Glad you guys liked the first chapter :) I'm not sure when I'll update again though, but I hope you enjoy this (it includes smitten Adrien ;) )

Chapter 2

This was it, her big break in her life. Today she would prove that she was an able designer, who had sketches and clothing ideas that would prove highly creative and valuable for the Agreste brand. Today was her interview day, and she was determined to not screw it up.

Well, if she could get there on time. She had set an alarm on her phone in order to wake up with the perfect amount of time to get ready. However, it chose to try to screw her over instead and didn't go off at all.

Instead, she was woken up at 12:15 when her father dropped a large tray on the floor of the bakery, the action creating a loud noise that was enough to rouse her.

"Dammit," she cursed, slipping on a black pump while using her other hand to hold onto her vanity for balance. "Technology is supposed to help me, not make my life harder!"

Grumbling another curse, Marinette grabbed the other shoe to slide it on the other foot. Heaving a quick sigh, she walked to her working desk to grab her black purse and sketchbook. She also took her binder that housed the loose leaf designs she drew whenever her sketchbook wasn't nearby. She knew that one key design may be enough to land her a spot in the company.

Essentials in hand, she walked to the full-length body mirror next to her chaise to give her outfit the final once-over. Because it would practically be suicide to show up to a company that specialized in fashion while looking like a mess.

Most of her black hair was piled on top of her head in a loose bun, with two tendrils of hair left to frame her face. As for makeup, she covered her lips with a coat of nude lipstick and used a touch of mascara and eyeliner to make her blue eyes pop.

Finally, for her top she chose a red silk blouse and picked a black pencil skirt to match the boldness in color. Satisfied with her look, she nodded once before dashing off as fast as her heels would allow her to grab her phone and check the time.

12:42 p.m. She could make it, if she rushed.

After making sure she had everything, she raced downstairs and gave her parents a hasty good-bye before dodging several customers to make it out the door. She thought she heard a 'good luck' from the distance, but couldn't be too sure.

She maintained a fast walking pace the whole way through the Parisian streets, her heartrate steadily rising in nervousness combined with the new exercise. Taking out her phone, she noted that it was now 12:46.

Okay, no problem. She still had time. It was only about ten minutes away, she could still make it.

"Excuse me, excuse me!" she called out, trying as politely as possible to move past a number of people that were slowly getting in her way. Some of them were less than appreciative of her rush to get past them, but they weren't on the verge of being late to an interview with Agreste, now were they?

In a few minutes she managed to make it in front of the tall, imposing building of the design label of her dreams. While waiting to cross the street to get to it, another look at her phone revealed to her that it was now 12:53.

Marinette took a deep, calming breath before letting it out. She was going to make it, she still had a few minutes left. She needed to relax and catch her breath before she started to sweat. And the last thing she wanted was to meet her fashion idol while smelling of sweat and disappointment.

At long last, the green light of the crosswalk came on, indicating to the pedestrians that it was safe to cross. She hurried to the front of the gaggle of people, then used her newfound leadership to speed walk to the front doors of the Agreste building.

When she got inside she almost ran to the receptionist's desk (she probably would've run if it wasn't for her heels), slapped her stuff on top of it and asked in heaving pants where Gabriel Agreste's office was.

The woman, a blonde, possibly 30-something, stared at her in bewilderment for a few seconds, most likely in shock about Marinette's borderline crazy arrival. It was probably a stark contrast to the cool, collected people she most likely saw on a regular basis.

But when she saw the urgency in the young woman's eyes, she cleared her throat and shifted back into business-mode.

"Do you have an appointment with Mr. Agreste?"

"I-I think so," Marinette stammered, honestly unsure whether or not this interview was official enough to be put into the system.

The receptionist gave her an unimpressed look.

"Name?"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

…

"You better be right about this woman, Adrien," Gabriel muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger after having taken off his glasses. "You know I hate entertaining less than adequate designers. Have you ever seen her work for yourself?"

Adrien smiled sheepishly and shook his head.

"No, but Nino recommended her to me, and Nino has a good taste in everything, not just music. Besides, there's nothing wrong with giving people a chance!"

Gabriel's glare told him that he completely disagreed with that statement.

"Come on, you owe me for tracking down the traitors before they could let more information slip," Adrien pressed, the corners of his lips tugging down into a frown. "Do you know how long it took to get who the accomplices were out of Jacque? And to only hunt down two more bastards on top of it? This is the least you can do for me."

"Only because you finished the job," his father replied coolly. "If you hadn't then I would've had you out of my office before you could finish saying, 'I was wondering'."

"Good thing I killed them then," Adrien remarked dryly, rolling his emerald eyes to the ceiling above his head.

"Yes, a good thing, indeed. Hopefully they'll serve as an example."

"Hopefully. Because staying up all night torturing and then killing traitors is doing horrors to my beauty sleep regimen," Adrien quipped sarcastically with an amused smirk.

"Mr. Agreste?"

Gabriel paused to press the button on the desktop intercom to answer his assistant, Nathalie.

"Yes?"

"A Miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng is here to see you."

Gabriel was barely able to bite back the agonized groan that threatened to escape his throat. His son had better be right about the talent in this woman.

"Send her in."

Adrien grinned as his father released the button on the intercom.

"I'm sure you won't regret it, Father."

He gave a non-committal hum in response, prompting Adrien to begin taking his leave. He wasn't needed in here anymore, after all. He had nothing to do with the interview process, well, except actually get Marinette the interview.

He stopped in front of the door, hand poised over the knob as he cast one more look to his father.

"And don't be too hard on her just because you didn't approach her for the interview. Treat her the same as any other person trying to get a job here."

Gabriel rolled his dark blue eyes.

"You should know by now that I do not discriminate against anyone, Adrien."

"Just checking," Adrien replied with a mischievous grin as he opened the door-

-and crashed into the hurried female about to go through.

Marinette's sketchbook and binder fell to the floor, loose pages scattering everywhere to her rapidly growing mortification. Without even glancing up to see who the person she accidently bumped into was, she bent down in order to gather the dropped paper.

"I'm so sorry!" she apologized, trying as quickly as she could to grab all the pages. Curse her clumsiness, she knew it would strike at some point on quite possibly the most important day of her life. Along with that, she just ran into some unsuspecting, innocent civilian. Even worse, outside her possibly future boss's office. She hoped he wouldn't consider this enough grounds to reject her.

"I didn't mean to crash into you! I wasn't looking where I was going and…"

As she continued to ramble her apologies, Adrien slowly bent down to the ground in order to assist her, his eyes never straying from her face. In a daze, his hand blindly reached out to take the fallen sketchbook.

She was beautiful, most definitely the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Shiny, raven-colored hair was piled high on her head in a loose bun that he itched to take out and run his fingers through, wondering if he was right in his assumption on how soft her hair was. Her eyes were the warmest blue, they rivalled the heavens with their color. He wished they would look into his own eyes, so he could feel the warmth and fully appreciate their loveliness.

Her lips were full, forming a pout that looked like they was made for kissing. Her makeup was gentle enough to seem natural, and while it did enhance her beauty, he could tell that she was just as gorgeous with it as without it.

Her skin was pale and unblemished, it seemed smooth to the touch and he felt a desire to run his fingertips over her slender arms, up to her shoulders, and ghost over her collarbone. The milky column of her neck practically begged him to leave his mark, and his eyes lingered on the exact spot he longed to kiss.

The blouse and pencil skirt combination did wonders to her figure. Each curve was wonderfully, subtly shown with the outfit, not to mention that her clothing choices proved that she had good fashion sense.

This was Marinette Dupain-Cheng?

Adrien's breath hitched at the same time his mouth dried. His tongue darted out to wet his lips, still unable to take his eyes away from the currently frazzled beauty in front of him. He only blinked when he felt his eyes start to get dry and irritated.

It was only when she calmed down and managed to retrieve her items (including the held-out sketchbook) that she looked up and realized who she just unknowingly captivated.

"O-Oh my God!" she screeched in horror, a new red flush coloring her cheeks.

Adrien snapped out of his hazy thoughts at the sound of her terror, a disillusioned frown beginning to mar his handsome features. Did she already hate him or something? Of all the ways he imagined their first interaction to go, he didn't expect her to scream in fright.

"I-I'm so, so, so sorry! I should've looked where I was going, I should've knocked! I'm so sorry, I swear I didn't mean to run into you, I'm sorry!"

He blinked, confused on why she was suddenly so scared of him. He didn't say anything to trigger that kind of reaction, and he was positive he never met her in his life, so he couldn't have had a previously bad experience with her. So what was wrong?

Meanwhile, Marinette was having a mental breakdown. She just crashed into Adrien Agreste, aka the son of her idol aka the son of her possible future boss. Well, not anymore. She was never going to get hired now.

Say something, you idiot! Adrien mentally chided himself as more stuttered apologies flew out of her mouth.

"It-It's okay, really," he spoke, slowly as he tried to hold her gaze with his own to prove his sincerity. A corner of his mouth quirked up. "It's not a problem, not at all."

Marinette stilled, eyes locked on the hypnotizing green eyes in front of her.

"Really?" she asked unsurely, not wanting to get her hopes up.

"Really," he assured with a soft, lopsided grin.

A throat being cleared successfully distracted them. Marinette and Adrien both turned at the same time to see Gabriel sitting at his desk, an eyebrow raised in the air with the ever-present frown upon his lips.

"If you would like for the interview to start, Miss Dupain-Cheng…" he trailed off, giving her a pointed look.

"Oh! Of course, I'm sorry!" she apologized, starting to stand. "Excuse me, sir," she bid as she politely slipped past Adrien, through the doorway and into the office.

Adrien turned back to look at her, a smile that could only be described as stupid lighting up his face. His eyes practically twinkled as he continued to gaze at her in a trance.

Gabriel raised both eyebrows this time.

"Adrien? Is there something else you require?"

That was enough to snap him out of it.

"Ah-no, Father! I'll just be heading out now. I'll see you later."

He glanced back at the confused girl one last time before turning away with reddened cheeks from embarrassment, and closed the door behind him.

For a minute, Gabriel didn't say a single word, all thoughts of the interview were vanished from his mind.

Because he knew the look that Adrien had. He recognized it as the same one he himself had when he saw his late wife for the first time. And the blush on his son's face proved his theory.

Adrien had fallen in love with this girl sitting in front of him.

His head tilted as he scrutinized her, unintentionally making her squirm nervously in her chair.

She looked nice enough, and seemed to be so, if her quick apologies when she ran into his son were anything to go by. She looked young, probably around Adrien's age. Her outfit was well-put together, the bold red and black colors complementing each other rather nicely. He couldn't detect a hint of cruelty in her features, instead he only saw kindness.

Overall, she seemed like a woman suitable for his son, if his first impression of her was right. However, would she be willing to commit to the dangerous world his family was very much a part of?

Céline had been an angel when Gabriel first met her. He was afraid of tainting her with the mafia world, but by the time he revealed his secret, she told him that she loved him too much to let that bother her. Over time, sometimes she helped him, but never killed anyone in the process.

Perhaps this Marinette Dupain-Cheng would do something similar.

Now, if only she has the creative talent to get hired, it would be like killing two birds with one stone. He would have an up-and-coming designer waiting in the wings while at the same time his son would finally get married and have an heir.

It was a good plan, in his opinion.

"Uh, sir?" A soft voice murmured awkwardly, her blue eyes shifting from the side of the room to his face. "The interview…?"

"Oh, yes, please excuse me," he replied, having been pulled away from his mental musings. He cleared his throat and laced his fingers together on top of the desk.

"Let's begin."