Chapter 112: Besties

Sitting at the table, Rick Salomon looked diagonally across at Duke Rosenberg, who was chatting with his father. Duke looked indifferent and sounded calm, just as he had when dealing with Rick back then. It was as if he weren't speaking to a top executive of a major Hollywood studio, but to an ordinary nobody.

His father, on the other hand, showed no signs of anger. Instead, he was incredibly enthusiastic, acting as if the Duke Rosenberg sitting there weren't a twenty-four-year-old kid, but a top-tier director like Steven Spielberg.

Why was it like this? Rick Salomon knew perfectly well. Duke's two movies had been back-to-back massive hits, making him the cream of the crop among Hollywood's rising directors, completely entitled to be taken seriously by every film studio.

Looking at a Duke Rosenberg who had reaped both fame and fortune, then thinking about his own current situation and the words he had used to mock Duke back then, Rick Salomon felt like an absolute joke.

"You don't belong in Hollywood! Give up on being a director!"

Remembering what he had said, Rick Salomon felt his heart fill with bitterness. It seemed those words were much better suited for himself.

The guy he had mocked for not belonging in Hollywood or the directing industry had not only achieved massive success in North America with his first feature film, raking in over 350 million dollars at the global box office, but his second movie had taken it a step further. Its global box office had now firmly crossed 400 million dollars...

Forget newcomer directors—looking at the entirety of Hollywood, how many directors could deliver two consecutive movies with North American box offices over 100 million dollars and global box offices exceeding 300 million?

Even if he wanted to deny it a thousand times over, he couldn't change the reality that Duke Rosenberg was now one of the hottest commercial directors in Hollywood.

The man he had sneered at and doomed to fail had achieved massive success. And what about him, who had been as proud as a lion?

A bitter smile tugged at the corners of Rick Salomon's mouth. His experiences over the past three years could only be described as a nightmare.

He had gone through hell to squeeze into the cast for Alien 3, landing one of the more substantial supporting roles, only for the film to suffer a crushing defeat in its competition against Speed. Not only did the movie turn into a money-loser, but his performance was trashed as worthless by the media and critics. After that, he was given the cold shoulder by his talent agency, CAA. Especially after Warner Brothers rejected CAA's packaging service and turned to support Duke Rosenberg instead, he was essentially tossed into the trash can by his agent, Lovett.

Over the past two years, he hadn't received a shred of resource support from CAA. The two minor roles he did manage to get were only because of his father. He had finally endured until his contract expired this year, officially parting ways with CAA, yet not a single major talent agency was interested in him. The only two agencies that wanted to sign him were merely trying to use him as a stepping stone to Warner.

Unlike Duke's predictably brilliant future, when Rick Salomon looked ahead, all he saw was darkness. All he could rely on was his family—as if he were the one relying on the nepotism he had once mocked.

Shifting his gaze slightly, Rick Salomon noticed the woman sitting beside Duke Rosenberg. She was an exquisitely beautiful actress. Although she lacked the commanding aura of a Hollywood A-lister, her delicate and gentle temperament was particularly moving. He didn't even need to guess to know that the relationship between her and Duke Rosenberg was far from simple.

Over the past year, many tabloids had played up Duke Rosenberg's romantic rumors. The women appearing by his side seemed to get prettier one after another.

As his gaze swept across Naomi Watts's face, Rick Salomon once again thought of himself. The cheerleader captain he had painstakingly pursued had dumped him the moment he faced CAA's cold shoulder...

Now, no matter how he looked at Duke Rosenberg, Rick Salomon felt nothing but a massive gap between them. Yet, he couldn't muster much resentment. People might be jealous of someone standing just a little bit higher than them, but they wouldn't be jealous of someone they could never catch up to, no matter how hard they chased.

To Rick Salomon, the current Duke Rosenberg was already standing at a height he couldn't touch even if he jumped with all his might.

"Duke, if you have the time, come visit my place as a guest."

Hearing the polite remarks before the man left, Duke stood up and shook hands with Robert Solomon, replying just as courteously, "I've been waiting for your invitation, Robert."

"There's one more thing." Robert Solomon turned to look at his son. "Rick is also an actor. If there are any suitable roles in the future, I hope you can lend a hand."

"You're too polite." Duke still wore a courteous smile.

Prompted by his father's meaningful glance, Rick Salomon took the initiative to reach out his hand. It seemed the setbacks of the past two years had matured him quite a bit. "Duke, I did some stupid things back then. I was spurred on by Lovett. I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

Duke gave his hand a light shake. Now that the gap between them was so immense, he didn't have the time or energy to hold a grudge against Rick Salomon. The guy simply didn't qualify as an opponent anymore. He just said politely, "I don't think either of us likes CAA agents."

"Yes, neither of us likes them," Rick Salomon nodded in agreement.

Once Robert and Rick left, Duke sat back down. Those had all just been pleasantries. He hadn't bothered to hold a grudge against Rick Salomon because it simply wasn't worth it. But inviting him to act in his movie? He wasn't quite that magnanimous.

Besides, Rick Salomon wasn't exactly Tom Cruise. Casting him wouldn't bring in any substantial benefits.

As long as the benefits were sufficient, Duke wouldn't mind casting Satan to play God. But if there were no benefits to be had, he wouldn't even want Tom Hanks acting for free.

The banquet soon officially kicked off. Like all business parties, its format and content were much the same. The senior executives of Warner Brothers and Time Warner gave brief speeches, reviewed Warner's glorious history through video footage, thanked the guests in attendance, raised their glasses for a toast, and so on...

Finally, there was the charity event—an indispensable part of elite circles.

Exquisite dishes were then delivered to the guests like a flowing stream. Although no one would gorge themselves at an occasion like this, they still took small bites to taste at the host's gracious invitation.

Ever since the food had been placed in front of them, Naomi Watts had been busy unfolding Duke's napkin and sorting out his fruits and drinks, acting just like an attentive lover or wife. From time to time, she would also offer him a sweet smile.

If he were to choose a girlfriend out of all the women he had encountered so far, Duke felt that Naomi Watts would be the most suitable. It was a pity he had no intention of dating anyone, let alone casually making promises. Without an official girlfriend, no matter how much he messed around, no one could say a word about it. The reverse, however, would be quite troublesome.

In truth, he didn't care in the slightest about the opinions of the media and the public. To a director, that held no weight anyway. But if he had a girlfriend and still made a mess of his private life, his mother would never let him off the hook.

Duke could ignore how the rest of the world looked at him, but he had to take his mother's views into account.

"I'm going to the restroom," Naomi Watts leaned over and said. Duke nodded and pointed toward the terrace. "I'm going to get some fresh air."

Although everyone in the banquet hall implicitly observed the rule against smoking in public, the scents of alcohol, food, women's perfume, and men's cologne all mixed together. Staying in there for too long was bound to feel stifling. Like all banquet halls that hosted large parties, this one was equipped with lounges and terraces.

Duke passed by a few terraces, but he had no intention of going into them. The men and women inside were chatting and laughing; they definitely wouldn't welcome anyone barging in to interrupt their bonding.

Walking to the terrace on the very edge, Duke listened for a moment. Hearing no voices, he pushed aside the curtain and stepped inside. The fresh air brought by the oncoming evening breeze instantly dissolved the stuffiness in his chest.

The terrace wasn't large, only a few dozen square feet. Duke was just about to walk over to the table by the railing and sit down when he noticed there was someone else sitting in the shadow of the curtain. It was a tall woman wearing a silver evening gown.

Duke saw her, and she turned her head and saw Duke.

"Hello, Miss Kidman."

Since they had run into each other, Duke simply walked over and took a seat opposite Nicole Kidman. He picked up an empty glass in front of her and poured himself some wine.

Nicole Kidman gave a nod. Gripping her wine glass, she stared straight at Duke, seeming to be contemplating something.

"Are you and Nami dating?" she asked slowly.

Smiling, Duke took a sip of wine but didn't answer.

"When I first met Nami, she was beautiful and smart. She could make a lot of sacrifices for her friends." Nicole Kidman seemed to be muttering to herself, yet at the same time, it seemed she was speaking for Duke's benefit. "But in the end, everything changed. When I left Australia, I heard from friends that Nami had gotten into romantic entanglements with three different men, so she went to Japan. She worked as a model in Japan..."

She suddenly switched to a secretive tone. "Have you heard about Japan? Their modeling circle is incredibly perverted. I hear they often force the models in the industry to shoot some truly indecent things."

"Maybe Nami had good luck and didn't run into that."

No matter how one listened to Nicole Kidman's words, they sounded contrived. "After I invited her to America, I never heard her mention anything about that."

Putting down his wine glass, Duke furrowed his brows. Although Nicole Kidman's words were subtle, how could he miss the undertone of sowing discord? Furthermore, she was pointing directly at the sorts of things men found impossible to tolerate.

Nicole Kidman slowly stood up, a faint, almost imperceptible smile hanging on her unusually pale cheeks. "If it were me, I'd ask my female companion about it very carefully."

Clasping his hands and resting them on the table, Duke looked at the unusually tall Australian woman and said flatly, "Just now, when I passed by one of the terraces, I heard Mr. Cruise talking to a young lady. He seemed to be very happy."

Seeing Nicole Kidman's face gradually turn cold, Duke had no intention of stopping. "I assume that's the reason Miss Kidman is out here drinking alone in a foul mood?"

"You..."

Nicole Kidman shot Duke a hateful glare before marching away, her high heels clacking rapidly.

"I was just taking a wild guess," Duke muttered to himself, rubbing his chin. "Don't tell me I guessed right?"

Afterward, Duke reconvened with Naomi Watts. After bidding the hosts farewell, they left the Hilton Hotel and drove back together to Duke's apartment in North Hollywood. A long night had only just begun.