.