King of Hollywood-Chapter 570 - 291 Explanation

Yawning, Kate groggily opened her eyes. Besides feeling quite rested, she also had the sensation that someone was watching her. Suddenly, a chubby little face appeared before her eyes. Kate was startled at first but then burst into laughter. If it weren’t for the fact that last night’s "exercise" had been a bit too much, leaving her too lazy to move, she would have already reached out to rub the little head, "Hey, sweetheart, what are you doing here?"

Lily blinked her eyes, her hands covered her mouth and she didn’t say a word. She just stood by the bed, scrutinizing her mother with a mix of curiosity and confusion.

"What’s up? Did something happen?" Sensing that something was off with her daughter, Kate finally propped herself up and asked.

Because of her movement, the person beside her also woke up, and Adrian’s voice followed, "Who are you talking to, sweetheart?"

"Um..." Kate didn’t know quite what to say for a moment, then Adrian wrapped his arms around her from behind, and after planting a kiss on her bare, white shoulder, he realized their daughter was standing right in front.

"Um... Hi, sweetheart... good morning..." Adrian scratched his head in slight embarrassment and stealthily pulled the blanket up to cover Kate above her chest.

Lily kept her mouth covered, silently staring at her mom and dad while she also kept glancing behind them, seemingly waiting for something. Adrian was about to speak when two other voices piped up.

"Is it already daylight?"

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

Then Sarah and Charlize sat up, one on each side, hugging Adrian. Almost instantly, the sleepy look on their faces disappeared and likewise, Kate and Adrian’s expressions also slightly changed as they remembered the events of the previous night.

Finally, Lily lowered her hand from her mouth, raised her chin, and looked back and forth between her parents and the two aunts, with an intensifying curious look. The corners of her mouth turned up as her eyes darted around, seemingly coming up with some mischievous idea.

"Um, Lily, could you please leave us alone for a minute?" Adrian eventually broke the silence, while he gently tugged on Sarah. Charlize, being shielded by Kate, didn’t show too much, but Sarah was in a position that could easily provoke a wardrobe malfunction.

The little one’s eyes sparkled, but she remained silent, simply continuing to survey him and them. Eventually, she crossed her arms and propped up her chin, mimicking her father’s usual contemplative pose. Her youthful face was adorable, but now was not the time to appreciate that, so Adrian quickly spoke again, "Lily, be a good girl. We still have things to do, and you shouldn’t come in without knocking."

Hearing her father’s words that implied blame, Lily visibly pouted and hummed quietly, but obediently turned to walk out. She took a few steps, looked back, took another couple of steps and looked back again. After this went on three times, she reached the door, opened it, and looked back at them with her head cocked to the side, then hopped out with her nose in the air.

Meanwhile, the four people piled on the bed heaved a sigh of relief in unison.

"It’s all your fault, Ed, you sex-obsessed jerk!" Kate, now dressed, was speaking in hushed but intense tones at Adrian on one side of the living room, "I had made it clear I didn’t want to, but you still dragged me into it! That’s bad enough, but you didn’t even lock the door!"

"Wait a moment, I admit not locking the door was my oversight, but after you said no, it was Sarah who insisted on pulling you in, okay?" Adrian, also dressed, raised his hands in defense.

"I don’t care about that, all I know is it’s your fault!" Kate retorted somewhat unreasonably.

"Wow, when did you become... or rather, you all..." Adrian squinted his eyes with a smirk as if he thought of something, but Kate didn’t care, standing her ground with a "we’re in this together, so what?" attitude.

"Alright then, let’s not talk about that," Adrian changed the subject again, "actually, we don’t have to worry, it’s just an accident, Lily is only four, she won’t understand."

"Really?" Kate sighed and finally let go of her aggressive stance as she turned to look at her daughter, who was having a great time playing with Sarah, and then at Charlize, who was occasionally interjecting a comment or two while flipping through the newspaper.

"What if she thinks this is normal because of what happened today? What if she ends up like me, lying beside some man with several women, what then?" She asked, somewhat distractedly.

"I won’t let that happen, Kate, I promise," Adrian replied seriously, dropping his smile.

Kate didn’t speak, just watched Lily, who was laughing every now and then on the couch.

"Hey, sweetheart, having fun?" Adrian walked up to his daughter, and Sarah tactfully moved aside.

"Fun." The little one nodded repeatedly, with her eyes smilingly curved into crescents.

"But Daddy isn’t very happy," he then said solemnly, "My dearest daughter, my most precious treasure, you did something very impolite today."

Lily’s mouth immediately turned down at the corners, and she looked up at her father with a hint of grievance, "Really?"

"Of course, we’ve talked about this before. You need to knock before entering a room. What would you think if I didn’t knock and just went into your room?" Adrian gently prodded.

"I’d be very happy!" the little one cheered, raising her arms triumphantly.

Adrian couldn’t help but cough dryly; alright, she’s only four years old and doesn’t understand what privacy is.

"But when you grow up, you won’t feel the same way. You’re going to have your own secrets that you won’t want Mommy and Daddy to know about," Adrian explained, only for the little one to shake her head fervently, "No, I will never have secrets."

"But you have to grow up..."

"Then I won’t grow up!"

Seeing Adrian at a loss for words because of Lily’s obstinate antics, laughter began to ring out quietly around the room. Sarah covertly covered her mouth, Kate, who had been feeling anxious just before, now curved her lips upward, and even Charlize, still engrossed in the newspaper, sighed and shook her head. Even Yukie, who was carrying a plate, couldn’t help but bow her head to hide her grin.

Adrian purposefully frowned and gave them a stern look, but it had no effect. Everyone, be it Kate, Sarah, or Charlize, didn’t seem to take him seriously. Yukie quickly left as soon as she finished serving the coffee without hesitation. In contrast, the little one started giggling when her father looked frustrated.

"Okay, let’s not talk about this anymore. In time, you’ll understand," he said after pulling Lily into his arms and playfully rubbing her head as a form of light punishment.

Then, Lily, who let out a few shrieks during this "torment," finally asked the question she’d been meaning to ask, and the one her father had been waiting for, "Daddy, why do you, Mommy, Aunt Sarah, and Aunt Charli sleep in the same bed?"

Despite the other three being occupied with their own things, their ears were all pricked up at this moment.

"Why can’t we sleep in the same bed?" Adrian countered his daughter with a question.

"Mmm... mmm..." Surprisingly, after humming for a while, Lily actually did give an answer, "Isn’t it true that only mommies and daddies sleep on the same bed?"

After this was said, Charlize didn’t seem to mind much, but Sarah couldn’t help showing an uncomfortable expression. However, Kate took her hand immediately, and all of this was seen by Adrian. That’s right, no mistake, they had similar personalities, which is why they got along so well. But now was not the time to think about those things, so he shifted his attention back to his daughter.

"Yes, most of the time it’s like that, but there are exceptions, like when a relationship reaches a certain point, it’s natural to sleep on... the same bed." Adrian said meaningfully, looking at Kate and the others with a smile, then as usual, received three eye rolls in response.

The little one still looked puzzled. Adrian then lifted her up to face him: "Anyway, when you grow up, you’ll gradually understand all of this."

As soon as Lily heard the words "when you grow up," she got a bit downcast. Once she became moody, odd ideas would pop up, so her innocent and childish voice immediately piped up: "I want to sleep on the same bed as mommy and daddy, and Aunt Sarah, and Aunt Charli!"

"And Aunt Yukie too," she added after a pause.

If Adrian were drinking water at that moment, he definitely would have spit it out. Meanwhile, Sarah and the others were already casting surprised looks at the little one. Yukie, not too far away, blushed slightly, even Charlize, who had been acting totally unaffected by any of this, reacted similarly, and Kate even glared at Adrian, somewhat angrily.

"Umm—no, that won’t do, dear," for the first time, Adrian felt helpless, "because... we are adults, and adults shouldn’t sleep with children."

"Ah..." The little one’s mouth hung open in disappointment, then with a twinkle in her eye as if she thought of something new, she brightened up: "Then when I grow up I want to sleep with all of you!"

"Ed!" Kate couldn’t help but call out, her gaze nervously sweeping back and forth between Adrian and Lily.

Adrian gave her a reassuring look, then playfully pinched his daughter’s cheek: "Let’s talk about that when you’re grown up."

Seeing the little one was about to say something else, he quickly changed the subject: "By the way, dear, I remember you said the house was a bit too quiet, right? Don’t worry, soon you’ll have either two little brothers or sisters."

Sarah and Charlize had no particular reaction, but at these words, Kate’s expression turned rather unpleasant. Although Adrian had neither spelled out nor hidden Monica and Sophie’s pregnancies, and Kate had never noticed, she did feel a certain pride deep down at being the only woman with Adrian’s child. Now, that exclusivity was about to be broken, and of course, she wasn’t too happy about it.

However, her mood was fleeting, and after all was said and done, she was the first woman to bear Adrian’s child, she was Lily’s mother. That was why she was very dissatisfied with Adrian afterward.

"How could you talk to her about those things? Do you realize what that means? What if Lily actually does that in the future?!" Kate confronted Adrian, who had managed to distract Lily from the topic, with a vehement tone, "You said such things wouldn’t happen, but you’re practically encouraging her to go in that direction!"

Even though Adrian was somewhat worn out from just barely handling the little one—appeasing a child is much more difficult than a woman, as their thinking is more erratic and they can pose questions that are difficult to address at the moment, like about brothers and sisters; the little one was very confused because she had been told before that she came from her mommy’s belly, and that her presence had stretched her mommy’s belly for at least ten months, so she asked why her mommy’s belly hadn’t grown, and then if it was perhaps in Aunt Sarah’s or Aunt Charlize’s belly, creating a bizarre atmosphere in the living room.

In any case, even though Adrian was experienced in dealing with the little one, he still had to exert a lot of effort to finally settle her, only to be pulled aside by Kate right after.

"Don’t be so tense, dear," Adrian said good-naturedly, "She’s only four years old, do you expect a four-year-old to completely understand this complicated situation? As she grows up, she’ll naturally understand, and our job is to guide her continuously so she doesn’t judge based on an immature and naive worldview."

As he spoke, he embraced Kate, kissing her smooth forehead: "You’re her mother, and I’m her father, so when I say I won’t let that kind of thing happen, it definitely won’t."

"If you hadn’t been so complicated from the start, none of this would be happening now." Kate said irritably after a slight struggle, but ultimately, she softened in his embrace.

"I’m sorry," she said softly after a moment, "I got a little too excited."

"It’s okay, I understand," Adrian patted her on the back gently, then smiled again, "Looks like taking on ’Miss Congeniality’ has its benefits for you."

"Huh?"

"You know, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you act so feisty, oh, how I miss that. I really do like it when you’re like that."

"Really? What you truly like is seeing me change from that into being submissive and compromising in your hands."

"Hey, how can you doubt me—though that does sound pretty good—I’m thinking maybe I should start having the nutritionist draft a plan for you and get you more systematically trained in combat skills to prepare for ’Tomb Raider’."

"I’d be up for that, it means I can teach you a lesson whenever I see something I don’t like!"

"Ouch! Easy!"

This incident came to an end, the lesson being to lock the bedroom door to prevent fires, burglars, and Lily when planning to engage in a 4P with Kate, Sarah, and Charlize in my mansion. However, the harvest was just as good; it was the second time catching all three of them in bed together. Although it took some effort to catch Kate at first when Sarah proposed the idea, she turned out to be the happiest player in the end.

They are indeed very similar; they are my finest collection, Adrian mused. But he did not forget to console another woman.

"New Zealand is a beautiful place too, and even though it’s getting into winter, the snow scenery there is definitely no less than Hokkaido, so you must go see it." Holding Yukie in his arms, Adrian kissed her earlobe and said.

"Mm," Yukie nodded obediently.

Although Yukie had gradually become more integrated with the encouragement from Adrian, making some good friends, and occasionally going out for shopping and fun, she was always so meek and gentle in front of him.

"Of course, you can bring the game console; I haven’t practiced in a long time. This is your chance to beat me," Adrian chuckled, "Same old rule, if you lose..."

Saying this, he playfully slapped her raised buttocks, making Yukie’s ears quickly turn red.

Speaking of which, it’s about time to start preparing for ’Ju-on 2’. The film caused a good stir in Japan and North America, earning Yukie a lot of fame. Even though she was still straddling the line between A-list and B-list in Hollywood due to bias, there were quite a few producers knocking on her door. However, Adrian turned down most of them on her behalf. Those roles were still continuations of Hollywood’s stereotyping of Asians, and there was no need for Yukie to take them.

However, there hadn’t been a film role that suited her in the past two years. Even for ’Ju-on 2’, she had moved from the lead actress to a supporting role. Although Adrian had plans for her future, he hadn’t found a solution yet. For now, he thought she might as well look for roles in various TV dramas. With him around, she didn’t have to worry about being stuck in the TV circuit.

After having enough of the various pleasures in Los Angeles, Adrian finally returned to New Zealand. Although he stayed slightly longer than before, the crew’s efficiency was no worse than the last time. The high pass rate of shots supervised by Peter Jackson was one reason; the progress made by other teams was another.

"I’m very pleased to see this, everyone," Adrian announced at the meeting, "Peter is still doing the best job, but the rest of you are doing well too. You haven’t been thinking about adapting this novel to the big screen for years like Peter, nor do you have the clear understanding of the script he has to visualize the appropriate scenes. But you haven’t relaxed your efforts either; you’re still improving, and that’s what I most want to see. You’re doing an excellent job!"

Praise is due where achievements are made, and although the other teams still left much to be desired, they were somewhat better than the previous two times. As long as they kept changing in the direction he hoped for, Adrian would not be stingy, in any respect.

Jackson was still the best one, though Adrian picked out some unsatisfactory aspects after reviewing his scenes. Yet, overall, the quality met his standards impressively. It must be admitted that the man had considerable potential; and even though Adrian was much younger than him, Jackson took his advice to heart and put it into action. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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