When I walked out of the cinema, I didn't see Warren and Bema Hardy. They went in late, so they probably hadn't come out yet.
The Chevrolet started and drove towards the northern part of Los Angeles.
In the passenger seat, Nicole asked, somewhat curiously, "Eric, where are you going? This isn't the way back to Beverly Hills, is it?"
"Of course not, this is the way to a place of surprise."
Nicole's eyes lit up: "Then I'll have to look forward to it. Wait, you're not going to do something perverted, are you?"
For Nicole, what happened in the cinema was already bold enough. If it were discovered and exposed, even if the Western entertainment industry advocated sexual freedom, her public image and reputation would instantly collapse.
Especially since she had just won an Oscar Winner, the backlash would definitely be more terrifying than Winona Ryder's shoplifting incident.
"What do you take me for? A sex-crazed demon? Close your eyes, I'll tell you when we arrive."
"Alright, if you dare to mess with me, I'll bite off your little guy!"
The car drove on and finally arrived at a residential area, where middle-class families gathered.
Reporters certainly wouldn't stake out here, and the public safety was relatively good. The house Chen Xing bought was here.
Eric was satisfied with the location, but it was a bit too close. Although the three apartments he bought were in three different buildings,
these three buildings were not far apart, less than a block away.
The car stopped in the parking lot, and the engine was turned off. Eric said, "Open your eyes."
Nicole took her hand away from her face and looked at the somewhat unfamiliar surroundings, her heart growing even more curious.
"Eric, what is this place? What exactly are you trying to do?"
"Get out of the car, follow me!"
Without answering, Eric took Nicole's hand and headed straight for a residential building, taking the elevator to the 8th floor.
By then, Nicole had already guessed what the surprise was, but she still looked at Eric expectantly as he pulled out the key.
Click!
With a crisp sound, the door in front of them opened. Eric made a 'please' gesture: "Welcome home, my dear, this is the love nest I prepared for you!"
With things progressing to this point, Nicole finally confirmed her guess, and with a cheer, she pounced on Eric.
With a hook of her calf, the door closed.
Eric held her, spinning around before falling onto the sofa, and the two passionately embraced and kissed.
After a while, the tongues of the infatuated couple separated. Eric softly said, "My queen, would you like to inspect your territory?"
"Of course, lead the way!"
"Yes, my Queen! But before the inspection, please allow me to present you with the sword of power."
Saying this, Eric walked to the wine cabinet and took out a key with a heart-shaped ring attached to it.
"Nicole, accept it, and you will become the mistress of this place."
"I'll be the mistress even if I don't accept it!"
Nicole haughtily took the key and carefully put it into her bag.
The two began to look around the apartment. In fact, Eric had only been there once. His only instruction at the time was to replace all the furniture inside; he didn't like using other people's leftovers.
The apartment wasn't big, a simple three-bedroom, one-living room, bought for just over 600,000 US dollars. According to Los Angeles' tax rate, the annual tax was just over 10,000 US dollars.
For ordinary people, it might be a huge sum, requiring a mortgage to afford, but for Eric, it was barely a drop in the bucket.
Their villa in Beverly Hills was worth tens of millions of dollars, and its luxuriousness far surpassed this small apartment.
But that was a semi-public area; paparazzi could come, friends could come, relatives could come, and staff could come.
Here, however, would be a secret love nest exclusively for the two of them, and the emotional satisfaction far exceeded reality.
After seeing the living room, kitchen, and bedroom, they finally walked into the bathroom.
Nicole, like a wife, gently helped Eric unbutton his shirt, and with seductive eyes, she smiled and said, "My dear, you won't have to climb walls anymore."
Eric shook his head slightly: "Dead memories are starting to attack me. That wasn't a pleasant memory."
"Haha, I must say I'm very satisfied with this surprise of yours."
"Is that so? Then it's time to talk about repayment. I'm not a generous person; all my efforts require a return, and the return rate must be high enough!"
Eric pinched the woman's chin, looking at her with ill intentions.
"What do you want?" Nicole asked with a smile.
"It's not what I want, but it depends on your performance."
"Then, how about this?"
Leaning close to Eric's ear, Nicole whispered softly.
"OMG! Where did you learn this from?"
"San Fernando Valley, of course. Don't think women don't watch adult movies."
The next day, when Eric opened his eyes, it was almost ten in the morning.
He yawned, looked at Nicole lying on his chest, and couldn't help but smile, gently pinching the slightly reddened breast.
"Hmm."
However, despite the gentle movement, it still woke her up.
Nicole slowly opened her eyes, rubbed her somewhat sleepy eyes, then wrapped her arms around Eric's neck and buried her head back down.
"It's ten o'clock, I should go to the company, my dear."
Nicole mumbled a few indistinct "hmm-hmms."
Her head swayed back and forth on Eric's chest, constantly rubbing against him, like a lazy kitten.
"No, you're the boss, why go to work? Besides, you've worn me out so much, and now you want to just pack up and run?"
Eric brushed aside her messy hair, kissed her smooth forehead, and looking at the unhealed bruises on her body, he felt a pang of tenderness and heartache.
"Alright, then I won't go. I'll spend the day with you."
"That's more like it. This is our first day in our new home, so we must stay for a full day, understand?"
"I'll satisfy you, but what about when we get hungry?"
"I'll cook for you, won't I? Although it's not as good as a restaurant chef, and it might not even be delicious, you still have to eat it!"
"Ah? Metro old man phone!"
Eric was momentarily confused. What kind of strange logic was this?
"I thought you were going to say, 'Although my cooking isn't as good as a restaurant chef, it's still quite tasty.'"
"Hmph! Not tasty at all. I have no talent for cooking. Just tell me if you're going to eat it or not."
"Eat, I must eat! I'll call now and have my secretary send fresh vegetables over. Oh, where's my phone? My dear, please get my phone for me."
Nicole looked back, stretched her long legs directly to the bedside table, picked up the phone, and brought it to Eric.
One could only marvel; her 180 cm height was not for nothing; those legs were truly too long.
In comparison, Gadot's 178 cm height could compete, but the Olsen Sisters' height of less than 160 cm was completely inadequate.
The two sisters, in front of Eric, were like a father holding his daughters' hands. However, precisely because of this, when the three were together, the positions and variations were quite numerous.
He dialed the phone.
"Chen Xing, buy some daily necessities and send them to the new house here. Fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs, milk, snacks, desserts, fruit juice, drinks – send some of everything."
"Okay, boss, which new house should I send them to?"
As soon as Chen Xing finished speaking, Eric quickly covered the receiver, glancing at Nicole.
She had curled back onto his chest like a kitten, feigning sleep with her eyes closed. She probably hadn't heard that sentence.
He inwardly cursed himself for being an idiot. If Nicole found out there were several other apartments, she'd surely use a pair of scissor legs to snap his waist.
"Ahem, ahem, the high-rise at the intersection of Boulevard. Hurry up."
"Okay, I'll be right there."
He hung up the phone, tossed it aside, and the woman coiled around him like a water snake.
"Hold me, my dear. I love it when you hold me."
Eric gently embraced her as she requested, and his large hand unconsciously began to roam up and down.
Slap!
Nicole's hand gently slapped him: "No mischief. Just hold me. Let's sleep a little longer."
A moment later, the beauty in his arms fell back into slumber, her nasal passages emitting even breaths.
Eric, however, couldn't sleep. Even though he had been toiling for half the night, and had only slept a few hours until now, he felt quite refreshed.
"Could it be that the health wine and energy drink really had a chemical reaction? Drinking them together made my body feel more comfortable."
Although he couldn't sleep, with Nicole pressing on him, he clearly couldn't do anything else. He simply closed his eyes to rest and thought about company matters.
In a daze, he heard the doorbell ring. Both of them opened their eyes simultaneously, less than an hour had passed.
"It must be Chen Xing bringing the groceries. My dear, you lie down, I'll go open the door."
At this moment, Nicole seemed to have regained her strength. She pressed him onto the bed and said, "I'll go, I'm the mistress."
Eric laughed heartily, somewhat understanding her psychology.
Click!
The door opened. Seeing Nicole Kidman in pajamas in front of them, Chen Xing and Peter were visibly stunned.
In fact, even they didn't know about Eric and Nicole's relationship. Eric always went alone.
It wasn't until last night that Warren and Bema Hardy were truly the first to see it.
"You're Eric's secretary, Chen, right? Please come in quickly."
"Oh, oh!"
The two nodded like chickens pecking rice. They weren't sure whether the boss and the woman in front of them were serious or just playing around.
All they could do was show full respect to avoid leaving a bad impression.
After a while, Eric walked out of the bedroom in slippers and saw a small mountain of items piled on the floor.
"You bought so much!"
"Boss, most of it can be stored and won't spoil. How about I come regularly to clean and restock?"
"That works. Oh, I forgot something. Have today's newspapers come out?"
Chen Xing took out a stack from behind him and handed it over: "These have been filtered, and the more important news is marked."
Eric nodded: "You two are dismissed. Take the day off and relax."
After the two left, Nicole tidied up while exclaiming, "Your secretary is really well-trained, more meticulous than a woman."
"Of course. Chen Xing has been with me for over half a year and has grown very quickly. After another year or so of training, I plan to give him a significant position."
"What a talent. Will you need to replace your secretary then?"
"I'll definitely get a new one, but I don't like using female secretaries. Don't worry, my dear, the only women who can get within a meter of me are you and my mother."
"Heh heh, you just have a silver tongue. You read the newspaper first, I'll go cook."
Walking to the sofa and sitting down, Eric flipped through today's newspaper, first looking at the movie reviews for the purge.
Although AK Films didn't promote it, thanks to the peculiarity of sharknado, it had thoroughly slapped all United States film critics in the face at the time.
The more film critics said sharknado was bad, the more audiences liked to watch it, and the box office kept climbing, eventually raking in 1.5 billion US dollars, truly shocking these film critics.
With this impressive achievement, sharknado surprisingly entered the 2002 box office ranking at 18th place, creating an astonishing return on investment.
It had only been a little over four months since sharknado finished its run, so its lingering influence was still present. Naturally, AK Films had made it onto some film critics' watch lists.
At last night's premiere, these people rushed into the cinema immediately, and now it was time to reveal the results.
"Let's see what you'll say without being bribed."
Los Angeles Times: "Early this morning, I immediately went to the cinema and chose to watch AK Films' second production, the purge. I must say, the reason I chose this film was partly due to being attracted by the name. I wanted to know what kind of 'masterpiece' this company, which produced sharknado, could release!"
"But despite entering the cinema with an 'aesthetic of ugliness' mindset, I ended up thoroughly enjoying the entire film. I must say, while the purge isn't excellent, it's full of entertainment."
"Its premise is stunning, and while the plot is ordinary, as a commercial film, I think it's competent. If you want your adrenaline to surge, you can choose the purge. Recommended!"
Salt Lake City Entertainment Online: "the purge is undoubtedly a competent commercial film, but I must criticize it. The director and screenwriter completely wasted such a subject matter. It deserves to be explored more deeply. This film could have been made with more depth."
"However, at the end of the film, when people gathered in front of the Washington statue and said, 'God bless the United States, the nation reborn,' my viewing experience of it improved slightly. As a popcorn movie, the purge is worth your 100 minutes."
"And the deepest impression this film left on me was that the screenwriting credit surprisingly bore Eric Cooper's name, which makes me 'very much look forward' to transformers a few months from now."
Truth Daily: "the purge is undoubtedly a film with more hype than substance. The plot is filled with boring violence and killing. If you think about it for a moment, you'll realize countless loopholes. This is absolutely a terrible movie, just like sharknado."
After a quick scan, Eric found that most film critics were relatively objective, mentioning both strengths and weaknesses, at least not completely dismissing it. Their professional ethics were still intact.
Only Truth Daily seemed to be at odds with him. Ever since he rebutted them over the Michael Jackson incident last time, this newspaper had never said anything good about MGM, and now AK Films was also being dragged into it.
However, people's mouths were their own, and he certainly couldn't stop them. He could only trust that the audience's eyes would see clearly.
In the kitchen, there were occasional clanging sounds. Although he couldn't see, Eric could already imagine Nicole fumbling around.
Continuing to flip through the newspaper, a piece of news in the New York Times entertainment section caught his attention.
Eminem released a new single, intended to warm up for a new album. The single was titled "Just Lose It," and its selling point was insulting Michael Jackson.