"Hey, are you okay?" Suddenly Danny appeared and made Mary Jane wake up from her daydream.
"Yeah, what's wrong?" asked her without turning her head away from Cedric Anthony who had started to leave for the luxury car that was waiting for him.
"There's an invitation to a dinner party, would you like to come?" Danny asked, busy following Mary Jane's gaze, curious as to what she was looking at.
"Nope," she answered simply.
"Okay, I'll tell Mr. Anthony's secretary that you're not feeling well," Danny mumbled, looking down as he typed on his cell phone.
Mary Jane immediately objected, "Mr. Anthony, who?" she asked with a furrowed brow.
"Mr. Anthony, the owner of Anthony Hall, um what was his full name? um..." Danny was busy scrolling through his cell phone screen until finally, "Oh, Cedric Anthony!" he shouted after finding the email he was looking for.
"I'm in! I mean I will come to that dinner party!" cried Mary Jane, jumping to her feet.
Danny frowned, "Are you sure? Do you know him? You sound like you know him," he muttered curiously.
Mary Jane just smiled secretly, "I need to buy a dress!" she said as she passed Danny and entered the hotel room. She didn't want to use her powers again, once was enough. She had to act normal like a human and stop impressing Danny with the odd things she used to do, like wearing clothes she never even had.
At 7.30 that night, Mary Jane was ready in a black long-sleeved dress with beautiful ruffle detail on it, she wrapped her legs with ankle boots of the same color. While her long hair was neatly tied up with a small ivory white hat that fits her perfectly.
"Wow! You look so classic and stunning!" Danny said as he had just come out of his room in his black suit.
Mary Jane smiled haughtily, "Of course! I've never failed at fashion, I always look good in every outfit I wear, let's go!" impatiently she walked briskly towards the door making Danny even more curious by her strange attitude.
"I wonder, what made you so excited to come to that boring dinner party? Are you after Cedric Anthony? That young self-made billionaire?" Danny asked, trying to keep up with Mary Jane's very fast pace.
"You know me so well, why do you keep asking such things?" replied Mary Jane nonchalantly.
Danny got ahead of her, pressed the elevator button down, and then turned to face his boss.
"Look, you probably won't get a chance, Cedric Anthony is rumored to have a fiancé," he said triumphantly.
Mary Jane squinted in surprise, a sudden feeling of rage filled her chest. She stomped her foot hard and then she hissed softly, "I won't let him be owned by someone else..." which made Danny gape in disbelief at what he just heard.
"Wow, so you're after him? Whatever it is, I warn you not to do anything silly, Mr. Anthony's fiancé is the vice president's daughter, you don't want to fuss with her," Danny muttered warily, he knew Mary Jane too well, she could be too persistent to get what she wanted.
"The vice president's daughter? You think I care?" said Mary Jane as she continued on her way. "Oh really! MJ, wait!" Danny really didn't know how to tame his wild boss.
Anthony Hall looked so attractive with the curves of a typical Victorian design. After scanning the invitation barcode, Mary Jane and Danny entered the ballroom which had been transformed into a party room with the theme of the great gatsby. "You didn't tell me the party was going to be this busy," grumbled Mary Jane, who didn't really like crowds. Danny didn't answer and just gave a curt shrug.
Mary Jane's eyes scanned the room, looking for Cedric Anthony. There he was, standing in his black suit, looking as stunning as the first time he had seen him. Confidently she walked briskly toward him but as her steps drew near, a woman half running in high heels came up to Cedric Anthony and kissed him on the lips. Mary Jane was so angry, that she almost used her magic power to knock her down, but she was lucky because she was able to control herself, thanks to the emotion management she had learned in the last thirty years.
'Perhaps Danny is right, I better not interfere with their relationship...' Mary Jane muttered quietly. She was just about to turn around to leave the party when a voice stopped her.
"Mary Jane the author, is that you?"
Mary Jane looked up and found Cedric Anthony standing in front of her with a charming smile. "Mr. Anthony, thanks for your invitation, to be honest when you spilled coffee on my vintage dress, it wasn't a dinner party like this that I expected," she said casually but with emphasis, ignoring the woman who had been standing next to Cedric Anthony
"Spilled coffee? What are you guys talking about?" the woman next to Cedric asked. "Ah, please introduce me, this is my fiancé, Grace Matthews," he said introducing Grace to Mary Jane who smiled gracefully and took Grace's outstretched hand. Her eyes were busy sweeping Grace's appearance from head to toe, "Bad fashion sense," she muttered casually almost in a whisper.
"Sorry, what did you just say?" asked Grace who didn't quite catch her muttering.
"I said you look beautiful!" Mary Jane said a lie but managed to make Grace Matthews smile, "Really?! Thanks!"
Suddenly a group of women appeared from another corner and greeted Cedric and Grace, disliking strangers swarming around, Mary Jane walked away. She took her cell phone, called Danny to take her home but Danny didn't answer.
In annoyance, she took a glass of Champagne and stood by the artificial pool with a fountain of naked angels in the center of it.
"I'm guessing you're the kind of person who doesn't like parties," suddenly a voice broke her focus. She turned her head around and found Cedric Anthony standing beside her, just like her, one of his hands holding a glass of Champagne.
Mary Jane shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, since a thousand years ago it's been the same, every party is boring!" she said casually.
Cedric Anthony smirked, "Wow, a thousand years ago? You really live what you wrote, amazing!" he said half-jokingly. Mary Jane swallowed hard, cursing her stupidity, why would she say that? The last thing she wanted was for the person in front of her to know that she was a 999-year-old granny.
Mary Jane laughed, "I got too deep into the characters I wrote, well, that's one of the reasons my stories are good!" she said proudly. Cedric Anthony smiled "You deserve to be arrogant, considering how bestselling books you wrote, would you like a toast to that achievement?" he raised his glass high and almost knocked the ring around her finger against the champagne glass for a clink, but Mary Jane shook her head. "I don't like being the center of attention all of a sudden!" she snapped slightly.
Cedric Anthony relented, "Um, so you really learned about history?" he asked to fill the awkwardness between them. Mary Jane snorted, looking at Cedric with an annoyed look, "Do you think writing a book in such detail as I have done is easy? Of course, I do learn about history! Otherwise, how could I have made such good work!"
"Don't be offended, I just wanted to make sure because I have something to show you," said Cedric Anthony as he placed his empty Champagne glass onto the tray proffered by one of the waiters.
"What do you mean?" asked Mary Jane with a frown.
"Dinner is still fifteen minutes away, come with me, I want to show you something," said Cedric Anthony, moving his head down the hall, gesturing for her to follow him.
Mary Jane grinned widely, dirty thoughts running through her head. Did Cedric take her somewhere to make out with her? With a straight neck she followed him down the empty corridor, there were only one or two waiters frantically trying to refill their food.
Cedric's hand deftly pressed the elevator button and then entered it, he pressed the 100th floor, making Mary Jane even more sure that they were going to Cedric's room to do 'something'.
The elevator clinked open and immediately led them to a Penthouse door which, although it looked so raw, but Mary Jane knew how expensive the stone used for the door material was.
"What are we doing here?" asked her, pretending to be confused.
"I told you I wanted to show you something," Cedric said, his hand raised to place his five fingers on the scanner. A second later there was a click, the door opened with a rather loud thud.
The room was really spacious and hilariously 'empty', "you don't live here?" she asked because she couldn't find any furniture there. "No, but my work lives here, this way!" He took Mary Jane's hand and at that moment she felt like she was transported to a different dimension...
*****