The coffee table in the living room was piled high with three large plates of fried chicken and two boxes of pizza. On the floor nearby sat two bottles of cola and three dozen beers. Five young people sat around the coffee table, enjoying their dinner—which was also their first formal celebratory meal since moving in—while also shouldering the important mission of congratulating Hugo on landing his second role since 1992."Don't you have another roommate living upstairs? Why not call him down to join..." Hugo looked at the lively scene in the room and only then remembered that the fourth floor also had a three-bedroom, two-living-room layout, and before Joseph and Carl moved in, someone had already occupied one of the rooms.Carl shook his head. "He's not here. In the two days since we moved in, I've only seen him once. He's not home most of the time. He seems to be a music student, but I don't know if he's from the Musicians Institute or the University of California, Los Angeles."When they first met, Hugo thought Carl was a bit stiff; otherwise, he wouldn't have been abandoned by his previous two Actors and left on his own. But later, he realized that Carl was actually quite sociable, and his personality was even more lively than Joseph's, though he was very serious about work and prone to being stubborn. After spending the last two days together, Carl's talkative nature actually helped him and Hugo grow closer."A music student?" Hugo raised an eyebrow and looked at Alex. "You wouldn't happen to have a background in music, would you?" As he spoke, his gaze drifted toward the old, dilapidated piano.Alex immediately understood Hugo's teasing. He waved his chicken leg repeatedly. "That was left behind by the previous roommate. He said a few keys were broken and it couldn't be played anyway, so there was no need to take it. I've just left it there and haven't thrown it away."After finishing, Alex looked at Hugo and suddenly remembered his creative work from the night before last. "Actually, you seem more like someone who plays music. If you want to use it, you're welcome to anytime."Alex's words immediately piqued the interest of both Carl and Charlize. In fact, the entertainment industry was never lacking in multi-talented people, but very few possessed true talent in every skill. Hugo already had good potential in acting, which defied the "handsome guy law." Could he also have musical talent?Now it was Hugo's turn to wave his hands. "No, I don't play the piano." But he forgot he was holding a slice of pizza, and as a result, he accidentally shook the toppings off the pizza, which fell onto his jeans and even spilled outward, causing Joseph and Alex, who were sitting on either side, to jump up immediately.Hugo hurriedly tried to pick up the toppings, but Charlize immediately stopped him loudly. "Hugo, your hands are so greasy, don't smear it everywhere! Use a paper towel!" Her sharp voice startled the four grown men. Charlize realized she might have overreacted and quickly gave a salute. "Sorry, I have OCD."Seeing Charlize's serious and tense expression, Hugo chuckled shyly. He took the paper towel Charlize handed him, picked up the scattered toppings, and threw them into the trash can before casually saying, "Are you sure it's not just a germaphobe thing?""Oh, no, no, it's not that exaggerated." Seeing that everything was cleaned up, Charlize returned to her previous state. Noticing that all four men had their attention focused on her, she quickly changed the subject. "Hugo, you said you don't play the piano? Is that for real?"Hugo saw the feigned urgency in Charlize's eyes, as if she were extremely interested in the topic. He knew she wanted to change the subject. He chuckled but didn't call her out on it, going along with the flow. "I can play, but I play very badly, so I'd rather say I can't play to avoid embarrassing myself.""So what if you embarrass yourself? A handsome guy playing the piano is a scene countless people dream of." Charlize breathed a sigh of relief and continued the conversation with a smile.Hugo looked surprised. "You aren't still dreaming of some princess-and-prince fairy tale, are you? That's so cheesy.""So what? I'm a woman, and you're a man. Don't you know that men's and women's brains are wired differently?" Charlize didn't refute him, but she didn't admit it either. She just crumpled the paper towel in her hand into a ball and threw it directly at Hugo. Unfortunately, the paper ball was too light and crashed halfway there.Carl, sitting nearby, saw that Hugo and Charlize seemed to be having a real argument, so he quickly changed the subject. "Joseph, when does Hugo's new movie start filming?" This was one of the important reasons for tonight's dinner: Hugo was picking up the tab."Filming starts in Burbank. We got word today that it's next week. However, Hugo still needs to go for costume fittings, so it might be pushed back a day or two." Joseph had been thinking about this too, so he didn't hesitate and spoke directly. "Right, we're going over to sign the contract tomorrow, and after that, we'll meet with Rob, Jack, and Demi. I assume it's for script practice.""So soon?" asked Alex."It's not that fast. We've only just confirmed the male lead, so the schedule has already been delayed." Joseph had a heavy workload at the company today. "Jack has another work contract on hand, a movie called Hoffa directed by Danny DeVito, so the shooting schedule will likely be quite tight.""The Danny DeVito from 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' and 'Terms of Endearment'?" Carl was a bit surprised. Joseph nodded. "When did he start directing?" Danny DeVito was a famous Actor who could be seen in many classic works; it was unexpected that he had started working as a director as well.Joseph shrugged. "'The War of the Roses' is a work he directed."Now it was Carl's turn to be surprised. "The War of the Roses" was a nominee for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy at the 47th Golden Globe Awards, starring Michael Douglas, and was widely acclaimed at the Berlin Film Festival that year. "My bad." Carl immediately said obediently. As an agent, missing such important information was truly inexcusable."See? I told you Hugo would definitely get this job, right? Right!" Alex said excitedly, amused by Carl's dejected expression. "Oh, by the way, Hugo, how much is your salary for this project?""How much would 'Vanity Fair' pay for this information? Don't sell it for less than five thousand dollars." Hugo teased Alex with a laugh. He figured that by tomorrow, the news of Hugo beating Tom to become the male lead of "a few good men" would be on the front pages of major newspapers, and Hugo's salary would certainly become a focal point. After all, this wasn't a supporting role like in "scent of a woman"; a lead Actor's salary was naturally significant.Unfortunately, Hugo didn't know exactly what the salary was either, because he knew he didn't have the luxury of being picky, so he left everything to Joseph to handle. So Hugo looked at Joseph, who raised his thumb, index finger, and middle finger—three fingers—and then said with slight regret, "But they still weren't willing to budge; they wouldn't give you any profit sharing."This meant that Hugo would earn a salary of three million dollars for starring in "a few good men," returning to the level of his "hudson hawk" days. This was mainly because Hugo was much, much cheaper than Tom, so Columbia Pictures wasn't too harsh. However, regarding box office profit sharing, Hugo currently had no box office draw, so Columbia Pictures was naturally unwilling to let Hugo take on box office risk through profit sharing, and even less willing to share the profits they had already secured."Wow." Alex's exclamation basically represented what Carl and Charlize were feeling at that moment. In fact, Hugo himself was also amazed. Not long ago, during "scent of a woman," he had been surprised to receive a salary of five hundred thousand dollars. Now, stepping into a lead role, he immediately had an income of three million dollars; it was truly astonishing."Don't think too much about it; progress always comes one step at a time." Hugo patted Joseph's shoulder with satisfaction, signaling him not to dwell too much on the salary aspect. "You know, I'm still the Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Actor, yet I've managed to get another job offer—that's what's most important. I can imagine that Tom and Brad's faces definitely don't look good right now."Joseph quickly understood; he had been too greedy. So he also smiled. "How does it feel to defeat your opponents head-on and land the role?"Hugo stuffed the pizza in his hand into his mouth, chewed vigorously, and then raised his hands like a bodybuilder to show off his biceps. "Please call me Popeye the Sailor!" After saying that, Hugo even jumped up, mimicking Popeye's stance and gait.This comical action immediately made everyone laugh until they were doubled over, the atmosphere incredibly harmonious.After dinner was finished and all the drinks and beer were gone, it was already eleven o'clock. Joseph and Carl went back upstairs, and Alex went to take a shower first, leaving only Hugo and Charlize in the living room to clean up the mess.Hugo gathered the pizza boxes one by one, but he noticed that the box in front of Charlize was filled with mushrooms. It seemed Charlize didn't eat mushrooms, but surprisingly, she had eaten all the pizza crusts, which was different from most girls, making Hugo chuckle involuntarily."What are you laughing at?" Charlize noticed Hugo's expression and asked.Hugo shook his head. "Nothing." He still had a smile on his face. "Are you really okay living here?" Hugo hesitated for a moment, but ultimately asked the question that had been weighing on his mind."Heh, you're not a virus, so what does it matter?" Charlize stopped what she was doing and glanced at Hugo. Their gazes met in the air. This time, no one dodged, and there was no awkwardness; they just looked at each other quietly. Charlize continued, "If you're worried about that one night, don't be; it's all in the past. I think we're better suited to be friends. Look, aren't we getting along quite happily? People say there's no such thing as pure friendship between men and women. What do you think?"Hearing Charlize's words, Hugo felt a tiny bit of disappointment, but he quickly recovered and said with a smile, "I don't think so—at least that one night wasn't pure friendship."This made Charlize laugh generously, and she nodded in agreement. "But perhaps it was exactly because of that night that it was proven that we are best suited to be friends. So, with that kind of interlude, maybe we can have a pure friendship after all?"Hugo tilted his head and thought for a moment, then curled the corner of his mouth and gave Charlize a light punch on the shoulder, saying in the tone of a street-smart African American, "Yo, homie." After saying that, he even tugged at his pants, trying to appear casual, but it didn't look like it at all, which immediately made Charlize laugh until she was doubled over, nearly flipping the pizza box in her hands.
