She dominates the entertainment industry with her disaster system

"So, you mean, you prepared a birthday present for that girl in advance?" Joey looked at Simon strangely, "You actually prepared a birthday present for her?"

"Did I hear you wrong or is yesterday's bath water still not drained out of your mind?"

"Hey, calm down, man." Simon patted his shoulder soothingly and said with a smile: "Nicole is my partner and she's a girl. You shouldn't call her in such a rude way."

"So what kind of gift did you prepare for her?" Joey seemed to be on a different train of thought from him, asking himself the question he wanted to know, "Red wine? Cheese? Or... luxury goods?"

"As you can see, it's a bottle of red wine." Simon spread his hands. "I don't know much about her preferences, so I can only think of a way to give her a gift that won't go wrong."

Joey glanced at the bottle of red wine on the table. It was an ordinary brand, an ordinary appearance, and probably tasted ordinary too.

"I still don't understand why you're doing this unnecessary thing," he ruffled his hair irritably, "It's less than a month before the filming is finished. Are you trying to get closer to her at this time? Listen, Simon, you're just doing useless work, wasting time and life."

Then he glanced at the bottle of red wine and added, "It's also a waste of money."

"Come on, Joey, do you really have such a big problem with her?" Simon rubbed his brow helplessly. "I just think that we have worked together for such a long time, even if we are just colleagues, it is in accordance with etiquette to send her a gift."

Joey sat up and looked into Simon's blue eyes. His expression was very strange and his lips were tightly pursed, as if he was suppressing something.

After a long while, he finally uttered a few words.

"You don't want to develop an international romance at this time, do you? Like Grenouille and Betty?"

"Believe me, this is completely stupid behavior. That girl can't bring you any value and is not trustworthy."

Simon was shocked by his bold guess. "Uh, well, I think you may have misunderstood... I just did what a gentleman should do. You... don't need to think so widely, right?"

Although Joey usually has a bad temper, he is rarely so suspicious. Why does he react so strongly when Nicole is mentioned?

Simon's mind worked quickly and he figured out the key point of the matter in a flash.

Then, the look in his eyes when he looked at Joey became strange.

"Honestly, your interest in the name Nicole seems a little abnormal."

"Why do you care so much about her every move? Could it be..."

"I-she always targets me-" Joey said without thinking, trying to hide the strange feeling in his heart, "I just simply can't stand her bad behavior, that's all."

"Oh? What's wrong with her? Haven't you already checked out those rumors? They are just false news deliberately spread by Phoebe. They have nothing to do with her from beginning to end." Simon asked further.

"She—" Joey was choked.

He suddenly realized that he really couldn't find a tenable reason to refute Simon.

Nicole was more talented than he thought, and her acting skills were far better than Simon's. She was not as rude and arrogant as he thought, and she was very friendly to the staff and had better popularity than him...

So...why does he dislike her?

Joey pondered and fell into deep confusion.

Glancing at his confused eyes, Simon raised his eyebrows with interest. "It's true what Les Miserables describes - the first sign of true love is timidity in boys and boldness in girls."

"Tell me, Joey, are you Marius or Armand?"

Simon had a teasing smile in his eyes, which made Joey feel uncomfortable. "Are you playing dumb? Simon, I'm sorry I don't understand the meaning of this."

Simon still looked at him with a smile.

The young master finally succumbed to his scorching gaze—with a loud bang, his face turned red.

"Oh my God, Joey, I don't know what to say!" Even though he had expected it, Simon still couldn't help but show surprise when he witnessed this scene with his own eyes, "You actually blushed? This is unbelievable!"

Joey glared at him fiercely. He felt the blood rushing to his head and his temples throbbing non-stop.

He must be very popular now.

He thought half desperately and half ashamedly.

Strangely, an inexplicable emotion suddenly emerged in his heart, warm and cozy, spreading from the tip of his heart to every part of his body, making him involuntarily indulge in it.

His first reaction was not even to refute Simon's ridiculous words, but he couldn't help but think - with his financial resources, he could give her a birthday gift that was a thousand times or ten thousand times better than Simon's.

He could give her the best of everything.

True love begins with a loss of control, an uncontrollable fall.

It begins at the moment of giving up the subject status.

Joey realized that something was different about himself.

He seemed to...really like Nicole a little bit.

Maybe it started from when she greeted me in a dignified manner, or maybe it started from when she acted stupid and pitiful in front of me...

For the first time in more than 20 years, Joey met a girl who dared to go against him and could make him fall hard.

This was a new and novel experience that he had never had since he was a child.

Even if he left the protection of his family and came to Europe alone, few people dared to plot against him openly and make him suffer.

Joey knew that they were not afraid or respectful of him, but were simply intimidated by the name Cox.

He hated this attitude, but he couldn't bring himself to give up the privileges of being a Cox.

But Nicole is different.

Perhaps because she was a foreigner, there was no flattery in her eyes that he was familiar with, nor was there any fear.

She even dared to trick him in return.

Cunning, hypocritical, intelligent, bumbling...and alluring at the same time.

Just like the reason why Grenouille fell in love with Betty, to him, she was also the most vivid color in the world.

So he would always subconsciously chase after her, subconsciously want to get her attention, and subconsciously want to stop Simon from contacting her outside the play.

He thought he hated her, but in fact he cared about her very much.

The proud will bow their heads because of love, and their pride will be broken because of love.

Joey Cox will not be an exception.