The Two Worlds of Marinette

Chapter 8

By the time Marinette organised Tikki and rode to the Bourgeois Hotel the engagement party was in full swing. The event had been set up in the hotel gardens with a marquee over the impressive buffet spread and a dance floor placed in front of a contemporary band stand (well, contemporary for their timeline at least).

Marinette fixed her mask on and walked around the dancefloor looking for Adrien. The sound of high pitched laughter landed Marinette's eyes on what was clearly Chloé who was in high spirits in her gold mask, entertaining other ladies of local society and being the queen bee of the party. Her father Mayor Bourgeois was sitting alone with a very stony look on his face, not even cracking a smile for his daughter's own engagement. He ran his finger around the rim of the glass of scotch on the rocks sitting in front of him. Next to him on the floor was a small wooden case Marinette recognised as the one that held the dueling pistols she had seen in town hall.

Pushing through the crowd, she eventually spied a neatly pulled back blond ponytail atop a black mask.

"Adrien." She said, grabbing his arm as he walked towards the buffet. He turned to her with an amused look.

"Good guess Marinette, but I'm afraid I am the better looking cousin and alas, a taken man or else I would have invited you to dance."

Marinette could feel her face flush in embarrassment and she quickly let go. "Félix? Oh my goodness I'm so sorry."

Félix waved it off, picking up a plate from the table. "No need to apologise. You haven't been the only one. These masked affairs are always tedious, but Chloé seems to get a kick out of it. Of course, there is no misplacing her, even in a mask. If you're looking for Adrien though, he's gone to talk to an old acquaintance of ours staying in the hotel. Plate?" He asked, handing her one before loading up his own.

Truth was Marinette wasn't even a little bit hungry, her nerves churning her stomach over. She picked a few pieces of fruit just so she wouldn't have an empty plate.

"An old acquaintance did you say?" She enquired. Félix nodded.

"Remember I told you about the woman Adrien saved from drowning when we were younger? Well her husband was visiting Paris and now he's staying in the hotel here. He's a funny little man really, but quite sweet. He used to teach Adrien and I some of that, what do you call it? Martial Arts, that was it. It was fun anyway, although I was always better at it than my cousin." He preened. "But it was nice catching up with old Fu again."

"Who?" Marinette blinked at him.

"Oh that's his name, Wang Fu." Félix replied nonchalantly. "I think he said he originally came from Shanghai or something."

Marinette looked away from Félix back towards the hotel. Surely it couldn't be the same Wang Fu could it? It might just be a really common name and even if it was the same one, it would have to be the Wang Fu from that timeline. No, that can't be right either. Félix said he was old and when Marinette met him he was old then too, 75 years later. That just wasn't possible because she had the time travel watch, so how could...? Marinette shook her head. No, she can't worry about this now, she had more important things to think about.

Félix noticed Marinette seemed fidgety and he offered her his arm.

"How inconsiderate of me to keep you on your feet. Come, sit with me until Adrien comes back. I'm afraid I have lost my fiancée to her crowd of admirers." He said, his voice a little more gentler than she had heard him before. She placed her free hand on his arm and allowed him to guide her to a table, away from where the Mayor was sitting.

"Has the Mayor been himself tonight?" Marinette asked, eyeing the man at the other table silently drinking.

"I wouldn't worry about the Mayor too much." Félix said as a matter of fact. "Adrien told me about Bourgeoise's plans to put a bullet in his head."