Chapter 231: You Have to Marry Me

[Chapter 231: You Have to Marry Me]

Eric leaned against the headboard, watching as Elisabeth escaped to the bathroom like a naked mermaid. He had planned to join her for a romantic bath and maybe some morning exercise. But before he could move, Elisabeth re-emerged from the bathroom, tightly wrapped in a towel.

"Eric, I've thought it over. Although we haven't known each other long, I feel you're really quite a decent guy," Elisabeth said, nervously grasping the collar of her bathrobe, her body swaying slightly, yet her beautiful, elongated eyes were fixed on Eric.

Hearing Elisabeth say that made Eric feel a wave of dread wash over him. Before he could react, she mustered up the courage to continue.

"Plus, we slept together last night. I'm not that kind of loose woman, so..."

Elisabeth hesitated for a few seconds, then finally articulated: "So, you have to marry me!"

After saying this, it seemed as if all the strength left her body, and she shrank back a little. But her eyes remained sharp as she stared at Eric, waiting for a response.

Eric sat frozen on the bed for a few seconds, finally sputtering out a few words: "What the fuck!"

...

Then...

In Julia's apartment, Elisabeth sat on the couch, dejectedly recounting what had happened. Julia sat next to her, listening with rapt attention. But when Elisabeth stopped talking about pressuring Eric into marriage, Julia couldn't help but prod her: "Why did you stop? What happened next?"

Elisabeth shook her head, tugging at the white bathrobe tie she still wore, and then stumbled over her words: "Then he... he ran away."

Julia realized she might have misunderstood and instinctively asked, "What do you mean he ran away?"

Elisabeth gestured with her right hand: "He just got dressed super fast and ran out the door. When I realized what was happening, I went downstairs and circled around his place but didn't find him anywhere."

After she finished speaking, the two women exchanged glances. Elisabeth bit her lip, seemingly at a loss about what to do. But Julia puffed up her cheeks and after a moment burst into laughter, slapping the couch: "Hahaha, Eric is such a jerk, hahaha! He ran away, that's just too much!"

"Hey! No laughing!" Elisabeth, blushing from embarrassment, grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and threw it at Julia. "What kind of friend are you? Stop laughing, or I swear I'll cut ties with you!"

Julia took a deep breath, finally managing to calm down and abruptly remembered something else: "So when you called me in the morning saying you had left Eric's place, that was a lie?"

"I... I didn't want to tell you, but, this really was... Ugh, don't get hung up on the details!"

Seeing Elisabeth nearly lose it, Julia quickly reassured her: "Alright, alright, I won't ask. So, what next?"

"What next?" Elisabeth asked.

"Didn't you think about breaking something valuable of his to let off some steam, like a watch or some electornics or something?" Julia believed that a pampered girl like Elisabeth would inevitably do something impulsive given how Eric treated her.

"How could I be that childish!" Elisabeth immediately shot back. But seeing Julia's questioning expression, Elisabeth lowered her head slightly and confessed, "Fine, at first, I was really angry! I mean, even if he didn't want to, he should have said something instead of just running off without a word. So in my impulsivity, I thought about burning down his villa."

Julia gasped and covered her mouth: "That's a bit much, don't you think?"

Ignoring Julia's surprise, Elisabeth continued, "I found a bucket of gasoline in the storage room and poured it all over his living room. Then I looked around but couldn't find anything to set it on fire with. After a while, I calmed down and just came here."

Although Elisabeth never set the fire, Julia felt a shiver run down her spine as she listened.

To be honest, Julia sometimes felt some lingering resentment towards Eric and had toyed with the idea of teaching him a lesson, but even in her worst fantasies, she never imagined taking things that far.

Noticing Julia's reaction, Elisabeth chuckled nervously: "So, what do we do now?"

Julia thought for a moment and replied, "Now's actually a great opportunity. If you ask him for that screenplay again, there's no way he can refuse now."

"If that's the case, what does that make me?" Elisabeth countered.

Julia knew this proud girl would never agree to that, so she shrugged. "Then let's just pretend nothing happened and carry on as usual."

"But I wouldn't know how to face that jerk again."

"Then don't work as his assistant; that way, you won't have to see him for a while. Remember, you already applied for our TG Films company license, right? We could just spend a million or so to make a low-budget film for fun."

"Making something means making it the best it can be; we can't just 'play' at it!" Elisabeth objected. ...

Just then, Drew walked in with a pink crossbody bag, greeting the two women on the couch: "Good morning! Hey, Liz, why are you in a bathrobe?"

"I just took a shower," Elisabeth responded calmly. Women had a talent for lying naturally.

"Oh," Drew replied, barely acknowledging it. She was too preoccupied to care; otherwise, if she looked closely, she would definitely recognize the bathrobe's origin, since Eric's household goods had all been provided by her.

Sitting down on the couch, Drew opened her bag, pulled out a script, and handed it to Julia and Elisabeth: "What do you think of this script?"

The two women grabbed the script and looked at the title, with Julia asking, "The Silence of the Lambs, what does that mean?"

"I feel like I've heard of it somewhere before, seems like it's a novel," Elisabeth replied. Due to having only one copy of the script, both women leaned in together to read.

As Julia and Elisabeth read through the script, Drew poured herself a glass of juice and returned to the couch: "This script is adapted from the novel of the same name by Thomas Harris. Last year, Gene Hackman, who starred in the best picture-nominated Mississippi Burning, bought the rights to this script intending to direct it himself. But that poor guy developed severe manic depression while filming Mississippi Burning, and his psychiatrist advised him to avoid violent subjects, so he ended up having to sell it. I happened to be acquiring scripts lately and thought this story was really thrilling and not too expensive, so I bought it."

After skimming through half of it, Julia looked up tentatively: "Drew, the main character in this script is a woman, you're not thinking..."

"Hey, Julia, don't you want to stretch your acting chops by playing the complex lead role of Clarice?"

Julia quickly shook her head. She felt that the character she played in Steel Magnolias was already challenging enough. "No way! I just read part of the story, and it was terrifying! Who knows, after performing in this, I might end up with some kind of psychological trauma..."

As she spoke, she seemed to think of something, her face turning slightly red as she lowered her head discreetly.

At that moment, after skimming through the story, Elisabeth also looked up: "Drew, I also think this isn't a good idea. This is definitely a script that'll get an R rating; perhaps it'll spark some controversy once filmed. That way, it could seriously affect the image of our film company. After all, TG Films is run by the three of us girls!"

"My thoughts are the opposite, Liz," Drew immediately countered after hearing Elisabeth. "Exactly because TG is our company, I think we should attempt some more unconventional film genres, so people won't think we're just playing around."

Hearing this, Elisabeth and Julia exchanged glances, with Julia immediately retracting her neck: "I'm not acting! And my agent would definitely disagree; my image is mainly in romantic comedies."

"I heard the screenwriter who adapted this script wants Jodie Foster to play Clarice. Julia, don't you want to compete with Jodie Foster?"

"Compete in what?" Julia blinked, a hint of smugness in her tone: "If we're talking about salary, even though Jodie's won an Oscar, her entire filmography doesn't come close to the box office of my Pretty Woman."

"But as an actress, don't you want Oscar validation?"

"Not really," Julia replied, lifting her chin slightly. She had barely been famous for a year, so she hadn't experienced the Oscar buzz yet, and her words were genuine.

Though Drew was a half-cycle younger than Julia, her experience in Hollywood surpassed that of the actress. Hearing what Julia said, she wore a frustrated expression: "If Eric heard you say that, he would regret letting you star in Pretty Woman; you're just disappointing him so much."

"Why should I care about that jerk's disappointment?" Julia replied airily.

Drew threatened, "Would you dare say what you just said in front of Eric?"

Julia then turned her head away, adopting a "I'm not going to argue with a child" expression.

*****

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