Chapter 116: Emotional Imbalance
Chapter 116: Emotional Imbalance
After hearing Lester’s words, the young woman was momentarily speechless. Deep down, she also realized how impulsive and willful she had been, though she did not regret it too much.
Lester continued, “Janie, Eric Williams only invited you out for dinner. Even if he made some excessive requests afterward, if you didn’t want to agree, you could’ve just turned him down tactfully. He may be young, but he’s already considered an important figure in Hollywood now. He wouldn’t do anything too outrageous. So why insist on giving up the role?”
“It’s not that. It’s because…” the young woman explained irritably, “on the way back, paparazzi took pictures of us. I don’t want people thinking I’m the kind of woman who sleeps her way to fame. At worst, I’ll just struggle for a few more years.”
Lester followed Jennifer into the room and sat down on the sofa, speaking earnestly.
“Janie, Hollywood only remembers winners. As long as you become a top actress, nobody will care what you did in the past anymore. In fact, you wouldn’t even need to say anything yourself. Plenty of people would willingly help cover up everything from your past. That’s the real reality of things.”
“And besides, plenty of women in Hollywood who want opportunities are willing to sleep with ugly old men. Compared to them, Eric Williams is young and handsome. Getting involved with him shouldn’t be that hard to accept, right?”
Jennifer Connelly pouted slightly.
“But he has an official girlfriend.”
“Then steal him away,” Lester said, making a grabbing gesture into the air. “Don’t tell me you lack confidence in your looks, Janie. I know Williams has an official girlfriend, but so what? They’re not even engaged, and they’ve spent most of their relationship living apart. Relationships like that are the most unstable. You have a very good chance of taking him from her.”
“But I…”
The young woman scratched at her hair in frustration. There was no way she could admit in front of her agent that when she was with Eric, many times she did not even have the courage to meet his eyes directly. Let alone try to steal him from another woman.
He was such an overwhelmingly forceful man that just being near him made her become cautious and restrained. How could she possibly dare scheme against someone like that?
“Ahhh!”
The more Jennifer thought about it, the more tangled her emotions became. She let out a frustrated cry, suddenly threw herself face-down onto the sofa, dragged over a cushion to cover her head, and spoke in a muffled voice.
“Jim, stop pressuring me already.”
“All right, all right.”
Lester could see that the young woman had completely made up her mind not to turn back. Having been Jennifer’s agent for so many years, he understood her temperament perfectly.
Helplessly, he said, “Then call Peter personally tomorrow and apologize. Because we rushed the audition, a lot of the filming work for The Hot Spot was completed rather hastily. If they still need additional scenes filmed, we’ll make another trip to Rome.”
“I know.”
The young woman’s voice came from beneath the cushion.
“Don’t answer so perfunctorily, Janie,” Lester said sternly. “Since you gave up this opportunity, there’s no telling when you’ll get another role in Hollywood. That means maintaining your connections in Europe is even more important, so you won’t end up in the embarrassing situation of not being able to get roles at all.”
“Mhm.”
This time, the young woman responded a little louder.
Lester still wanted to say more, but seeing Jennifer continuing to hide like an ostrich, he gradually lost interest.
Standing up, he patted Jennifer’s shoulder.
“Get some sleep early then. I’m going back to my room.”
After closing the young woman’s door behind him, Lester still could not help shaking his head.
What a wonderful opportunity that had been.
If she could have attached herself to the rapidly rising star Eric Williams, it would have been the equivalent of ascending to heaven in a single step. A single step to the top.
An eighteen-year-old girl was still ultimately just a child, stubbornly clinging to that strange little bit of pride in her heart, never truly understanding what she had actually lost.
Originally, Lester had devoted most of his energy to Jennifer Connelly.
Back when Labyrinth had failed at the box office, Connelly had only been a fifteen-year-old girl and had been unable to get film offers for a very long time. Lester had run around arranging opportunities for her in Japan, then searched Europe for chances, helping her secure movie contracts.
To help this excessively beautiful girl escape being labeled a mere flower vase actress, he had also painstakingly crafted an “intellectual beauty” image for her. For that reason, he had gone to great lengths arranging for her to study English Literature at Yale University.
The public was easy to fool anyway. Most people would not bother distinguishing between “studying” and being an officially enrolled student. As long as the halo existed, that was enough.
But now, Lester suddenly felt perhaps he should spend more energy developing the other actors under him instead.
That young man named Sean was pretty good. Handsome, talented, and most importantly, clever. He possessed a maturity rarely seen in boys his age.
As for Connelly… let her do as she pleased.
…
So he had actually been rejected by a little girl.
Thinking about it, it really was quite humiliating.
Inside the Lamborghini, Eric rested against the steering wheel, watching Connelly walk into the hotel before finally withdrawing his gaze.
Although he had encountered a few setbacks after his rebirth, overall things had gone very smoothly. Eric’s increasingly inflated mentality had almost made him forget what failure felt like.
Irritably glancing at a nearby street sign, he realized Jeffrey’s house was fairly close by, so he drove straight there.
Bang bang bang—
After knocking on the door, Jeffrey appeared wearing pajamas and a ridiculous pointed sleeping cap.
Seeing Eric’s gloomy expression, Jeffrey immediately stepped aside to let him in and asked in surprise:
“Eric, coming to see me this late… don’t tell me something happened?”
Eric shook his head.
“Nothing. I got rejected halfway through a date. Then I realized your place was nearby, so I came over to talk.”
Jeffrey, who had been about to pour Eric some water, froze mid-motion.
Turning around, he asked incredulously:
“Just because of that?”
“Mhm…”
Jeffrey immediately set the teacup back down and turned around to condemn him.
“You little bastard, get the hell out. Don’t you see it’s almost eleven already? I work myself to death managing the company for you all day, and now you come harassing me in the middle of the night?”
Eric scratched his head and protested:
“Hey, no need to get so angry, right? I’m emotionally fragile right now. I need comfort.”
“Get lost!”
Jeffrey walked over without mercy and grabbed Eric by the collar, hauling him upright.
“Hey, Jeffrey, stop pulling! This suit cost over two thousand!”
After escaping from the old man’s grip, Eric tossed the Lamborghini keys onto the coffee table.
“I’m leaving this car here. Let me borrow one of yours instead.”
Jeffrey glanced at the logo on the keychain.
“The Lamborghini Diablo they gave you? Why swap such a good car for mine?”
“Don’t even mention it,” Eric said gloomily. “First time I drove it out and paparazzi already photographed it. It’ll definitely be in the newspapers these next couple days. There’s only one purple Diablo in all of Los Angeles right now. How am I supposed to keep driving it?”
“All right then. Come with me.”
Jeffrey led Eric into the garage and handed him a set of car keys.
“Take my Buick.”
Eric noticed a nearly brand-new Mercedes parked beside the Buick and pointed at it.
“That one. Give me that one instead. I’ll trade you the Lamborghini.”
“Not a chance.”
Jeffrey glared at him angrily before walking over and gently stroking the Mercedes’ hood, his tone instantly becoming incomparably tender.
“That was Solina’s.”
“All right then.”
The moment Eric heard the explanation, he immediately shut up and obediently accepted the Buick keys from Jeffrey.
The old man treated everything left behind by his wife like treasure.
Rather than buying mansions or investing, Jeffrey had used all the producer profit shares he earned from Eric to purchase the copyrights to films his wife Solina had acted in. Rumor had it he had even overpaid several times because of it.
In front of such a hopeless romantic, if Eric wanted to drive off with the Mercedes, to quote the cliché line from movies, he would first have to step over the old man’s corpse.
Driving the Buick all the way to Malibu, Eric stopped outside Virginia’s small villa.
After knocking on the door, he directly hoisted the petite woman over his shoulder and charged into the bedroom.
Pinned forcefully onto the bed by the younger man, Virginia had already completely awakened from her sleepy haze. Her cheeks were flushed red, and a misty passion filled her eyes.
Bracing her hands against Eric’s chest, the young woman softly asked:
“Hey, Eric, what’s wrong with you? You look so dejected.”
“Mmm…”
Eric did not answer. In just a few quick motions, he stripped the young woman bare like a little lamb.
Just as he was about to continue, the young woman sniffed lightly and suddenly reached down to cover herself, stopping Eric’s forceful attempt to thrust into her.
“Now let me guess. You smell like another woman. This kind of fragrance mixed with gardenia, jasmine, and violet is usually only used by teenage girls or women in their early twenties. Did you go on a date with some pretty young thing tonight?”
Eric gave a vague grunt in acknowledgment.
Virginia raised her brows and continued:
“And then… she rejected you?”
Eric immediately collapsed onto the young woman’s soft body and buried his face between her full breasts.
Virginia lightly smacked his back and laughed.
“Hah, you little bastard. Another girl rejected you, so now you come tormenting me instead. Hey, stop rubbing around, it tickles.”
The young woman forcefully pushed Eric aside and slipped out from beneath him. Lying on her side and propping up her head, she curiously asked:
“Hurry and tell me. I’m really curious what kind of girl managed to reject our invincible Eric Williams.”
“Vicky, can we not talk about this?”
“Sure,” the young woman replied. “Then you can just endure it tonight. Don’t even think about using me to vent your frustration.”
For once, Virginia acted “tough,” though it was mostly teasing. If Eric truly tried to force himself on her, she actually would not have been able to resist him, nor would she have refused.
After all this repeated back-and-forth, Eric gradually calmed down as well.
He realized his mentality had become far too unbalanced.
Rubbing his face hard with both hands, he reflected for a while and concluded that perhaps the lingering consciousness from this young body was causing the issue.
If he were entirely his former self, he would never feel this panicked sense of defeat just because he had been rejected by a young girl. Only inexperienced young men whose lives had always gone smoothly would react like this.
Although his soul had fully taken control after inheriting the original owner’s body and partial memories, he would inevitably still be influenced by some of that young man’s personality and habits.
That person was nothing like him, someone who had experienced countless hardships and setbacks in his previous life.
Eric did not know whether that was ultimately a good thing or a bad thing.
“Hey, Eric, are you okay?”
Seeing Eric rubbing his face and frowning repeatedly, the young woman leaned closer and asked worriedly.
“I’m fine, Vicky. I’m okay.”
Eric reached out and pulled Virginia into his arms before finally beginning to explain.
“It’s actually like this…”