On Saturday morning Marinette jumped out of bed at sunrise. Adrien could have said what he wanted, but she preferred to be prepared in case he came sooner than at ten o'clock. She started with an un-Adrienating her room. She removed all his pictures from the walls, changed the wallpaper on the monitor, hid a crumpled piece of paper with the poem he'd written on Valentine's Day – deep into the drawer, thinking that she would keep this forever.

She gave the room a careful look. Well, now it was possible to invite a colleague, whom she dreamed of since the beginning of the schoolyear to last Wednesday... To Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day had changed everything. She still didn't understand it, but she felt that something had changed. She had felt it evidently during yesterday walk – the walk with Adrien. The walk that three days ago she would kill for. The walk that didn't trigger the expected euphoria. The walk... which turned out to be just a walk. Despite all the romantic surroundings created by Parisian cloudless and warm evening – so unlike February one...

After cleaning her room Marinette went downstairs for breakfast.

"Good morning, darling. Did you sleep well?" mom asked her.

"Sure, mom." Marinette smile in reply.

"How was your date?"

"D-date?" Marinette stuttered, blushing terribly.

"Yesterday, I saw a boy who walked you home. Was it Adrien?" mom smiled meaningfully.

Marinette wanted to turn back time and stop talking about Adrien all the time. Her parents were convinced that she was in love with him. Well, actually they were right. Until three days ago.

"Mom..." she moaned.

"I wasn't watching you!" mom explained with a smile. "But you were out for so long and I looked out of the window from time to time. Do you know that yesterday was the akuma attack? I was worried."

"I should call, I know." Marinette replied.

"Call us next time, OK?" Mom asked.

"Of course, mom. I will." Marinette promised.

"Good. Now, what do you want for breakfast? You must be hungry after cleaning up?"

"How do you know...?" Marinette asked in astonishment.

"That you cleaned up your room?" Sabine smiled. "Moms know everything, honey."

"Oh, right..." Marinette snorted.

"And they are not deaf." Mom finished. "What did inspire you for cleaning up so early in the morning?"

"Oh..." Marinette blushed terribly again. "Because... Uhm... Mom, Adrien will come today..."

"You have a date again?" Sabine asked with a smile.

"We are to prepare a presentation for the next chemistry classes." Marinette explained.

"Ah..." Mom sighed, as if she understood everything.

"Mom, it's really about the presentation." Marinette moaned again.

"Of course, honey." Sabine smiled at her daughter. "So, what about breakfast?"

Marinette glanced quickly at the clock on the kitchen wall. She still had more than an hour to Adrien's visit. Enough time to prepare breakfast with her mom.

"So, I thought that maybe we'd make waffles together?" she offered with a smile.

"Great idea, honey!" Sabine laughed. "Just don't touch flour!" she joked.

Marinette laughed and walked quickly to her mother. She loved cooking with her – although sometimes she was so clumsy. Recently, however, she noticed that such incidents happened to her less and less often. It was as if the agility of Ladybug affected Marinette's clumsiness.

Suddenly, in astonishment, she realised that this agility wasn't a Ladybug's, but her own feature – only deeply hidden somewhere. Especially in situations when she felt insecure. It never happened to puncture her finger with a needle while sewing or to cut herself with paper while designing. She was good in these fields and she felt confident. All she had to do now was to feel confident in the rest of her life. It wouldn't be easy. But after all... She was Ladybug, wasn't she?

***

Adrien glanced nervously at his watch before getting into the car. It was ten to ten. He should be on time. He should be perfectly on time. After that Marinette's joke yesterday, he wanted to ring at the door precisely at ten o'clock.

It wasn't that he treated this joke as a malice. Or that he was very concerned with it. He just thought it would be a joking response to her joke that would help break the ice. Because he didn't know her well, except that they had helped each other a few times. He always had the impression that Marinette wasn't at ease in his presence, although at the same time she showed him sympathy. That was weird. He felt that she rather liked him, but he couldn't get through to her. It was the easiest to talk to her when they were in the group. Actually, yesterday evening had been the first time when they exchanged a few sentences with each other, being just the two of them...

He sighed. That would be tough Saturday.

They reached the bakery in five minutes. Adrien grinned when he left the car. He had enough time to reach the door and ring at ten o'clock. He could even go backwards. He didn't predict one thing. Suddenly a hand touched his arm and it wasn't his driver's hand, but... Marinette's father's?

"Good morning, young man!" Tom Dupain said warmly.

"Good morning, Mr. Dupain." Adrien replied automatically, and the smile on his face slightly dimmed.

"Marinette informed us that you'd come today to prepare a chemistry presentation with her." Tom led Adrien to the stairs to the second floor. The perfect plan to ring at the door exactly at ten o'clock was just ruined. "You won't mind quickly recharging energy before you get to work? My girls have a little bit... well... They have lost control of themselves a bit..."

Adrien looked surprised at Marinette's father. What did he mean, saying "my girls" and "lost control of themselves a bit"? But when Tom opened the door, Adrien didn't have questions anymore.

The kitchen was covered with flour, which laid on all countertops, the floor and even floated in the air. In this mess, Marinette was busy with her mother. Both were giggling like crazy, while cooking and trying to clean the flour. It looked so lovely that Adrien felt a hint of jealousy. And longing for his mother. Although he was so attached to his mom, he couldn't imagine a similar familiarity that connected Marinette and her mother.

And whatever they cooked, it smelled unbelievably. He immediately felt a great urge to eat something sweet.

"Marinette, you have a guest!" Tom announced, then disappeared in the door.

Marinette froze. She stared at Adrien with astonished eyes and then she looked at the clock secretly, but Adrien didn't miss that quick peep. They exchanged knowing glances. Did she wink to him?

Once again, she surprised him with ease and a sense of humour.

"Hungry?" She smiled at him.

"Just a little..." he smiled back.

"Sit down." She pointed to the chair. "We need to recharge the batteries because we have a lot of work to do."

"Including cleaning?" he joked.

"Y-yeah... These waffles got out of control." She smiled apologetically.

"Ah, so that's the waffles..."

"The best in the world." She put a plate of waffles in front of him.

He looked at the plate. Nathalie would have suffered a heart attack if she saw how many calories were there. But he couldn't resist eating everything. Not only it smelled unbelievably. It tasted... divine.

"I see you like it." Marinette's mom smiled at him.

"I must take a recipe from you, Ma'am." he answered politely.

"Oh, that's not my recipe!" Sabine laughed. "You have to negotiate with Marinette. She may share it with you."

"Mom..." Marinette whispered in shock.

"Oh, did Marinette do those waffles?" Adrien was surprised, and he wanted to kick himself for being surprised.

"How could I explain this mess otherwise?" Sabine asked, carefully sweeping the flour. "Well... It is said: a way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

"Mom!" Marinette moaned and rolled her eyes. "Sorry about that." She added soundlessly.

And he... He blushed.