Terrible idea

"Hi there! It makes us very satisfied that you have been enjoying our establishment," Zhi's thoughts were interrupted by the waitress that had cleaned up for her water-mess earlier that afternoon, "but we are closed now." The girl giggled sheepishly, but clearly bothered by Zhi's lack of consideration. The lights of the establishment were out already! How many hints did this woman need?

Zhi, who had been holding back tears through the afternoon, looked at her waitress, finally facing the dark reality. The sun was already down, "Already?"

The girl wasn't ready to hear Zhi's voice so weak, or maybe it was the realisation that her customer was clearly going through some issues, so she did something she had never done: she sat right across Zhi and asked, "Do you need anything?"

Finally, a traitor tear rolled down Zhi's cheek, but she was quick to wipe it and vehemently shook her head, knowing she couldn't trust her voice.

"Did that guy that stopped by do anything to you?" the girl tried again, she clearly was not the type of person that was used to talk with other people out of shyness, but she really wanted to go home not feeling like a jerk.

"No. He is my friend and I kicked him out." Zhi knew she shouldn't have started talking. The minute she did, she started a flood. The waitress waited patiently for her to get hold of her tears, "I-I was waiting and he– He– wasn't–supposed–to–be–here and, and– the gu-guy–I–was–waiting–for– He, He–He never–"

"Your date stood you up!?" The waitress asked shocked.

Zhi grabbed more napkins to contain her tears and nodded, feeling madder than ever at herself. Unable to speak because she was crying over a man. AGAIN. How could she have been so blind? So stupid!? She KNEW in her gut this would happen!

"But… But you're… you're Zhi Ruo Léi!" The waitress said as if the thought of a girl like her being stood up was an absurd notion.

Zhi was caught by surprise with this. She thought that no one had recognised her, because no one had bothered her with autographs and such, but she had been wrong. Clearly.

"Yeah. Well, I guess no one is stood-up-proof" Zhi said frustrated, drinking the rest of her fifth, or maybe seventh? glass of wine. This was not good. Zhi Ruo Léi, crying over a date in the mid of Paris? Charlotte was gonna kill her.

"Hey, you're safe. I couldn't care less about gossip." Said the waitress, interpreting Zhi's exasperation correctly, "I literally just want to live my life away from the spotlight, I'm way too scared of the public. I admire your work, but I wouldn't want to bother you."

Zhi nodded again, suddenly feeling exhausted, "I better go."

"You need me to call a cab or something? You have had a lot of wine and not eaten." The girl asked as politely as possible.

"No, I live just around the corner." Zhi answered, feeling slightly dizzy getting up, "I'll be just fine."

"Miss Léi?" The waitress called when Zhi was reaching the door, "You don't need him. You are the face of bravery! Mulan! Freaking Ladybug! You are amazing, Miss Léi."

"Call me Zhi." She smiled weakly, the tears running freely down her face, "Thank you,...?"

"Meline", Meline introduced herself with a self-conscious smile.

"Thank you, Meline."

"You're welcome, Zhi."

The walk home took longer than it should have. Zhi was tipsy and didn't really go back home because she knew she wouldn't be able to hold herself together the moment she steped inside. When she did arrive, Alice was already there, cooking dinner in the kitchen, Zhi said her best okay "Hi" and walked straight to her room. She just wanted to be alone and cry herself to sleep.

Alice noticed that something wasn't right, so she turned off the stove and followed her best friend upstairs.

"Zhi, did the shooting go bad today?" Alice asked, turning the corner of Zhi's bedroom and freezing where she stood when she found Zhi lying on the bed, holding on to her pillow and sobbing her heart out, "Hey, sweetie, what happened?" She said with a soft voice, laying with Zhi to hold her. The crying worsened with this, so Alice simply whispered soft comforting words, "Shhh, It's alright…" "You are safe" "Let it all out..." And that's how Zhi fell asleep after some long hours.

Alice got up carefully not to wake her up. She had no idea what had happened, and that was the most worrying of it all. There was never a time when Zhi got so heartbroken she couldn't speak to her.

Alice did then what she thought was best and called Charlotte, Zhi's manager, telling her that Zhi was ill and shouldn't leave the house tomorrow. Charlotte showed the concern a friend would and agreed with Alice on the matter. She was going to arrange everything and she didn't need to worry about Zhi.

Alice also wondered if she should call her own agent, asking to stay home too, for the afternoon, she didn't have anything scheduled in the morning. But decided to do so tomorrow if Zhi was still in the same state.

That night, Alice slept in Zhi's bed.

Adrien didn't go back to his hotel room right away. He had to put his thoughts together. He knew that Lucie and Simon – especially Lucie – would see something wasn't right with him, and he did not want to have to explain to them that 'His Lady' was actually Zhi, because if he did he was going to get mocked hard and then they'd start giving advice. He liked their advice, obviously, and took them really seriously, but this? This was something that he needed to do alone. To decide for himself. So he sent both his friends a text telling them he needed to be alone, and for them not to worry about him, then he turned off his phone.

He walked throughout Paris, near the Seine mostly, trying to clear his mind. The sound of the water had always helped him focus.

When it was late enough for him to know that Lucie and Simon would be asleep, he returned to the hotel. Even then, he didn't feel like going to his room, but the bar was closed and he shouldn't wander around the corridors, so he climbed up to the rooftop, mimicking his and Zhi's steps the week before.

Adrien knew he had to get his act together. He also felt incredibly guilty for leaving Zhi hanging at the Café… Was she heartbroken like he was? The thought of Zhi heartbroken because of him made his chest ache a little tighter, but he ignored it. He was already suffering because of her, again. He was not going to feel bad for her too.

On top of everything, tomorrow would be Zhi's first day at the studio… How was he going to do? How to act around her, now that he knew? His love-struck side just wanted to make it all alright, forget everything… Go to her, kiss her senseless and declare his undying love… I mean, she did kinda apologise on the rooftop… But his rational part was simply not okay with that. Zhi Ruo Léi had made a mess out of him once, and did not apologise properly. She was doing it again, even if she wasn't aware of it! Plus, he didn't know enough about her right now for her to look trustworthy in his eyes.

What was he going to do?

What should he do?–

No.

The question was: What did he want to do?

Because this time he was mature enough to know that if you are doing something that doesn't feel right for yourself, you're walking halfway into a tragedy.

What did he want to do?

How was it so hard to decide?

I'm in love with my Ex. He tried to rationalise. The reason it didn't work out was because she wasn't in love with me… He couldn't have done anything about it, even if he'd tried… But now it appeared like she was in love with him too…

It is also possible that there was a huge lack of communication between both of you, no? Whispered a little voice in his head. Of course, that was true… They hadn't resolve things properly, everything had been very confusing at the time and the truth was he hadn't let her speak when she'd come to him…

Okay, he said to himself, let's give her the benefit of the doubt. Check how she's doing tomorrow –today–, corrected his brain (it was almost dawn), and then see what I want to do with this. He then traded the rooftop for his hotel room to try to sleep restlessly for a few hours before work.

When Adrien got on set the next morning, Astruc's assistant, Paul, came right up to him with an urgent pace, "Mr Devereaux, I can't believe I forgot to call you cancelling today's shooting! Everything has been so crazy today with the shooting reschedules!"

Adrien found it a bit troubling to breathe, "No shooting today? What happened?", did that mean he wasn't going to see Zhi?

"Yes, sir, well at least not for you. I'm so sorry!" Paul was clearly begging for the sake of his job.

Adrien waved his hand in a calming way, "No harm done here."

"Thank you, sir!" the man said, almost bowing, before walking away. It could have been amusing if Adrien wasn't so confused and wanted an explanation as to why was the shooting cancelled.

He entered the set, and saw Lucie, Simon and Alice together there, so he joined them, "Good morning, guys…" he said, receiving back a bunch of worried 'good mornings', "What are you doing here?" He asked Simon and Lucie, "I thought you didn't work today."

"We didn't," said Simon, "but Zhi called in sick, so they had to reschedule everything for today."

"Zhi is sick?" Adrien asked, suddenly not caring so much about how worried that made him.

His friends gave him an odd look, "Yes, she wasn't feeling well." Alice answered back, "We were actually just talking about it…"

"I can't help but worry." said Lucie, frowning, "Zhi is not the type of person that stays home when she isn't feeling well. Not the Zhi that I remember at least." Simon and Adrien nodded agreeing.

"I was the one that told her to stay home," Alice said, glancing at Adrien. It looked like she was about to say something else but refrained herself from it, "I wanted to stay home with her, but then got the call saying that they needed me. It was me or her, and she promised me she'd be fine... You know, Netflix and chill." She said, clearly unconvinced.

"I don't have anything to shoot now that she isn't here." Adrien said, "I'll check in on her."

His friends looked surprised by the offer and somehow not pleased, but he was rethinking everything in his head, so he didn't notice. Being with Zhi on set was one thing… Alone with her at her house… Could he do it? Should he?

"That honestly sounds like a terrible idea, Adrien," Alice said, with a cold voice, that made him snap out of his thoughts.

"Why's that?"

Alice frowned disapprovingly as if she thought he had something to do with Zhi's illness. He probably did, but that wasn't the point. The point was, how did she know about it? "Because Zhi asked to be alone." She replied vaguely and defensive.

Adrien nodded innocently, "Okay…" he sighed, "Then I'm going back to my room. Tonight was hard. Didn't sleep much."

Alice's face softened, "Sound like a good plan."

He said his goodbyes and walked away. But not to his room. AH! Like he could sleep right now!

Good, or bad idea, Chat_Noir999 was going to check up on his Lady.

Hi there! I'm back and I've decided to start posting smaller chapters. I know it sucks because you have very little to read, but Hey! at least you have something to read, right? xD Just the thought of writing 7k words is a total buzzkill for me right now, having smaller goals is making me more willing to write, so let's see how it goes and if you don't have to wait too long for the next one.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Thank you for reading* Stay safe!