King of Hollywood
Chapter 499 - 220: Thoughts

Chapter 499: Chapter 220: Thoughts

Children are always easy to satisfy, let alone an injured girl. If you touch the softest part of their heart and give them a sense of security that no one else can offer, they will accept you, even if it might be a bit premature. A girl is still a girl after all, no matter how precocious she is there are limitations to her experiences, which is why mature men are liked by young girls, although this one is somewhat different.

"Speaking of which, I like that line; I think it highlights many young people’s shortcomings, especially those who think too highly of themselves." Natalie, lying on the bed, flipped through the book in front of her and remarked sentimentally. She wore a thin blouse and shorts that reached her thigh, her fair and reasonably proportioned legs swinging back and forth.

To be honest, her legs weren’t very pretty — her calves were a bit short. Not to mention tall women like Kate, Charlize, Julia, and Nicole, even Sarah had nicer legs than hers. But in that moment, they still radiated youthful energy and allure, making her seem playful and cute, especially with her soft medium-length hair, which complemented her charm perfectly.

"Take Michelangelo for instance. You must know a lot about him—his life, his relationship with the Pope, his political revenge, and his sexual activities, right? But you absolutely can’t tell me what it smells like inside the Sistine Chapel; you have never stood under that beautiful ceiling and looked up..." She closed the book, shut her eyes to recall, and then read the passage vividly with perfect cadence, clearly loving that speech.

"Don’t you think," Adrian, leaning against the head of the bed and reading a book, asked with a smile, "that this passage also includes you?" He was dressed simply in a T-shirt and pants.

After sorting out things for "The Expendables," asking about the post-production of "Mulholland Drive," and several other forthcoming films, he went to New York. A visit to his uncle’s place was a frequent necessity, especially since the last piece of the puzzle was within reach, not to mention "America’s Next Top Model" shooting on location in New York. Of course, most importantly, it was to rendezvous secretly with Natalie.

At first, Natalie couldn’t believe he had come to New York and smugly told him she wouldn’t be fooled. Adrian was puzzled and after thinking carefully realized he had arrived on April 1st. As such, he first pretended to admit that he hadn’t fooled her, then, just like before, when night fell, he ran to the large tree across from her house to call her. You could imagine how thrilled and annoyed Natalie was.

She had just finished shooting "Good Will Hunting". Although there were some scenes left, they wouldn’t be shot for a while, so she was living a normal life at home and casually took the opportunity to sneak out.

"I’m not like Will; I know what I want," Natalie turned to face him and said with a proud tone, "and I keep working towards my goals, never giving up because of fear of loss or momentary setbacks!"

Spring sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling glass, making the suite in the hotel remarkably serene—if you didn’t speak. Everything seemed wrapped in an indescribable air, warm and peaceful. Different people have different ways of getting along; when with Natalie, either they played games and horsed around, or they sat close together, reading and talking. The frequency of making love was also much lower than with other women.

"Of course, of course," Adrian burst out laughing, "my Little Nada has a clear mind, unwavering determination, and intelligence far beyond her peers. These are all elements of success."

Her performance in "Good Will Hunting" was truly impressive. Despite being relatively petite and not even twenty years old or out of high school, she had done plenty of preparation and homework, no less remarkable than a real MIT student. Both director Gus Van Sant and co-star Joaquin Phoenix had nothing but praise for her.

"Moreover, I believe," seeing displeasure in Natalie’s eyes at the term "Little Nada," Adrian raised his voice, "if you were Skelter, keeping Will tied down would be very easy."

"I’m not the type to chase after male leads," Natalie’s attention was diverted, and she sniffed slightly, "hesitant in action, always worried about losing this or that. While his family situation plays a part, his own avoidance is also a reason. Stressing on either aspect is unreasonable. Sturdy, mature, decent in action, talented, considerate, capable of persistence, and compromise—that’s the best kind of man."

"Oh—," Adrian drew out his words, "I’m very grateful indeed."

Natalie froze for a moment, then immediately realized what was going on. A flush of red crossed her cheeks as she glared at him with a look of displeasure for seeing through her, before she turned away, her throat feeling like something had gotten stuck, causing a constant light cough. Despite this, she still turned around and leaned her back into Adrian’s embrace.

"Speaking of which—" it was a while before she spoke again, "even though I didn’t manage to get permission to film inside MIT, I’ve become very interested in them. Maybe next year I could try applying to study there?"

"Really?" Adrian raised his eyebrows, "But that’s an engineering school, and I remember you previously said you wanted to go to Harvard University."

"So what? MIT also has excellent liberal arts departments, and it’s not like I don’t have my strengths." Natalie turned around, her earlier emotions having subsided, "You know, I’m currently finishing a paper on biohydrogen production. My teacher thinks the idea is very novel, and if it can be made more rigorous and experimentally verified, it could be published in a professional scientific journal!"

She spoke with excitement and confidence, quite charmingly.

"Really? Can you give me a rough idea of what it’s about?" Adrian put down the book in his hand and propped his chin earnestly like he was really asking.

"How should I put it? Enzymes, as biological catalysts, can trigger many chemical reactions. Specific enzymes can synthesize and decompose specific substrates—the substrates are the compounds that enzymes act on and catalyze, usually represented by the symbol S—and my idea revolves around using sugar as an intermediate..." Natalie tried her best to explain her paper in simple terms.

Adrian listened intently, very carefully, and after Natalie finished, he nodded, "Honestly, even though I didn’t understand much of what you said, it sounds pretty impressive."

"Natalie!" Natalie immediately called out in anger, but her lips twitched as if she wanted to laugh, and in the end, she could only purse her lips and stare at him with a funny expression, clearly annoyed.

"Okay, no jokes, I haven’t studied biology and my understanding of these scientific terms is limited. But, since your teacher says it qualifies to be published in a professional scientific journal, it indeed shows that your paper has some value. So, you’re right, Nada, you’re smart and you do have advantages." Adrian gently caressed her cheek as he spoke seriously.

Natalie finally showed a delighted smile upon hearing his words, but soon she sobered up again and sighed with a bit of melancholy, "It’s still not enough. The paper was co-authored, and it borrows a lot from other papers. There are too many methods for bioproduction of hydrogen, and this paper only discusses one of them. Its practical value isn’t that significant."

Although Adrian wasn’t familiar with biotechnology, he understood what Natalie meant, similar to how he heard in the past about a young prodigy in the United States who built a nuclear fusion reactor. It sounded impressive but wasn’t really that practical. Those kinds of mini reactors are something every research institute working on nuclear energy has the blueprints for, and any researcher with good technical skills could build one. However, these mini reactors aren’t very valuable; they consume more electricity than they generate and are mainly just for young people to practice on.

So it could only be said that the young man in the news was technically skilled and had a thorough understanding of the professional knowledge, showing potential worth nurturing, but calling him a genius wouldn’t be meaningful. There are not too many of such talented individuals, but they are certainly not rare, and the young person in the news had, at most, an age advantage. Natalie’s paper was similar, holding some reference value, but mainly it would likely be published in a professional scientific journal for the specialists to read and then casually stored in a cabinet forever. So her dissatisfaction was quite normal.

"It’s enough, Nada, you’ve done very well," Adrian embraced her at this moment, "especially for an actor, you are more outstanding than most. Sometimes, what we want isn’t always the most suitable, like the Ivy League—if you’ve decided on your own path."

Natalie looked up at him, biting her lip, then a smile slowly spread across her face, "You certainly have a way with words, Mr. Adrian Cowell."

How could she not understand what he was saying, especially when he made it so obvious?

"Thank you, Ms. Natalie Hela, as a dockworker, you are quite something," Adrian praised as he straightened his body.

"As a dockworker?" Natalie blinked in confusion, her brain not catching up.

"Yes, to have such refinement is really surprising," Adrian kept a straight face, but his tone was extremely exaggerated, as if he had seen a Martian.

"You bastard, you did that on purpose!" It took a while before Natalie, sucking in a breath of cold air, sat up on Adrian’s body; despite the cushion, some parts still hurt.

"I fell harder than you." Adrian sighed from beneath her, slightly lifting his body with a mixture of dissatisfaction and resignation.

"This is what you deserve for making fun of me!" Natalie huffed heavily, her hands braced on Adrian’s lower abdomen as she leaned forward to look down at him with a superior gaze.

"What happened?" Adrian asked with concern, his tone only making Natalie more uneasy and flustered.

Of course, she quickly controlled her emotions, burying them deep inside, and put on a smile tinged with apology, "Nothing, just... suddenly didn’t want to... I don’t know what came over me."

Adrian didn’t say anything but just looked at her for a while before standing up with her in his arms, "Alright, no worries, if you don’t want to, I won’t force you. I guess I’ll just take a cold shower later."

Natalie burst into laughter, glancing at his aroused part before her cheeks colored, but she quickly collected herself and began dressing, "Then I’ll be leaving first, I’ve been out for quite a while."

Adrian glanced at the clock, it was not yet 4 PM, but he did not try to keep her, only nodding, "Alright, I’ll see you out."

"No, don’t bother," Natalie refused again, "I can go back by myself, you know, my father..."

She spread her hands again showing an apologetic expression. Having an actress daughter, Evan became much more knowledgeable about the entertainment industry, especially since he wasn’t thrilled about his daughter’s profession. Aware of Adrian’s increasingly notorious playboy reputation, he deliberately warned his daughter, and Adrian’s trips to Long Island to see Natalie had noticeably decreased.

"Alright, be careful on the road." Adrian nodded, seemingly unperturbed.

"Goodbye, Adrian." Natalie picked up her things, walked to the door, and suddenly tiptoed to wrap her arms around Adrian’s neck for a warm kiss before waving goodbye as she left the suite.

Upon leaving the hotel and hailing a taxi on the street, the young woman finally exhaled deeply and looked outside with some worry.

"Where to, miss?" The taxi driver, who had been waiting quietly, looked through the rear mirror and finally spoke.

"Oh, sorry, Long Island, White Street, number 249," Natalie quickly responded, coming back to her senses.

The car started soon, and luckily, the New York traffic was manageable today, no major jams occurred, and the taxi swiftly exited Manhattan and began crossing Brooklyn.

"This is really great, if it were ten minutes later, we might have been stuck for hours," the driver, a white male in his thirties, chatted nonstop, while Natalie responded now and then half-heartedly.

"By the way, miss, are you an actress?" he suddenly asked.

"Why do you ask?" Natalie was slightly surprised.

"Because you look familiar, not the regular kind of familiar like the people who frequently ride my taxi, but like someone I’ve seen in movies or TV," the driver explained seriously.

Natalie chuckled lightly, "You can really distinguish feelings that clearly?"

"Of course, it’s something I’m very proud of," the driver boasted, then suddenly frowned, his mouth opening and closing a few times, as he struggled to recall something from his memory.

"Ma... Ma... Matilda! You are the little girl from ’The Professional’!" he finally exclaimed.

"Wow, you have a good memory, sir," Natalie looked at him somewhat astonished, although she hadn’t changed much, she was only twelve at that time.

"Of course, I really love Miracle Director’s movies; I’ve seen every one of his films more than five times," the driver declared proudly.

Just as he mentioned "Miracle Director," Natalie’s lips involuntarily twitched, then she bit her lip with her teeth. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)