[General POV]
The next morning.
Wearing a large white shirt as pajamas, Vanessa walked into the living room and saw towering stacks of books on the coffee table. The laptop screen was filled with hypotheses, and there was a fresh cup of coffee next to it.
But the person who had been doing research until an hour ago was gone. Vanessa followed the sweet scent in the air to the kitchen and saw him baking cupcakes instead.
"What are you doing?" she asked as she sat in front of the kitchen island.
"The crew is landing at the airport right about now. I figured I'd bake them some cupcakes," Edward said as he poured the batter into the paper cups and placed them inside the oven.
"Did you find anything from your research?" she asked as she grabbed the batter bowl and licked the excess with a spatula.
"I did. Thousands of them. I just don't know which one is the right one." Edward smiled wryly and poured a cup of coffee for his girlfriend.
"More importantly, where did you get the books?" Vanessa suddenly asked, her sleepiness gone after taking her first sip of coffee.
The coffee beans were from Edward's farm, and it tasted better than any coffee Vanessa had ever had before.
She grinned and added, "Did you break into the library last night? Because I know none of them were here before."
Edward was silent for a while, looking at Vanessa with mild shock. "Your soul must've followed me while you were sleeping. I did check them out on the system properly and will return them all today."
Realizing she was correct, Vanessa was speechless for a few seconds. Edward grinned as he saw her reaction before grabbing something from the lower cabinet. Then, he placed it gently in front of her.
"Since I was already out, I figured I should get something special for my lady to apologize for hanging her out to dry last night." He gave her a bouquet of flowers, which made Vanessa's face light up, and she swooned.
Edward scrunched his eyes and said playfully, "I am using the phrase 'hanging out to dry' figuratively, but there was a real possibility that it happened."
"Oh my goodness! Edward! This is so beautiful!" she said with adoration before changing her expression and glaring at him. "Hey! I'm not that kind of girl who's always 'on.' I went to sleep peacefully last night, not being hot and bothered, squirming and calling your name as you'd like to fantasize."
"Really? How about right now?" Edward said before he took out a small present from his pocket. Vanessa widened her eyes again and accepted the gift with a slight bounce.
"A bracelet? What's the occasion?" she said gleefully, her eyes glued to the shiny trinket.
"Nothing much. Just our one-month anniversary as a couple." Edward smiled with adoration as he saw how happy she was.
Vanessa's expression froze, and she turned to him awkwardly. "O-Our one-month anniversary? That's already happening?" Her eyes rolled to the right side as she tried to remember the date.
"It's NOT our one month! That's in two days!" she scowled, thinking that Edward was messing with her.
"Nope. It's today," Edward argued back. "I asked you out on this date last month."
"I—" Vanessa shrank back and said, "I… I said yes two days later."
"Oh, so I'm right from my point of view, but wrong from yours. How do we settle this?" Edward asked casually.
Vanessa rubbed her chin and replied, "Take the middle point and let tomorrow be our anniversary date?"
"You haven't bought me anything, huh? I guess I can do it tomorrow," Edward said as he grabbed the bracelet back from Vanessa.
"Wait— I've already seen it. Just give it to me," she pleaded, not letting go of her grip on the bracelet.
Edward smirked and said, "No. If I give you this today, then I'll have nothing to give you tomorrow."
"You don't have to give me a present again!"
Edward pretended to be helpless and said, "Fine. I can give it to you today, but since you don't have anything from me, I'm going to punish you."
"Ooo— Do you want to do something kinky this morning?" Vanessa said, slightly swaying her body, trying to tempt Edward.
But he shook his head and said, "I have something else in mind."
In the public library an hour later, Vanessa pursed her lips as she begrudgingly waited in line at the counter.
She mumbled under her breath, feeling quite irritated, "It's the second time! He hung me out to dry again! Isn't a teenager supposed to be horny all the time?"
Instead of meeting her expectations, he asked her to return all the books he borrowed last night. There were around 20 books, and Vanessa needed to go to five libraries to return them all.
At the last library, Edward asked her to find another book for him, so she had to search for it.
"The History and Construction of the Mesoamerican Codex? That's a rare one." The librarian checked the library list before saying, "We don't have that. It's only available in the Library of Congress."
"So, I need to go to Washington to get it?" Vanessa said in disbelief, pushing up her white circular sunglasses that she was using to hide her identity.
"Yes, that's accurate. The history—the entire era you're searching for is usually broken down into smaller parts."
The dashing English librarian took off his glasses and wiped them. "We do have a dissertation by Rupert Giles in which he examines the Oztoticpac Lands Map (1539) and the Huexotzinco Codex (1531), two of the most important primary source Nahua documents in the collections of the Library of Congress, which have survived from the early contact period."
Vanessa became dizzy from all the words thrown at her and said, "Just give me that, and I'll go."
"You can search for the book on the third floor, east wing. Be warned, there's a lot of dust around there because we lack the funds to hire people to clean it regularly," he said with a coy smile.
Vanessa grumbled and went to search for the book herself. Woo-Jin, who had been following her around to protect her, turned to the librarian and greeted, "Hi, Matt."
"Jin, it's been a while. I guess our master is messing around again, using names like Rupert Giles to create a fake dissertation," the librarian laughed lightly.
Woo-Jin nodded along and said, "I believe… that's from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, right?"
"Yes. He is quite obsessed with pop culture references. I believe that if he focused more on books, he would—"
Before Matt could finish talking, a book dropped onto his head. He said, unflinching, "Ahh, he's here. Jin, you could've warned me."
Woo-Jin kept his poker face and then followed Vanessa to guard her. He only did so until the entrance of the east wing and then guarded the door instead, leaving Vanessa to search for the book alone inside.
"He's not kidding. It is quite dusty over here." Vanessa could see flecks of dust floating in the sun rays. She covered her mouth with a tissue before walking.
"What's the name of the book again?" She pressed her forehead with her index finger, trying hard to remember. But before she could find the book, a red door on the side of the room attracted her attention.
The barn door, which had a circular top, was out of place in the library. "I can check it out later," she said as she walked past the door.
Beep
Suddenly, the bracelet Edward gave her made a sound. "Huh?" Vanessa was startled and became curious. She turned back and waved her hand near the door, but there was no sound.
Only when she stood in front of the door did she get a reaction from her bracelet. Her heart beat quicker, an excited grin on her face.
The door automatically unlocked. Vanessa's heart almost burst when she saw the balloons and other decorations in the room. Red balloons and red roses. There was a table and a picnic basket in the middle of the room.
It was a special surprise from Edward to commemorate the day. "You're late," Edward said as he appeared from behind the shelves where he had been hiding.
With a grin on his face, he asked, "Did you like the surprise?"
Vanessa ran to him and tackled him into a hug. "I really love it!" she exclaimed. "You're the best boyfriend ever." She said as she kissed his cheek.
They had brunch together at the library, amongst other stuff they were doing.
Edward and Vanessa left the library slightly disheveled. Vanessa said, "I'll be waiting for you at the party."
"I'll make sure to be there."
…
Lower East Side, New York. The film crew gathered before sunset to film the scene for the movie Now You See Me, for the building trick.
As the staff set up the scene, Edward and a team of practical effects experts went to a rundown building nearby.
"This will be the part where the horsemen find the blueprints," Edward explained to the practical effects experts.
"We'll remove the windows here and change them into stained glass of an angel." He pointed to the dirty windows covered with newspaper.
The practical effects staff listed his requirements with slight anxiety. One of them spoke up, "If you're planning to do this, then the calculations and positioning cannot be skewed, even by just one centimeter—"
"The range of error is 5 millimeters," Edward interjected with an excited grin. "Don't worry; I already have all the calculations done. However, we only have one shot to film this scene per day."
He showed the blueprints he had drawn,"The trick will only reveal itself between 2:32 and 2:35 in the afternoon. If we miss the shot, we'll have to stop filming and continue it the next day."
One of them raised his hand, and Edward called up to him, "Yes?"
"Why not use CGI? It'll save a lot of time and effort," he asked anxiously.
Edward furrowed his eyebrows and said, "The thing is, we're going to promote the movie by focusing on the realism of the tricks. People need to think this could happen in real life. I don't want to cheapen it by using CGI."
The practical effects team nodded in understanding before breaking out in excited grins. Practical effects practices were dying in modern Hollywood after the rise of CGI. To be able to work with groundbreaking practical effects was a dream come true for them.
"We still have two months before the movie begins filming for real. The other actors still need to learn how to shuffle cards and do magic tricks. We'll start reconstructing this room as the blueprint reveals."
Edward also planned to use the scene to establish a capability test and find the leader for the group of four horsemen.
It would also force them to find common ground as they would be trapped in the room and need to solve the puzzle to get out under dangerous circumstances. A deadly magic trick would be forced upon them by the fifth horseman.
The original movie never showed scenes where the horsemen learned how to work together. The protagonists of the first movie were the FBI agents, and the horsemen were basically just side characters.
In the first 20 minutes of the movie, Edward reworked the scene to show how the horsemen rose from the ground up until they became big enough to headline the Vegas show.
As the head of the studio, Edward didn't really care about the added runtime in the movie, as long as the story was great.
The sun finally went down, and the crew had the darkness necessary to start filming.
A crowd of extras gathered for the trick. Instead of just filming the one scene, Edward showcased his excellent skills by performing a magic routine.
"Can I borrow your phone? Just for a sec?" Edward said as he approached a teenage girl. She squealed and replied excitedly, "Yeah."
He took the phone from her and walked right to the center of the crowd again. "Just for a second, yeah. I promise I'll give it back—mostly intact."
The crowd laughed and jeered at him. Edward grinned, turned the phone upside down, and showed everyone that it was a normal phone. "You know, my original design for the phone was quite a bit smaller than this. I keep a hidden function in them that can shrink back to the size I want. Are you ready?"
He covered the phone for just a split second, and it turned into a mini phone. Everyone gasped in amazement, and Edward went to another person, asking him for the finished bottle of Yoo-Hoo in his hand.
He threw the mini phone into the glass bottle, then changed it back to its original size. Everyone was in awe after Edward asked the girl's friend to call her number, and the phone inside the glass rang.
"Now just remember something tonight: the closer you look, the less you see." He repeated this multiple times, conditioning the crowd for his tricks.
He was recorded by a cameraman, and it would be used in the marketing campaign for the movie.
The building behind Edward was always in the shot, making the trick even more impressive when he changed the lights on the building to the 7 of Diamonds.
"Cut! That was impressive," the assistant director called after the scene ended.
"What time is it?" Edward asked Randall, his personal assistant.
"Nine. We wrapped up the scene pretty early," Randall replied. Edward nodded in satisfaction and said, "The party starts at eight, but I don't think anyone would be there at eight."
"Alright. Then, I'll be going now," Edward said to Randall. "You can help me wrap it all up."
"Leave that to me," Randall said with a proud tone. Willa approached Edward and asked, "Hey, what's this I'm hearing about a party?"
"Oh, there's a rooftop party at the Waldorf Astoria. It's a pretty exclusive party," Edward said with a slightly uncomfortable expression.
Willa was taken aback and said, "Exclusive? Aww. So I cannot go? Can't you do anything? Please? For me~" She pouted her lips in an attempt to act cute.
"Alright. I'll get you in," Edward sighed. "They did give me a plus one after all."
Willa smiled in satisfaction and said, "I'll tell my manager. Oh, I still need to get ready—YOUR FACE LOOKS REALLY ANNOYED!"
Willa was in disbelief as she saw Edward's face change when she mentioned getting ready.
Edward didn't bother to hide his feelings and said, "Use the makeup artists here, and you can get the dress from the staff. Get ready in the car. I'll wait for you at the entrance."
Willa was shocked at first, but then she surrendered to her fate. There were still a lot of cars around in the city that never sleeps. It took around 40 minutes to get to the hotel.
Edward checked his watch with slight anxiousness. "Why am I getting a bad feeling about this?"
…
Around six, Vanessa gathered the girls together at Edward's place to get ready for the party.
However, the situation turned slightly awkward when there was an extra person on the list.
Just finishing up her world tour, Taylor was also invited to the party.
"So, I heard you're dating Edward right now. How did that happen?" Taylor asked directly as Vanessa was trying out a green dress.
"The right place and the right time, I guess. I don't really know since he 'asked' me out," Vanessa replied with a slightly smug tone.
"And why is this bothering you? Aren't you dating someone right now?" Vanessa shot back.
"He's just someone I'm using to pass the time," Taylor said as she picked a similar dress to Vanessa's, just to force her to change into another dress.
Waldorf Astoria, rooftop. Bey Awadi looked around with disappointment before turning to the hotel manager. "So, there's no rooftop pool with neon lights? There are only boring tables?"
His secretary, Mr. Ahmed, interjected and replied on the hotel manager's behalf, "The building was built in 1931. It was a different time. Pools with neon lights weren't really popular back then."
"Shut up, fggt. You're freaking useless. Is this really the best place you can find for the party? Are you telling me that I paid 2 million for this?!"
Bey Awadi was irked. "I could've hired 100 strippers and rented out a nightclub for one-tenth of that. What about the mansion in Long Island? Can't we still change the venue now?"
The hotel manager felt humiliated but still kept his mouth shut. Bey Awadi kept yelling at everything until he was tired. Then, the hotel manager finally spoke using a posh tone. "I'm sorry for the dissatisfaction, sir. If you're looking for a nightclub… vibes, we couldn't help you with that."
"We focused more on prestige. The Met Gala, the engagement party of Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly, President John F. Kennedy's birthday gala… The Waldorf Astoria has a long history of hosting elaborate dinner parties and galas, often featuring a 'who's who' of the rich and famous. That's what we had planned for tonight."
"Wait… So, Bruce Wayne's type of events?" Bey Awadi became slightly excited, raising an eyebrow as he waited for an answer.
Mr. Ahmed interjected again, "Like the party where the Joker intrudes and throws Batman's girlfriend out of the window."
"Oh! That kind of party. Galas are usually ceremonies, am I right? So… what exactly am I doing here? Bringing people in just to have dinner?" Bey Awadi was confused.
"It's a ball," the hotel manager said.
"Whose balls?" Bey Awadi was startled.
"He meant– like a dance. Like prom," Mr. Ahmed explained. Inside his mind, he was cursing the ignorant, entitled rich brat in front of him.
"We invited the guests for the ball, and it would also be a fundraiser for sick children," the hotel manager replied.
"Really? I don't think that's something I would ever attend," Bey Awadi said with disbelief.
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