Chapter 164: The Real Loss
Chapter 164: The Real Loss
“Eric, this is an apartment someone found in Beverly Hills for me. The monthly rent is 4,000 dollars. Tomorrow you can just call this number directly and mention Allen Fisman’s name. A real estate agent will sign the contract with you.”
That evening, after Eric returned home and they finished dinner, he finally took out a business card and handed it to Nicole. Before the woman could take it, a small hand swiftly snatched the card away.
“Wow, wow,” Drew waved the business card in her hand and revealed a victorious smile toward Nicole. “So you’re finally moving out?”
Nicole seemingly shrugged helplessly and gracefully sat back down on the sofa. She made no move to snatch the card back, nor did she answer Drew’s question.
During this period of time, the woman had also summarized a way to deal with little troublemaker Drew.
Faced with Drew’s endless variety of provocations, although deep down Nicole often wanted nothing more than to rush into the kitchen, grab a sharp knife, and carve up that irritating doll-like face, from beginning to end she maintained an attitude of magnanimity, as though saying she would not stoop to a child’s level.
She had even guessed why Drew kept targeting her.
Although this seemingly carefree girl was only fourteen years old, she was as cunning as a little demon. Nicole felt that the childish things Drew did were not truly because she derived pleasure from bullying others like ordinary children did. She simply wanted Nicole to lose her composure. She even wanted Nicole to become unable to endure it and clash with her, or retaliate after being bullied.
Once the two of them reached the point of being completely irreconcilable, one of them would definitely have to leave this mansion. And Nicole was certain that even if she were the one in the right, the person ultimately asked to leave the villa would definitely be herself.
Nicole did not mind falling out with Drew, but she was terrified of losing the opportunity to become the female lead of Sleepless in Seattle. Truly terrified.
After spending this period of time interacting with and understanding Eric, she increasingly realized the value of being the female lead in one of Eric’s films. Because of that, she became even more respectful toward him.
Compared to this opportunity, spending two months as a maid in this mansion felt as though she had paid almost no price at all.
If she could guarantee the result, even if she had to wear a sexy undersized uniform and serve as a maid for an entire year, she would not mind. Many women struggled in Hollywood for ten years or more without necessarily encountering such a good opportunity. Compared to that, what did one or two months — or even a year — matter?
In various media reports, not even mentioning the dazzlingly successful Julia Roberts, even Brooke Shields, who had only appeared for several minutes in Running Out of Time, recently received an offer from Warner for the female lead role in a major production. Newspapers speculated that her salary was close to three million dollars, which was nearly the asking price of many first-line actresses.
Before participating in Running Out of Time, although Brooke Shields was beautiful and glamorous, at most she could only be considered a third-rate minor celebrity. Her acting had always been criticized by the media, and she had no box office appeal to speak of.
Although Eric had already made a series of promises, and although she had a contract in hand, until the very last moment, the woman maintained an extremely cautious attitude.
“Alright, Drew, hurry up and give the card back to Nicole. If you really can’t bear to let her leave, I don’t mind letting her stay a little longer,” Eric glared at Drew, who was waving the card around, and said.
Knowing Eric was joking, the girl stuck out her tongue very cooperatively. Her eyes rolled mischievously before she wickedly curled up the card, leaned close to Nicole, and directly stuffed it into the neckline of Nicole’s strapless maid dress. Afterward, she gleefully added, “How pitiful. There’s nothing there to hold it up, so it fell down.”
Nicole glanced toward Eric. Although she knew she would not get any response, she still revealed a wronged expression.
Usually, customers at strip clubs stuffed money into dancers’ chests or underwear in order to get them to take their clothes off. If someone did that to an ordinary woman, someone with a stronger temper would have slapped them already.
Seeing Eric still wearing the same expression of an adult watching children fool around, the woman could only place a hand over the business card that had fallen to her abdomen, stand up, and walk toward the bathroom, preparing to take it out.
After Nicole disappeared into the bathroom, the little girl immediately pounced into Eric’s arms.
“What’s wrong? Feeling sorry for her?”
“Nobody has it easy for Nicole either. She’s been bullied by you for more than a month without saying anything. If it were me, I’d already have splashed sulfuric acid on your face,” Eric said with a smile as he lightly pinched the girl’s pale tender cheek.
“She wouldn’t dare,” Drew lightly snorted. She wriggled her soft body like a little snake, found a comfortable position on Eric’s lap, and reached out to touch the stubble on his chin. “Only a brainless little girl like Aniston might do something like that. But the woman in the bathroom? If there’s no benefit in it for her, she absolutely won’t do it.”
“Heh, next time I see Jennie, I’ll definitely relay your evaluation to her.”
Drew waved her hand with complete indifference. “Whatever. That little girl should hurry up and face reality. Earth is such a dangerous place. The proper thing is to dig a pit and bury herself in it sooner rather than later.”
Eric could not help smiling.
Perhaps because he had watched that classic movie in his previous life, Eric occasionally used words like “Earth” and “Mars” while speaking. Unknowingly, the little girl in his arms had picked up the habit as well.
“I think if Jennie dug a pit, she’d definitely bury you first.”
“Hehe, she doesn’t have the ability,” Drew laughed, then quickly turned serious and lowered her voice slightly. “Eric, I don’t care how you play around with stupid women, but don’t mess around with the woman in the bathroom. If you get entangled with her, it’ll be really troublesome.”
“Yes, yes. Ever since getting tangled up with a certain little demoness, I no longer dare provoke women of the same type.”
“I’m serious,” Drew complained as she scratched lightly at Eric’s chin. “Actually, it’s your fault too. Other people sleep with women and that’s the end of it. But you? After you’ve played around, you always can’t help getting tangled up with them.”
Eric knew Drew was referring to Virginia. Helplessly, he tilted his head away from the disturbance of her little claws.
“Alright, I know.”
The sound of high heels clicking approached. Both of them immediately ended the topic.
After Nicole returned and sat back on the sofa, she showed no unusual expression. Her demeanor remained normal as she chatted with Eric, but in her mind she kept replaying the sentence Drew had accidentally let slip earlier.
Then, recalling how vigilantly the little girl had guarded against her this entire time, Nicole suddenly realized something.
It seemed she had missed an even better opportunity.
Originally, Nicole had been secretly pleased that she obtained this role without even having to pay any physical price.
But now she discovered that not paying that price had actually been the real loss.