Of all her friends, Catherine was closest to Ida, and the two of them had already been intimate many times.
Still, Catherine hadn't expected her first time taking the initiative to happen under circumstances like these.
But she also discovered a secret:
taking the lead could be incredibly exciting…
In fact, maybe being more proactive wasn't such a bad idea after all.
When Catherine woke up the next morning, she felt refreshed. The sensation in her hands was still there, slightly numb. After sitting up and resting for a while, the feeling faded, and everything seemed perfectly normal.
Lisa finally remembered that she had forgotten to give Catherine the keys and rushed over early that morning.
After removing the corset, Catherine felt unbelievably relaxed, and with Ida's help, she put on a dress.
"I'm really sorry, Kate—I completely forgot to bring the keys," Lisa said, sticking out her tongue.
However, after taking off the corset she had worn all day, Catherine felt a little strange, as if her body—previously held in place—had suddenly been set free, leaving her with a faint sense of insecurity.
"Is something wrong?" Lisa asked.
"No, it just feels like something's missing," Catherine said, shaking her head.
At that moment, Lisa laughed. "Maybe you've grown attached to chastity belts."
Catherine rolled her eyes decisively and with practiced ease.
She even suspected that if this went on, she might soon turn into an "ungrateful wretch."
Over the next two days, Catherine truly experienced the pain of living without hands.
She could hardly do anything by herself and had to rely on others for everything, while Ada took full advantage of the situation to flirt with her.
That said, Catherine also learned that if she flirted back, Ada would give in almost immediately—a tactic Catherine found consistently effective.
After three days had passed, Catherine eagerly asked Mrs. White to remove the silicone implants, finally freeing her hand.
Mrs. White's technique was excellent—or perhaps it was Catherine's constitution—but Catherine experienced no circulation problems during those three days. Her bones were relatively soft, and even after three days, she felt no discomfort at all.
After all the fuss, this little episode finally came to an end.
However, Angel Clothing Design Company's products began to attract widespread attention.
"Is this a revolution in the textile industry?"
The New York Times even used that headline to describe the adaptive clothing launched by Angel Clothing Company.
At the time, there were many retired World War II veterans, most of them in their forties, and among them, disabilities were especially common. It could be said that this very group showed the greatest interest in the clothing.
As one interviewee put it, "I feel more confident. Even though it's just a piece of clothing, it made me realize that there are still people in this world who care about us. Long live human rights!"
Though the response was somewhat clichéd and overly sentimental, it greatly enhanced Angel Clothing Design Company's public image.
If the company had once been merely a trendsetting fashion shop, it could now truly be considered a brand.
Homan seemed to be considering taking the company public, though he hadn't officially proposed it yet.
Bruce returned later than Emma had expected and missed seeing Catherine's arm from the car accident, much to Emma's disappointment.
Still, he brought good news:
the personal computer was selling extremely well.
"Potential clients need at least 100,000 units. Current shipments have reached 50,000, more than half of which are office versions. Individual consumers don't seem very interested in this computer…"
Bruce explained the sales situation to Catherine, and she nodded.
After serving as the company's head for quite some time, Catherine—once utterly clueless—had now become quite adept at running it. Naturally, Bruce's guidance had played a major role.
Lately, Catherine herself hadn't been very busy, but Lily and the others were swamped.
The reason was simple: the photography club president was graduating next year and wanted to make a truly memorable film.
Speaking of movies, Catherine suddenly remembered something.
Although Bruce Lee was already fairly famous in the United States, his rise in film and television had really begun with The Green Hornet.
An idea slowly began to take shape in Catherine's mind.
Maybe… she could start a film company?
Or perhaps she didn't even need to make movies—producing a television series might be enough. Catherine had watched the classic Prison Break three times. A story like that, without excessive special effects—if she made something similar—seemed like a great idea.
She even considered building a supercomputer to create her own special effects.
Then again, she might not even need a computer.
After all, in 1968, the special effects of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey were decades ahead of their time, and later films like Alien relied on very little computer-generated imagery.
Yes!
Catherine had made up her mind to start her own film production company.
Not just Bruce Lee, but also Sean Connery, Dan Richter, William Sylvester, and many others…
Catherine instantly grew excited.
Wasn't it perfect?
Her company had ample funding, new products were ready to launch, and now she finally had time to make films!
There was also another advantage: she could create computer-generated special effects herself.
Ordinary computers might not be able to handle it, but Catherine believed she could.
The core technology lay in connecting chips in parallel to avoid data-transfer bottlenecks while increasing speed.
Catherine had some knowledge in this area, but compared to others, she held a significant advantage. Nothing might come of it in a year or two, but given enough time, her team could develop a truly futuristic supercomputer.
Although she wanted to increase the R&D budget, Catherine decided to wait until her film company was established before pursuing it further.
Still, setting up a film company seemed complicated. Catherine thought she might ask Homan—who had worked in Hollywood and knew something about the business—for advice…