King of Hollywood-Chapter 245 - 243 Saving a Life

Chapter 245: Chapter 243 Saving a Life

Chapter 245 -243 Saving a Life

The problem was that from Liv’s perspective, there were no better choices. Honestly, Liv was a bit young for the movie, but he just couldn’t find a better fit: either the acting was lacking, or the aura was off, unless giving Adrian enough time to recall.

“Oh, ‘Armageddon’ might work, but Michael Bay was still directing his first movie, and he had another one lined up after that. Someone else might do, but the producer wasn’t Brokheimer, so Adrian didn’t feel assured.

After much thought, only ‘Sleepy Hollow’ really seemed suitable. It certainly wasn’t possible for her to go shoot that lecher Bertolucci’s film, right? What else had that old guy filmed besides his sexual fantasies?

So even though Liv was a bit young, it wasn’t a big problem. If the wooing wasn’t maximized, it was alright; it was still better than nothing.

You know, Liv, I’ve really put a lot of effort into this. Adrian thought to himself as he slowly drove the car onto the street. During this time, he had some interactions with Liv, but since his energy was spent elsewhere, he still hadn’t figured the girl out. Sometimes she was very naive, speaking and acting with a bit of childishness; yet at other times, she was quite shrewd, always keeping her distance from everyone. But that was okay, there would be plenty of time once ‘Sleepy Hollow’ started preparations.

Just then, his attention was suddenly drawn to the entrance of a small alley by the street. There wasn’t much; just a person lying on the ground. It was a common sight, often drunks lying wherever they collapsed, but for some reason, Adrian felt a familiar sense of familiarity.

It must be an illusion. He took his eyes off and muttered to himself, then the next second he stomped on the brakes. Though the car wasn’t going fast, the inertia still sent the two lurching forward.

“What happened?” Charlize, startled, asked somewhat irritably.

“It’s River, I recognize his clothes.” Adrian unbuckled his seat belt, opened the car door and jogged over to the person lying on the ground. He didn’t even know why he wanted to do this now—because he liked the young man?

Crouching down, he turned the person over. Indeed, it was River, the young man from the club earlier. His eyes were tightly closed, his face pale under the dim street lights, his lips slightly purple, his body gently twitching, breathing very weak, seemingly in shock or possibly about to stop.

His condition was obviously due to a drug overdose that caused him to pass out, and he must have been lying there for a while. Adrian looked around; the deserted street was empty, with only the distant club noises and occasional cars passing by without any intention of stopping. No wonder no one had noticed him.

“Charli!” Adrian called out loudly.

“What is it?” Charlize, who had moved the car to the curb, poked her head out.

“Call directory inquiries, ask them where the nearest hospital is,” Adrian instructed while arranging River’s limbs properly and placed his hands on his chest, starting a rhythmic compression, “and then tell them there’s a guy here who has overdosed and is unconscious. Tell them to have a stretcher ready for rescue!”

“Got it.” Charlize responded tersely and began to make the call as instructed, while Adrian squatted by the street firmly pressing on River’s chest again and again. CPR was a simple emergency method, something almost everyone knew.

“The nearest hospital is two streets away, I’ve notified them,” Charlize popped her head out again soon after. Adrian bent down to River’s mouth and nose to listen, the breathing sounded much louder than before; the emergency effort was clearly effective. However, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation wasn’t necessary; it wasn’t due to any aversion to mouth-to-mouth between two men—okay, maybe a little. But mainly because mouth-to-mouth didn’t work for drug-induced shock.

“You drive, we’ll go right now.” Adrian lifted River up and settled him in the back seat.

Since it was getting late, even though there were still some revelers on the streets, the number had decreased from the beginning. So it took only about 8 minutes for the car to arrive at the hospital entrance.

Carrying River into the hospital, the doctors and nurses who had been notified by phone were waiting. Fortunately, it was a private hospital, much more efficient than the public ones, and they soon started resuscitation for him.

“Charli, you go back and rest first, I’ll wait here,” said Adrian at the reception after making a phone call. He came out of the ward just in time to see Charlize yawning ungracefully.

“You’re waiting here?” Charlize asked, baffled, forcing her sleepy eyes open.

“Yes, I just called his agent using the business card from his pocket—turns out he’s an actor. The agent said his parents live in Texas, and the only family he has in Los Angeles are two younger brothers, and they live in Long Beach; it’s going to take them a while to get here. I can’t just leave before they arrive, can I?” Adrian shrugged his shoulders, then sat down next to Charlize, tenderly cupping her face.

“You’re already tired, and staying up late is bad for the skin; I wouldn’t want my important assistant to take sick leave. You know I can’t do without her,” Adrian said half-jokingly, half-seriously.

Charlize blinked in surprise, unsure of what to say. Fortunately, at that moment, as the ward door opened, the doctor and nurses came out one by one.

“How is he, doctor?” Adrian stood up at once.

“He’s stabilized,” said the old man with a Mediterranean haircut, pinching the bridge of his nose, “He’s currently receiving IV fluids and oxygen, and he should wake up in a few hours. If you don’t have anything particularly important, try not to disturb him. He’s lucky, the CPR you performed bought him some minutes. If he’d been brought in a few minutes later, it would have been too late.”

“Thank you, Doctor, so can we go in and see him now? Just for a few minutes,” Adrian asked after nodding.

The young man with the breathing mask was lying quietly on the hospital bed, a bag beside him dripped liquid drop by drop. Adrian didn’t know what it was—the doctor had said but he hadn’t remembered—something to neutralize the drugs, apparently. It seemed to be working; at least the young man’s breathing had become much steadier, although his complexion was still bloodless, it was no longer the alarming white of before.

“You saved him, Ed,” Charlize suddenly said in a low voice beside him.

“I saved him?” Adrian repeated, a subtle feeling suddenly spreading in his heart.

“Yes, you saved him,” Charlize emphasized, “If you hadn’t gotten out of the car, if you hadn’t performed CPR, if you hadn’t taken him to the hospital in time, he might be dead by now.”

Indeed, considering the deserted environment at the time, had he not gotten out of the car, the young man probably would have died. Adrian looked at the patient information at the foot of the bed, the young man’s name was River Phoenix.

“Alright, he’s indeed fine now, let’s go outside,” Adrian said as he walked out of the ward, arm in arm with Charlize, before continuing their earlier conversation: “Go back and rest, Charli, I’ll leave once his brother arrives, nothing will happen.”

Surprisingly, Charlize refused his suggestion.

“Forget it, if I leave and something goes wrong with you again, how troublesome would that be?” She sighed, seemingly resigned to the reality, her voice carrying a sense of reluctant surrender, but her face always had a faint smile.

“But…”

“You just need to lend me your shoulder,” Charlize said, pulling him to sit down on a chair outside the ward, carelessly leaning her head on his shoulder and starting to doze off after yawning.

Chuckling softly, Adrian adjusted his position to make her more comfortable and then closed his eyes to rest.

River Phoenix. He repeated the name several times in his mind, suddenly thinking of Emma’s parents who died in a car accident more than two years ago, then Dennis and Laverne, and all those countless unknown original screenwriters. Some people died because of him while others lived on, some were encouraged while others might end up destitute on the streets.

Fate really is interesting, Adrian thought to himself with a light sigh. Although he had always been clear that many things would change because of him—whether it was the car accident that led to Emma’s parents’ deaths or making women like Monica and Julia his own—never had he felt so profoundly affected as he did today, or was it because this time he had saved a man certain to die?

After contemplating for a few seconds with his eyes closed, Adrian smiled. He admitted, the feeling of saving someone was indeed profound, it was as if he had control over someone else’s life, and especially knowing how the future would unfold, the feeling was even stronger. So, what was wonderful wasn’t saving someone, but rather—control!

However, for some reason, he always felt the name River Phoenix seemed familiar, or had he heard this guy’s name in his previous life? Adrian pondered this as he drifted off to sleep, until he was awakened by the sound of hurried footsteps.

“Is it here, Joaquin?” A young voice rang out near his ear.

“Yes, this is the place.” And then another young voice.

By the time Adrian opened his eyes, the two people had already hurried into the ward.

“Don’t worry, he’s alright now, he’ll wake up soon, it’s still better not to disturb him right now,” Adrian said after waking up Charlize, who was dozing off against him, and then went into the ward to reassure the two anxious figures standing by the bedside. One very young, looking not even 20 years old; the other even younger, not even 10.

“Who are you?” The younger one asked, speaking first.

“I’m the one who brought River to the hospital,” Adrian introduced himself.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” The younger one suddenly grabbed him, speaking with emotion, “God, I can’t imagine what the world would be like without River!”

“Sorry, he’s a little excited,” the older young man explained somewhat awkwardly.

“I understand.” Adrian smiled, patting the child’s shoulder, and then extended his hand to the young man: “Adrian Cowell, you can call me Adrian or Ed.”

“Joaquin, Joaquin Phoenix, this is my brother Silver Phoenix,” the young man introduced.

Adrian’s eyebrows raised; he finally remembered who River Phoenix was. (To be continued. If you want to know what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com. More chapters are available, support the author, support genuine reading!)

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