At a church at the foot of Beverly Hills, on the afternoon of December 9, Dakota Johnson's baptism was held right here.
What should have been a very private occasion turned unexpectedly lively because of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith's celebrity status, along with Simon and the others attending. As one of old Hollywood's established families, the Griffiths invited a total of fifty friends and relatives to the little one's baptism. The reporters who caught wind of it were in no way fewer than the guests.
It was already the final sprint for Batman's promotion. Huge posters for the film had appeared at famous locations in major North American cities, and the main cast and crew were racing nonstop from place to place.
Compared to everyone else's frantic schedule, Simon hadn't made any public appearances at all during this time.
So the moment Simon stepped out of the car with Janet outside the church, flashes exploded around them like a storm. Even though this was a baptism, the reporters couldn't help themselves, firing off questions as they snapped photos.
Simon had no intention of stealing the spotlight. He only offered a polite smile and led Janet into the church without pausing.
After exchanging brief greetings with the guests, and after Janet presented a carefully chosen gift, everyone moved into the church hall.
Deep down, Simon had an instinctive resistance to religion. He simply sat patiently on the pews and watched the ceremony play out. Beside him, Janet looked solemn and reverent. From time to time, she would lean into him, and every so often her eyes would flick over, studying his expression.
After the ceremony came the baptism party.
It was held at Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith's home in Beverly Hills, not far from the church.
Outside, they got back into the car and followed the line of other vehicles toward the Johnsons' house.
As the sedan started moving, Simon felt Janet drifting again, leaning against him as if lost in thought. He smiled. "Want a baby now?"
Janet looped her arm around him, rubbing against him. "The little one is so cute."
"Then after New Year's, we'll get married. We'll do it before your birthday."
Janet tipped her head and bumped it lightly against his shoulder, a faint note of dissatisfaction in her voice. "So careless. You didn't even kneel down and propose."
Simon gently pushed her back a little, then reached into his suit pocket and rummaged. Very quickly, he produced a glittering diamond ring. With Janet's eyes going wide, Simon braced one knee on the rear seat and raised the ring.
"Miss Johnston, will you marry me?"
In the front row, the two bodyguards in the driver and passenger seats froze. Neil Bennett, who was driving, reflexively hit the brakes, then immediately realized it was wrong and released them, lifting the partition between the cabin and the front.
The car lurched slightly, and that jolt snapped Janet out of her daze.
Her beautiful eyes blinked rapidly a few times. Seeing Simon still waiting, she nodded like a pecking chick. "Mm mm mm."
Simon smiled and caught the hand she tried to lift to her mouth, then slid the ring onto her ring finger. "From now on, you're my fiancée."
Janet lifted her hand and stared at the ring, then turned her head to look at Simon. After a moment, she pursed her lips. "I still haven't even processed it."
Simon took her small hand again and pressed it to his chest. "I'm nervous too. Feel it."
Her palm felt his heart hammering, fast and hard.
Janet listened to it for a moment, then leaned into his shoulder. "When did you buy the ring?"
"Sophia hinted it to you, didn't she?"
"At a time like this, I have to pretend I don't know anything."
"All right. During Fashion Week in September, I asked Sophia to start looking," Simon said. His big hand tightened gently around Janet's. "We searched for a long time before picking this one. Is it too big? It's ninety-nine carats. It was bigger originally. I had them cut it down to ninety-nine."
Janet pulled her hand back to study the heart-shaped diamond, wider than her finger. "Why ninety-nine carats?"
Simon said, "In Japanese, the number ninety-nine means forever."
"Mmm…"
Janet hummed like a cat and melted against him, soft and content.
As the two most watched guests at the party, Simon and Janet barely arrived at the Johnsons' home before the conspicuous new diamond on Janet's hand drew attention. The news spread fast.
Before Dakota Johnson's baptism party even ended, familiar friends and relatives were already calling one after another.
After the party, Simon and Janet returned to Malibu and had dinner together at a restaurant. Janet never took the ring off, letting it gleam on her finger, and a pack of reporters quickly swarmed the place.
"Mom, he just proposed to me. How could we possibly schedule a wedding that fast… hmph, Dad's the one pushing, isn't he… I know, I know… He's busy, you know how he is, always a mountain of work. He even proposed in the car… Yes, in the car. I almost couldn't help refusing him, the little brat. Not formal at all… Christmas? We'll probably go back, but maybe not. His movie premieres on the twenty-second, and there's a lot going on lately… Mm mm, okay, bye-bye, love you."
Inside the villa on the west side of Point dume.
Janet, curled beside Simon, hung up the phone and tilted sideways so she was lying across his lap.
Simon pulled the documents out from under her head and casually draped them over her pale throat, stroking lightly. "Going to Australia for Christmas should be fine. But it's summer there now. It won't feel like Christmas at all."
Janet twisted her neck slightly, caught his hand, and slipped it down into her neckline with a bright smile. "Then how about I have my parents come to North America?"
Simon shuddered. "No. Let's not."
Janet chuckled. "Scaredy-cat."
"It just feels weird. And we should be the ones going over."
"Mmm."
After that, Janet quieted again. She lay on her back and studied him for a while, then reached up to touch his clean-shaven chin. "Little brat. Do you really want to marry me?"
Simon's eyes were still on the documents, but he nodded without a second's hesitation. "I do."
"Then," Janet's eyes flickered, "before we get married, do you want to sign a prenup?"
Simon nodded. "Yes, but a simple one. If you want to leave me, you get nothing. If I want you to leave, I pay you ten billion dollars."
Janet froze, then asked sharply, "How much money are you going to have in the future?"
"I'm hoping for one trillion."
"Yen?"
"Dollars."
Janet yanked his hand out of her neckline and pushed it away, pouting. "You really are a little brat. You'll have a trillion, and you think you can send me away with ten billion."
Simon put on a pained expression. "Fine. Add another ten."
Janet cupped his hand, brought it to her mouth, and bit it lightly. Her eyes shone as she looked up at him. "Little brat, I don't want your money."
"Hm?"
Janet reached over and pressed her palm to his chest. Feeling his heartbeat, she said softly, "If one day you ever try to drive me away, I'll take your heart with me." [TL/N: For some reason i can't explain, i have a feelings that she'll really do it.]
Simon finally lifted his gaze from the pages. He met her eyes for a moment, his voice just as soft. "Does it have to be that ruthless?"
"Would you drive me away?"
"I won't. I'm lazy. If I marry one woman, I never plan on switching to another."
Janet's lips curved. She withdrew her hand from his chest, then took his arm and pressed it against her own chest, her voice turning syrup-soft. "Little brat, how about we make a little brat right now?"
Simon paused. "That would be better after we're married. Otherwise your dad will definitely be angry."
"He won't," Janet said, shaking her head. Noticing his expression, she added, "If you don't like kids, then we won't have them. As long as we're together, that's enough."
"It's not like that," Simon said, lifting a hand to stroke her smooth cheek. "It's just that, at the very least, we should do some pre-marital checkups."
Janet looked at him, puzzled.
Simon's thoughts spun quickly, and he said, "You know about my time at Watsonville Psychiatric Hospital. I'm worried it might be hereditary for our little one. So I want to prepare in advance."
Janet's eyes stayed bright, but her voice turned simple and a little hoarse. "Okay."
As she spoke, the phone rang again.
Janet showed no interest in answering. Her dislike of phone calls still hadn't changed. Earlier, Simon had picked up first, confirmed it was her mother, and only then handed the receiver to Janet after a few sentences.
Simon leaned forward, picked up the cordless phone, and pressed the talk button. "Hello?"
There was a clear hesitation on the other end, then a voice spoke.
Simon paused too, then quickly steadied himself. "You're looking for Janet, right? She's here."
He handed the receiver to the woman beside him. "Your aunt."
Only then did Janet cover the mouthpiece, wriggling until she found a more comfortable position. "Hi, Iceberg. Did Mom tell you already… Yes, heh heh heh, now the old man's going to nag you even more… No, not yet. It's only a little past eight here. I've been answering calls nonstop. You? It should be afternoon there. What are you busy with… Anyway, he said he'll come back. We'll see…"
Janet might not like answering calls, but she was extremely good at long, rambling chats.
She talked with Veronica for more than twenty minutes before finally hanging up. Then she narrowed her eyes at Simon with a bright smile. "Auntie told me to say hello to you."
Simon flicked her small nose. "Go shower. I'll come up after I finish reading these."
The next day was Sunday. The hottest topic across North America's major media was undoubtedly the ninety-nine-carat heart-shaped diamond ring on Janet Johnston's hand.
Simon didn't want the matter turned into a media frenzy, so he told his PR team to refuse all interview requests. Over the weekend, he simply took Janet to San Francisco for fun, and incidentally picked out a mansion in the hills of Woodside, west of Palo Alto.
Once the nineties began, he would definitely be going to San Francisco often.
Simon's current wealth still wasn't enough to support building the Westeros Tower in Manhattan, but it was more than enough for him to buy property in more cities.
Because of work, he still had to return to Los Angeles on Monday.
It was already December 11.
Last Friday, December 8, Daenerys Entertainment's final self-distributed film of the year, Driving Miss Daisy, premiered. Its opening screen count was even more conservative than My Left Foot, only thirty-two screens. This film would rely entirely on word of mouth and awards season.
Before that, during the week of December 1 through December 7, among Daenerys Entertainment's releases, the Halloween-season hit Scream 2 was in its sixth week. It brought in another $6.47 million for the week, pushing its cumulative gross to $93.06 million. The teen horror's momentum had slowed sharply, but it was still steadily marching toward the $100 million mark.
After two weeks of the Thanksgiving corridor, early December entered the quiet season. In its third week, Look Who's Talking Too dropped 33% and took in another $21.71 million.
Even so, in just three weeks, Look Who's Talking Too had already surged to $84.32 million domestic.
Based on last weekend's performance, this unexpectedly explosive offbeat family comedy could break $100 million this week.
One hundred million in four weeks, with the hottest Christmas season still ahead, meant its domestic total would conservatively land above $150 million, and might even surpass $170 million. Neither Daenerys nor Warner Bros. had expected this quirky, warm family comedy to perform so brilliantly.
Because they hadn't expanded screens to chase the wave, The Gucci Documentary second-week box office inevitably fell 17%, bringing in another $7.92 million. Its two-week total stood at $17.47 million.
Compared to the box office, the real impact was elsewhere. Thanks to relentless promotional spending, Gucci's North American store sales broke the $10 million threshold in the first week of December. It was the first time since Gucci entered the North American market that its weekly sales topped $10 million.
To expand The Gucci Documentary influence as much as possible, Highgate Pictures was urgently negotiating with Gucci headquarters about European distribution for the documentary.
Daenerys Entertainment headquarters.
In his office, Simon was flipping through several box office reports from the past two weeks when his assistant opened the door and walked in.
Though Jennifer acted as if nothing had happened, Simon could still see the obvious disappointment and unease on her today. So before she could speak, he took out a small box and handed it to her.
"Here. A gift for you."
Even though he had warned her that night in Athens, seeing the news of him proposing to Janet still hurt.
Jennifer hesitated when she saw the little box, then reached out and took it, opening it with cautious curiosity.
Inside was a diamond ring.
A ring almost identical to the one on Janet's hand.
"Same as Janet's, ninety-nine carats. It's for you. And this has to stay secret. If Janet finds out, I might end up sleeping on the floor."
Jennifer went blank for a moment. She instinctively shook her head, wanting to return it, but her thoughts didn't seem to obey. She still held the box in her hand and forced out, "It's too expensive. I can't take it."
In yesterday's papers, most articles valued Janet's ring at over ten million dollars.
This one had to be the same.
So expensive. How could she accept it?
"Put it away. Don't let outsiders see," Simon said with a light smile, smoothly changing the subject. "What is it?"
Seeing how relaxed he looked, she made up her mind just as quickly.
She had already given him everything. She couldn't have nothing at all.
And money, for him, was hardly a problem.
If one day he wanted it back, then she would give it back.
With that thought, Jennifer closed her fingers around the box and said, "Bill Gates's assistant called just now. Gates will be in San Francisco tomorrow, and he wants to invite you to lunch."
Simon frowned slightly. "Do you know why?"
Jennifer said, "I think it's because Westeros Company has been increasing its Microsoft holdings recently."
Simon thought for a moment, then a faintly amused smile appeared. "In that case, tell him I'm too busy, and have him come to Los Angeles instead. Also, tomorrow, send my Boeing 767 to San Francisco to pick him up."
Jennifer was puzzled at first. He almost never lent out his private plane. But seeing the smile at his mouth, she quickly understood. She nodded, turned, and left the office.