Chapter 34: No Accident
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Two days later, on January 15th, Adrian notified Claude. In order to prevent possible eavesdropping, he asked Claude out to the coffee shop they often visited to reveal the date to him.
“January 17th, before dawn.” As soon as Adrian sat down, he uttered.
“Got it,” Claude gave a short reply, then downed his coffee before he left.
He did not ask about the source of the information, did not verify if it was true, and did not question Adrian, because that was what he promised. It was trust between best friends.
Everything was ready. However, when Adrian went home after their meeting, he was visited by an unexpected visitor—Reggate Marshall, his personal accountant and financial advisor who managed his properties.
Reggate served Adrian’s dad when he was still around, with perseverance and consistency. He was loyal. Apart from his godfather and Claude, Adrian also trusted Reggate immensely, more than he trusted his personal lawyer, Wilson Gardner, who also served his father for a long time.
“This is very inappropriate of you, Mr. Adrian.” Reggate showed a few financial reports as soon as he sat down.
“Just call me Eddy, Uncle Reggate.” Adrian smiled bitterly as he rubbed his temples. Normally when Reggate spoke in that tone, it meant that he had important views to express, but they would not be pleasant to the ear. After all, it was his job to report to Adrian even if Adrian did not want to listen.
Reggate furrowed his brows without saying a word.
“I know what you’re trying to say, Uncle Reggate, but I have my own considerations.” It was obvious why Reggate visited, so Adrian tried to sound as sincere as possible as he did not want to lose an excellent and loyal accountant.
“I’ll be frank, Eddy. You invested too much, and it’s too risky. You’ll suffer a huge setback even if you make a small careless move. Yes, Claude is outstanding in this, but you’re not.” Although Reggate sounded harsh, one could tell from the way he addressed Adrian that he meant well.
“I know, Uncle Reggate. I know that it’s very risky, so I gave Claw the full authority to handle everything,” Adrian explained, “I need to accumulate funds in the fastest way possible.”
“There are many ways to accumulate funds, yet you chose the riskiest one.”
“But this is the fastest and the more profitable way, as long as I win!”
Adrian sighed deeply, then looked at Reggate seriously. “It has almost been a year, Uncle Reggate, you should be able to see my change. I wasted too much time and money, so I just want to get it back! I know what I’m doing, I know what I want, and I have some leeway for this gamble I’m taking. Why haven’t I been in touch with you for the whole year? Because I want to prove myself, I want to prove that I’m no longer the young and shallow Adrian who knew nothing. I have my aim, and I have things that I want to achieve! I know that you care about me, Uncle Reggate, and I’m very grateful, but what I need now is your support!”
Reggate fell silent for a long time by just staring at Adrian with his sharp eyes. He later rose halfway from his seat. “I understand, Eddy, then, as you wish.”
Adrian sighed a breath of relief to himself, then stood up to shake his hand. “Thank you, Uncle Reggate.”
“I’ll manage everything for you, so let me know if you need me,” Reggate mentioned solemnly.
A bright smile could be seen on Adrian’s face. He initially planned to find Reggate after it was over as it would be more convincing. According to the former Adrian’s memories, his financial advisor was not only flexible but also extremely careful and meticulous, unlike his lawyer, Wilson, who liked to joke. Hence, it required more effort to convince Reggate.
To Adrian’s surprise, Reggate visited him instead. Luckily, he made some preparations beforehand, and the fact that he snapped out of his dispirited image aided him in gaining Reggate’s support. This meant that the few people left for him by his cheap dad—okay, from the perspective of the other soul, he was not exactly a cheap dad—would be at his service from now on.
The only thing left to do was to wait for the United States Army’s attack, which unquestionably gave Adrian a lot of pressure. His rationale and his composure which he had been very proud of since his rebirth were somehow not working, and his work efficiency reduced. Fortunately, the pressure did not go on for too long. Two days later, before dawn on January 17th, six Aircraft Carrier Groups from the United States Army that were gathered at the Persian Gulf, as well as many national forces, launched airstrikes at Saddam.
Adrian sighed, then… He continued focusing on post-production work without paying attention to the war. Yes, it was just the beginning, thus he would only find out about the final outcome after the war. Since he already let Claude handle everything, he would not bother, and would at most contact him half a month later to see when he needed to clear out in advance. Besides, what did the war have to do with him?
For more than ten days following the incident, Adrian stuck to his previous lifestyle. He worked on the post-production in the editing room during work, wrote other things and exercised at home during his break time, and spoke to Kate through the phone. Seeing as ‘Memento’ was slowly coming to shape, Adrian was excited. Although it did not feel as satisfying as when Kate was moaning below him, and the film was far from what he expected, it was undeniably helping him reach his goal.
As compared to Adrian who was not very concerned, Laverne was incredibly anxious. He was worried that the Berlin Film Festival would be canceled because of the Persian Gulf War, which meant that he would need to rearrange the publicizing work for the new film.
“Don’t worry, Lave, the Berlin Film Festival will definitely not be canceled, just wait and watch,” Adrian comforted him a few times. According to his memory, the Berlin Film Festival in 1991 was held as usual.
In actual fact, even if he could not remember if the event was canceled, the cancellation was simply impossible based on the current situation. Germany had just reunited in October last year, followed by the Berlin Wall’s demolition, thus West Germany would not miss the chance to show off to East Germany.
Needless to say, that had nothing to do with Adrian too, because he only had one aim at the Berlin Film Festival—advertise!
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Following a roar, the screen was finally bright. A man, whose head was being pointed at by a gun, turned his head with the intention of asking what was going on, but he collapsed to the ground after a gunshot, and blood splattered everywhere. Next, a dispirited man with stubble appeared and looked at the dead man indifferently. He threw the pistol away, then took a photo of the scene with a polaroid camera.
The camera produced the photograph very quickly, and the man shook it a number of times before the image completely appeared. Subsequently, the screen turned black-and-white, showing the exhausted eyes of the man who was shot earlier.
“Where am I? In a motel room?” His inner narration was heard.
In the next few minutes, he sat on the bed as he described his confusion through the narration.
The spectators in the theatre were whispering at that moment, they clearly found it inexplicable when the man who shot the gun suddenly appeared in a motel. ‘Alright, this is suspense arranged by the director, but why did the screen turn black-and-white?’ Before they could figure out what happened, the man on the screen was done narrating his confusion, and the screen turned back to a colored one again.
“Have you seen this person?” The man placed a photograph on the window to ask the person behind it.
The person in the photograph was obviously the person who was killed in the beginning, who then came out to greet the male lead in a friendly manner. It seemed like they shared a close relationship.
At this point, the viewers became very attracted. ‘If they’re close, why did the male lead kill him? Besides, based on the lead’s lines, it seems like he has an illness that has something to do with his memory.’
Before long, both characters arrived at a small abandoned house in a suburb. The male lead who entered the building first retrieved a photograph from his shirt, which was of the other man. When he turned it around, it said: Don’t believe his lies. He is the one. Kill him!
“How long have I been looking?” The male lead mumbled. When the other man was not paying attention, the male lead suddenly leaped on him, then pointed a gun at his head.
“I finally found you. Beg my wife’s forgiveness, b*stard!” The male lead uttered.
However, the other man did not panic. Instead, he mocked the male lead for not knowing himself, and that he needed to rely on photographs to remember. Later, he encouraged the male lead to go to the basement with him, claiming that he would show him the truth.
The male lead seemed to have trusted him, but the other man, whose name was Teddy, began struggling. As such, the male lead pulled the trigger without any hesitation and shot him.
Next, the screen changed to black-and-white again and returned to when the male lead was still at the motel. His inner narrative could be heard. “Just some anonymous motel room. Nothing in the drawers…”
The crowd began whispering again. They could not understand what the director was trying to express, why the scenes alternated between black-and-white and color, and why the plot had so many cuts in between.
Nevertheless, there were fewer whispers than the previous time, because some of them noticed the key. Furthermore, the story was suspenseful. For example, what was the male lead’s illness? He seemed to be close to Teddy, who knew about his condition, but why must he kill him? What happened to his wife? All these questions were enough to draw the crowd’s attention.
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