Chapter 208: Here
Chapter 208: Here
“Thank you.”
The blonde flight attendant with the graceful figure smiled as she handed over a freshly mixed cocktail. Sitting beside the small bar counter, Eric Williams softly thanked her.
At this moment, he was aboard the Murdoch family’s private jet.
Before this, Eric truly had not expected Rupert Murdoch to be so eager that he would personally send a private plane to Venice to pick him up. Still, although the other party’s motives were not exactly pure, since such benefits had been delivered straight to his doorstep, Eric naturally would not refuse. Even first class on a commercial flight could never compare to the comfort and complete facilities of a private jet.
After attending the opening ceremony of the Venice Film Festival last night and appearing at the premiere of The Others in the morning, Eric handed all remaining matters over to Jonathan Demme and the others before hurriedly boarding this enormous private Boeing jet back to Los Angeles.
With Friends achieving such astonishing ratings, claiming he was not anxious to return to Los Angeles would definitely have been a lie.
Traveling with him, besides his assistant and a deputy manager from Fox Television who had come along, were the two little women currently whispering together on the sofa nearby: Julia and Elizabeth.
Allen and the deputy manager tactfully remained inside another lounge.
“What are you talking about, Julia? You look so happy.”
Eric turned around and leaned against the counter, casually starting a conversation.
Julia raised her head, about to speak, but Elizabeth already glared over.
“What business is it of yours?”
Ever since learning about the ratings miracle of Friends, for reasons even she herself did not fully understand, Elizabeth’s attitude toward Eric had become even more “terrible.”
“Well, if the topic has something to do with me, then of course it’s my business.”
Eric smiled as he carried his wineglass over and casually sat beside Julia on the sofa.
When Julia saw Eric sit down beside her, she slightly shifted her body as though wanting to avoid him, but quickly relaxed again.
Elizabeth, however, refused to let things go.
“Hey, who said you could sit there?”
“Liz, I’m a guest here. How can you be this rude?”
“As a guest, you should have the awareness expected of a guest.”
Elizabeth immediately shot back.
“You’re really inhospitable, Liz. Looks like once we get back to Los Angeles, I should mention this to Mr. Murdoch. Maybe he should sign you up for some sort of etiquette class for young ladies.”
As Eric spoke, he unconsciously adopted the tone of an elder.
This only caused the tiny flames of irritation already burning inside Elizabeth to flare even higher.
Elizabeth glared at Eric for a long moment, but temporarily failed to find any especially sharp comeback. So she abruptly stood up.
“I’m going to rest. Make yourself at home, Mr. Guest.”
After speaking, the woman strode off toward the bedroom in her high heels.
At some unknown point, the two flight attendants had also quietly left, leaving only Eric and Julia in this cabin section.
Julia glanced at Eric, who had comfortably leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes to rest beside her.
Straightening her waist slightly, she still did not leave. Instead, she quietly remained seated beside him, gradually beginning to enjoy this peaceful atmosphere.
These past few days in Venice had been the longest stretch of time she had ever spent with Eric outside of work.
The woman also discovered that compared to Eric during work—when he had a somewhat irritable temper and overwhelming desire for control—this man was usually very easygoing in private.
Even though Elizabeth constantly could not resist confronting him, Eric had never once lost his composure. Instead, Elizabeth was always left speechless after only a few casual remarks from him.
After spending only several days together, Eric’s image in Julia’s heart had already changed greatly.
At the very least, he was no longer the great demon king from before.
After an unknown amount of time passed, Eric still made no movement. Only then did Julia secretly turn her face to quietly observe the man beside her.
After days of constant travel, combined with never properly resting because of jet lag, obvious exhaustion now appeared on Eric’s youthful face. Even stubble had begun growing along his jaw from not having time to shave.
Yet this appearance, carrying a bit more weariness and maturity, unexpectedly stirred Julia’s heart even more.
The woman even felt an impulse to reach out and touch him.
But before she could make even the simplest movement, the impulse within her transformed into a quiet sigh.
She merely reached out and took the now-empty wineglass from Eric’s hand, setting it aside before softly sitting back down beside him again.
At the same time, she recalled the things Elizabeth had told her after learning about Friends’ miraculous ratings.
Originally, Julia had only known that Eric was amazing.
Very amazing.
Every movie he filmed achieved extremely high box office results. Even when entering television for the first time, he had casually created a ratings miracle.
But exactly how amazing he truly was, she never had any concrete understanding of.
Only after the relatively knowledgeable Elizabeth explained things to her did Julia begin to vaguely comprehend the height Eric currently stood at.
The sleeping Eric beside her shifted slightly.
Perhaps feeling uncomfortable in his sitting position, he smoothly lay down across the sofa. His head just happened to land on the woman’s thighs, while one hand unconsciously wrapped around Julia’s soft waist.
Lost in random thoughts, Julia was startled by Eric’s sudden movement.
At first, she thought he had awakened.
But lowering her head and seeing Eric simply find a comfortable position in her lap before lightly humming twice and becoming motionless again, the woman finally understood.
A silent smile appeared on her lips.
At last gathering enough courage, she gently stretched out her fingertips and lightly touched that handsome face with its sharp, distinct features.
The blonde flight attendant who had previously mixed Eric’s drink reappeared in the cabin, seemingly intending to ask whether the guests needed anything else.
Yet when she saw the intimate scene on the sofa, her eyes widened slightly.
As a young woman herself, she naturally recognized both Julia and Eric and usually followed entertainment gossip. But personally witnessing the overly young famous director sleeping with his head resting on the thighs of Julia Roberts, who had already become a top Hollywood actress, still felt somewhat unbelievable.
Seeing the flight attendant’s astonished expression, Julia’s cheeks flushed slightly hot.
Still, she raised a finger and gestured for silence.
This action finally snapped the attendant out of her daze. Quickly offering Julia a professional smile, she prepared to quietly withdraw.
But Julia stopped her and gestured several times with her hands.
The flight attendant quickly understood, retrieved a blanket, and gently covered Eric with it.
Only after the attendant left did Julia finally relax.
Lowering her head, she stared somewhat blankly at Eric’s sleeping face.
Her thoughts spun and spun.
In the end, however, the only thing she arrived at was:
I’m wearing jeans made from rough fabric today... would it be uncomfortable for him resting against them?
Because Los Angeles was nine hours behind Venice, after more than ten hours of flying, they arrived while it was still not even eight in the evening local American time.
The summer sky had only just fully darkened.
Quite a few people knew Eric would arrive around this time, so more than one group waited outside the airport.
Fortunately, he had returned on a private plane, making the trip relatively confidential. If he had followed the original plan and taken a commercial flight instead, he definitely would have been completely surrounded by reporters who had carefully calculated his arrival time.
The moment Eric appeared, several waiting groups immediately crowded forward.
Originally, these people had not known each other, but after seeing one another’s behavior, they instantly realized everyone’s purpose. Thus, all of them unconsciously quickened their pace and approached together.
“Mr. Williams, I’m Mr. Murdoch’s assistant...”
“Mr. Williams, Mr. Eisner asked me to wait for you here...”
“Eric, we met during the recording of The Sophia Talk Show. I’m the manager of CBS Los Angeles...”
Eric smiled while shaking hands with the various groups introducing themselves all at once.
Only after everyone quieted slightly did he finally say:
“I’m really sorry. I just got back to Los Angeles, and I haven’t adjusted to the time difference yet. Could we discuss everything tomorrow instead?”
Naturally, none of the groups were willing to leave just because of a few words from Eric.
They immediately resumed speaking again, though seeing Eric continue walking outward regardless, none dared to pester him too aggressively.
Eric had long anticipated this situation.
He simply had not expected so many people to come intercept him at the airport.
Hurriedly climbing into a black sedan Jeffrey had specially sent over, Eric waited until Allen loaded the luggage and entered the vehicle before waving goodbye through the window to the crowd outside.
At the same time, he did not forget to especially wave toward Julia and Elizabeth, who stood farther outside the crowd.
Only after Eric’s car sped away did the others finally leave disappointedly for their own vehicles.
Elizabeth naturally did not care about everyone else leaving.
However, seeing that the assistant her father had sent seemed prepared to leave as well, the little flames inside her reignited once more.
Planting her hands on her hips, she shouted:
“Hey, Vincent! Am I invisible or something?”
The assistant named Vincent had focused all his attention on Eric earlier and genuinely had not noticed Elizabeth walking out afterward.
He hurried over.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Second Miss. I just didn’t notice you. Failing to receive Mr. Williams... I don’t even know how I’m supposed to explain this to Mr. Murdoch.”
Elizabeth dragged Julia toward a luxurious Bentley while angrily saying:
“I don’t care how you explain it. Take us back to Beverly Hills first.”
“But...”
Vincent hesitated while following behind.
“Second Miss, I need to report this to Mr. Murdoch as quickly as possible. Mr. Murdoch is still waiting at the Century City headquarters.”
“It’s already this late. Are you seriously expecting two girls like us to take a taxi home? What if we run into bad people?”
As she spoke, Elizabeth shoved both her and Julia’s suitcases all at once into Vincent’s arms before dragging Julia straight into the Bentley and slamming the door shut with a bang.
Vincent smiled bitterly.
Helplessly, he exchanged a few words with the Fox deputy manager who had gone to Venice to pick them up and whom Elizabeth had completely ignored.
After stuffing the two suitcases into the trunk, he climbed into the front passenger seat, instructed the driver to start the car, and simultaneously picked up his mobile phone to dial a number.