"Urgh." Mary groaned to herself while chewing cookies.
"What is wrong with you?" Gayle raised an eyebrow as she looked up from her magazine, smiling slowly as she gazed at Mary who blushed and looked away.
"So many things are happening to me," she murmured aloud as Madi placed the coffee on the table after reheating it.
"How could you faint? I told you not to work too hard, did I not?" Madeline looked at her worriedly as she sat down in front of her.
"Trust me, this has nothing to do with my studies," Mary complained while taking a sip of her coffee.
"Yes, she is right," he chuckled slightly. "I am partly to blame for making her faint."
"Partially?" Mary exclaimed sarcastically, causing him to smile mockingly, making Mary just grunt and drink her coffee to relieve her headache.
"And what would be the reason for that?" Gayle asked.
"I just found out she is extremely sensitive to news," he half-joked, and Mary just gave him an angry look.
"If you call that nuclear information you told me about light news, then yes, I am extremely sensitive to news."
"Watch your language, young lady," Madeline said.
"Hahaha." He laughed slightly, making Gayle look at him with raised eyebrows.
"And what news was it anyway?"
"I asked her to go out with me and accompany me to graduation," he said.
"What, what did you do?!" Both Madeline and Gayle were surprised while Mary almost choked on her coffee, due to how calmly he was saying it.
"But hey, there is nothing to worry about since she rejected me."
"What, what about her?!" The reaction from Mary's mother and sister was even greater.
"Are you a lesbian or what?!" Gayle said while looking at Mary, making her blush and his smile widen slightly.
"Excuse me, but my sister has always been a complete idiot, please ignore her." Her behavior took a complete 180-degree turn when she turned back to him, proving that women are bipolar.
She smiled, then grabbed Mary by the shoulder and pulled her toward her. "Are you crazy?! How can you say no?!" she whispered.
"Why the hell do you care?! And it is just a temporary answer?!" Mary whispered back.
"Of course I care! I do not want you to end up like me!" Gayle said as a counterattack. "Besides, what the hell is this temporary response nonsense?! There is no such thing-...."
"W-Well, it exists from now on!"
"Listen, girl, either you do it with your boyfriend and my brother-in-law, or I will do it with yours!"
"WHAT?!"
Upon hearing the whispers, he could not help but smile wider.
"Please ignore her. She fell on her head as a little girl," Madeline said, showing a forced smile and some signs of embarrassment.
"Hahaha, this is a bi-...."
"MJ is not a bad girl! Sometimes she is just too impulsive and she is-...."
"I know, I know," he smiled gently, which calmed the worried mother of the two. "But it is still her decision and I cannot decide what she should and should not do. So I hope you will not force her to decide."
Madi bit her tongue hesitantly, but nodded in agreement with him. Just before the two sisters finished arguing, he finished his plate and stood up.
"It was delicious, Madi. You really have a knack for baking. Although May is a fantastic cook, you know she has no talent for baking," he said. Madeline laughed and nodded.
"I know that quite well. Her nut breads are pretty hard to forget."
'Yes, they are. Even Stark did not forget them after their death. May the damned man rest in peace.'
He joined in the laughter as everyone else finished their dishes too.
After helping the Watson family wash the dishes in the kitchen, he walked to the door with Mary behind him, accompanying him to the exit.
"Here, take this. It is for you to use at graduation. You will be the envy of many," he said while handing her a white box, making her look at him with a face of surprise and curiosity.
"Where did you get the box?" She looked at the box in her hands and then at him, repeating it several times before finally settling on him.
"Magic," he said while moving his hands, making her look at him with a poker face. "By the way, after graduation we are going on a date whether you like it or not."
He moved his fingers and head like a certain obese black woman from a famous film, causing Mary to laugh at his nonsense.
"Try talking to the girls on graduation day. They will answer any questions you have. And if you do not want to see me again after that, I will understand," he said as he leaned in to kiss her briefly, which she surprisingly did not reject.
Then he stepped back, got in his car, and left.
Mary stood in the doorway for a few seconds as she watched him leave, then turned her gaze to the box. Upon entering her house, she approached the dining room table and placed it there, causing her mother and sister to look at her curiously.
"What is that, shorty?" Gayle said, causing Mary to grimace because she did not like being called shorty.
"It is a box that Peter gave me. He said he wanted me to use it on graduation day."
"What are you waiting for, dear? Open it!" Madeline encouraged her daughter while giving her a smile.
Mary opened the box and what was inside amazed her.
Gently holding the dress as if it were the most fragile thing in the world, she showed it to her mother and sister, making them look at it with amazement.
"Damn! I want a man like that. That dress is worth six of my salaries combined and I am still understating it," Gayle said while looking at it.
"There are also a pair of earrings and some shoes," Mary said in amazement as she looked at what was inside the box.
"That is not fair! Because I did not have one like that at my graduation!"
"Daughter...." Madeline said, causing both of them to look at her.
"If you do not make him your boyfriend, I will make him your stepfather." She mentioned this while leaving both daughters stunned by their mother's boldness, and walked away to the kitchen. "According to him, he said that time had been kind to me."
"WHAT?!" Mary and Gayle said together.
----------