Hugo had always believed that movie fans in America were relatively rational, or at least all the fans he had encountered were. More often than not, they opted for friendly hugs, polite greetings, and joyful photos, rarely screaming, jumping, and acting crazy.Even when encountering more enthusiastic fans at premieres, they mostly just expressed their excitement through shouts, and nothing more.In the past, when he saw news reports about the crazy fans of Justin Bieber and Robert Pattinson, it was mostly young girls chasing their idols, almost to the point of brain-dead irrationality.Then, combining that with his own experiences—neither "Dead Poets Society" nor "Scent of a Woman" were the kind of works that established idol standards or attracted fans for actors—Hugo thought that only idol fans would be so crazy.But today, Hugo clearly witnessed another side of movie fans. Any actor can have crazy fans, and as Hollywood is the most mature film industry in the world, the fanaticism of professional movie fans is absolutely no less than that of music fans or idol fans.Professional movie fans aren't not crazy; they just haven't encountered an occasion worth losing their minds over. Recalling the grand spectacle when iconic idols like Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt appeared at premieres, the enthusiasm of movie fans would absolutely make any crazy fan blush.However, facing the screams of the young female fan in front of him, Hugo was clearly caught off guard and didn't know how to react. He could only hug the girl and gently pat her back, trying to comfort her.But before the girl could calm down, Hugo quickly realized something was wrong.Due to the girl's shouting, glances were cast from all directions. Soon, these ordinary viewers entering the cinema to watch a movie discovered Hugo's presence, and a group of girls swarmed forward.In less than thirty seconds, more than twenty people had firmly surrounded Hugo and the other four."Hugo, you're really too handsome!""Amazing performance, Hugo, truly amazing!""God, it's really Hugo!"A chorus of voices surrounded Hugo and his companions. Joseph and Carl immediately took on the responsibilities of agents—even though Carl wasn't Hugo's agent.The two stood on Hugo's left and right sides, trying to prevent the crowd from shrinking the encirclement. Charlize and Alex also noticed the lively scene and cooperated with Joseph and Carl, standing on Hugo's front and back sides, beginning to move towards the exit, wanting to break free from the encirclement.But clearly, it was already too late.At first, they could move a few steps, but then movement became increasingly difficult. Originally, they could still see the outside through the crowd, but now they couldn't see anything at all.Layer upon layer of onlookers endlessly piled up, expanding the encirclement. Carl wanted to use his height to see the surroundings, but all he saw were heads, unable to see the situation outside.Carl could faintly see the ticket office not far away, and based on that distance, he estimated that they were currently surrounded by at least a hundred people.A crowd of nearly a hundred people might not sound like much, but imagine an encirclement formed by a hundred people; if ten people form a circle, then that's at least ten circles.It would be effortless to surround five people in the middle, and standing in the very center made it impossible to move an inch.Hugo stood in the very center, with no time to ascertain how many people were around him, because he only felt voices calling him from all directions, and countless hands reaching out to him.This made Hugo feel completely overwhelmed. He could only passively look in the direction of the voices, smile, shake hands, then turn his head, smile, shake hands."Thank you. Thank you." This was the only thing Hugo could say. He responded to every audience member's support with the brightest smile.At this moment, Hugo was happy, not only because of the support from the audience around him, and not only because the premiere of "A Few Good Men" seemed to have achieved even better results than expected, but also because this surging support was so real and so fervent, more intense than any previous time.This made Hugo's emotions surge violently. Those calls, those smiles, those praises made Hugo genuinely feel: This is popularity, this is success.So, even if there were more people around, even if the scene was crowded and noisy, Hugo showed no impatience. He still wore his brightest smile, responding to the crowd's calls one by one, using the most basic etiquette to thank these supporters, even if they were just onlookers.Melanie Dikson had not expected to meet Hugo Lancaster today. Although she had no deep impression of Hugo before this, and had not seen any of his works, even the Golden Raspberry Awards she had only heard of; she was only sixteen years old this year.But "A Few Good Men" completely captivated her.Melanie originally had no intention of watching this movie. Courtroom dramas, in her opinion, were synonymous with boredom, annoyance, and drowsiness.But because it was her father's choice, and she needed an excuse to skip class, she could only follow her father's footsteps into the cinema.But the result overturned all of Melanie's preconceived notions. It turned out that courtroom dramas could be so passionate, serious films could be so thrilling, and the legal profession could be so charismatic.The actor playing the male lead, Daniel Kaffee, Hugo Lancaster, made her unable to take her eyes off him, easily capturing her heart. She realized that a man's charm could be so powerful, making her fall for him with almost no resistance.Even more miraculously, when Melanie walked out of the screening room, she saw the male lead, Hugo. This made her almost think she was hallucinating, unable to believe what was before her eyes.So, she lost control and screamed wildly like a six-year-old child.After the other audience members surrounded them, they not only enclosed Hugo and the other four, but also kept Melanie in the middle.She constantly adjusted her steps with the surging crowd, but her eyes couldn't move away from Hugo's face.Today, Hugo was dressed casually in a white T-shirt paired with jeans, just like any ordinary college student, and a blue baseball cap worn backward.But this Hugo completely captivated Melanie. His bright forehead, a masterpiece carved like marble, soft dark-golden long hair, all combed back because of the baseball cap, revealing an elegant and youthful hairline.His brow bones, spanning like mountains, a nose bridge that sloped straight down, eyes that couldn't be ignored in the shadows, the color of rolling ocean waves, containing the vast blue-black of the sky, and soft, sensual lips that outlined a smile one couldn't look away from.Just one glance, and her heart stopped in an instant. Melanie knew she was captivated, not by Daniel Kaffee in "A Few Good Men," but by Hugo Lancaster in real life.Without any resistance, and not wanting to resist, she simply succumbed to the smile before her eyes.More importantly, Hugo never showed any impatience. Even as waves of people surrounded him, he always maintained his smile. That sun-like smile was as fresh as ever, without even a hint of impatience.Time passed, and the radiance in his smile remained on his lips, making all the surrounding noise lose its color.Melanie had never known that a person's smile could be so beautiful.Suddenly, Melanie began to regret. She regretted that her impulsiveness had landed Hugo in this series of troubles. She knew Hugo was tired, but he couldn't leave.She started to get annoyed by the endless crowd; she wished these people would disperse and give Hugo some peace. Because Melanie didn't want to see fatigue stain his handsome brows.Although reluctant, Melanie still turned and left. She squeezed out of the crowd bit by bit, then watched the marshmallow-like encirclement from a distance.She couldn't persuade others to leave, but at least she could leave, making things a little easier for Hugo was good.For a long time, Melanie stood there, waiting until her father found her, and until the encirclement began to diminish. Only then did a smile reappear on Melanie's lips.Hugo felt as if his whole body was about to evaporate. He was like someone pulled out of a swimming pool, his sweat having dried once and then soaked through again.He could even feel beads of sweat sliding down his back—it was December, but he had no solution.Not just Hugo, the other four were not much better off. They had truly experienced what it meant to have sky-high popularity.After nearly twenty minutes of shuffling back and forth, amidst screams and cheers, Hugo and his group moved at a snail's pace to the entrance of the Universal Cinema. The crowd then gradually dispersed, and finally, at the parking lot entrance, their surroundings finally quieted down.Only five sweaty, disheveled people were left standing there, panting heavily.Although they didn't know what it was like for true top superstars to be surrounded, today's terrifying encirclement was already enough to leave Hugo and the others with lingering fears.Those faces, distorted by excitement, were still vivid in their minds. Hugo tugged at his jeans and sighed with a gloomy expression, "Ruined a pair of underwear."As he said this, the other four froze. Hugo looked up at their puzzled gazes and said helplessly, "I don't know who it was, but someone kept trying to pull down my underwear...""I think you should be worried not about your underwear, but about..." Alex spoke halfway, then glanced at Hugo's crotch.The three others immediately chuckled, including Charlize and Joseph.Hugo gritted his teeth and glared at Alex, "Don't worry, if there's a test, it won't be your turn." This made Carl burst into laughter, echoing in the empty parking lot.Who would have thought that what was originally just a plan to go see a movie would end in such a disheveled state? However, for the first day of "A Few Good Men" being fully released, this was a good start.
