Chapter 9: Gala 2

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING, other than my created character, DC belongs to Warner Bros, and Marvel belongs to Disney, which almost owns the world.

"talking"

'thoughts'

...

Paris, France, Louvre Museum, December 22, 18:00 UTC, 2014

The Louvre Museum, one of the largest and most important museums in the world, filled with works of art that, not only are a visual delight for the viewer, but, are reminders of the great history our world has had.

However, today, the museum was closed to the general public, and, although it always looks majestic, worthy of one of the greatest architectural works in the world, this day, it had been specially prepared to host hundreds of very important and diverse guests ranging from famous celebrities, businessmen and even royalty.

There were many beautiful decorations specially designed to highlight the beauty of the museum, as well as a large carpet at the door, through which the guests would pass and where members of the press would be there to take pictures and hopefully some exclusive interviews of these important people.

As every year, there would be a banquet where the most delicious dishes made by the best chefs in the country would be prepared, and for the famous Christmas ball, the French philharmonic orchestra would liven up the atmosphere with its musical excellence. Undoubtedly, this would be one of the most important events of the year, and the press was already ready to portray even the smallest details.

The event was scheduled to start at 19:00, but guests were already starting to arrive as early as 18:00. Many luxurious cars could already be seen arriving, ranging from large limousines to the latest model cars of the most famous and expensive brands in the world.

Some guests took the opportunity to arrive early in order to have more time to appreciate the different works of the museum, others just to create connections with the different guests, either to do business together in the future or simply to increase the already considerable influence they had. Gradually more and more guests were arriving, from big celebrities to quite successful businessmen, and the journalists were getting more and more excited with each guest arriving.

"An interview Madame Governor, please."

"Look it's Mia Bolucci, the famous Italian model, Mia Mia an interview please."

"Duke Reinback, any opinion on the drop to oil demand?"

Many questions were thrown into the air as the attendees passed through the carpet, some even asked in the native languages of the people attending to make them react more easily, however, many already accustomed to the harassment of journalists, did not even flinch at the questions, stopping only a short time to get them to take some good pictures and enter the museum.

"Look over there, it's Bruce Wayne", when one of the reporters said that sentence, most of them turned towards the late model black Lamborghini that had arrived, where a young, rather attractive, sharp-featured, thin eyebrows, sky blue eyes and a rather prominent height of 6'2 came out dressed in a custom-made black Armani suit that only accentuated his worked and muscular body. This was businessman Bruce Wayne, heir to Wayne Enterprises, and one of the world's most eligible bachelors. His playboy attitude was well known, but, even so, no one could deny his great genius in leading his company to be one of the most successful, not only in his country, but in the world.

Opening the passenger door, a stunning woman slowly stepped out, wearing a white satin dress with a leg slit that clung to her body and showed off her prominent curves and beautiful legs. This woman had straight golden hair that was loose and reached past her shoulders, her eyes were hazel and she had full lips with a touch of red lipstick on them, which made her look quite beautiful. She was Bruce Wayne's companion for the evening, the famous Russian ballerina, Natasha Ivanova, and one of the most beautiful women in the world according to many famous magazines.

"Bruce Wayne, an interview please."

"Sure guys, ask away", even though many guests ignored the press there were several who took advantage of this moment to promote some product or talk about their achievements and thus highlight their image, and Bruce Wayne, who was quite smart knew how to take advantage of these moments quite well.

"Mr. Wayne, are you a couple?" asked a journalist from a gossip magazine, no doubt, most wanted to ask that, hoping that, maybe with luck one of the most sought after bachelors would get a partner, this being considered as a news that would attract a lot of controversy in the show business area, which, in such magazines, was very flattering.

"No, Miss Ivanova was kind enough to allow me to take her to this great event, we are friends, and like many, I was quite fascinated by the beauty of her movements in her ballet show." Bruce took the opportunity to give a compliment to his companion, which she thanked with a big smile on her face.

"But let's stop talking about my life guys, today we are at this great event to appreciate this great museum and all the history it houses, and thanks to Wayne Enterprise had a high growth this year, with our growing market of electronics production, no doubt, I will be happy to announce that today I will be giving a substantial donation to this beautiful museum."  Cleverly Bruce not only praised the museum, but took the opportunity to promote his company and make himself look good to the public by announcing his anticipated large donation. Saying this, he put on a smile that would make 9 out of 10 women blush and waving goodbye to the reporters he headed inside the museum with his companion on his left arm.

More and more guests arrived over the course of the hour. Even as the time for the event was approaching, endless lines of luxury cars could still be seen waiting for their turn to enter the venue.

Outside the museum, right at the entrance stood a beautiful woman, wearing a wine-colored dress with bare shoulders that accentuated her perfect figure, her long jet black hair was loose on her back and her electric blue eyes were covered by her circular-rimmed glasses that, for many who saw her, only made her beauty stand out, giving a touch of intelligence and a bit of wisdom. She wore a light touch of makeup which she didn't need as she was a natural beauty and her slightly full lips were highlighted by a dark red lipstick giving a seductive but elegant touch.

When the woman arrived, almost all the journalists were dumbfounded, and after coming out of their stupor, they began to ask her many questions thinking perhaps that she was a model or some famous actress, without a doubt, she had the physical characteristics to be one, they could even say that she looked better than many supermodels. However, their disappointment was great when she kindly answered that she only worked at the museum, which gave way to them not bothering her anymore, although many continued to throw indiscreet glances at her great appearance.

This woman was Diana Prince, or better known as the superheroine Wonder Woman, although at this moment she came as a civilian and as a worker and assistant of the museum in this event. However, at the request of her boss Patricia Dubois, tonight she had an important job, and so she was waiting patiently at the entrance of the museum. Although little by little as the minutes passed her patience was wearing thin.

Diana Prince POV

'Where is he' my mind wondered for the tenth time, ever since I was a child my mother always told me that one of my worst faults was patience, and although I never admitted it to her, I must accept that waiting is certainly bad for me.

The problem is not waiting, since, there are still a few minutes to go before the event starts, and the banquet would not be served until an hour later, with the dancing being the last thing to be enjoyed in the evening. My problem is that Patricia didn't tell me anything about the guest I was waiting for, NOTHING, no physical characteristics, she only told me his name, which was Edgar, with this I simply can't guess much. She didn't tell me anything and only told me it was a surprise, however, I began to see the importance of this guest when Patricia herself stayed with me to wait for him.

I was fine with Patricia's company, but, as time went by and with the arrival of several important figures, she had to accompany them for the evening and attend to the other guests leaving me alone here, and now I can only play guess who this person is.

My guess, is that this special guest is an older person, perhaps Patricia's age, and, now I am waiting for such a person from the many guests arriving. However, no person by the name of Edgar has checked in, and that only brings me to my dilemma of now and as the minutes pass, that my patience is wearing thinner and thinner.

I wasn't honestly expecting much tonight. Yes, I did get dressed up and put on one of the nicest dresses I've ever worn, but that was only done for me, because I wanted to enjoy a bit of a good time, and maybe hopefully meet some interesting people. Bruce even mentioned to me that he was coming, he even told me that, if I wanted to come with him, but, although I didn't think the idea was bad, I had already accepted Patricia's job of being the guide for her special guest, besides Bruce attracted a lot of attention and, honestly, I don't like that myself.

'How odd', off in the distance from the almost endless line of luxury cars, I caught a glimpse of an unusual sight, a cab. Honestly this should not be of any significant importance, since, this museum receives many tourists throughout the year who, not knowing how to get there, take cabs. However, this sight is unusual because of tonight's event, more so when each guest has arrived in a luxury car or huge limousines, as if they are strutting about who has the fanciest car or the most money. Undoubtedly, arriving in a cab just brings a rare and unusual sight to such an event.

When I thought this was unusual, what followed next left me with my mind almost in shock, since, from quite far away, the cab stopped, not wanting to enter the parking line and a young man with black hair a little curly and combed, with dark glasses got out. It was already late at night, if it was a midday event maybe dark glasses would be common, but not when the sky was already dark, although Diana later saw why the need for the glasses when, the boy pulled out a white cane, denoting that he is a visually impaired person. This brought some answers to Diana's doubts, but it was still quite unusual.

His attire was not designer, when you live in the city of fashion, you quickly learn a bit about the different luxurious brands of clothing and I could easily see that his outfit, was a simple gray suit, which did not look expensive like the other outfits seen on the other guests. However, I have to say that in it, he looked quite good, as, it slightly highlighted a broad-shouldered, athletic figure. He was also handsome, not on a level like Bruce or Clark, but he was quite pleasing to the eye.

He paid for the cab, and although he still had a long distance to go to get to the museum, his rhythmic walk that was routed of light rhythmic tapping of his cane on the ground, had him approaching at a fairly brisk pace despite his disability. Maybe I should help him, but, if I leave, and the guest arrives?

'Screw it' I thought, he already made me wait for him for a while, me waiting a few minutes won't hurt him.

I approached quickly towards this guy, who was maybe a little under 30 years old, and as I got closer I saw how he slowed down, as if waiting for my arrival. Honestly I was wearing heels, and although they are noisy, even so, I tried to walk, as light as possible derived from my horsewoman training, that someone has heard this, denotes that he has very good senses. I had heard that when you lost your sight, your other senses tended to sharpen and perhaps this confirms it.

"Hi, do you need any help?", I asked as politely as possible, I was a stranger, but maybe this way he would open up a little.

"That would be appreciated, thank you," he commented in a rather clear baritone tone of voice, honestly if you told me he was a singer I would believe it as his tone of voice was very clear and crisp.

He offered me his arm, and I took it, we headed towards the museum, even though we did not know each other, the silence as we walked was not an uncomfortable silence, rather an appreciative one.

We arrived at the entrance and we both stopped there, I quickly looked to see if there was an older person waiting, but there was no one, even the line of cars began to diminish, denoting that little by little the event was about to begin and that most of the guests had already arrived. 'What if he doesn't come' my mind started to wander into various thoughts and how I should take on this situation.

"Are you waiting for someone?" I snapped out of my thoughts when the voice of the person next to me asked me, I didn't know why, but something in his tone made me want to vent a little about everything I had to go through with waiting for this person, so... I just went with it.

"Honestly, yes, my boss asked me to wait for a friend of hers, but he hasn't arrived. The truth is that I'm walking around tired, I managed to enjoy tonight, eat a good meal and dance a little, but since I accepted my boss's job now I have to spend my time with, most likely an older man, who, at best, will treat me like a granddaughter of his or at worst, will be an old pervert who will make me feel uncomfortable all night and I won't be able to do anything to avoid it or maybe I'll get fired". The last was said in a slightly high pitched tone, no doubt, I had a lot of resentment in me.

After my outburst, I felt embarrassed, honestly I just threw a tantrum at a young stranger, like a childish child. As I was about to apologize for my inappropriate behavior something happened that left me with another numbness. The young man burst out laughing, yes, he laughed at me.

'The audacity' (yes, right out of a Chinese novel), this just made me angry, I came clean with him, and he laughed at me. So I did the only thing that, someone like me, a princess and experienced warrior could have done in this situation. I slapped him hard on the arm.

"Ouch, what was that for?" he asked, rubbing his left arm.

"For laughing at me misfortune," I said with a falsely offended tone, honestly I wasn't angry, I just thought it was funny to throw a fake tantrum, I don't know, for the first time, I felt like I didn't need to be on my best behavior or always be the right person that was instilled in me since I was young. In this moment, I felt like I wasn't an Amazon princess, or Wonder Woman, just... Diana.

"Haha sorry about that, it was just a bit funny, now my curiosity is piqued, would you allow me oh fair lady to ask something?" she asked with a slight bow at the end, which made Diana chuckle at this person's behavior, no doubt her mood was starting to lighten.

"Ask gentleman and I am curious, why do you think I am beautiful, if you are blind?"

"Being frank you have a nice voice, but this means shit, the beautiful thing is that you decided to help me, it is seen that you are a good person and that already gives an annotation in my book to say that you are beautiful inside."

This answer made me smile, as I also felt that one of the best qualities of a person was kindness, that they told me this, it certainly brought me joy.

"I liked your answer, but you didn't tell me your previous question."

"Ah yes, by the way, from the job your boss entrusted you with... Who is your boss?"

"Right, I haven't introduced myself" I said, with a slight blush on my face, I was enjoying the conversation with this person so much that we forgot to ask each other our identities. I didn't even know who this person was, but, in light of the fact that he was coming into the event, I thought it would be best if we hung out together. Patricia's guest had not arrived, but perhaps the evening would not be all bad now accompanying this person.

"My name is Diana Prince, I'm one of the museum caretakers, head of the Greco-Roman department, and my boss is Patricia Dubois."

The boy raised his eyebrows denoting his astonishment at this, but quickly his frown was transformed into a slightly mischievous smile on his face, which Diana thought was a bit cute.

"Well then let me introduce myself, my name is Edgar, Edgar Bones, and I guess I'm the old pervert you're expecting" he said stretching out his arm for a handshake.

My mind was completely lost with this statement.