Chapter 231: You Have to Marry Me
Chapter 231: You Have to Marry Me
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Eric leaned against the headboard, watching the woman flee into the bathroom like a naked mermaid. He had been planning to follow her in for a bath together and perhaps some “morning exercise,” but before he could make a move, Elizabeth had already emerged again, tightly wrapped in a bath towel.
“Eric, I’ve thought about it. Although we haven’t known each other long, I think you barely count as a pretty decent man.”
Elizabeth held the collar of the bathrobe with one hand. She looked somewhat nervous, her body swaying uneasily, yet her beautiful narrow eyes remained fixed firmly on Eric.
The moment Eric heard those words, he instantly developed a very bad feeling. Before he could react, the woman gathered her courage and continued.
“And besides, we slept together last night. I’m not that kind of casual woman, so… so…”
Elizabeth hesitated for several seconds before finally saying each word slowly and clearly:
“So, you have to marry me!”
After saying those words, it was as if all the strength in the woman’s body had been drained away. She even seemed to shrink a little. Yet her eyes still shone brightly as she stared at Eric, waiting for his answer.
Eric froze on the bed like a statue for several seconds before finally blurting out a few words:
“What the fuck!”
Then…
…
Inside Julia’s apartment, Elizabeth sat on the sofa with a dejected expression, recounting everything that had happened.
Julia, seated beside her, listened with great interest. But after Elizabeth finished describing how she had forced Eric into marriage, she suddenly stopped talking.
Julia immediately could not resist asking, “Why did you stop? What happened next?”
Elizabeth shook her head and tugged at the belt of the white bathrobe she was still wearing before mumbling hesitantly, “Then… he… he ran away.”
Julia felt as though she had not heard correctly and instinctively asked, “What do you mean, ran away?”
Elizabeth gestured in the air with one hand. “He just… put on his clothes in two or three moves, then opened the door and ran off. By the time I reacted and searched around his house downstairs, I couldn’t find him anywhere.”
After those words, the two women stared at each other for a few moments.
Elizabeth bit her lip, seemingly unsure what to do.
Meanwhile, Julia’s cheeks puffed out. After a long while, she finally could not hold it in anymore and burst into loud laughter while slapping the sofa.
“Hahahaha, Eric really is such a bastard. Hahaha, that’s too awful. He actually ran away. Hahahaha…”
“Hey, stop laughing!”
Red-faced with embarrassment, Elizabeth grabbed a cushion from the sofa and hurled it at Julia.
“How can you laugh at my misery like this? Hey, you’re still laughing. If you keep laughing, I’m cutting ties with you!”
Julia took several deep breaths while holding her waist before finally calming down. Then she suddenly remembered something else.
“Then when you called me this morning and said you’d already left Eric’s house, you were lying?”
“I… I originally didn’t want to tell you. But this whole thing is just… ugh, can you stop obsessing over those details?”
Looking at Elizabeth, who was nearly losing her mind, Julia quickly soothed her. “Alright, alright, I won’t ask anymore. So then what happened?”
“What do you mean, then what happened?”
“You didn’t think about smashing something valuable of his to vent your anger? Like his legs, or his watch, or something?”
Julia felt that a pampered young miss like Elizabeth, after being treated that way by Eric, would definitely have done something impulsive.
“How could I be that childish!”
Elizabeth immediately denied it, but under Julia’s questioning stare, she still lowered her head slightly and admitted:
“Fine, I really was furious at first. Even if he didn’t want to, he should’ve explained it to me on the spot. What kind of attitude is it to just run away without saying a word? So in a moment of impulse, I decided to burn down his villa.”
Julia covered her mouth in shock. “Isn’t that going a bit too far?”
Ignoring Julia’s surprise, Elizabeth continued, “I found a can of gasoline in the storage room and poured it around his living room. Then I wandered around searching for something to light it with, but later I slowly calmed down. After that, I came here.”
Even though Elizabeth had ultimately not set the fire, Julia still shrank her neck after hearing all this.
Honestly, she sometimes did harbor quite a bit of resentment toward Eric herself and had even imagined teaching him a lesson once or twice. But the most “violent” punishment she had ever fantasized about never escalated to arson.
Elizabeth also noticed Julia shrinking back and laughed awkwardly.
“So… what do I do now?”
Julia thought for a moment. “Actually, this is a really good opportunity. If you ask him for scripts again now, he definitely won’t refuse.”
“If I did that, then what kind of person would that make me?”
Julia knew full well that this proud little woman would never agree, so she spread her hands helplessly.
“Then just pretend nothing happened and go on with life.”
“But I don’t even know how I’m supposed to face that bastard anymore.”
“Then stop being his assistant. That way you won’t have to see him. There was a period when I also… ahem. Didn’t you already get the license for our TG Film Company approved? Why don’t we just spend a million or two making a low-budget movie for fun?”
“If we’re going to do it, then we should do it properly. How can we just casually play around?”
Elizabeth protested unhappily.
Just as the two women were about to continue discussing things, Drew pushed open the door and walked in with a pink shoulder bag slung across her body. Seeing the two sitting on the sofa, she greeted them:
“Good morning. Huh, Liz, why are you wearing a bathrobe?”
“I just took a shower,” Elizabeth answered calmly.
Women truly were born with a talent for lying.
“Oh.”
The little girl merely nodded without asking further. Her attention had not lingered on the matter. Otherwise, if she had examined the robe more carefully, she definitely would have recognized where it came from, since she was the one who usually purchased Eric’s household items.
After sitting down on the sofa, Drew unzipped her backpack and pulled out a script, handing it to Julia and Elizabeth.
“Look at this. What do you think of the script?”
The two women took the script together. After glancing at the title, Julia asked, “The Silence of the Lambs? What does that mean?”
“I feel like I’ve heard of it somewhere before. I think it’s a novel,” Elizabeth replied.
Since there was only one copy of the script, the two women leaned their heads together and began reading.
While Julia and Elizabeth read through the script, Drew poured herself a glass of juice and returned to the sofa before explaining:
“This script is adapted from Thomas Harris’s novel of the same name. Last year, Gene Hackman, the lead actor from the Best Picture nominee Mississippi Burning, bought the adaptation rights because he wanted to direct it himself. But that poor guy developed severe mania while filming Mississippi Burning. His psychiatrist advised him not to touch violent subject matter anymore, so he had no choice but to sell the script. Since I’ve been collecting scripts recently anyway, and I thought the story was really exciting and not too expensive, I bought it.”
Having only read half of it, Julia raised her head and cautiously asked, “Drew, the protagonist of this script is a woman. Don’t tell me you want…”
“Hehe, Julia, don’t you want to challenge yourself again? Playing the complex heroine Clarice in this script would definitely sharpen your acting skills.”
Julia immediately shook her head. She already felt Shelby’s role in Steel Magnolias had been enough of a challenge.
“No way. Just reading part of this story already gives me chills. If I acted in it, I might end up scaring myself into some kind of… psychological disorder.”
As she said the last words, the woman seemed to think of something, her cheeks flushing slightly as she lowered her head without drawing attention to it.
At that moment, Elizabeth, who had also roughly skimmed through the story, looked up as well.
“Drew, I don’t think this works either. This is definitely an R-rated thriller script. And after it’s released, it might even become controversial. That would seriously affect our film company’s image. After all, TG Film Company was founded by the three of us girls.”
“My thoughts are the exact opposite, Liz.”
After hearing Elizabeth’s opinion, the little girl immediately rebutted:
“Precisely because TG is founded by the three of us girls, I think we should try more unconventional film subjects. Otherwise people will just think we’re playing around.”
Hearing that, Elizabeth and Julia exchanged glances.
Julia immediately shrank back and said, “I’m not acting in it. And my agent definitely wouldn’t agree either. My image positioning is mainly romantic films.”
“I heard the screenwriter adapting this script wants Jodie Foster to play Clarice. Julia, don’t you want to compete with Jodie Foster?”
“Compete in what?”
Julia blinked, sounding faintly smug.
“If we’re talking about salary, then even though Jodie won an Oscar, the combined box office of every movie she’s acted in since debuting still doesn’t equal the box office of my single movie Pretty Woman.”
“But as an actress, don’t you want the recognition of the Oscars?”
“No.”
Julia lifted her chin slightly as she answered.
The woman had only become famous less than a year ago, so she still had not yet experienced the influence of the Oscars. What she said now was genuinely heartfelt.
Although the little girl was half a generation younger than Julia, her Hollywood experience was several generations ahead. Hearing Julia say that, Drew revealed an expression of disappointment.
“If Eric heard what you just said, he’d definitely regret letting you star in Pretty Woman. You’re really making me… making my Eric disappointed.”
“Why should I care whether that bastard is disappointed or not?” Julia lightly shot back.
Drew threatened, “Do you dare repeat what you just said in front of Eric?”
Julia immediately turned her head away and adopted an expression that clearly said she could not be bothered arguing with a child.