America 1982-Chapter 635 - 145: Premiere

Tommy, with his hand around Odelia’s slightly bulging belly, and Jason with Susy, hurried down the red carpet guarded by several security guards and entered into the site of Stephen’s terrible movie premiere.

Of course, even if they had slowed down, the media reporters on site probably wouldn’t have been interested in photographing the two young couples.

The cameras preferred to stay focused on the stars posing in a variety of stances on the red carpet. Despite the couples being attractive and well-dressed, they were not Hollywood stars. Reality here is harsh: newspaper space is limited and cannot afford unknowns, or even those two men who seemed to have been on popular reality TV shows; they were too minor to waste film on.

Seeing Tommy and Odelia, Stephen made an apologetic gesture to the friends he was chatting with and hurried over. He opened his arms and gave Odelia a hug. As she was pregnant, her face looked a bit swollen, but the maternal glow on her beaming face even made her lean in and peck Stephen on the cheek while praising him:

"I always knew you would become a very, very excellent film artist, Stephen. Ever since that summer I met you, I have had no doubts about it."

Stephen was somewhat startled by Odelia’s cheek kiss, although he had known her for many years, the most they would usually share was a gentlemanly hug; this was the first time they had been so intimate.

He glanced at Tommy and said to Odelia with a smile, "Knowing him as I do, he’d rather outfit his woman in medieval armor to guard against other men’s touch. So, are you sure you aren’t looking for a reason for Tommy to beat me up? Thank you for coming, and I mean it. Although I personally wrote the invitation, I’d understand if you hadn’t shown up tonight."

"Tommy and I were discussing on our way here that we were hoping Mister Charles Salmon would be our daughter’s godfather, but I thought maybe you would be a better choice. You send everyone at camp a Christmas card every year, call everyone on their birthday—I think my daughter would be honored to have such a considerate and tender-hearted godfather, and it would be our honor too," Odelia said to Stephen with a beaming smile, leaving him briefly stunned before he turned to embrace and exchange cheek kisses with Stephen’s girlfriend, Lisa.

"So... you’re not joking?" Stephen, looking bewildered at Tommy and Odelia, opened his arms, "Me? It’s me, right? Odelia, could you repeat that, please?"

Odelia, gently stroking her belly, smiled and nodded, "Yes, Tommy and I hope that once our daughter is born, we will have the honor of having you as her godfather."

"That would be my honor," Stephen clenched his fist briefly and then hugged Odelia gently before also embracing Jason and Susy. To the innocent couple, he said, "Let me just say, the first thing I’m going to teach her as a godfather is to stay away from Jason White and Susy. Listen up, Jason, there will be no kinky games within a fifty-kilometer radius focused around my goddaughter, don’t corrupt her. I’ll start learning all about my duties as a godfather at church tomorrow."

"Don’t get too excited," Tommy said with a laugh, after finishing hugging Lisa, "Odelia simply hadn’t decided what gift to give you to celebrate your movie premiere, so she came up with this."

Stephen seriously said to Odelia, "That’s the best gift."

His official girlfriend Lisa’s face darkened slightly, but then she recovered with a proper smile.

Stephen still had no intention of marrying Lisa, even though both his parents thought she was truly good for Stephen—a beautiful, well-behaved woman with an outstanding figure, some fame in the sports world, and a great capacity for tolerance. She could put up with Stephen being spotted amidst various tabloid stories with female celebrities, but Stephen just had no plans to marry her.

Just like Tommy, whatever his girlfriend wanted was fine, even having a kid. But she was only a girlfriend; Tommy never mentioned marrying Odelia, only repeatedly saying that nonsense about how he would definitely marry her someday.

Odelia, being pregnant, couldn’t stay long in the noisy environment, so after saying hello to Stephen, a former campmate, and having a chat with her portrayer, Diane Linen, she left the premiere early with her bodyguards and servants, heading back to rest at her Beverly Hills residence.

At the post-screening reception, Tommy had just picked up a glass of champagne from a waiter when two female voices simultaneously sounded behind him, "How was the movie?"

Tommy turned around to see Diane Linen, who played Odelia, and Sandra Block, who portrayed Zoey Winters, both coming over to greet him.

Realizing they had spoken at the same time, the two women looked at each other and then politely deferred. Eventually, Diane Linen turned, sporting a backless evening gown, and went to join Susan on a nearby terrace, chatting with some people from the film industry.