Roy was quite pleased to hear the compliment "positive changes" from Laila, but he didn't show it on his face. Instead, he responded with a faint expression, saying, "That's good. I'm leaving." He then slung his well-prepared backpack over his shoulder and walked towards the door.
Laila chased after him to the door, saying, "Won't you stay for dinner?"
"No, thanks." In just two sentences, he had already reached the downstairs. At this moment, Abel was sitting next to Claire, helping her arrange the meal trays.
"Abel, I'm heading back. Call me if you need anything, okay?"
"Sure." Abel nodded, then looked worriedly in Laila's direction. It seemed like the two of them still hadn't reconciled. What exactly was his brother doing?
Roy ruffled Abel's hair and walked out of the door.
Hearing the sound of the car getting farther away, Claire approached Laila and said, "Don't worry, I think he should be doing fine. Boys and girls are different; you can't keep him in a greenhouse forever."
"Maybe." Laila shook her head helplessly. She couldn't help but doubt her parenting methods. Why hadn't there been as much change in him in the past few months as she had hoped?
"Abel, I forgot to ask earlier. Do you know when Roy will finish shooting and come back?"
Abel nodded, "He said he'll be back by the end of December. It seems like he doesn't have many scenes to film, so he can come back earlier."
Thinking about the end of the year, Laila touched her chin and suddenly had an idea.
Roy's fame was already good on a global scale, but it was still less in the East where luxury goods and the Super Bowl were not as prevalent. In her plan, "Pirates of the Caribbean" would be released in Eastern theaters next year. To make good publicity, having Roy, the lead actor, appear at the Spring Festival Gala would be an excellent promotional opportunity.
The more she thought about it, the more she thought it was a good idea. However, this meant that her original plan of using "Legend" couldn't be implemented, so she would need to find another male-female duet song.
So the next day, she knocked on the door of Giacchino's studio again, and the unfortunate musical genius once again faced skepticism about his genius.
With two months left until the end of the year, during this time, Laila either negotiated work with the Eastern team or focused on the post-production of "Pirates of the Caribbean." She was busy, but the smooth progress made her happy.
She was not one to idle away her time, as if all her regrets from her previous life had been transformed into motivation, turning her into a constantly running machine.
The heavy workload left her secretary's office, led by Demi, struggling to keep up. Like withering flowers, they almost collapsed in their seats when it was time to rest.
Her relentless work finally became too much for those around her.
"Laila, you need to rest!" Louise took a folder from her hands and said, "Look at those dark circles under your eyes. Tell me, how long has it been since you had a full eight hours of sleep?"
"Louise, I'm still young." Laila tried to snatch the folder back a few times but couldn't, so she replied helplessly.
"I know you're young, and the whole of Hollywood, the entire United States knows it!" Louise said, concerned, grabbing her hand. "You've just turned twenty-one not long ago, and yet you've achieved things that most people can only dream of in a lifetime. Right now, you need rest, not cramming all your time into work like a robot."
Laila patted her hand reassuringly. "When I'm dead, there will be plenty of time to sleep. Being young is not an excuse to waste time."
Louise shook her head in disagreement. "You'll make Janet worry about you."
Thinking of her mother, Laila couldn't help but laugh. "She's happy now. When Quentin left for a few months, she couldn't bear the separation and went to chase after him. I wonder who denied their relationship so vehemently back then. If only we had filmed that scene."
Louise and Janet had a good relationship even before, and they used to exchange greetings over the phone even when Reynolds was still alive. Later, when Louise became Laila's subordinate, their relationship became even closer.
So after hearing Laila's words, Louise also laughed. "Janet finding someone who loves her again is a great thing. Your father hurt her deeply back then." She didn't want to say too much in front of the child, so she just mentioned it briefly. "How about you and Roy? I see that the newspapers are stirring up rumors about your breakup again."
Laila had long grown accustomed to such rumors. "Let them talk. Besides thinking that we haven't met, they can't provide any evidence."
"Are you really planning to officially break up with him in May next year?" Louise felt it was a pity. In her eyes, Roy was a good young man, handsome, hardworking, and with excellent acting skills. He seemed to have great potential and was a valuable asset to let go.
Moreover, from what she had observed in the past few years working with Laila, there were very few men who could stay by her side, not to mention that she had hardly seen even one male friend. Well, speaking of friends, she had never seen even one female friend by her side either.
For such a lonely Laila, out of all the people who had appeared by her side and hadn't been scared away, Roy was the only one. Didn't that prove that they were a natural match?
Laila didn't know how to respond to her words. According to her original plan, this was indeed how it was arranged. To achieve the best publicity, they would have several rounds of breakups and makeups, ensuring that the hype would continue from May to the summer season, or even throughout the entire screening period. However, things were different now because rumors of their breakup had been circulating for several months, from Roy's signing with Ovitz to the present. As a result, even if they did break up in May next year, the public would no longer have a strong reaction. People who had already seen and heard it all would simply say, "Oh, they broke up, we already knew that last year."
Such a publicity stunt that wouldn't yield results would only make people laugh. Laila didn't want to engage in such unproductive efforts.
As for whether Roy's confession had led her to consider other ideas, she absolutely refused to think about it!