Chapter 80: Two Gifts
Chapter 80: Two Gifts
The birthday dinner lasted a long time. Eric let Aniston lazily lean against him, murmuring softly from time to time.
A birthday song sung by only two people was not lively, but it was very warm.
After singing, they cut the cake. Each of them only ate one slice, but the bottle of red wine disappeared quickly.
“Not eating anymore?” Eric asked with concern as he looked at the girl’s flushed cheeks.
“Mhm.” Aniston nodded and wrapped her arms around Eric. “I’m so tired. Carry me to take a bath. I don’t want to move.”
“No problem, my little princess.” Eric smiled, then stood up and took out two exquisitely wrapped gift boxes from his luggage. “Here. One birthday gift and one Valentine’s Day gift.”
When Aniston saw the two gift boxes, she immediately became dispirited. She accepted them and casually placed them on the table, then continued burrowing into the man’s arms.
“You’re not going to open them first?”
“I’m unhappy. Don’t want to look.”
Eric stroked the girl’s blonde hair and guiltily said, “Sorry, Annie. I already made plans with someone, so I have to leave early tomorrow morning.”
“Mmm…”
“Annie, come back to Los Angeles. I also want you by my side.”
“Tired. Bath…”
“Alright, alright.” Eric carried the girl in his arms and walked into the bathroom.
As warm water filled the tub, he gently undressed Aniston. The girl obediently raised her arms and let Eric do as he pleased. Soon only her bra and panties remained, and her fair body gradually revealed itself before him. Eric’s breathing became heavier.
After not seeing each other for so long, Aniston’s expression carried a trace of shyness. Her eyes lowered, her long eyelashes trembling lightly. She gently tugged at Eric’s coat.
“Together?”
Eric nodded and removed his clothes. Then he reached for the girl’s bra. Her soft, upright breasts sprang free. Eric cupped one soft mound in his hand and kneaded it a few times. Feeling the nub harden in his palm, he could not help lowering his head to kiss it.
“So itchy.” Aniston batted away Eric’s wandering hand, giggling as she kicked off her panties and fled into the bathtub. She shifted aside slightly to make room and looked at Eric expectantly.
Eric removed the final barrier. The proud thing between his legs made Aniston let out a soft cry. She stuck out her tongue.
“So ugly.”
“Girls who insult it to its face usually get punished very harshly.”
Eric joked as he stepped into the tub. He reached out and held the girl’s waist, lifting Aniston’s light body into his lap. Feeling the clear outline of her ribs beneath her breasts, Eric said, “Jenny, eat more. I still prefer you when you’re a little soft and fleshy.”
“Hmph, I’m not going to try pleasing you.” The girl felt the aggressively pressing thing behind her and tried to move forward to escape, only to be tightly held by Eric, unable to budge.
“Eric, after the bath, okay? Water will get in the tub.”
Eric’s large hand once again covered her softness. He leaned over to kiss Aniston’s earlobe and whispered, “But I think this is more exciting.”
The teasing of her sensitive earlobe instantly softened Aniston’s entire body.
Eric stopped talking. His hands slid downward, lifting Aniston’s hips and gently spreading her apart as he thrust inside.
“Mmm, you’re not wearing protection.”
“Don’t worry. It’s your safe period.”
As her body was penetrated, combined with the lingering intoxication from before, Aniston had already become muddleheaded. Hearing her lover’s words, she subconsciously asked, “Men have safe periods too?”
“Uh… I meant yours.” Eric helplessly explained before slowly moving.
Aniston twisted her waist and silently cooperated, but her mouth still refused to relent.
“So hateful. Secretly calculating something like that about a girl. Big bastard.”
Eric thrust harder as punishment. Amid the girl’s startled cry, he laughed and said, “I only calculate yours.”
A night of debauchery.
The next day, they woke very late. The exhausted girl was still sleeping sweetly, the corners of her lips curled upward. Eric kissed Aniston at the corner of her mouth before quietly getting dressed.
After preparing a simple breakfast, Aniston still had not woken up. Eric checked the time and could only set aside Aniston’s portion while eating his own first.
“Jenny, I’m leaving.”
After finishing breakfast, Eric entered the bedroom and leaned beside the girl’s pillow, gently brushing aside the messy hair hanging over her face.
“Mmm… stop bothering me. I want to sleep.”
The girl protested groggily and impatiently pulled the blanket over her head.
“Alright. I’ll call you once I’m back in Los Angeles.”
Eric said another sentence, but seeing the little lazybones still unresponsive, he thought for a moment, found some paper and a pen, wrote a note, and placed it somewhere obvious before reluctantly picking up his luggage and leaving Aniston’s apartment.
After getting into the taxi, Eric looked up at the window of Aniston’s apartment. Because of the backlighting, it was pitch-black.
Behind the window, the girl was wrapped in a blanket, tightly clutching the note in her hand as she watched the taxi gradually disappear into the distance. She sighed, crawled back onto the bed, then rolled around irritably before grabbing a nearby pillow and punching it several times.
Go then, go then, bastard, bastard. Even pretending to sleep couldn’t make you stay a little longer. So hateful!
…
Not long after getting off the plane, Eric only paused briefly before contacting his private lawyer. Then he followed Jobs out of Los Angeles once again and headed for Richmond in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Because funds had become increasingly tight, Jobs had moved Pixar’s headquarters into a tiny backwater corner of Richmond.
At the same time, Pretty Woman was sweeping through the North American box office at a speed visible to the naked eye. After the explosive three-day weekend, audience enthusiasm did not weaken at all even after entering the workweek. Especially on Valentine’s Day itself, many theaters screening Pretty Woman were packed to capacity.
Amid the envy, jealousy, and resentment of other film companies, one week later, Pretty Woman’s box office numbers were officially released.
Sixteen million fifty thousand dollars over the three-day weekend, and a first-week total of twenty-nine million seventy thousand dollars. Although it fell just short of thirty million dollars, which felt somewhat regrettable, it still surpassed the opening-week box office of Eric’s previous film, Home Alone.
During its second week, under the nervous attention of many people, Pretty Woman’s box office fell to seventeen million dollars, a drop of forty-three percent. This number made many people breathe a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it was not another Home Alone, or it would have been too insane.
However, in the following weeks, Pretty Woman’s box office no longer experienced the same large declines as it had during the second week. One month later, the film’s North American box office had accumulated over seventy-five million dollars. Breaking one hundred million had already become inevitable. According to estimates from several statistical agencies, as long as no other box office dark horse appeared, the film’s earnings might once again surpass two hundred million dollars.
Under Fox’s operations, Pretty Woman also began releasing overseas one region after another. Although most regions missed Valentine’s Day, due to the influence of the film’s strong reputation in North America, its overseas momentum became even stronger than its domestic performance. Within four weeks, overseas box office had already surpassed one hundred million dollars.
Having filmed two movies that created box office miracles in less than a year, Eric once again became the focus of media attention. The Los Angeles Times directly used the headline “The Miracle Kid Who Stormed Hollywood” for a detailed report on Eric’s achievements over the past year.
Unable to contact Eric himself, many famous media outlets and magazines began approaching Jeffrey and Kapoor instead, hoping to conduct an exclusive interview with Eric personally, but all were rejected.
Although Eric had not yet reached the level of people like Barry Diller or Michael Eisner, he believed that day was not far away. Who had ever seen these tycoons, who wielded enormous power, constantly active in the media? Hiding behind the scenes and becoming the black hand manipulating everyone was Eric’s ultimate goal.
With no hope of interviewing Eric, the media had no choice but to settle for second best and shift their focus to other people instead.