King of Hollywood
Chapter 659 - 67: On the Way Home

Chapter 659: Chapter 67: On the Way Home

The plane gave a slight shudder before settling into a smooth flight. Lost in thought, Adrian was jolted back to reality, and he let out a long exhale before calling out, "Ali, are you there?"

"I’m sorry, Mr. Adrian, you might have forgotten, Ms. Ali is on vacation." A young woman in a sky blue air hostess uniform approached. She was about five feet six inches tall with a well-proportioned body, long hair that was brown with hints of black, and features that were not delicate but carried a peculiar exotic charm. She was of Indian origin.

"Parineeti Chopra?" Adrian recalled before pulling her name from his memory.

"I’m pleased you remember my name, sir," the young woman smiled and nodded slightly. "What can I do for you?"

"A latte, thank you," Adrian returned the smile. "Ali must have briefed you on all the specifics."

"Yes, please hold on," replied the hostess named Parineeti and then walked away.

After watching her graceful back for a while, Adrian’s gaze returned out the aircraft window. The sun had already set amidst the dim clouds, yet it wouldn’t fully disappear with the flight’s progress—or wait, had he gotten the time difference wrong? Well, even though he had flown this route countless times, he had never bothered to remember this minor detail. It would have been inconsequential for anyone else, but for a man known for his astonishing memory...

Leaving that aside, Adrian was once again departing from London, having stayed a bit longer than usual this time to take Little Emma around Europe and to persuade Columbus to start preparing "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", which inevitably took some time. Besides, he had to check out how "Billy Elliot" was doing at the UK box office. Similar to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", which had its release in Los Angeles before opening in both the UK and US in January 2001, it received generally favorable reviews. After all, it was an inspirational movie, and in terms of quality, it was no less than the original, but when it came to specific characters...

The performances of the lead actor, Jamie Bell, were consistently praised by the media in both the UK and US, who found him youthful and charismatic, having done quite well. However, the reviews for supporting actress Nicole Kidman were totally divided.

"Somewhat flawed, the transition from aloofness to warmth doesn’t entirely convince, but this does not detract from her outstanding performance," opined the United States media.

"Changing the role to a British character wouldn’t affect the plot and would make it more appealing and provide more room for performance," was the view of the UK media.

In fact, the British media admitted that Nicole’s performance in the movie was quite good, but they were not pleased because, once again, it was a story of an American saving a Briton. When you think about it, it seems exaggerated, but the British have always been like this, or rather, this has always been the sentiment of mainstream British society, perhaps a reflection of an old Empire’s discontent with its decline.

That was irrelevant to Adrian. He didn’t mind as long as they didn’t misconstrue "Billy Elliot" to be terrible. So Adrian also took the time to meet with Baz Luhrmann and sought advice on a musical film script he had—after all, this was not his first time doing such a thing.

Then, noting the time, Adrian realized that Junior Bush was about to take the oath of office, and he also needed to prepare a new single for Avril. She had been practicing piano quite well under his pressure, and if this single was as well-received as her previous work, then they could start preparing her debut album. And so, Adrian began his journey home.

"Your latte, Mr. Adrian," Parineeti came over with the tray, placing the coffee on the small table along with some snacks.

"Thank you," Adrian took a sip. "Hmm, quite good, Ali’s standard to be 80 percent—by the way, are you Indian or Indian-American?"

"Mm... I’m Indian," Parineeti hesitated before answering, not sure why he was asking that.

"Please, have a seat," Adrian gestured invitingly, "Don’t be so formal, I just want to find someone to chat with. You know, without Ali here, and my secretary away, not having anyone to talk to on a long flight can be very lonely."

After much hesitation, Parineeti sat down, her slightly awkward demeanor made her seem somewhat adorable: "Alright, Mr. Adrian."

"You can call me Ed," Adrian smiled, "Are you really Indian? Sorry, I’m not questioning the truth of what you say, but from your accent to your behavior, you’re no different from an average American."

Parineeti couldn’t help but smile, lightly brushing the hair by her ears: "I was born in Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, India, but I spent most of my childhood in Peshawar, Pakistan, then came to the United States when I was ten. I attended elementary and middle school in Massachusetts, then high school in Iowa. I guess I’ve been living in the US for almost ten years now."

"I see," Adrian nodded in understanding, "So why did you choose to become a... flight attendant?"

He had used the more formal title of "flight attendant," not expecting such a question to suddenly cause Parineeti to purse her lips, her eyes growing misty with undeniable sadness creeping at the corners of her mouth.

"Did I say something wrong? If so, I apologize," Adrian hurriedly said, handing her a tissue.

"Thank you," Parineeti said in an almost imperceptible voice, taking the tissue but not wiping her eyes; instead, she crumpled it in her hand several times before managing to control her emotions, "I’m sorry, Adrian... Ed."

"It’s alright, sometimes there are those few words that accidentally touch the deep... scars in people’s hearts," Adrian observed her carefully, "I hope you won’t be too sad."

"I originally wanted to become a doctor. New York University had already accepted my application, but..." Parineeti gave a helpless smile.

"Did something happen at home?" Adrian raised an eyebrow. Becoming a doctor in the US is a high-income profession, but it’s not easy to qualify as one. You need to earn an undergraduate degree to then apply to medical school, and after at least four years of study—with tuition costing at least forty thousand US dollars per year—even passing graduation doesn’t guarantee a hospital job. Internships can take another five or six years to earn official qualifications, and many middle-class families that do well can’t afford it.

And that’s the best-case scenario. Competition for medical schools is fierce; even with excellent grades, it’s no sure bet. While enrolled, you have to pass various exams each year, and even after graduating, there’s no guarantee of being accepted by a hospital. And during the initial three to four internships, there won’t be a salary. The pressures of previous life’s college entrance exams are incomparable to this.

Oops, talked too much. Following Adrian’s question, Parineeti seemed to realize something, her hesitant expression returning.

"Sometimes, burying pain in your heart isn’t appropriate. When you ignore it, it might gradually heal, or it might worsen and even fester," Adrian said softly, looking at her, "So sometimes it’s necessary to confide in someone to alleviate one’s own pain and pressure. If you wish, I can be your listener."

His gentle words disarmed Parineeti’s few defenses. She sniffled lightly, and though her eyes were still misty, she began: "My father was an Indian born in Pakistan, and my mother was born in Tamil Nadu. They were both doctors in the army, often saving others. I’ve always been proud of them since I was little, and both my brother and I wanted to be doctors in the future. Then, last year... no, the year before, a serious conflict erupted between Pakistan and India in Kargil... My parents were there at the time... and... my brother happened to be there too..."

As she spoke, she covered her mouth, choking up, and Adrian couldn’t help sighing: "That’s truly a terrible thing. I hope you won’t get caught in endless..."

"I haven’t, Ed, I really haven’t hated anyone," Parineeti lifted her head, her eyes shimmering with tears in a way that was truly moving, "I just hate war, I just... don’t want to go back, so I joined the flight attendant training."

"You are kind and strong, Parineeti, your parents and your brother will be happy for you in Heaven," Adrian said with a sincere tone.

Then, he changed the subject and diverted her attention with some trivial matters, quickly restoring her emotions to normal.

"Good heavens, it’s been so long already, do we need anything for dinner?" After chatting for quite a while, Parineeti finally noticed the time and quickly stood up to ask.

"Anchovy fillets and a vegetable salad, with some beans, and you can handle the rest," Adrian answered after thinking for a moment, then suddenly laughed, "Would you like to have dinner with me?"

"Dinner?" Parineeti made a noticeable retreating gesture, she had been a flight attendant on Adrian’s personal plane for slightly longer than the other two younger girls and knew a bit about Adrian’s style.

"Yes," Adrian said as if he hadn’t noticed her movement, maintaining his previous calm and gentleness, "And call Elisha and Geri too. I’ve never had a proper conversation with you all since you came on board."

Without waiting for Parineeti’s answer, he pressed the communication device to contact the flight attendants, "Hey, Geri, Elisha, are you available right now?"

"Of course, Mr. Adrian, is there anything you need?" A lively voice responded quickly.

"You’re the one who joined us with Geri last December, right, Elisha? It seems I haven’t had an in-depth interaction with you two. Parineeti is about to start preparing dinner, and I’d like to invite you to join us, what do you think?" Adrian glanced at Parineeti beside him as he spoke.

There was silence on the other end for a moment as Geri and Elisha were likely discussing, but Adrian didn’t have to wait too long, as Elisha’s lively voice soon rang out, "It would be an honor, Mr. Adrian."

"See?" Adrian smiled and spread his hands towards Parineeti, who sighed and then went to prepare.

Though she hadn’t expected this, she turned out to be more captivating than the other two. Watching her leave once more, Adrian thought to himself. An Indian girl raised in the US, not nourished by curry and the waters of the Ganges, the world is truly wonderful.

Adrian’s private plane had always been staffed with four flight attendants, and at first, he hadn’t laid a hand on them, even if women offered themselves, so the atmosphere among everyone was relatively calm. But everything changed when Ali Larter arrived; due to certain preferences, Adrian had taken her into his confidence, disrupting the equilibrium among the flight attendants, and it became increasingly severe with his favoritism.

Yet Ali took very good care of him and was quite capable, managing the affairs on the plane orderly even without the cooperation of the other flight attendants behind the scenes, so when she patiently complained to Adrian in the second half of last year, he immediately terminated the contracts with the other three and hired younger girls instead, which is why he had told her: I will consider your feelings.

Of course, it also served as a subtle warning to Ali, now that she was in charge of all the details on the plane, if she didn’t get along with the newcomers, regrettable things would happen. What Adrian didn’t expect was that in the process of rehiring the flight attendants this time, he would find several girls who surprised him, like—

"You mean, if you had gotten the role in ’Popular Mechanics for Kids: Survival Expert,’ you might have become an actor?" Adrian asked with a smile to the pretty girl with golden shoulder-length hair sitting to his left.

"Maybe. I did some child modeling when I was younger, so I thought about becoming an actor in the future. That’s why I auditioned for ’Popular Mechanics for Kids: Survival Expert.’ I didn’t expect to be rejected in the end. It was disappointing. I bet I performed better than everyone," said Elisha Cuthbert from Canada, cradling a flute of champagne. Her blue stewardess uniform made her very attractive. "Now I don’t think about those things at all. Being a flight attendant isn’t bad."

"Indeed, these things just have to take their own course. I also acted in some TV shows and movies when I was in high school, but it really wasn’t all that interesting." Another girl, also holding a glass, joined in. She had deep brown wavy long hair and a goose-egg face that was quite comparable to Sarah’s, with stunning blue eyes. Standing 5 feet 9 inches tall, plus her high heels, she was nearly as tall as Adrian.

"Really, what roles have you played? I might’ve seen you on TV or in movies." Elisha suddenly became interested.

"Oh, don’t even mention it, they were just minor roles, so I don’t want to be an actor anymore," Geri Soboski said with a casual shrug of her shoulders. "I’m too tall, my friends say if I can’t be an actor, I should be a model, but I think being a flight attendant isn’t too bad either. Let the actors go to hell."

"I must remind you both that sitting before you is a great director," Adrian said with a cough.

The two girls were stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing, followed by Elisha nudging Geri, "If you want to realize your once dream, there’s a good object of prayer right before your eyes."

"That should be told to you," Geri retorted without politeness, "Ed is a director, not a priest, a pastor, or a rabbi."

The antithesis in her statement immediately made everyone laugh, including Parineeti nearby who rarely spoke. Adrian’s affable disposition made it easy for them to call him by his first name and joke around without so many reservations.

Because of Adrian’s butterfly wings, the life trajectories of people had changed. Elisha Cuthbert, the beautiful and sexy Canadian girl, was supposed to have made her mark in ’Survival Expert,’ even invited by Hilary to visit the White House and later establish a solid career in Hollywood with ’24.’ But now for some unknown reason, she had been rejected and eventually enrolled in an aviation academy to become a flight attendant.

Geri Soboski had an even bigger change. She was supposed to enter show business because of her performances as a girl and change her name to Lily Soboski, gaining non-stop attention at the end of the ’90s. However, the well-received supporting roles she got, ’Never Been Kissed’ was produced ahead of time, and ’Eyes Wide Shut’ was taken over by Adrian with another girl cast, so she too entered the aviation academy and became a flight attendant like Elisha.

Of course, all of this was known to Adrian. What he didn’t know was about Parineeti Chopra, who was supposed to return to India in year 2000 to study medicine, then win the Miss India and Miss World pageants and enter Bollywood as an actress of song and dance movies. But now due to her family being destroyed, she stayed in the United States and also joined an aviation academy to become a flight attendant.

They all returned to the side of the person who indirectly caused all this in a strange way. If Adrian had deliberately picked Elisha and Geri, he certainly didn’t know about Parineeti. The completely closed film market of Bollywood, where foreign movies can’t get in and domestic movies can’t get out, left few people with any impression, let alone study. So it was only fate that had arranged this.

The dinner went very well. The three girls all enjoyed chatting with Adrian, and the distance between them narrowed quite a bit. Especially Parineeti, although she had faced a major family tragedy, after all, she was the same age as Elisha and Geri and had lived so long in the United States without any barriers. Plus, after opening up to Adrian, she had improved a lot and smiled more, so...

(To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to qidian.com to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)