Chapter 736: Chapter 143 Lantation
“What’s wrong? Is there sothing on my face?” Adrian, who had been scribbling on paper, suddenly looked up and asked.
“Um… no, it’s just…” Avril, regaining her senses and folding her arms, suddenly felt a bit guilty, “I just wanted to look at you.”
“Do you think I’ve gotten handsor, or do you think I’ve gotten stronger?” Adrian asked with a grin, then deliberately flexed his arm.
“With all the ti and energy you spend trying to charm , you should focus on figuring out how to write songs, since sumr vacation is coming up!” Avril unapologetically glared at him, then strumd a few guitar strings.
“Oh, Vini, you’ve really given a tough problem,” Adrian imdiately started to complain, “Composing with sheet music? You’ve got to be joking; I might be able to sing or hum, but this is nearly an impossible task!”
“You are a genius, Uncle Ed, the most famous genius in Hollywood,” Avril remained unmoved, “So, shouldn’t a genius be able to handle such a small issue?”
“Oh?” Adrian’s tone suddenly beca suggestive as he wrapped his arm around her waist.
The girl quickly reacted. Okay, she was used to it, always inadvertently switching from ‘AD’ to ‘ED’, giving Adrian an opportunity. But this ti, she definitely wouldn’t let him succeed. Avril subtly moved backward, “Anyway, no tricks, Ed!”
“But at least allow to find soone, right? Not to help compose, but to offer so advice when I need it.” Adrian did not continue the previous topic, instead, he kept on pretending to be troubled.
“No way!” Avril couldn’t help but show a proud expression, knowing well there was a bit of acting in it, but she just liked to see him look helpless.
“Let’s do this, dear Vini,” Adrian thought for a mont, his tone becoming seductive, “What do you think about Britney’s ‘Dream Cos True’?”
“‘Dream Cos True’?” Avril repeated the phrase, her eyes slightly narrowing, emitting a dangerous glow.
‘Dream Cos True’ was a recently released docuntary about Britney’s world tour concert before she went back to college last year. It fully showcased the other side of the popular idol Little Sweet, such as getting angry and crying because of inadequate preparation for her performances, or the exuberant cheering following her success. Thus, upon release, it achieved great success, and with the support of Britney’s fans, the concert docuntary surprisingly reached second place in the North Arican box office rankings during a slow movie season, making many dia exclaid: Little Sweet’s charm is still formidable!
She really is the most favored one. Avril couldn’t help but think this to herself, then sighed again. Why do I always have to associate everything with her?!
In fact, this was also a journey. To say she wasn’t envious would be impossible; being a singer herself, and a popular one at that, Avril certainly hoped to have her own music docuntary film too. Unfortunately, she had just released her debut album and held so campus tours, but a major concert tour was scheduled only after the release of her second album.
So here, Adrian was hinting that if she would be a bit more lenient, he could speed up the process for all this. However, he seed to have made a mistake out of impatience, ntioning another woman in front of a woman, particularly one who was unique and hadn’t fully accepted his various overtures yet, especially when that woman was grappling with being ‘the most favored one’—
“Listen up, Uncle Ed!” Avril suddenly reached out and grabbed Adrian’s collar, pulling him forcefully towards her, making a fierce expression, “If you can’t finish by the deadline, you’re dood!”
“Really? If it’s possible, can you tell how I’m going to die?” Adrian chuckled, cupping her face with one hand.
The girl then realized that she had used too much force; while pulling Adrian towards her, she had also fallen onto the sofa, resulting in an ambiguous position with him pressing down on her. Thinking back, he must have planned ntioning Britney all along, and she had naively fallen into his trap.
Fortunately, the sound of knocking at the door then arose. Adrian smiled, let go of the girl, and sat up, then called out, “Co in.”
An Asian girl ca in with drinks soon after, placing them respectfully on the coffee table and pouring their beverages before slightly bowing and exiting. Avril rembered she was Japanese, nad… Nakama Yukie—yes, that was her na. She seed to have been working here as a maid for several years, always respectful to everyone; Avril quite liked her.
But… for so reason, Avril always felt she looked familiar. Perhaps it was just her imagination—after all, distinguishing the faces of Eastern people was… wait! The girl suddenly rembered; she had seen her in the “Gilmore Girls” TV show, hadn’t she? Yes, the Asian friend of the lead character Rory Gilmore, Ryan Fushan, was played by her, and she had even won an Emmy Award?!
Avril couldn’t help rubbing her temples, a nearly A-list TV actress actually working as a maid for Adrian, and for several years at that?!
“Hey, what’s up, Vini?” Adrian, noticing her movents, imdiately asked with concern.
“She…” the girl gestured towards the door, and after struggling for a while, finally managed to ask, “She’s an actress too, right?”
“Nakama Yukie? Of course,” Adrian spoke with ease, “She’s acted in quite a few TV shows and movies, like the Japanese-style horror movie ‘Ju-on’ series, or that close Asian friend role in ‘Gilmore Girls,’ even winning an Emmy Award for it. Her popularity might be average here, but in Japan she has countless fans.”
As expected… Avril sighed, forthrightly asking, “Have you slept with her?”
“Do you want the truth?” Adrian raised an eyebrow.
“I already know the answer.” Avril rolled her eyes, feeling foolish for still harboring a sliver of hope; she’d been working here for several years as a maid, lingering around this Playboy, how could she possibly not have slept with him.
“Ask away, Vini,” Adrian clearly noticed her emotional shifts and imdiately put down the manuscript he was holding, “You know, I’m very willing to answer any questions you might have.”
“I…” Avril made a few hand gestures, hesitated for a mont and finally gritted her teeth, “Why, Ed? Why do you always chase after won, why can’t you… be like other n… and be faithful to each relationship? Why are you always like… that monkey in the fable you told about, always wanting to grab the good corn, but no matter how much you grab, you can only keep one.”
She bit her lip, staring unblinkingly at him, eyebrows slightly furrowed—clearly worried about him. So Adrian didn’t make a joke in response, he just shrugged, thought for a few minutes, and then asked, “So, do you want the artistic answer or the vulgar answer?”
“I want to hear both.” Avril paused, then promptly replied.
“Well, the artistic answer,” Adrian paused, “is about a female manga artist from Japan nad Saimon Fumi—you don’t need to worry about how to pronounce her na; just know that she’s famous for drawing romance manga. She described the love between n and won precisely: for won, love is like playing a moving piece of music in the room; for n, it’s more like hanging a beautiful painting on the wall. In one room, many paintings can be hung, but only one piece of music can flow at a ti.”
This taphor was so simple that almost no thought was needed to grasp it, especially for Avril, who loved music and singing. Consequently, she bit her lip hard.
“And the vulgar answer,” Adrian continued as he ruffled the girl’s hair, “is that reproduction is always a human’s primary need, which, through millions of years, has been deeply etched into our DNA. n always try to spread their DNA as widely as possible, while won always look for n who are excellent, who can protect them from harm, to pass on their DNA. It’s human instinct, although the beauty of humans lies in our ability to overco instincts to create miracles. Yet, this deep-seated instinct that subtly influences you isn’t so easy to overco. That’s one of the reasons why it remains a male-dominated society. Perhaps one day, these differences and instincts will be overco, but that day is definitely not today. So, if you can’t resist it, you have to accept it.”
To be honest, Avril hated these long talks filled with complex terms, which gave her a very complicated and mysterious feeling, as if filled with philosophical speculation. She disliked complicating simple things. Hence, she often preferred to follow her instincts, which made her feel particularly conflicted at the mont.
If she were to follow her instincts, what was the point in saying all this? In essence, wasn’t a woman really just looking for a capable man who could care for and protect her?
“I’m not that shallow. Even if he has saved , it wouldn’t do!” Avril thought angrily when there was a knock at the door, and Yukie’s slightly anxious face appeared before them.
“Ed, Leighton is here, and she seems… not so well,” Yukie said simply.
Adrian raised an eyebrow, glanced at Avril, and stood up, “Vini, wait here for a minute. I’ll be right back.”
After saying this and smiling, he followed Yukie out of the study without looking back, causing Avril’s eyebrows to furrow, and she clenched her hands into fists. Even though Yukie had put it simply, she could guess it must be a woman’s na.
Damn it! Avril cursed in her heart, suddenly stood up, and walked out of the study toward the staircase. She had to see who this woman was who could make Adrian leave her hanging like this!
She moved quickly and reached the staircase just as Adrian was descending to the living room, where he opened his arms to the girl in the center, “Hey, Leighton, what brings you here today? Is sothing wrong?”
The girl looked a couple of years younger than her but was about the sa height, maybe even slightly taller, with long, golden-brown hair and very beautiful. She just stood there, seemingly about to collapse at any mont. But as soon as Adrian spoke, she turned around and rushed into his embrace, holding him so tightly, as if trying to rge herself into his body.
Then, the girl’s body began to tremble slightly, the tremors growing larger, followed by sobbing sounds that grew louder and louder until they turned into loud crying.
“It’s okay, nothing is going to hurt you, I’m here, it’s alright,” Adrian was initially stunned, then he hugged her, gently patting her back while repeating comforting words and gave Yukie a look; soon, everyone except him and her and Avril, who was hiding at the top of the stairs, had left the living room.
Feeling perhaps that she was safe, the girl in Adrian’s arms cried even more intensely. The grievous crying erased the jealousy that had risen in Avril’s heart, replaced by sympathy and curiosity—what could have happened to make her cry like this?
At the sa ti, Avril sighed internally in complexity. She had seed quite calm earlier, otherwise, Yukie wouldn’t have said she seed “not so good.” But she could no longer hold back in front of Adrian, which was telling. And Adrian just held her, continuously whispering comfort, very patiently…
Finally, the girl’s crying subdued, but she clung to him, unwilling to let go. Adrian whispered sothing into her ear, then picked her up in his arms, turned, and began walking upstairs. Avril at the stairway entrance suddenly panicked; she didn’t want to intervene at this mont, but looking around, she didn’t know where to go. Before she could decide, Adrian had already carried the girl nad Leighton upstairs.
Luckily, the girl had been sobbing into Adrian’s chest all along without paying attention to the surroundings, naturally not noticing Avril at the staircase entrance. Although Adrian noticed her, he didn’t speak, just giving her an apologetic look to ask her to step back.
Without thinking, Avril nodded, but after watching him take the girl into the study, she beca hesitant. She was very curious about this girl. What had happened that she had to run to Adrian? Even though so things were almost certain, why did she choose to go to Adrian? Didn’t she have friends or family?
Especially when she thought of what Adrian had said before, she felt particularly upset, so she paced a few steps back and forth and eventually sneaked up to the door of the study. Conveniently, the door was not closed, so she couldn’t be blad for eavesdropping.
“They say I’m the daughter of a drug dealer, Ed, they say I’m the daughter of a drug dealer!” The girl’s intensely sobbing voice suddenly reached Avril’s ears, startling her.
“Calm down, Leighton, calm down, my dear, it’s okay, we all know, that’s not true,” Adrian soothed repeatedly, that nickna making Avril uncomfortable for a while, but she still listened closely from outside.
“Don’t be afraid, Leighton, I’m right here beside you, no one can hurt you,” Adrian continued to assuage her softly, “Now, tell , what exactly happened.”
Amid the continual sobbing, the girl began to speak haltingly. Although occasionally disjointed, Avril outside managed to piece together a simple story. This girl, nad Leighton, was an actress and also attended Burbank High School as the captain of the cheerleaders. Her mother had been arrested for drug trafficking and had conceived her in prison. Originally no one knew, but last year a new batch of students entered the school, and a very pretty girl joined the cheerleaders. Traditionally, she gave her a tough ti, not expecting the girl to hold a grudge.
This girl first pretended to be friendly and beca her friend, then kept drawing information from her. Because she ca from a wealthy family, she could gather a lot through connections. Thus, she learned all about her family background. After a cheerleaders’ competition, she imdiately spread the word around the campus. The situation got increasingly bizarre as rumors spread, even claiming she helped her mother sell drugs at school. Eventually, the principal personally called her into the office to ask if these assertions were true, even implying that it would be best if she voluntarily stepped down as cheerleader captain.
The friends she had made at school also started distancing themselves from her, and her mother wasn’t concerned about her studies, only urging her to land more prominent roles. Although she had a brother with whom she was very close, he had been bed-ridden for years. As such, Adrian was the only person she could confide in, and that’s why she had co here.
What hateful people! Avril cursed silently in her heart. Schools never lacked such pretentious jerks, whether in Canada or during her exchange in Los Angeles. No matter where, she had encountered plenty of such girls, proudly condescending at first and utterly unprincipled. Especially in Los Angeles, one guy looked down on her and often made jokes about Canadians behind her back. But once her debut album exploded in popularity, he imdiately started sucking up to her.
While she was fuming outside, soone suddenly tapped her shoulder. She looked up to see Adrian, who had co out at so point.
“Sorry, Vini, today might…” he began apologetically, gesturing and speaking in the quietest voice, not inquiring into her eavesdropping.
“It’s okay, I understand.” Avril shrugged her shoulders. Although sowhat annoyed, she wasn’t a petty girl, especially after hearing such a tragic tale. If she was to be angry, it should be at this playboy in front of her.
“Then I’ll be going back now,” she said.
Adrian smiled, leaned in to kiss the corner of her mouth, but didn’t offer to walk her out.
Avril didn’t mind, simply giving him a warning gesture to tell him to wrap things up quickly before she turned and left.
This had to have been prearranged by him, coining such coincidental occurrences. On the way back ho, a cald-down Avril thought so, yet the softness touched inside her heart was not so easily cald. Rubbing her arms, she could still feel the safety of the ti he had held her, rolling through the streets…(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welco to vote for it on qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
Reviews
All reviews (0)