King of Hollywood-Chapter 206 - : Good Relations

Chapter 206: Chapter 206: Good Relations

“Alright, Nata, we’ve only shot a few scenes just now,” Adrian quickly regained composure within two seconds and waved his hand dismissively, “Besides, there’s more than one gentleman in front of you.”

“It’s not the same, those were for filming, that was for work. But now it’s rest time, there has to be a minimum boundary,” Natalie said as she puffed out her chest, but quickly stuck out her tongue and hugged her arms back across her chest, looked at the little boy in front of her, and simply embraced him in front of herself as a shield.

“As for Toby, he’s just a child, not like you,” the girl said with a teasing smile on her face.

“That doesn’t seem quite fair…” Adrian leaned against the doorframe, making a gesture, trying to gain the upper hand.

“Filming and life are not the same,” Natalie interjected, “Like in the upcoming scene where Matilda sees her father and stepmother…um…but in real life, I couldn’t possibly do that, could I?”

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At this, she pulled a big, silly face, her mischievous appearance was incredibly cute, leaving Adrian momentarily at a loss for words. Luckily, Charlize came over at this moment: “Ed, everyone is waiting for you.”

“Alright, I’ll be right there,” Adrian nodded, shot Natalie a glance, and – with his index finger and thumb – made a gun gesture at her: Just you wait!

The little girl immediately lifted her chin proudly and gestured downwards with her palm: I’ll be waiting!

Adrian huffed heavily and turned to walk toward the kitchen, but after a few steps, he came back and poked his head through the doorway, “Uh, Nata, could you do me a small favor? A really small one.”

“What, even the great Miracle Director needs my help?” Natalie said theatrically, and then, as Adrian squinted at her, she covered her mouth and giggled: “Alright, I suppose I could make an exception.”

“Thanks, please help me communicate with this little devil. You get along with him the best out of everyone. So please tell him what to do in the upcoming scenes, I don’t want another headache like we had the other day,” Adrian said with an exaggeratedly frustrated tone, and without waiting for Natalie’s response, he turned and walked away.

“You and Natalie seem to get along well,” Charlize suddenly said behind him.

“She’s a very smart girl,” Adrian glanced at her with slight surprise; this was the first time Charlize had initiated a conversation about something other than work in days.

But after breaking the ice, she fell silent again, as if unsure of what to say next. Adrian chuckled inwardly and casually asked, “By the way, you haven’t been resting in your own bedroom these last few days. I got up this morning wanting to talk to you about work, and I found you weren’t in your room.”

Charlize, who had been pondering what to say, suddenly changed her complexion: “What, you think I should stay next to your room? I have to listen to your endless loud moaning? I should masturbate to the sound of that moaning…”

She abruptly closed her mouth and her expression grew even uglier. Unfortunately, the words she blurted out couldn’t be taken back. Thankfully, the nearest crew member was several meters away, and since Charlize had deliberately lowered her voice, probably no one had heard.

“This is really…” Adrian was a bit embarrassed as he rubbed his nose, not quite sure what to say.

“Yes, I was masturbating to the sound of you guys!” Charlize, after staring at him for a while, suddenly clenched her jaw, puffed out her chest, and made an appearance of going all in, “I couldn’t stand your harassment, so I moved across to stay with Ali, is there anything wrong with that?!”

“Uh… of course not…” Adrian smirked awkwardly, gesturing with his hands, glanced at the far-off staff, and then changed the subject: “Alright, let’s get going, it’s time to work.”

The shooting that followed didn’t take too much time; after all, they were only shooting bits and pieces. As for the most coherent part—the scene in the living room showing Matilda’s relationship with the others—because Natalie had communicated well with little Toby as Adrian had instructed, and Adrian had specifically cut down a few of Toby’s shots, it all went quite smoothly.

Charlize, who had blurted out that remark in a fit of anger, quickly adjusted but became even colder, not speaking to Adrian unless absolutely necessary, even if he initiated the conversation. Adrian didn’t have a good solution for this at the moment, so he chose to give her a cold treat.

“From here to here, then a medium shot, got it, Handrey?” Adrian formed a frame with his hands, gesturing to Natalie and Liz, who played her sister, while speaking to the cinematographer.

“Cancel the close-up shot, right?” Handrey asked.

“Yes, we don’t need that close-up, a medium shot will do,” Adrian said as he moved back to where he was standing and retreated to demonstrate the camera’s movement trajectory, signaling the girl to follow along.

“All good?” After another take, he asked his cinematographer. Once he received an affirmative response, he clapped his hands together, “Great, let’s get moving, guys. This shot is complete, and we can wrap for today. So put in a bit of effort. Don’t waste everyone’s time because that’s also wasting your own time.”

Maybe his words had an effect, or perhaps because everyone wanted to rest, the shot was approved after just four takes. Even though Liz had hit Natalie a bit hard at one point, the girl had managed to perform her part well and accepted the other’s apology after the scene.

“Anyway, she didn’t do it on purpose. Gary and Jean also said that these things often happen when filming movies, so you just have to be careful,” Natalie said nonchalantly when asked about the incident after wrapping up.

“You know what I have to say? Smart beyond your years!” Adrian chuckled as he ruffled her hair.

“Hey! Not again, you really think I won’t fight back?!” The little girl immediately shook her little fists and “roared.”

“I’m quite interested to see how you’d fight back,” Adrian folded his arms and lifted his chin, smiling at her with an air of “What can you possibly do to me?”

“You’ll see it coming, dear Mr. Director,” Natalie pretended to crack her knuckles, then suddenly dashed behind him and started pummeling with her small fists. Taking advantage of when Adrian reached out to grab her, she darted back around, grabbing things nearby like prop dolls and other harmless items to hit him with—in a playful manner.

Initially, Adrian was indeed thrown into a bit of a panic, not being able to get serious with a child, and thus appeared quite passive. But as Natalie’s giggling continued, he began to get a little irritated and finally found an opening to grab the little girl swirling around him into his arms. He circled her neck with his arm, trapping her under his elbow and began to ruffle her hair messily, “Is this your counterattack, huh? Is this?”

Her giggles immediately turned into squeals as Natalie began to struggle, but Adrian—who had just been ‘harassed’ by her—wasn’t about to let go so easily, even shaking her cheeks in a playful manner.

“Don’t expect me to concede just like that, Ed! Let me show you what I’m made of.” Natalie, clearly having a blast, giggled as she similarly grabbed Adrian’s face and began to rub it.

The big and the small, the two engaged in a carefree and intimate tussle in the corner, and the crew cleaning up around them exchanged looks but said nothing until a woman approached and cleared her throat.

“Mom?” Natalie, who was in the middle of her fun, was the first to notice her mother and quickly let go with her tongue sticking out.

“Ah… Ms. Shelly…” Adrian immediately let go of Natalie as well, sporting an embarrassed smile, and along with the girl, tidied up his clothes that had been ruffled.

Shelly opened her mouth as if to say something but closed it again, her brows slightly furrowed as she looked at them.

“We were just joking around, your daughter is very lively,” Adrian said, smiling, maintaining eye contact with her straightforwardly.

“Not at all, it was clearly me who taught you a lesson,” Natalie huffed immediately, glancing at Adrian, seemingly disdainful of his effort to sugar-coat the situation for her.

“So you want another go, is that it, squirt?” Adrian immediately raised his fists, assuming a boxing stance.

Natalie quickly slipped behind her mother, making a face at Adrian, “You’ve run out of chances, Ed.”

Seeing Adrian, who was behaving like a big kid, and her daughter, who was acting like a little adult, Shelly couldn’t help but laugh out loud, her earlier surprise and alarm dissipating.

“Alright, Nata, it’s time we headed back,” Shelly patted her daughter’s head and then turned to Adrian, “Thank you for looking after my daughter, Ed.”

“Of course,” Adrian had by now returned to normal, his face bearing a smile very similar to his usual one.

As he watched Shelly leave with Natalie, who occasionally looked back to wink at him, Adrian shrugged his shoulders and checked the time. He took out his phone to make a call but stopped midway as if something occurred to him, evidently planning to say something to Charlize. However, upon seeing his female assistant packing things with a stern face from afar, he gave up on the idea and went back to dialing, continuing with his nightly routine.

Such nights, however, paused temporarily as the “No Reservations” crew arrived in New York. Monica had to dive into the shooting, and recently, there was an increasing number of reporters around “The Professional” crew.

But it was no big deal. They were all in New York after all, making it very convenient to meet up. Besides, he was also the producer for “No Reservations,” so he could just visit the set to see how things were going. Moreover, Adrian could take this opportunity to quietly handle his work, as his job was not just about directing movies. (To be continued, if you wish to know what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com. More chapters are available, support the author, and support genuine reading!)