Versatile Superstar Rise In Hollywood

by Stayrr

"To be a star is to own the world and all the people in it." ... Two years ago, Aiden came to the United States to experience the American Dream. But after sleepless nights of struggle, just when he was on the verge of giving up, a translucent screen flashed in front of him - it was a System! A System that would make him embark on a journey to Hollywood. And today, he takes his fir

2. 33

Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood #33 Chapter 033 - Read Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood 33 Chapter 033 Online - All Page - FREEWN

Lincoln Bradley was a peculiar genius in Hollywood. He had started his career in the early 2000s with a sleeper hit that had allowed him to work with the big stars.

What was surprising about his first movie was that he was only 28, a rather young age for a director, and thus was given the title of a young genius.

This had not helped a relatively young Lincoln in the long run. Nevertheless, he had thought that it was necessary to maintain his title and thus, he made a movie every two years.

They worked too. Lincoln used all his creative juices, derived good storylines, and worked with the best actors and actresses. But in 2010, the most anticipated movie of his career [The Gene War] was released.

It was a sci-fi flick with a budget of around 150 million dollars, and it was very anticipated due to it having stars like Nick Mendes, Blake River and Zedd White – All A-listers.

The producers were even going to make it a big franchise, but the movie flopped hard, only barely reaching 25 million dollars in its lifetime.

The people who had invested in Lincoln lost their trust in him, and he got a reality check. Going back to his movies, he realised that they were just getting worse compared to his first movie because he hadn't taken enough time to flesh them out.

Because of that, he took a five-year break to work on his next movie and finally, [Shadows of War] started. Although it only had a 75 million budget which was half of his last film, Lincon was very confident in this movie.

But after completing 75 percent of the movie, Lincoln had thought that the movie was missing something. Because of that, he had included a supporting character that could make the main character go through a change in character.

It was something missing from the original script, and as he wanted a new face to play it, he held auditions.

"You can go now."

Lincoln said in a slightly irritated voice while scratching his rough beard. He was stating this to the actor who had just finished his audition.

By the tone of his voice, anyone would know that Lincoln wasn't very impressed by the audition.

"Thank you." The actor could only sigh and walk away from the stage, knowing fully well he wouldn't get the part.

After the actor left, a fat man sitting next to Lincoln patted his shoulder..

"Don't worry; you will get your actor today. We called in a lot of people."

"Frank, we have already been through so many auditions. There's not even one good guy. Most of these just have families from South Asia and have never even gone there. So how could they play a guy from there?"

Lincoln said, frowning. Frank was one of the producers from Zero International who was watching over the movie production. But even he was a bit frustrated due to them not getting a single good actor till now.

"You know, we can just get a white actor to play one? It's not hard with makeup, and if you really want authenticity, we can get one from Bollywood. They have good actors, more or less."

Frank suggested, but it was a suggestion that Lincoln had already heard a lot of times.

"No, we won't do a white guy playing an Asian. That's just bad and doesn't make sense, and I want an unknown face so the public doesn't see the actor but the character."

Franklin shook his head hearing that and decided not to speak anything about this until Lincoln made up his mind. It was difficult to give any suggestions to stubborn directors like him.

'Let's hope we get someone to play the part today.'

He thought, praying in his heart.

'There's a lot of actors here.'

Aiden thought, sitting in the big room. In front of him and beside him, there were a lot of actors, and he could clearly see that only those from South Asia were called.

It had been an hour since he sat here, and until now, many actors had been called upon to audition.

'It seems like the director is very clear about his vision. The character is South Asian, and it's probably a movie related to war or a battlefield, going by the title.'

Thinking that he looked at the script he had been given. It was pretty thin, with only one scene written on it. And it was hard for him to say whether this scene was from the movie or not.

Often, actors would just get a monologue similar to the actual script to perform.

Aiden felt like it was the same with the script he had received. Thinking that he opened up his system.

[Aiden Silvereye] [24 years]

[Singing level: Basic Grade 10]

–Has all the basic qualities of a vocalist.

–A uniquely calm and soothing voice with a talent for composing.

–Has the ability to express emotions like the very best.

[Acting level: Basic Grade 9]

–Has a charm that reflects during acting.

–Prefers method acting.

–Is able to understand the character being played.

[Special skill: Empathy]

–The ability to understand, interpret and experience the emotions and feelings of characters, music, and people.

–Gives a special boost to performances that might entrance people.

–Weaves strong emotions into music and acting.

'I hope my level is good enough to pass the audition.'

Basic Grade 9 wasn't a bad level, but due to X-Star, his singing level has increased to Basic Grade 10, which makes his acting level somewhat lacklustre in comparison.

But he was sure that he would be able to improve his acting.

As he looked at his system, a staff member entered the room and called out his name.

"Aiden Silvereye."

"Yes."

"It's your turn."

Standing up from his seat, he followed the staff member inside, who pointed him to the stage. Below the stage, some people were sitting, and he only recognised one of them.

'Lincoln Bradley.'

It was the first time he had seen him, but he remembered most of his movies. There was no doubt in his mind that Lincoln was a good director.

"Introduce yourself." A fat man besides Lincoln called out in a bit of a dull tone. He didn't think Aiden would pass.

"Aiden Silvereye. I'm originally from India and have lived in America for the past two years."

He gave a bit of an introduction, and Lincoln raised an eyebrow.

"Your name doesn't sound Indian? And your accent is a bit New York-like too."

"My father is from the states, and my accent is because I have lived here for a while now. I still can change to my Indian accent if you want to hear it."

"Introduce yourself in an Indian accent."

Aiden nodded, and it took a while for him to try to adjust his accent even though he had expected this. Accents were a necessary part of acting, and many actors have messed up their roles just because of this.

For example, a Texan accent differed from a New York one. Therefore, an actor needs to understand the nuances in a speech to get a handle on their accent.

Because of that, Aiden had practised speaking with a lot of accents.

"Aiden Silvereye. I'm originally from India and have lived in America for the past two years." He repeated the sentence in an Indian accent, and Lincoln smiled a bit like he was impressed.

Thinking, he whispered something to the fat guy beside him, which Aiden couldn't hear and then looked up at him before asking.

"Have you witnessed war?"

That was a weird question, but Aiden answered directly.

"No, I have never experienced it."

"Then you must have at least seen it in movies or books? There is a lot of media about it. Even real footage."

"I have seen those."

"Then, what you saw in those movies or footage. What do you think about it?"

He inquired with a gaze that seemed like he was anticipating Aiden's answer. Finally, after a bit of thinking, he replied.

"I think war is a massacre of people who don't know each other for the profit of people who know each other but don't massacre each other. It is simply a violent conflict in which many people die fighting for their countries but the people who survive suffer far more than them."

Lincoln gauged Aiden's answers before nodding and finding that it was not bad at all. For some reason, compared to the previous actors, he liked Aiden more.

Maybe because of his calm temperament, or perhaps it was just his answer or accent. But he felt like Aiden could be the one he was looking for.

"Okay, begin the scene that was given to you."

Aiden took a deep breath hearing that, as nervousness filled him. It was his first acting audition in a couple of months, and as he had never passed one before, he was bound to be nervous.

But he was also prepared to give his best.

…

/DreamNote/

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The scene that he needed to do in his audition was an interview. A staff member acted as the interviewer, and Aiden was to act out the part of a war veteran.

By the script, he guessed that he was a veteran of World War 1.

"Tell me about your experiences in the war? How were you enlisted?"

The staff member playing the interviewer took a seat in front of him and asked. With this, the audition had begun, and from this moment, Aiden needed to get into the mentality of the character he was playing.

He was not himself anymore.

He felt his surroundings change, and Lincoln and Franklin disappeared. This was the effect of his system during acting.

Even if it was just an audition, he lost himself entirely in the scene and thought of the characters as real people. So it was kind of a special zone that he gets himself into during acting.

Although it was very different from the white light during singing, it was still something that had helped him a lot.

"Uh, I-I think it was due to conscription." There was a bit of hesitation in his voice, like he recalled some bad memories. Even his accent has changed a bit to a British one. "An order was passed that all men needed to join the Army. They said the queen wanted her people to fight for the empire. So I had to join because of that."

"What happened in the army?"

"We began with training. We were trained and thrown into the battlefield. Now that I think of it, I saw many terrified soldiers and many other soldiers who wanted to get glory in the war. Somehow, they were the first ones to die."

There was no remorse in his eyes like this was a tale of the past. But Lincoln noticed that one of Aiden's fingers was slightly shaking, emphasizing that the horrors of war still affected him.

The scene continued with the next question..

"There's one particular incident during your time in the Army. Your whole battalion died, with you being the only one who survived. What exactly happened then?"

The staff member didn't really seem like an interviewer with his tone, but Aiden didn't mind it. Instead, he was fully focused on his own part.

"We were ordered to stay put in a trench, but the Germans found out and attacked us. It was unexpected, and my battalion tried to retreat. But people got injured and died. My friend, Steve… I can still recall that… that treacherous night.

I had known Steve since the day I joined the Army. We spent most of our World War in the trenches. One night, I was talking to him, who was next to me in the dark. He didn't answer. I reached over to see if he was asleep and put my hand into his shattered brain case. He had been shot in the night."

Aiden took a deep breath like his mind flashed these stories of past trauma. His eyes had turned a bit hollow now, and with his lips quivering, he actually seemed like someone who had survived a world war.

"What happened after that?"

"I… They transferred me from one battalion to another." He took a breath, his eyes darting to the side, trying to find something. "Somehow, I always survived like death didn't like me. I knew she was smiling at me, but she wasn't ready to embrace me. At that time, the only goal was to survive one more day, but… now, the nightmares… they haunt me… they have taken away my sleep, my hunger, and my will to live."

"Did you make any other friends?"

"I did, but then they died, so I stopped trying to make any." There was a lonely smile on his face. "Making friends in the Army can give you traumas more than anything. I learned that the hard way."

The staff member nodded sheepishly, a bit influenced by his acting. Then, fumbling his words, he asked the final question.

"Di-Did the war teach you anything?"

Aiden thought for a bit before answering the question. Actually, this was not in the script. Although the question was there, there was no answer, so it was up to the actor to think of an answer, and it was a way for Lincoln to know if they truly understood the character.

"The war, well, it did teach me a lot." A lot of indescribable emotions passed through his eyes in an instant. "A friend you are laughing with could be on the ground with a bullet in his head at any moment, and you might be the same the next day. Nothing stays forever in a war. And if I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: in love, we find out who we want to be; in war, we find out who we are."

Saying that Aiden laughed a bit and ended his audition with one final sentence.

"You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. And when all the wars are over, a butterfly will still be beautiful."

After the interviewer concluded Aiden's audition, the staff told him that he would be notified of the results later. And after his audition, Lincoln and Frank decided to take a lunch break before continuing with the others.

While having lunch together, Lincoln couldn't help but say his honest thoughts.

"He's perfect!"

"Who?"

Franklin asked like he didn't know, but Lincoln didn't seem to mind.

"Aiden. We saw his audition just now. No one performed better than him. His expressions have a subtle nature to them, and he understands acting."

"You seem to like him a lot."

Franklin said, tapping the table with one of his fingers. His attitude clearly said that Aiden's acting didn't really convince him.

"You don't like him?"

"I didn't say that. He's not bad."

"Your attitude says it." When Lincoln glared a bit, Franklin couldn't help but sigh. Although a producer has a lot of power, Lincoln was not a newbie and was well respected.

Moreover, as the movie was already mostly shot, Lincoln had a bit more power. So the studio won't want the shooting to stop in the middle no matter what.

"Look, I know he's good. But I still want the role to go to a popular actor. Maybe from India if you really want authenticity. We can promote the movie in the big market there. The ticket prices are not that high, but there's a massive market."

"After China, now India."

Lincoln understood how the world works, and at least Hollywood was mostly run on money. Because of that, Hollywood studios have tried hard to get more influence in other markets, like China.

It was great for their business, but sometimes, they would use popular actors from some countries and just give them a small role, but they would act like it's a big one during the promotions.

Because of this, their movies earn more in countries where a certain actor is famous.

"It's just better for popularity."

Franklin argued, but Lincoln wasn't really happy with it. Then, shaking his head a bit, he tried to present his point.

"Just trust me on this one. Going with a newbie is the better option with this character, and it will make the movie much better than using an already established star. And I think Aiden is that newbie."

Pausing a bit, he hesitated before adding one more line.

"Maybe he will become a star in the future, and we will be known as the ones who gave him his first break."

"Or we could go with an already established star. So let's just get someone like Vivaan Kapoor. He recently had a breakthrough in Hollywood, so we could take him for this role. Or we could just go with a middle eastern actor. They look the part."

Lincoln didn't say anything at that. Vivaan Kapoor was a pretty good actor in his eyes, but he somehow still wanted to go with Aiden.

"I still think Aiden fits the role better."

"He doesn't even look the part in my eyes. He's young and never experienced acting in front of a camera. It's very risky to give such a role to an unknown guy. You do know we will all be in trouble if the movie fails!"

Lincoln frowned hearing that. One of his biggest worries was [Shadow of War] bombing at the box office. If that happened, producers would surely not trust him, and it would be even harder to make a comeback for him.

Thinking of the box office, he ultimately doubted his decision to take Aiden.

Aiden was going back to his house after his audition. Sitting in the taxi, he has a confident feeling about the audition.

'Lincoln Bradley seemed impressed. Unfortunately, though, the same can't be said about the fat guy.'

He knew that the Director was the main person to impress while casting, but there were other factors too. Producers were one of them, and sometimes, an actor is cast just because he was marketable easily.

He could only wait to get notified. As he was thinking about that, his phone suddenly rang, and he saw that it was his mom calling from India.

"Hello, mom, how are you?"

He quickly picked it up and said. A female voice that seemed a bit angry came from the other side.

"Aiden, don't ask me how I am. Instead, tell me how you are. You don't even call me nowadays, and the only news I get of you is from the internet."

"Mom, I'm sorry I've just been busy these days. Everything is fine. I'm working hard, so most of my time goes into that."

"That doesn't mean you can't send me a text." His mom said, a bit disgruntled. Then, she asked. "And did you really get eliminated?"

"Yes, I did. That's why I'm back in New York. I'm back to attending auditions."

He could already imagine his mom frowning on the other side. She was apprehensive about him not being able to find a stable job. Although she didn't mind him going for acting as a career, her worries increased as time passed.

"If you are back in New York, then go meet your Uncle. He said you have not met him in months."

"I'm going to meet him in a few days. I need his help with some things anyway."

There was a pause when he said that. Aiden could imagine his mom sitting on a chair with worry and gloom in her eyes.

"Don't just go to him when you need help. And Aiden, try to give your best. Time goes by fast, and your only chance to prove yourself is gone before you know it."

It took a bit of a time for him to reply to her. In the end, he just said, "I will do my best."

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Last week, X-Star got embroiled in a controversy with the leak. Although they managed to remove the article from the Gossip Tribunal website, it had already done the damage.

The PR team tried hard to control the spreading fire and outwardly ignored the commotion. But it didn't stop the fans from asking questions.

And all their questions were answered when the next episode of X-Star was revealed. It was an episode that truly surprised the viewers as it was vastly different from the previous episodes.

First of all, this episode alone became the most hated episode of all the seasons because of how it was edited. The editing team had shown Rachel and Cameron in 80 percent of the episode.

The other contestants were only given glimpses, and the show didn't even show their performance properly. Instead, most of it was just interview and practice sessions for both Cameron and Rachel.

Not only that, but even before that, all social media promos mainly were about them, and it seemed like the show was just about the two and not others.

It was done to give them more exposure and popularity as they were already in the lead, but it wasn't subtle at all, resulting in a massive backfire.

Aside from that, the fans of other contestants were very disappointed. Although not as popular as Aiden or Rachel, there were contestants like Emily, Team Symphony, Lydia, and even Jackson, who had a small but essential fanbase.

These were completely ignored, resulting in a massive backlash from their fans in the form of negative comments.

The worst thing was Aiden's elimination. Something that has already been leaked but was confirmed in today's episode. But the way the show staff handled it made everyone rage.

He was only shown during his performance, and other than a short interview in the end after he lost, there was nothing..

Even if he was getting eliminated, it should have been done better with a bit of emotional touch, but Gary had told everyone not to focus on him, thinking it would make people forget about him.

But he was severely wrong.

Many blog and article websites have written about it with Gossip Tribunal saying, [Although X-Star was going through a great season, probably their best till, they might have hit the hammer on their foot here. This episode was something that is no doubt an editor's nightmare.]

A famous article website that mostly follows celebs and reality shows, Celeb Fix, also wrote an article, trying to benefit from the hot topic, [It seems like everything was going right for them this season with great contestants and popularity never seen before. But they ruined a whole episode due to an effort to get their most popular contestants even more exposure.]

A popular website mainly dabbling in pop culture, , also posted an article just two hours after the episode was broadcasted [Compared to the other reality shows like Singing Icons and American Star, X-Star always seemed to be the most genuine. But the perception is undoubtedly going to change, at least a bit. The situation can get better, but there's no doubt the ratings will take a big hit.]

Along with these articles, the fans were disappointed, especially the casual viewers who won't talk about the show on social media or follow the contestants but would still watch the episode and talk about it with their friends and family.

These viewers were in the majority, and somehow, X-Star managed to disappoint them too.

This was something most reality shows wouldn't want, and Panther TV straight out gave an ultimatum to the X-Star program team and producers to sort out the mess as soon as possible.

This episode benefited Aiden the most, as many talked about his elimination. This had gravitated people toward his social media accounts, and from there, they got to know about his songs and the MeTube channel.

When someone is a hot topic, people would always search about them, and many of his fans have already started sharing his songs.

This increased the views of many of his songs.

On MeTube, [Lonely[ was already getting views at an incredible pace with it crossing 100k, and both [I can't seem to forget] and [Life is a story] crossed 70k each. So by this pace, it was easy for them to cross a million in some months, which was a big deal for a musician with no base.

Even Aiden's MeTube account was getting a lot of subs. People wanted good, original music that they could relate to, and he provided just that. As a result, even his subscribers increased to 30k overnight.

On many online forums, it was being discussed. One of these was a forum exclusive to reality shows, and it was called 'Zenya'. On it, many fans were talking about Aiden's elimination.

[Karma's a beech: Aiden is really eliminated? I can't believe it! I thought it was a joke.]

[Omar Alshaikh: Did anyone see the guy's MeTube channel? I loved his songs. It seems like the guy can become a big star. Though it would be hard to do it independently, maybe I can help him out?]

[Monke: @Omar Aslaikh What are you? A millionaire?]

[Mister Immortal: Guys, see Sparrow! X-Star is getting roasted left and right. Someone even called them hungry for ratings.]

[God is Dog: So what now? He's going to become a MeTuber. I was hoping Steven would give him a contract, and he would let out an album. It's incredibly hard to find someone like him in the age of rappers that keep popping up here and there]

[Touch my waifu, I kill: I don't mind seeing Cameron and Rachel, but X-Star overdid it just to lower Aiden's popularity, knowing he will be eliminated next. They banged their heads on an invisible wall here.]

[Smut is the way: Man! Lonely is great. His every song is just so nice to listen to.]

[Writing is hard: I wonder what he will do next? Maybe a MeTube career, but it would be incredibly slow to increase his popularity after X-Star. I hope he comes to another reality show or a record label signs him.]

[New Yorker from rebirth: I saw Aiden today outside a theatre! I couldn't meet him because I was on a bus, but he was standing outside one. I wonder what he was doing there?]

As all this was going on the internet, Aiden was in his room. He had just returned from the bar and was already tired. But as he was planning to sleep, Valerie knocked on his door.

"How can I help you, Ms. Hudson? Do you need something?"

He asked after opening the door. By the smile on her face, he guessed that there was not anything to worry about.

"Yes, remember I told you about the wedding? My friend saw X-Star and loved your voice. So she wants you to sing at her reception."

"Really?" Aiden was surprised as he hadn't expected that she was serious. But, of course, right now, any gig was good enough for him to earn a bit of money.

"Yeah, I will give you her contact information, and you can talk about money tomorrow. But uh, she has a request. She said it's fine if you can't do it, but she's ready to pay more if you can."

"What request?"

He raised one of his eyebrows. Then, looking a bit worried, Valerie finally opened her mouth.

"She wants you to make an original for her wedding."

"Huh?"

"She loved your original songs, and she knows it's not easy to make one, but if you can, she would be really grateful and is willing to pay you more. So, it's a good opportunity for you."

Hearing that, Aiden couldn't help but ponder about it.

'A song isn't easy to make. But extra money…'

That was not something easy for him to give at this moment. There was no saying he had passed the audition, and for now, he only has MeTube and Melody, and in that, he won't start to earn a lot so soon.

Thinking for a bit, he decided to agree on it.

"Okay, I will try my best to make a good wedding song."

Valerie smiled brightly hearing that. It looked like she didn't expect him to accept the request but was nevertheless a bit hopeful.

"Thank you, Aiden! She's been a dear friend of mine for a long time, and it's her second marriage after her husband passed away ten years ago. She would be really happy."

Aiden just nodded at that.

He had never attempted to make a wedding song, but it was not like he couldn't try. After all, he had made a few songs during X-Star, too, so he can do it again.

At least, this time, he was being paid for it.

But at this point, Aiden didn't know that this song would be a small turning point in his life.

…

/DreamNote/

Thank you for your Supergift, Mr Omar

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When Aiden first heard that he needed to make an original, he was a bit uncertain because it was hard to think of a song that would work for a wedding.

But after he heard the amount of money he was getting paid, his brain cells immediately started running.

'5000 Dollars if I sing an original song. They will only pay 2500 Dollars without an original, but even that is a great deal. Not to mention the average is just 300-400 Dollars… they are willing to pay more than ten times that.'

Aiden had only heard that weddings were very lucrative for any musician before. It was mainly fun to play in a wedding as the actual wedding would have already happened, and everyone would look happy.

But one part of it was also the money.

Couples who are well settled won't think twice before spending a lot on a good musician. Valerie's friend was also the same as both she and her soon-to-be husband were quite rich.

This just gave Aiden an additional amount of motivation to work hard to make a good song.

'Now, the problem is how to make a good wedding song?'

He thought, leaning back in his chair. His laptop reflected a faint image of his face as the gears in his head turned, trying to think up a passionate love song.

Until now, he hadn't made any good love songs. 'I can't seem to forget', which was more about lost love. 'Life is a story' was simply about life, and 'Lonely' was about dreams and realities.

In all this, there was no proper love song..

"Let's see, I am not really playing with a band, so I need to keep it simple. An acoustic guitar will be best for this, so the lyrics need to be good. Probably in the major key."

He decided to take inspiration from his first relationship. Although he was still a dumb teenager back then, Aiden had intense feelings for the girl.

Sadly, it ended when she moved to a different college. But their time together wasn't bad.

He had never thought of marrying her, but he felt like he would be able to get the required inspiration to write a good song by taking help from their memories together.

Making a good melody wouldn't be hard in this song, as all he needed was a subtle sound that could enhance the effects of the lyrics. In addition, the tempo required to be generally slow, with the chorus part being the highlight which was typical for most songs like this.

They all worked with an excellent acoustic guitar or a piano. The added effect of the poetic but relatable lyrics did the rest of the work. Though, he needed to be very careful not to make it corny.

"I need to get a basic idea of the song. Then, it should be something that the couple could dance to."

Muttering that, he wrote a line in his notebook.

'Hold on to me.'

That was going to be the title of the song.

'Wish me luck.'

It took Aiden four days to write the entire song. During these four days, he would work hours daily to make a good enough song while spending his nights in the bar, only sleeping for a couple of hours every day.

His schedule was tight, but he could work hard because his work was getting recognized.

He noticed that his songs on MeTube were getting a lot of popularity, with Lonely crossing 300k views, over 20k likes, and less than 1k dislikes. This meant that the majority of his audience liked his songs.

It was the same for his other songs, and Aiden felt pretty happy about this development. But in that busy schedule, there was one thing that he had forgotten.

That was his answer to Amy, the CEO of the Creative Media agency. She had already sent him a contract, and just a couple of days before the wedding, she called him to a cafe to get an answer from him.

"Hello, Aiden, it's been a while."

Amy smiled as he sat down in front of her. She was wearing a pantsuit, and it seemed like she had just gotten out of a meeting. At least that was the vibe that she gave him.

"Hello. Yeah, sorry, I was occupied with other things these days, so I wasn't able to give you a reply sooner."

"I know that. I have seen how your songs are doing on MeTube, and you are quite the buzz on social media. People are saying your elimination was unjustified."

He just smiled wearily at that. Not like he didn't know what was going on on social media, but he didn't care at this point. X-Star was already in the past for him, and no matter what people said, Rachel had defeated him fair and square.

"It doesn't matter. It will die down in a few days."

"That's true. So, let's get straight to the main topic. I don't like chit-chatting a lot." He nodded, hearing that. "What's your answer? Are you going to enter CMA?"

She asked with a tone that said she was sure that Aiden wouldn't say no to her. After all, no unknown artist should be stupid enough to give up on a record label deal.

But the answer she was expecting didn't come out of Aiden's mouth.

"I'm sorry. I would need to reject your contract." He said it apologetically, but Amy's smile broke down into a confused face. She also looked a bit troubled.

"Can I know why?"

"There are various reasons. But the main ones are just the contract terms. I don't want to be bound to a company for seven years. Moreover, I wouldn't say I liked that CMA would have the copyrights for my song even after leaving the company. That just means my songs won't be mine."

He tried to talk in a calm voice, but Amy frowned. He could clearly see anger on her face. But she still tried her best to persuade him.

"Aiden, if you don't know, this is just standard. Every company has its own contracts, but most clauses are just standard, so even if you reject it, you won't find a better one."

"Maybe what you say is true, but I'm not willing to sign such a contract."

Aiden would not be a slave to a record label for so many years. In his mind, it was way better for him to be on his own than with a record label that would just take ownership of his work.

"If you want to negotiate, the contract can be five years. We don't go lower than that. As for the copyright, we would own it for ten years from the day you signed the contract. That's the best I can give you. Think about–"

"No, my decision won't change."

He cut her off and said. No matter how many incentives Amy gave out, he would not give up 5-7 years of his life. That's too much time.

Maybe his career would be made in those years if he accepted the contract, but he also knew that he would become overworked, depressed, and tired of his life.

"You are quite conceited." Amy suddenly said with a sharp tone. Of course, she wasn't trying to hide anything now or maintain any politeness.

"You just got a bit famous because of a reality show, and your songs got a couple of thousand views. It's nothing much in this industry, and at best, you could earn a few thousand dollars on MeTube, but other than that, you would get nowhere with that attitude."

Amy said it like she was spitting venom from her mouth, but Aiden didn't show any anger. He did feel it, but he knew that showing it won't do anything.

"Maybe you are right." He said before adding. "But I think I have some worth and talent to go a long way. After all, there's no reason for a CEO of a record label to personally try to recruit me when you must have a lot of agents and managers working under you."

She didn't say anything about that, and smiling, he continued.

"That just means you value me, and it's more than a little for sure. But, you know, that gives me more confidence that I could prove you wrong."

Amy just dumbfoundedly blinked her eyes. She didn't know where he got this confidence from, but she felt frustrated from the inside right now. She wanted to make Aiden a superstar, but he didn't seem to know his place in the hierarchy.

Even if he knew his place, he didn't know how to behave like it.

Standing up, she gave him a fierce look before opening her mouth, "You know, I really liked you. If only you were a bit smarter, you would have taken this chance to stardom. But I guess you will be another addition to the long list of failures."

She left after that, and Aiden rubbed his forehead. Her words kept resounding inside of his mind, but he just decided to believe in himself for now.

'…And she left without paying.'

…

/DreamNote/

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29th June 2015

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's applaud the beautiful couple."

The host for the reception, a pretty blonde woman, said and smiled at the couple, Lamar and Carla. Both were standing in the middle as the guests looked towards them, sitting at their tables.

The whole atmosphere looked happy with flowers everywhere. It was an atmosphere that would make anyone feel happy just by being here.

"Now, it's the time for the first dance, and as we all know, it's an extraordinary moment for any couple." She smiled. "So, we have arranged a singer for the wedding song. I hope you will like him. Please welcome, Aiden Silvereye."

Aiden walked into the room with his guitar in hand with that introduction. He was wearing a suit, the only one he had, with his hair looking very neat.

As he reached the stage, some people recognized him. Valerie waved at him from a corner.

'I need to give my best performance.'

Thinking that, he leaned toward the mic and congratulated the couple on their wedding.

"Hello, congratulations on your wedding. And thank you for giving me this opportunity. I hope you like the song I made for both of you."

Carla, a woman in her 40s, smiled at that. It was her second marriage, and the last few years before meeting her current husband were very hard for her, but she had somehow done it and was now finally happy.

For her, all Aiden could do was give her a good song.

He slowly started strumming the strings of his guitar as a melody that seemed nice to one's ears rang out. There was nothing flashy in it, but the tone was lovely.

"The first time I saw you, I was soaking in the rain."

"Oh, it still feels like yesterday, how times seem to fade.".

"The way you come into my life."

"I realize you were the one I was missing."

The soft music of the guitar, the soothing voice of Aiden, and the meaningful lyrics gave birth to an instant charm. The happy atmosphere of the marriage just added to it.

But he suddenly noticed a peculiar thing about his singing. There was no white light. More like, the white light from the music was feeble, and instead, it was the silver light that was the dominant one.

Not focusing on the lights, he just sang the song.

"When I touch your hand, it shouldn't seem like a lot."

"But it sure feels a lot."

"So, just let me take you in my arms."

The song's tempo increased here as Aiden tried to sing with more emotions. As he was singing, he just thought of how good of a feeling it was to love someone.

The married couple danced as he sang.

"You hold on to me as we dance."

"Lost in each other like we are in a trance."

"You hold my hands, and I care for your heart."

"Hoping that we will never be apart."

As the chorus came around, the silver light had already mixed in the whole room, with everyone already lost in the song. The couple was dancing happily, and it seemed like they were feeling the love from Aiden's song.

"Let's just stand where we are like it's our only chance."

"To hold each other's hand."

"Let troubles not sway us into thinking we are not meant for each other."

The strumming of the guitar changed to a bit slower as Aiden tried to match the rhythm to the slow dancing of the couple.

Watching them, he felt like he was finally a bit happier. After all, his music was becoming part of someone else's happiness.

Maybe, that much was enough for a musician. Making people happy with their music.

"You hold on to me as we dance."

"Lost in each other like we are in a trance."

"You hold my hands, and I care for your heart."

"Hoping that we will never be apart."

He sang the chorus again, but it was like a slow whisper this time, mixing in with the atmosphere filled with the silver light.

Somehow, Aiden felt like this song would be special for him at that moment.

"Thank you for making our wedding so memorable."

The couple thanked Aiden after his performance ended. They had a great time during their first dance, and it was all thanks to Aiden's song.

"I really enjoyed singing for you and writing this song for you."

"I loved it. Thank you so much!" Carla, the bride, said before turning towards Valerie, standing on the side. "If it were not for Valerie, I would have missed a singer like you."

Valerie didn't say anything about that and just smiled. Then, both she and the couple left to talk with other guests after thanking him again and telling him to enjoy the party.

'Work is done. It's time to eat food!'

Aiden thought excitedly. Today was a great day for him. Thanks to the silver light, he earned good money and saw that his skills were improving. Moreover, he would be able to post another song on MeTube, making him get more money.

Because of all this, he felt like his financial struggles would calm down a bit for a while.

It was then that he heard his phone ringing. Taking it out, he saw that it was an unknown number. He accepted the call and an unfamiliar voice resounded in his ears.

"Hello, Is this Aiden Silvereye?"

"Yes, I'm Aiden." He asked, wondering who had called him.

"I'm speaking from Zero International regarding the audition that you did for [Shadows of war]."

That sentence was enough for him to get nervous and closely listen to the call.

"What happened? What is the result?"

He asked, with a bit of restlessness in his heart while praying that the results weren't negative this time.

"About that…"

The guy on the other side of the call started speaking, and as Aiden listened, an anxious expression appeared on his face.

"This isn't working out. Don't you have any better songs?"

In Los Angeles, a man whose hair was completely dyed in white said as he looked at the buff guy in front of him. The white-haired guy had tattoos all over his arm, and he was just wearing a t-shirt with black pants.

"We tried everything. Tried to get some songs from famous producers. But nothing seems fit to you. Why don't you try working with guys you have worked with before? We need something big for your comeback, Grey." A man in a suit beside him sighed.

The white-haired guy named Grey shook his head hearing that. He didn't want to work with those people; he wanted to try something different.

"I need something unique to my music. These days, all my old songs sound the same to me. Jason, maybe, try to look for some Spanish guys? Their songs are catchy."

The man in the suit was Jason. He thought for a bit before nodding his head.

"I can try. No guarantee. We need to do something big for your comeback single."

Jason was actually the manager for Grey, an award-winning pop star who was very popular. He had topped the charts in several countries with his songs and was regarded as one of the best in the genre.

But he hadn't released anything for two years and was looking for a comeback.

It wasn't easy though. Grey needed a song that connected to him. But he hadn't found anything in the trial tracks he had heard till now.

They all sounded catchy, but he knew that there was already a lot of music like that. This time, he wanted to make something that could touch the hearts of his fans.

"You can also try to look for something that's not very popular." Jason suddenly suggested.

"Like what?"

"Like songs from indie artists which are good but don't get enough exposure. We can buy it and remix it for you."

Grey didn't hate the idea and, in the end, just nodded. Jason has a good sense of music and ideas, and this was very important to his rise as a top artist.

"Okay, I will try to see what I can get in that. Though, I don't think they will be too good."

"You underestimate the talent people have. You were kind of like that, too, back in the day. If the Neu entertainment didn't come across you performing at a college event, you might still be an indie artist today."

"It was luck, but you also need the talent to go ahead. Not like there aren't singers who get picked up by labels and never make it big." Grey said in a bit complacent tone. He was proud of what he had achieved.

Not commenting on that, Jason just said.

"Anyway, I will send you whatever is popular in the indie scene these days. Let's hope we find someone good."

…

/DreamNote/

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"Why aren't there any good wedding songs?"

Sharon Mendez frowned with her eyes glued to her laptop's screen. She had been trying hard to find a good wedding song for her wedding next month for the last hour.

But she had found nothing.

There were songs that she found quite nice, but she was someone who only wanted things that looked perfect to her, and none of the songs she found were nice enough for her.

She and her boyfriend had been together for four years now, and when he had proposed to her, her joy was boundless.

But at that time, she hadn't realised how hard it would be to plan her wedding. There were so many things to do, and she was already behind schedule.

In this case, she really wanted to get the wedding song over, but it was taking too much time. Moreover, it was not something she could skim over.

Her first dance with her boyfriend needed to be special. As she was scrolling through MeTube, she suddenly got a text from one of her friends.

[Sharon, have you found a wedding song yet?]

She quickly replied that she was still looking for one, and like she was waiting for it, her friend promptly sent her a link to a song.

[Try it. My friend went to a wedding and sent me this. It's a beautiful song, and I think you will like it.]

Not having a choice, she quickly opened up the link, which directed her to another MeTube video. The channel name was 'Aiden Silvereye', which she guessed was the singer's name.

"Hold on to me. Interesting."

Sharon muttered and started listening to the song. A soft and sweet melody immediately entranced her as the singer started to speak, and by the end of the first verse, her face was already smiling..

A couple was dancing slowly to the song on the screen, and Sharon could already imagine her and her boyfriend doing something similar.

'This is perfect. It's so good!'

She thought as her eyes sparkled. After the song finished, she looked at the song's views and realised that it was not a lot.

Even the subscriber count of the channel was low.

'5k views. Well, he posted it yesterday but still, like this, this song won't get a lot of views.'

She thought, checking up on Aiden's profile. Sharon was a beauty and fashion influencer with over 5 million followers on Skygram. She wondered if she could help the song get more views with her large following.

Even before, some of the songs that she has recommended to her followers had gotten a lot of traction.

"I needed something to post today anyway. This song will work great!"

Muttering that, she opened up her Skygram account and posted the link to the song with the caption, "I found this beautiful song today, and I'm going to use it in my wedding!"

Two days later, three young girls were in a cafe just talking with each other. Their lectures had just ended for them, and they would always hang out in the cafe after that.

"The lecture was very boring," A brown-haired girl, Mia, sighed. "I don't really enjoy these history lectures."

"I like them, though. The professor is slow, but it's somehow fun to know how people fuck each other over in the past. History is all about that."

The other girl, Sara, who had a tattoo on the back of her right hand, replied. Like that, they were talking among themselves, but suddenly, they realised that their other friend was a bit quiet today.

Turning towards their friend, Eloise, they realised that she was too engrossed in her phone to focus on the conversation. However, there were headphones on her ears, so she was probably listening to something.

Frowning, Mia nudged her shoulder and asked.

"What are you listening to?"

"Oh, it's just a viral song. It got over a million views in two days, and they are constantly increasing. Every famous influencer is planning to use this song in their videos, especially the female ones."

"What's the name of it?"

Sara asked, a bit curious after hearing Eloise's reply.

"It's called 'Hold onto me'. It's lovely. Makes me want to marry when I'm single."

Mia chuckled and took her phone from her hands to look at the song at that weird description. Then, suddenly, she was surprised when she noticed the guy on the screen.

"Isn't that Aiden?"

"You know him?"

"Yes, he was a contestant on X-Star, but he got eliminated, and after that, many people were saying that he was the heart of the show and it was unfair," Mia explained. "It seems like he's now running a MeTube channel."

Both Eloise and Sara knew Mia was a fan of reality shows, especially X-Star. Although they weren't interested in them, they had heard a lot about them from Mia.

"Yeah, he's pretty lucky. His song went viral right after he was eliminated. His subscriber count has already reached 500k."

Eloise said, feeling a bit happy as the song had already made her a fan of Aiden.

"Let me listen to it."

Sara said, taking over the phone. Hearing the conversation, she had gotten curious about the song.

Like her, many people didn't know about Aiden, but as the song went viral, more and more people were getting to know about him.

It was almost like a wildfire.

After a famous Influencer posted about the video, many had tried to copy her to get views using the same song and because of this pattern, 'Hold onto me' went viral.

Especially with the female audience, the love song was something that clearly affected their hearts.

Most of them listened to it, and many were already selecting it for their wedding. Some were even looking for the original singer who had sung the song to perform at their wedding.

The Actors Guild of America was pretty much the standard organisation whose primary job was to protect the rights of the actors. Other than that, there were also the Screenwriters Guild and the Directors Guild.

Currently, Aiden was sitting in the office of an agent assigned to him by the guild.

He had gotten the role he had auditioned for two days ago. When he had first heard the news, he was quite literally over the moon. After all, it was his first role after two years of struggling in America.

It was very special for him.

Moreover, he knew that the role wasn't an extra by the audition. He would have lines, and Aiden even wished that it would be close to a supporting role in his heart.

"For your role, Zero International will pay 70k dollars. The shooting period is 20 days, taking place in Australia. Leave your address here. You will get the flight tickets in two days and depart for Australia in a week."

The agent, William Smith, explained to him in a monotonous tone. The guild has assigned him to Aiden because the latter didn't have any own agent.

So, William was his temporary agent.

"I'm fine with that much money."

Although he said that, in his heart, he was pleased. He had never earned so much money in such a short time.

"You should be. It's a nice price for a newbie like you." William said, then pointed to some of the contract clauses that were on the table. "You need to keep your mouth shut regarding any details in the movie until the release. It's a fundamental confidentiality clause."

"What about this?"

Aiden pointed at one of the clauses, and William shook his head, frowning.

"It's a clause stating that you need to maintain your image for an amount of time before and after the movie's release. For example, once a movie failed because one of the supporting characters got caught harassing an underaged girl. This gave a terrible reputation to the movie."

Aiden just nodded at those words with a blank expression. He was not the type to cause any scandals. At least not on the level of harassing a child.

"Any questions?"

"When will I get my payment?"

"The production will give an advanced payment as soon as you sign the contract. Then you will get the rest after the shooting."

Aiden smiled, thinking of the money. At that moment, William looked like he was thinking of something.

"You are pretty lucky, kid."

"What do you mean?" He asked with an inquiring gaze.

"[Shadows of War] is pretty highly anticipated as it's a war movie. The Oscars love these movies. If you don't know, Zero International is known to do great commercial projects, so if you do a nice enough job, you will get a few more jobs. Unfortunately, though, most actors like you just throw it away. Some are unlucky enough to have all their scenes get edited out."

Saying all that, William finished it with a smirk.

"Good luck, and don't come to me if you need help. I get many actors like you, so you can understand how busy I'm."

At those rude words, Aiden chose to stay silent. He already knew how some agents could be very mean to the newbies.

'I'm a newbie for now. Won't always be.'

He just thought that in his mind and began to carefully read the contract.

…

/DreamNote/

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[Shadows of War] was a war movie set in World War I, and it tells the journey of one of the recruits of the English army, Ethan George.

Although there are movies made about World War I, [Shadows of War] doesn't take its story from a memoir or a biography or try to show a significant event during the World War.

It takes the viewers on a ride as they follow the main character, who is actually a fictional character written by the director, Lincoln himself. There wasn't any such recruit in the World War, so Lincoln made a character that would go through several major events and survive through each one of them.

The movie focused less on the thrill and brotherhood of the army and war and instead on the mental toll it takes on a soldier.

Ethan didn't make any friends who stayed with him until the end. He was mostly alone in the movie, and before anyone could become his friend, they would die.

There was even one scene where Ethan would just continuously punch a wall after seeing the deaths of so many people so close together.

These types of scenes really bring out the true repercussions of war on the mental well-being of a person, especially in a war like World War I, where millions lost their lives.

Not only that, there was a whole character arc that transformed the fun-loving young man into a shell of his former figure. He went on to survive a lot of events that changed who he was as a person.

Though, as the movie focused on Ethan completely, other characters didn't have too much time in their roles. There were some supporting characters, but Lincoln never felt like they were enough.

He wanted a character that could give something Ethan to think about for the whole movie.

Because of that, the character in which Aiden got the role was written even after most of the shooting was done.

When Aiden had first read the script, he thought it was a very solid one. In various places, the screenplay would get the viewers to relax and then suddenly throw them into the chaos of war.

In Aiden's eyes, this was one of the beauties of a war drama..

One would never know what would come next. A friend that was laughing could be on the ground in the next minute, with a bullet in his head.

It would happen in a split second that no one would know how exactly to react to it.

This was the chaos of war.

[Shadows of War] portrayed this chaos very well, and Aiden loved every aspect of the script when he first read it. As the movie was written in a way that didn't let the viewers relax, he was sure that if edited the right way, it would surely be a huge hit.

"Your first scene is next. Nervous?"

Leo Shaw, the assistant director of [Shadows of War, asked Aiden as he sat down next to him.

"A bit. I think it's normal for a newbie to be nervous. I have never acted in a movie before. I am just hoping Lincoln isn't hard on newbies."

Currently, Aiden was on the set of [Shadows of War]. He had reached Australia last week and had been coming to the set for the last couple of days, but it seemed like his wait for his first scene was finally going to be over.

"He's not. At least compared to other directors." Leo chuckled. "Lincoln is fine with a bad take If it's only a few times. He even tries to make an actor comfortable if he likes them enough. The same can't be said about the lead though."

Leo said, looking over at Aaron Hart, the main lead playing the role of Ethan. Aiden followed his gaze and saw that Aaron was currently talking to one of the makeup artists.

Aaron Hart was an actor who had been in the industry for close to I5 years and had become an A-lister through a string of good movies. But there was a rumour on the set that he was now after an Oscar, and because of that, he had signed on for a war movie.

Even Aiden was aware of it.

"I have not seen him lash out at anyone yet," Aiden replied, wanting to know more.

"Because you have not seen him work with a newbie before. He won't lash out at a B or C Lister. But a newbie without any support or a talent agency. Boy, he will be harsh."

Saying that, Leo began to narrate the event of how in some other movie that Aaron had acted in, he had straight out punched a newbie that was constantly messing up.

It had become a big issue, and the studio had to compensate the newbie to keep his mouth shut. But the rumors had already spread.

"You know a lot of stuff."

Aiden remarked after hearing the narration. Leo was one of the few that would talk to him on the set.

Most of the time, he would just sit alone and think about his character.

"It happens if you are in the industry for a long time. You make friends. Some will tell you about these kinds of rumors. It's up to you to decide if they are true or not."

Leo just shook his head saying that and stood up. It looked like his break was over.

"Anyways, good luck with your scene."

"Thanks."

Leo left after that, and now alone, Aiden again lowered his head to go through the script in his hands. If one looked closely, there were several notes on some parts of the script that involved his character.

He had studied the script a lot. Even though there was not much written about his character.

It was the same as playing a character who appears in a few scenes and has a few lines, but you don't know anything about his background.

'There is not even a mention of the name.'

He thought, flipping a page in the script. There was a very basic reason as to why Lincoln was looking for an Indian guy to play a character.

It was because his character was Indian, and it was written as a silent nod to the thousands of Indian soldiers that fought in World War I on the side of the British army who ruled over them at that point.

This was the reason why his character didn't even have a name. It was because no one remembers that there were Indian soldiers in World War I.

As there was no background for the character, Aiden had made one up in his mind. Through the scenes that his character appeared in, he had formed a general understanding of his personality.

'A smart guy. Brave. And someone who made a lot of impact on the main character's journey.'

"It's pretty much a simple scene. So, try to get it done in a few takes."

Lincoln said in a commanding tone as he stared at Aiden. Unlike when he had seen him during the audition, the director looked very unkempt with his untrimmed beard and serious look.

He was currently explaining the scene to him and how they would shoot it.

It was the scene in which the main character will see Aiden's character for the first time as they will be travelling to the location of a desolate town where there are sightings of German troops.

"I will do my best." Aiden tried to answer as confidently as he could. He knew that Lincoln didn't like people who didn't show confidence.

"I expect you to be. You may not realise it, but you are very lucky to get this role." Lincoln suddenly said. "I liked your performance, but the producer Frank wanted a more famous actor, and in the end, we decided to go for him."

Aiden widened his eyes hearing that. This was not something known to him.

"But he wasn't free. He couldn't come to the shooting so suddenly as he was in the middle of another movie. So, you got the part."

Aiden didn't say anything about that. He knew these things were common in any industry. Many good actors had gotten roles because popular ones couldn't do them for some reason.

The reason could be a clash of dates or the actor wanting to change the character a bit. But in the end, Aiden had benefited from it.

"Anyway, do you know about the camera's position and how to take that in mind during the filming?"

Lincoln changed the topic and asked a fundamental question. So many newbies mess up because they would suddenly look at the camera or block the camera from capturing their co-actors, unintentionally.

But Aiden was well versed in stuff like that.

"I know about it and have read a lot of books on it. Even saw some MeTube videos."

"Theory is very different from actually acting in front of the camera. Though, we will know when you do the next scene."

After that, he explained some more things and left to talk to Aaron, who was talking with the sound engineer.

Aiden took a look around the set and saw that it was bustling with people running here and there. Assistant directors checked everything before the scene, and the cameraman inspected the camera's position and found the right angle.

It was the storm before the set would go completely silent.

…

/DreamNote/

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[Shadows of WarJuly 17-2015 Act 8 Scene 1 Take 1]

Several soldiers were moving towards a military truck that was ready to move. They were carrying their rifles on their backs, and the exhaustion caused due to being on the battlefield could be clearly seen on their faces.

Some soldiers were just staring into the distance, thinking about something that was better left untold.

The skies were cloudy, and the atmosphere was pretty stale, with the smell of gunpowder in the air.

Among them, one of the soldiers was Ethan, who had yet to recover from the wounds of his previous war experiences.

He moved towards one of the trucks and climbed up on it. Several soldiers did the same.

At that moment, he saw a soldier panting and running towards the truck. The reason Ethan's gaze stayed on him was because of his unique features.

He didn't look British or even French. His features were something he had seen before, and his identity was easily given away by the rifle he was carrying. It was not the same as Ethan's or any other British soldier.

He was a soldier from the British Indian army.

The Indian soldier, Aiden, reached the military truck and tried to enter it, but a British soldier in front of Ethan stood up and kicked him.

With a thud, Aiden fell down and groaned in pain. He looked up at the soldiers smirking at him but didn't say anything.

Although they were fighting on the same side, the discrimination was something that he had seen and experienced a lot. Something he was already used to.

His eyes had a bit of pain in them, thinking of the times he was beaten up by a group of soldiers or when someone had spit in his food.

But he knew that this wouldn't end in a day. His only hope, for now, was that the British would win the war and his country would get the freedom their people deserved..

That was the only thing that was keeping him going in this war.

Sighing, he stood up and finally entered the truck.

Coincidentally, he sat down next to Ethan as the truck began to move. Throughout the journey, the other British soldiers glared at the Indian guy or just straight out ignored him.

Ethan was the latter, as his experiences had told him that it was better to save his energy than to do something rash. After all, they were from the same side, and in war, it was better to be together than have differences between a group.

He just rested his head on the hard metal surface of the truck.

"Cut!"

The director's shout came out as the scene finished. He hadn't expected that the newbie wouldn't make any mistakes.

Although the scene was simple, everything went very well.

"Good job, everyone. Take a break and get ready for the next scene."

[Shadows of WarJuly 17-2015 Act 8 Scene 4 Take 3]

The scene changed to a desolate town where reportedly, German troops were hiding. Several British and French regiments were here to search for them.

Ethan was walking with a group of soldiers, searching for a shadow of the German troops. Aiden was also with him, and after walking for over an hour, they stopped to take a short rest.

Ethan sat down on a nearby bench, and Aiden did the same. Feeling a bit of curiosity about him, Ethan suddenly opened his mouth to ask.

"How long have you been in the war?"

He didn't expect any answer from Aiden, knowing full well that he wouldn't even know what he was saying. But he was too tired of the silence of the surroundings.

"…a year." Surprisingly, he got a reply. When Ethan looked at him with eyes full of wonder, Aiden smiled.

"I learned to understand… the language." He said slowly, in a thick Indian accent but nothing that Ethan couldn't understand. "Felt like it was necessary to know here. I wanted… to know what the… curses I heard meant."

Somehow, that made Ethan chuckle.

"I'm Ethan, Ethan George. What's your name?"

He said, feeling a bit better after a long time, but Aiden didn't reply. Instead, he suddenly pushed him down off the bench.

"What are you–"

Ethan tried to speak, but his words never left his throat when he saw two soldiers that were standing in front of the bench fall down, with blood leaking out from their stomachs.

"Run!"

Aiden simply said that, having got a glimpse of an enemy German soldier in a building. He pulled up Ethan from the ground, and they both quickly ran to a nearby alley.

The scene ended there, and the distinct shout of the director came out.

"Cut!"

"You did a good job today."

Leo said after the end of the shooting for the day. Aiden had just come out from the makeup room after removing the makeup and changing into his normal clothes, rather than a vintage army uniform.

"Thanks."

He said simply, happy for any appreciation he was getting. He liked acting, but anyone rarely appreciated him for it.

"You did better than I thought. All the takes were nice. Normally, newbies are too nervous even to say their lines."

"I did make mistakes. They just weren't big enough for Aaron to punch me in frustration."

Leo chuckled at that joke, but it was true. There was a scene in which Aiden had fallen down, so they needed to do another take and one more where Lincoln felt like his emotions weren't in the right place.

But these things were very normal during shooting.

The best thing for him was that it had not taken more than four tries for him to give a satisfactory performance. This was truly a rare thing for newbies.

'I wonder when I will make a breakthrough.'

Aiden thought, opening up the system notifications.

[You have given your first performance in front of a camera. Congratulations on taking a major step towards stardom!]

[You have gained experience. You are close to breaking into Basic Grade 10.]

His system said he was close to breaking into Basic Grade 10, but he didn't know how long it would take.

If he could, he wanted to really get at least one of his skills to Intermediate Grade 1. But, unfortunately, even his singing skill was stuck at Basic Grade.

'Let's hope many people liking my songs will help me breakthrough.'

Aiden thought about his singing skills, and at that moment, his eyes suddenly landed on Aaron Hart and a group of supporting actors walking towards his car.

One of his hands was on the back of a pretty assistant director, and they looked weirdly close.

"That's just Aaron scoring another girl tonight."

"What?"

At Leo's remark, Aiden made an intrigued expression.

"Aaron is famous for going after young and pretty girls. That entourage of actors will party for a bit before some of them would find random Australian girls for themselves. Aaron would surely enjoy the night."

"Isn't he married?" Aiden was sure of this as he researched the actors involved with the movie a bit.

"He is. But he doesn't care. His wife isn't here, and to be extremely honest, she probably knows about it. She just doesn't care at this point. With his money, she has all the luxury items she wants and servants. So why would she care about her husband sleeping with someone else for a night?"

Hearing that, Aiden didn't feel like it was something out of the ordinary. After all, it was Hollywood.

People come here to get famous and make money. But, along the way, they become more and more materialistic as they climb the stairs of success.

"Don't you know the female assistant?" He asked as they walked.

"I do." Leo nodded. "Lincoln likes to get a lot of assistants to help him around. She's pretty much extra because she's the daughter of someone Lincoln knows. Dreams to be an actress, so she's trying to make some 'connections' with popular actors."

Leo particularly focused on the word connections with a smirk on his face. Not really caring about it, Aiden said.

"Does that even work?"

"Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't. Some of these girls even call the paparazzi themselves after landing themselves a big actor or director so that they could be on the cover page of some tabloid. Unfortunately, though, they are mostly instructed by their agents."

Leo left after that, saying that he had the stuff to work on, and as Aiden didn't have anything else to do either, he also went to his hotel room.

As most of the shooting had happened in LA and the UK, and only the final part was to be shot in Australia, Aiden had never gotten time to connect with the cast.

Even when he tried to talk to them, it ended as a greeting at best. So, he was pretty much a loner on the set.

Since he wasn't sleeping, he just thought about the talk with Leo as it kept roaming around in his mind.

'That was pretty much an eye-opener.'

Until now, he had just heard of these things happening in Hollywood, but it was the first time he was seeing it.

After all, seeing and hearing were pretty different, so the impacts were different.

It made him think more about what kind of actor he wanted to be. Someone like Aaron with a lot of fame who sleeps with young girls every night or something more, something better.

The answer was in his choices.

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The next few days on the set weren't hard for Aiden. He would come on time everyday and sit in one of the corners, waiting for his next scene.

Other actors rarely approached him, so he decided to stay quiet and just observe them.

He wanted to see how an experienced actor acted out a scene and by observing he did learn a few things. Even Aaron, who didn't really have a good personality, was clearly very experienced in acting.

He portrayed the character of Ethan with precision and whenever Aiden had a scene with him, he didn't see a trace of Aaron's personality in Ethan.

That made him want to surpass Ethan in his acting.

But it wasn't as easy as it looked. When Aiden checked Aaron's skill interface, he found that he was at Intermediate Grade 7, a very high grade.

But Aaron didn't have the empathy skill that Aiden had and because of that, he was able to outperform his level.

Even Lincoln was very impressed with him as the shooting went on.

In a war movie, there were a lot of retakes, not because the actors would make a mistake but because Lincoln wanted to have different takes to choose one from during the editing.

Moreover, some scenes would be shot with different angles multiple times.

This meant that Aiden needed to give a great performance every single time. Only some scenes that included explosives were shot just once just because shooting them again would be too expensive.

"Aiden."

He raised his head from his thoughts when he heard the voice of Lincoln. Standing up, he asked.

"Yes, is the scene ready?"

"Yeah, we are checking the lightning and Jeremy is just looking for a nicer angle to shoot from." Jeremy was the cinematographer, a position that was very important in filmmaking. "I just wanted to go over the next scene."

Aiden nodded his head. Lincoln was a director who would explain the scene to every actor to get them a better understanding of his vision..

The next scene was one of the last ones of Aiden and it was mostly a scene where his character talked about why he was in this war and how he felt about it to Ethan.

It was just a dramatic scene which would change Ethan's perception about the war.

"As you know, the scene is the first proper conversation between Ethan and your character that won't be interrupted by German soldiers."

"Yeah."

"We are going to do a lot of closeups of your face, so try to just give it your best."

Aiden was a bit surprised by the short explanation. Normally, Lincoln will give big explanations as to how he wants an actor to do a scene.

"I thought you would tell me a bit more."

"I just decided to trust your acting. You are a newbie but you are not bad. Quite good, I would say and you have proven that. So, I'm just going to leave it to you."

Saying that, Lincoln walked away and Aiden smiled a bit.

'So, this is getting acknowledged by the director.'

He thought in his mind.

It was not an easy thing for a newbie to get acknowledged by the director, but Aiden had somehow gotten Lincoln's approval.

'I feel like I'm more confident now.'

Thinking that, he took a deep breath. Now, he really wanted to nail the next scene.

[Shadows of WarJuly 26-2015 Act 9 Scene 1 Take 1]

The crisp sound of the slate board came out and with that, the scene began. Aiden's skill activated at the same time as he suddenly found himself in a different zone.

The crew and the rest of the cast that was observing the scene disappeared from his view and Aaron that was in front of him became Ethan and no one else.

Even Aiden was not feeling like himself anymore.

"We are still… alive."

Aiden muttered, observing his ankle where a bruise could be seen. They were currently hiding in one of the houses. The sudden ambush of the German soldiers had left him with a lot of restlessness.

He felt like soldiers would rush in from the door any second and bullets would make several holes in his body.

"Are we really?" Ethan said in a dead tone, making Aiden look up at him.

"You are breathing… so you are alive. That's… what I know."

"Maybe it would have been better if I had died there with the others. That's the better option, isn't it?"

Aiden didn't say anything for a while, thinking of those words. A trace of longing suddenly flashed in his eyes as he sighed.

"You don't… have a place to return to?"

"What?"

"People who want to see you again. Parents, friends… wife. Maybe a home. Stuff like that… Don't you want to go back?"

Ethan did have people to return to. Parents and a girl who was waiting to marry him but he felt like he had already forgotten how their voice sounded. It was just a whisper now.

"I do. But I don't know if I will be the same when I return. The war has given me lots of scars."

Aiden smiled at that. Leaning against the wooden wall, he said.

"At least those… scars are due to fighting for your own country."

"What are you–"

Ethan stopped speaking when he realised what Aiden's words meant. He didn't say anything to that and just muttered.

"You feel like your country will get freedom if the British won the war?"

"That's what was said. Don't know what to… trust but a… bit of hope is nice. I think that much is enough… to keep you alive."

"I don't think that's enough. Bullets don't care about hope."

Aiden chuckled hearing that. Smiling a bit he replied, "They don't, but bullets… aren't your only enemy… in war."

After saying that, Aiden just focused on his wounds. He didn't know how long the war was going to go on and the only thing he could do currently was to hope that he would come out of it alive.

The worst thing for him would be to die in a land that was not his and never would be.

They didn't talk after that but Aiden's words kept ringing in Ethan's head. He just didn't know what to make out of them yet.

At that moment, Lincoln's voice sounded out.

"Cut!"

"That was a great take."

Jeremy, the cinematographer said as he looked at the monitor where the scene that they had just shot was playing. Lincoln, next to him, nodded with a beaming smile.

"Yeah, it's one of the best so far. I think the editor will like it a lot too."

"I agree." Jeremy looked at the monitor, particularly at a close-up shot of Aiden. "The rookie is just getting better as we are going. I think his role will fill the hole in the screenplay."

"The character was written for that. Now, only one scene of his is left and we need to make it very impactful."

The next scene was the death scene of Aiden's character that could become another scar for Ethan. They had planned it well but the execution still needed to be perfect.

"We can't really shoot the scene twice, so only one take."

Jeremy muttered, a bit worried. Aiden's last scene contained a lot of explosions in the background and if they want to do a retake, their budget won't be enough. They were already pretty tight on it.

"Let's leave everything to Ethan and rookie. They have done a good job till now. If it was a bad take, well.." Lincoln made a conflicted expression. "We won't be able to help it."

If they really got a bad take, Frank would surely not be very happy and Lincoln needed to keep a good relationship with him until the end of the shooting.

After [Shadow of War] worked at the box office and the critics gave it good ratings, the relationship between him and Frank would change with the shift in power dynamic.

Until then, he would just stay silent.

As Jeremy and Lincoln were talking about the scenes, Aiden was looking at the system notifications in front of him.

[Your acting level has increased from Basic Grade 9 to Basic Grade 10.]

[Congratulations! You have broken past your limits and have gotten a special one time reward that you can use.]

[You are now close to breaking into a new grade.]

[Special skill 'Breakout scene' has been given for a one time use. The next scene you perform, your limits will break and the chances of giving a standout performance will increase.]

'Finally!'

Aiden shouted in his mind as he saw those system notifications. The entire set around him was bustling with the crew preparing for the next scene.

But he didn't seem to care about it.

All his attention was on the system prompts. Not only has he gotten through Basic Grade 9 and was now one step closer to breaking into Intermediate Grade in acting. But he had also gotten a new skill.

Though, it could only be used once.

'Breakout scene.'

Aiden read the description of the skill and he couldn't help but flash a bright smile. He felt like this was the exact skill he needed for the final scene.

'Though, it's not definitive.'

In the description, it was only written that there were only chances that his limits would break which meant that he could fail too.

But something was still better than nothing.

…

/DreamNote/

Don't forget to vote with powerstones and golden tickets!

12 More Bonus Chapters left for the grab!

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"You are going to hear a lot of explosions, but don't be scared. Just keep running until you get the signal."

Lincoln explained, staring at Aiden and Aaron, who were standing close to each other. As it was one of the most prominent scenes in the movie involving the two, the director was explaining it to them at the same time.

"What if I hit somebody while running?"

Aiden asked. This scene was one of pure chaps with the British soldiers running away from the large ambush of the Germans. The German soldiers would start to bomb the whole town with explosives to top it off.

"Even then, don't stop running!"

Lincoln made a serious expression, and by his tone, Aiden knew that if he messed up this scene, he would be in a lot of trouble.

'Aaron might even try to punch me in frustration.'

Aiden chuckled in his mind, glancing at Aaron, who was listening to Lincoln with a focused expression.

On the set, he was not someone who would take it easy.

"The explosives are very expensive, and the crew has planned this scene for a long time. So try to give your best in it."

Saying that Lincoln patted Aiden's shoulder and left to talk to one of his assistants. When he left, Aaron turned toward him and glared.

"Don't mess it up, rookie."

He replied with a nod in that rude tone. Satisfied, Aaron went to his stylist to get his blonde hair fixed for the scene.

'He seriously doesn't seem to like me.'

Aiden thought and frowned. He has not liked his attitude throughout the filming, but if he tried to say anything against him, he was going to be thrown out due to arguing with the main lead.

Zero International wouldn't care a lot about a newbie that they could replace even with the contract already signed..

It was unfair, but Hollywood was a pretty hierarchical society. If he wanted to stand up against Aaron, he at least needed to have some popularity.

'At least I won't have to see his face from tomorrow.'

Aiden thought and decided to just focus on the scene for now. He had already memorized most of his lines and wanted to make the scene more memorable as it was his character's death scene.

For that, he had a way.

'Breakout scene.'

His special skill was going to help him in this.

[Shadows of WarJuly 28-2015 Act 9 Scene 4 Take 1]

Hearing the sound of the slate clapping together, Aiden's surroundings change to a war zone as his immersion levels cross all boundaries.

Because of using the Breakout scene skill, he felt much more this time.

It was like he was really in World War 1, with all the old-style buildings. The atmosphere that would be best described as destruction and chaos was all around him as his ears were constantly hit with the sound of explosions.

"Run!!"

Suddenly, he heard a shout from Ethan and looked behind him. A large group of German soldiers was coming toward him. Some have already started fighting.

Seeing that, Aiden started running with Ethan just a bit ahead of him. Around them, more British soldiers were running as the Germans were just too big in numbers to fight against.

Some who tried to shoot back would fall to the ground in the next second.

'I feel like I'm in hell.'

Aiden thought and found it very fitting. The battlefield he was experiencing was just that – A hell created by humans.

As he thought that, one of the soldiers suddenly jammed into him, and he fell down.

Dirt entered his eyes, and he felt like one of the rocks had bruised his knees as a sharp pain overcame him.

Ethan stopped to pick him up, but Aiden quickly got up from the ground and said, "Don't stop no matter what!"

Both of them ran and ran, but as they were just turning around a corner to enter an alleyway, away from the German soldiers, Aiden suddenly felt something hitting his back, and he fell down.

Putting his hand on his back, he saw blood.

"You okay? Get up!"

Ethan quickly came towards him and tried to put his body on his back so that they could run away.

But Aiden shook his head.

"No, I have… been shot."

"Don't be a fool. We need to just get out of here. Then you will be fine. Be alive, for god sake!" Ethan screamed, looking at him with bloodshot eyes.

The expression on Aiden's face was one of sadness and shock, as he felt his vision getting blurry, and even his mind felt a bit foggy like he had forgotten things.

"No, I will bleed out."

He said, then looked down at one of his pockets. Ethan quickly searched it and took out a letter which was a bit bloody.

"Send it to… India. The address is on it. Please… do that."

Aiden said, his face going paper every second. Ethan could see that he wouldn't last much longer and quickly replied.

"Yes, I will. Anything else?"

"If you can… send some money too. Just a bit. And…"

Aiden tried to say, but he felt his vision going black. Still, he held on for one more while. Just for a bit more.

"Try to hope… Don't di-"

As he was saying that, his eyes became still. His body had gone completely cold, and he had lost his life just like that.

Ethan's eyes turned moist, seeing the death of someone he had started regarding as a friend. But at that moment, he heard gunshots and realizing that he couldn't stay here longer, he started running.

"Cut!"

The director's voice came out at that moment. This time, it was a bit solemn.

There was pin-drop silence on the set as the scene ended. It had gone without any trouble, with all the shots being very clean.

They won't have to reshoot it, but the silence was not about that. It was more about the performance that they had seen. Something that no one in the crew, not even Lincoln, had expected.

'This is what I wanted!! A scene like this!"

He thought excitedly in his mind and quickly moved towards the monitor where Jeremy was standing with a shocked face.

Lincoln played the scene again on the monitor. They have shot it with a long shot during the running scene with the camera coming together to do a close-up when Aiden's character gets shot.

And watching the scene on the monitor, Lincoln was sure that it was the best that they had gotten during the whole shooting.

"Jeremy, I think we got the scene that would elevate the movie's status." He smirked at his friend.

"Yeah, that rookie had serious acting chops! Unfortunately, he never showed it until now!"

"No, he was good in all the scenes. But this is something different. Some actors just give out breathtaking performances in some particular scenes. This was one of them."

Jeremy agreed with that statement. Throughout his career, he had seen many actors do something similar, and in all the cases, it had become the talking point of the movie.

Thinking of something, he suddenly said, "I think we will be able to use this scene in promotions a lot. It will attract a lot of attention on MeTube and other social media sites."

Lincoln quickly shook his head and refuted those words.

"No, I don't want anyone to know that Aiden is in the movie. He won't even get a still during the trailer and promotions."

"Why?"

"I want people to experience it directly in the theatres. I'm pretty sure it would be a surprise and later spread due to word of mouth."

After analyzing the idea, Jeremy also felt that Lincoln was not wrong. These scenes are widely talked about by the audience, and word of mouth is good for any movie.

Even the first movie Lincoln directed had only worked because of word of mouth. Otherwise, it would be an addition to the list of flop movies.

'The audience will surely cry their hearts out in the theatre.'

Jeremy silently made a prediction.

'I thought I died for real.'

Aiden thought, sitting down on a chair. After coming out of the acting zone, he was sweating hard, and his body was colder than the normal body temperature.

The immersion level had made him feel like he had actually died for a second.

And it wasn't a good experience. His heart was still beating fast, and one of his hands shook slightly.

"At least it seems like my performance was good enough."

He muttered, looking around the set. Lincoln seemed to be in discussion with Jeremy, and most of the crew and actors were strangely glancing at him.

Leo flashed a smile at him, like saying that he had done a great job. On the other hand, Aaron couldn't be seen anywhere.

'He left abruptly somewhere after the scene ended.'

Aaron had left like this because he felt like a rookie had overshadowed his performance. He felt frustrated with himself, especially because he couldn't ask the director for another take.

Ignoring all that, Aiden focused on the system notifications in front of him.

[You have performed a scene that has broken your limits. You have gotten a lot of experience.]

[The skill 'Breakout scene' has been used.]

[You are one step away from breaking into Intermediate Grade 1.]

…

/DreamNote/

Don't forget to vote with powerstones and golden tickets!

12 More Bonus Chapters left for the grab!

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"Okay, time to say goodbye to Australia."

Aiden said, taking a last look around his hotel room. The shooting had ended yesterday, and just the next day, he was planning to leave and head back to New York City.

He did have plans to roam Australia and do some sightseeing. But in the end, he changed his mind and decided against it.

It was just because Aiden didn't want to take a break at this stage of his career. Now, the shooting was done, he now has to focus on getting his next gig.

Therefore, he needed to participate in more auditions and maybe, get a few more singing gigs to create a passive income source.

Anyway, if he really decided to roam Australia, his savings would deplete really fast.

As he locked the door, his phone suddenly rang. Taking it out, he saw that it was a message from his Uncle.

[Uncle Sam: Meet me when you return to New York. It's been a long time.]

He quickly replied 'Yes' to it. Anyway, earlier his mom had told him to meet his Uncle, and he himself needed to consult the latter on a few things.

'Hope he isn't too angry at me for not coming to visit.'

His Uncle cared a lot about him because, according to him, Aiden was very similar to his father. Thinking about this, Aiden was sure that when he meets his Uncle, the latter would surely scold him for not being in contact for the last few months.

Shaking his head, Aiden got on the elevator and gave back his room key at the reception, but when he stepped out of the hotel's front door, he saw Leo standing there in front of a car.

"Get in. I'm here to drive you to the airport.".

He said, waving his hand and pointing at the black car.

"I didn't know you were going to drive me. Since when did you become a driver? Assistant job not paying much?"

Aiden smirked and asked. He had become good friends with Leo over the course of the shooting. It was inevitable as Leo was the only one to talk to him regularly.

"Don't go into comedy. Acting suits you way better." Leo shook his head, then explained why he was here. "Apparently, Lincoln felt like you did an amazing job in the last scene, so he told me to drop you off."

"That's nice."

Aiden said, sitting in the car. Then, without wasting any time, Leo started driving to the airport.

Along the way, they talked about [Shadow of War] release date, which was in two months, and some other stuff, mainly just stuff about the industry.

It was then that he found the situation a bit weird, and taking the chance, Aiden suddenly asked, "What's the reason you came to drive me to the airport?"

"I told you. It was Lincoln–"

"You could have sent a staff member or just booked me a taxi. There must be something you want to talk about, so start talking."

When Aiden explained his reasoning, Leo couldn't say anything for a while. He knew that Aiden was smart but didn't expect him to point this out so accurately.

"Well…" Leo began to explain as the car took a left. "I actually have a script I'm writing."

"Oh."

Aiden just said and understood what was going on. Every assistant director has a dream to one day become a director themselves. That was the ultimate goal.

He had talked enough with Leo to know that he shared a love for filmmaking, and at the same time, he was very knowledgeable about it too. But it was the first time he heard that Leo was working on a script.

"What type of script is it?"

"A romantic comedy," Leo said, then explained a bit more. "I'm still working on it, but I will soon complete it. After that, it's all on the studios. They might or might not like my script."

"Romantic comedy is a safe bet."

Leo nodded. Studios are way more likely to invest in romantic comedies because they are easier to sell and have minimal risks. After all, a romantic comedy doesn't take much money to make.

Earlier, he had sent two scripts to many studios. One was a noir crime drama, and the second was a sci-fi action flick, but the studios rejected both of them.

It was mainly because a crime drama was very hard to execute, and people didn't trust Leo as a new director, and sci-fi takes too much money.

If he wanted to really make his debut, a romantic comedy was the best.

"So, you are telling me this because you want me to be a part of it?" Aiden guessed as he wasn't able to think of any other reason.

"Yeah, and not as any character. But the lead."

"The lead?" Aiden made a surprised expression.

"Yeah, I think you would be very suitable for it, especially after watching you perform that last scene. Though, that's just my preference. If a studio liked the script, they would probably want to get a famous actor to play it."

Aiden made an understanding smile at that. Leo was being completely logical.

"In that case, I can't do anything, but I will get you a supporting role. But if the studio agreed to get an unknown face as the lead, then you would be the lead."

"That's a pretty great offer."

Aiden smiled, feeling a bit grateful. Although he wasn't sure if he would really get a role, he felt nice that Leo was looking out for him.

Currently, any role he could get was good. No matter if it was a male lead, a supporting character, or just a villain.

As Aiden was busy shooting in Australia, his song 'Hold onto me' was getting more and more viral on social media. It had gotten around 43 million views out of nowhere in just a month.

Many Influencers have made short videos on the song, and it was particularly famous on short video platforms like Tiktak.

But at the same time, many people were also curious as to where Aiden was these days. He had not posted anything on social media for a long time. Actually, there was no post after he uploaded the music video of Hold onto me.

That made a lot of people curious about where he was.

On Sparrow, a small group of his fans were actively talking about him, and at the same time, a post on a forum titled [Is Aiden Silvereye dead or alive? We have not heard anything from him since his viral song.]

The post got over 1k comments as Aiden has been a hot topic for a while now.

[fatBatman: He's probably in a coma, or no stupid person would not try to capitalise on his viral song. It's getting too many views for an indie artist on MeTube and Melody.]

[kentuckycriedfricken: I think that a billionaire milf fell for him and kidnapped him to be with her.]

[May I. Tutchem: @kentuckycriedfricken We are not asking about your fantasies here.]

[ChickyChickyParmParm: Maybe he got a lot of live gigs and is singing in weddings now? One of my neighbours was willing to pay 5k dollars for him to sing at her wedding.]

[pig_benis: I doubt that, or there would be some videos about it. At least a post, but there's nothing. Maybe he got those creative moments and is just making songs non-stop.]

[thanos_left_hand: I really want another song from him. It seems like just a month ago. He was releasing a lot of originals a long time ago.]

[HeyYouNotYouYou: I heard he got a record label deal. If it's true, then we might see an announcement of his new album soon. Record labels love artists who can compose their own music as they could be more easily marketed.]

[JusAbaaka: Hey guys! See this.]

Suddenly, one of the people commenting shared a photo of Aiden at the airport in Australia just as he was taking a flight back to New York.

Instantly, it became the main attraction of the whole post, and several new comments popped up.

[Castles are my motivation: This pic is from an Australian airport. What's he doing there? Vacation?]

[AverageForumUser: Maybe he's on vacation with Rachel there. I really hope that's true.]

[Horny police: @AverageForumUser, that ship sank when he left X-Star. There's not even one photo of them together after that. It was just a thing created by the X-Star program team.]

[FastAndCurious: I actually was on a set these days ago, and Aiden was there too. He got a role in a new upcoming movie by Zero International. He's in Australia for the shooting. You heard this from me first!]

[Why so much heat: That can't be true! He's not an actor but a singer.]

[Aiden's wife: He said in X-Star that he wants to be an actor more. Maybe he actually got a role. Think if that's true. Aiden on the big screen.]

[Toxician: Aiden can't act, for god's sake. He's good at singing doesn't mean he will be good at acting too. That doesn't make sense. Rarely are there people who can do both.]

[AllGoodNamesRGone: If it's true, I really hope Aiden posts something about it. I would love to see him in a movie, especially as a bad guy. He would look great.]

[CEO Orange: We won't know anything just talking here. If there's something, people will know in some months anyway. Not like he's a big star. He's a slightly famous indie artist now.]

…

/DreamNote/

Don't forget to vote with powerstones and golden tickets

The bonus chapter from the castle will be uploaded in morning (it's midnight rn here). The stockpile I had went into privilege.

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After coming back to New York, the first thing that Aiden did was to open up his social media accounts and make a post, saying he was alive and was just busy somewhere.

He even posted a photo of him outside his apartment.

During the shooting, Aiden had not used social media even after the shooting, and he kept thinking of his character and making notes about him.

He also got into the habit of reading books about war to understand a bit more about what goes on in a soldier's mind.

So, he never really got the time to be on social media. Though, he knew a bit of what was going on.

'Hold on to me' has gone viral, and many people have streamed it on Melody and MeTube, making him famous. It was especially used a lot at weddings.

Because of this, he was getting a lot of messages, and even some people wanted to book him for a show, but because he was busy shooting, he was not able to accept those.

Currently, Aiden was staring at his screen, where two messages could be seen.

[127,000$ has been transferred to your bank account ending with XXXX]

[146,000$ has been transferred to your bank account ending with XXXX]

These two messages were from MeTube and Melody, respectively, where just 'Hold onto me' was getting a lot of reception.

Even his other songs like 'Lonely', 'Life is a story', and 'I can't seem to forget' were getting more views every day thanks to one viral song of his.

Every single one of his songs has crossed a million, and his money problems were more or less solved for the next few months..

Thanks to that, he doesn't have to work in the bar now.

If he could keep churning out songs each month, Aiden won't be able to worry about money even if he didn't get any other roles. This proved that he was moving steps in his career.

But if he truly wanted to make a huge jump in his career, he needed better connections, and because of that, today, he had come to meet his Uncle.

'The restaurant still looks the same.'

Aiden thought as he looked at the restaurant in front of him. It was named 'Dungeon of Food' and had been started by his Uncle Sam a few years ago.

Although the restaurant has a peculiar name because of his Uncle's hobbies, the food was great, and it was a bit famous.

"Welcome!"

As Aiden entered the restaurant, he was greeted by a familiar voice. He smiled at the girl who was behind the counter and asked, "Hello, Lisa, it's been a while."

The blonde woman stared at him for a second, surprised because she hadn't seen him in a long time. Her name was Lisa Silvereye, Aiden's cousin, and she was a few years older than him and was already married.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were in Australia." She asked as Aiden's eyes scanned the filled restaurant, not finding his Uncle there.

"I came back yesterday," He replied, then asked. "Where's Uncle Sam? I wanted to meet him."

"He's in his office, playing some new video game. You know his childish hobbies."

Lisa replied, pointing at the door that led to his Uncle's office.

He thanked her before walking toward his Uncle's office. He quickly found it and knocked on the door.

"Who's there? I'm busy." A rough, middle-aged voice came out of the room.

"It's me, Uncle Sam. Aiden."

"Aiden! You finally remembered to come back? Get in!"

With that confirmation, he opened the door and saw his Uncle sitting on the sofa with a large screen in front of him. He was playing some sort of FPS video game and was in the middle of killing an ugly octopus monster.

"I didn't know you would come back so soon." His Uncle said as he gestured to Aiden to sit in front of him.

Uncle Sam looked like a buff, white guy who must have been through many wars. But Aiden knew that the latter just looked like that. The closest his Uncle had been to war was by playing video games.

"How are you these days? It looks like the business is booming." Aiden asked.

"Yeah, it's good enough that I could buy games without worry. Not a lot of stuff gives me excitement in life these days. Your aunt stopped doing that years ago." He chuckled. "Anyway, how was Australia?"

Uncle Sam looked at him with keen eyes. He was very happy that Aiden was finally putting a foot in Hollywood.

"It was pretty good. My days just went by sitting on the set."

"That's boring." Uncle Sam frowned. "You know when I went to Australia once, I spent my time on beaches. Beach and Bikinis are the reason to go to Australia, and you just wasted it on shooting. You should have stayed to have some fun."

Saying that Uncle Sam shook his head, looking disappointed. Though, in his heart, he was also happy that Aiden was giving more priority to work than having fun.

Something that was very important in the long run.

"Anyway, Uncle, I actually came to meet you for some reason." Aiden quickly changed the subject and came to the main topic.

"What reason? Do you need money?" Uncle Sam asked, but Aiden quickly shook his head.

"No, I have enough of it for now. The thing is more to do with my career." Uncle Sam became serious after hearing that.

"I need an agent." Aiden added.

An agent is something that every actor in Hollywood needs, and a good agent can easily make the career of an actor, and a bad one can end it too.

Uncle Sam clearly understood the value of a good agent as it was an agent who would get roles for an actor and make out a plan for career growth. There were countless actors whose careers have gone downhill because of a bad agent.

So, it was something very important.

Not only getting roles, agents also help with legal matters. For example, Aiden still hasn't gotten the full payment for his role in [Shadows of War, even if it was in his contract.

He had called Zero International, but they had not given him a proper reply. If he had an agent, he would have already handled everything, and Aiden would get his payment.

"You won't be joining an agency? Something like SGA or Red Ant Agency will surely be good for you."

Steve Grant Agency (SGA) and Red Ant were both top agencies with countless actors in them. Every rookie would dream of getting such an agency due to the connections they have.

"I don't want to be bound by a contract. And you do know these agencies have a lot of actors, and it's hard to get resources for themselves."

Aiden said, thinking of a line from an article he had read – Agencies would make a star every year, but that one star is standing on hundreds of others that failed.

"I do know that. But finding a good agent that's not connected with an agency but still has connections is very hard." Uncle Sam muttered, sighing a bit, but Aiden smirked.

"That's why I have come to you."

"I lost my contacts a long time ago, Aiden. You do know it's almost been a decade."

Uncle Sam frowned, thinking of the old days. He used to own a mid-sized movie studio called Silver films, and it had done very well at the start. But over the years, he got tired of Hollywood, and after a few flop movies, he closed his studio and started this restaurant.

He was earning less, but now he had peace.

His previous connection to Hollywood was also the reason Aiden had come to him to start his search for an agent.

"I know you don't attach yourself to Hollywood, but I don't really have anyone else to go to," Aiden said. "I can't depend on guild agents to handle the contract every time."

"Well, let me think."

Uncle Sam finally said, not wanting to disappoint Aiden. He knew his nephew had a lot of talent, and he didn't want it to go to waste.

But in the free-agent market, there were only a few good ones. Others were just fringes that would try to scam actors out of their money.

A good agent would get gobbled up by an agency as soon as they realize his talent, as, unlike actors, a good agent is much rare to come by.

'A good agent. Someone who could truly help Aiden… Ah, Yes! There's one!'

Uncle Sam suddenly thought and made a smile. But it quickly turned into a conflicting one as Aiden asked.

"What happened?"

"Nothing. I just thought of a good agent that would be perfect for you but…"

"But?"

Aiden raised an eyebrow and shook his head a bit, Uncle Sam explained.

"He doesn't have a good character. More like, he's too straightforward for his own good. Just purely on work, he's top-notch. But he doesn't work with someone he doesn't like. There are even cases where he has punched an actor he was working with."

Hearing that, Aiden couldn't help but think that people in Hollywood truly loved punching others.

But he didn't want to miss out on an opportunity.

"He has a bad character, but he's good, right?"

"Very good. He has worked with many actors, and although he never really worked with someone for long, he helped them greatly in the short time he was their agent."

"What's his name?" Aiden asked.

"Wade Spectre"

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"Do you know much of a stupid fuck you are?"

A middle-aged man shouted with clenched fists, looking at the person in front of him. The person he was shouting at was Alex Collins, an actor who had gotten relatively famous in the last year due to getting a supporting role in a big-budget movie.

Alex had a scared expression as the middle-aged man glared at him like he was going to kill him.

They were currently in an office that looked to be a mess. Alex knew that if the middle-aged man tried to harm him here, he wouldn't be able to do anything.

"Wade, don't be so angry. Listen to me, it wasn't my fault. I was drunk." Alex tried to explain, but Wade, the middle-aged man, wasn't in the mood for any of his nonsense.

"Drunk? Tell those to the paparazzi or the comments saying you are a pedophile. What the hell were you even thinking when you decided to kiss a 15-year-old in the car?"

Saying that Wade looked at the newspaper on the table. On the front page, a photo of Alex kissing a girl in his car was there. The main thing was that the girl's age was half of Alex's, and she wasn't even an adult yet.

There was even a photo of them entering his house together, so there was no way out of it.

"She didn't look 15. When I met her, she said… she's over 20."

Alex tried to make an excuse, but Wade wouldn't listen more to it.

"Really? Let's tell that to the guy who published this article. He would surely give a public apology." Wade taunted sarcastically. "Moreover, it's your third scandal in two months. You are taking Hollywood too easy if you think people would want to work with you after so many scandals."

At this moment, Wade really wanted to change the shape of Alex's face a little. But in the past, he had already been in trouble for doing stuff like that in anger.

Even if it was frustrating, he needed to keep it to words.

"Wade, it will be buried soon. We just need to give money to the newspaper, so they don't drag it." Alex said, trying to find a way out of this..

"That doesn't work. After [Sunset at the Sea, your popularity has increased, and more articles will pop up in different tabloids. We can't pay everyone." Wade frowned.

Alex was a good actor, and he was pretty polite a year ago. Those were the major reasons Wade had become his agent, but after getting a bit of popularity, he changed, letting money and fame go to his head.

At this point, he was already too tired of him.

'If only he had stayed the same, he could have been an A-lister in three years.'

Wade already has a good plan for him, studios he had been in talks with for a role but now, it won't work out. No studio wanted to work with someone the news had labeled a pedophile.

Last month, Alex had slept with a married woman and gotten beaten up by her husband, who had caught them. It had become a headline as some paparazzi had taken his photos. But it was still something Wade could handle.

'This time, there's no guarantee. Not like this idiot is going to stop after three scandals either.'

He thought in his mind, glancing at Alex. Having worked with and seen a lot of actors, he knew what type Alex was.

That's why he quickly decided in his mind.

"Get out. I am terminating the contract."

When Alex heard those words, he thought Wade was joking, but his expression told him that it was serious.

"You can't break it just because of a scandal!"

"Yes, I can. I told you that when I started working with you. It's in the contract too, so get out of here."

Alex made a distressed expression hearing that. He knew the value of Wade as he's the one who has gotten him auditions in movies that have become a hit.

"No, no, please give me another chance. I won't get more scandals." He begged, but Wade's decision was already made.

"Just leave. You are popular now. Some agency with a big PR team might take you in. If you focus on movies more, you might be able to leave behind your scandals." Wade advised. "Now, get the fuck out of my eyes, or I will mess up that pretty, bitchy face of yours."

Having no choice, Alex left after that, and sitting in his small office, Wade couldn't help but sigh.

Alex was not the first actor to turn his life for the worse.

"I'm again out of any actors."

This was the sad reality of his life. His dream was to make a person a big star with his own eyes, but most actors and actresses would just destroy their lives with drugs, girls, and money after becoming just a bit famous.

Sadly, that was just Hollywood.

As he was lamenting his fate, his phone suddenly rang. Picking it up, he saw that it was an old friend of his.

He had not heard from him for a long time as his friend had retired and gotten a restaurant. But now, he was suddenly calling him.

'Sam Silvereye.'

Currently, Sparrow users were excitedly talking about the results of X-Star's last round and the four people who have reached the finale.

When Aiden was in Australia, X-Star was continuing with the show. Although they had taken a hit in the middle due to bad editing and the elimination of Aiden, the program team had quickly tried to turn it around.

They never got to the same ratings as before, but it was still way better than the last season.

Cameron, Rachel, Lydia, and Emily were the final contestants left in the show. Before this round, Jackson, who has also gotten a lot of fans, had gotten eliminated.

So, now the completion was only among four people for more than 1 million dollars and a record label deal.

[Talking Mouse: I'm very excited to see the finale. I wonder who will win? I'm personally supporting Lydia.]

[Leon King: Cameron or Rachel. The competition is between these two. Not like Lydia or Emily are bad, but they are not on the same level of popularity as these two.]

[Jackson is Dope: I'm still mad that they eliminated Jackson. He's the literal god of drums!]

[That Meme guy: I heard Cyco Media roped him in for a band or something. He would soon debut anyway, so it didn't matter. Not like this is a drumming competition.]

[Cuntivation online: I heard both Cameron and Rachel got record label deals already. Though, I don't know if they took it or not.]

[Red flag: If Aiden hadn't been eliminated, he would have probably been the contestant to be talked about the most. That guy was trending when he got eliminated. Tells a lot about his fans.]

[Isekai Harem protagonist: He's already doing a lot better not being on the show. His MeTube career is picking up at an express speed, and I heard he got a role in a movie too.]

[Emperor Scoundrel: That's nothing compared to getting a deal with Cyco media. Those guys are very big, and a deal with them means millions of dollars per month. The winner would be bathing in money.]

[Revolution coming: I still feel Aiden got lucky. He's making his own way in the industry, and though his luck is pretty good for now, I feel like he has enough talent to make a mark.]

[Hollywood Insider: I Heard he's looking for more movies and getting an agent. #X-Star]

"This is it!"

Grey shouted with an excited voice as he heard the music. He was looking through the songs his manager Jason had sent to him.

He had not expected to find anything according to his tastes in it, but after going through some of the songs, he had found a track that had immediately connected to him.

After playing it three to four times, Grey was sure that this was the song he was looking for.

"Lonely by Aiden Silvereye."

Grey read the name of the song and the singer. Then, checking up on the Melody page, he found out that Aiden was also the songwriter of the song and had done everything himself.

Suddenly, he felt like Aiden was someone who was in the same place as he was once.

Creating his own music and singing it in bars and college festivals. Though, at that point, there was nothing like MeTube and Melody, so he was very lucky to become famous.

'I need to contact this guy and work together on this song to make it even better.'

Grey thought and took out his phone to dial Jason. After two rings, Jason picked up his phone.

"Jason, I found the song!"

"You did? Which one is it?"

Jason's surprised voice came out. As Grey was very picky, he had not expected him to find something he would like so quickly.

"It's called Lonely by a dude called Aiden… Silvereye. The last name sounds like it's from a fantasy novel, but the song is pretty good. Do you know him?"

"I don't know him, but I think he's the guy whose song went viral a month ago. It was a wedding song, I think. You should look it up."

"Okay."

He cut the call after that, and in months, Grey felt like things were finally on the right track.

…

/DreamNote/

2nd bonus chapter

There are 10 more bonus chapters up for the grab in this month.

Although, there won't be any in the coming few days, and if there's a super gift, they will be given at once at the end of this week.

The reason is I had food poisoning last night. Fortunately I had completed these chapters before having food. I will most likely be in hospital when the chapter is uploaded. The next chapter 'might' come late, depending on how much I have recovered. apologies.

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After Aiden decided to meet with Wade Spectre, Uncle Sam quickly arranged a meeting between them. Wade wasn't the type to think too much about something.

As he was out of work again, he didn't mind meeting Aiden. At least if he didn't like him, he could reject him quickly.

On the other hand, Aiden just tried to find out more about Wade's work and if the latter could truly help him in his career.

After two days, they both met in a cafe, and as soon as he saw Wade, Aiden understood why Uncle Sam told him that the former would have chosen to be a gangster if he was not an agent.

'He really resembles a gangster character I saw in a Hong Kong action flick.'

Aiden thought secretly in his mind.

Wade had a sharp face with equally sharp eyes, and he was wearing a suit, making him resemble a gangster. His body language significantly amplified this.

Even some of the people sitting adjacent to them were glancing at him.

But despite his looks, Wade was one of the top agents in Hollywood in terms of ability.

'He passed the Agent exam with the highest grade. It's still a record. Worked in Red Ant Agency for two years and got his actor to be an A-lister, but due to some dissatisfaction with the agency, he left and never joined another one.'

That was what his Uncle had told him, and it was very impressive. Though, Aiden still had a lot of questions regarding him.

"You are Sam's nephew? You don't look… um, like him."

Wade said, starting the conversation, and Aiden just nodded..

"I am half-Indian. It's nice to meet you," Aiden replied, then came to the main topic. "I am sure you're aware of why we're having this meeting. I'm looking for an agent to help me in my career, and my Uncle recommended you."

Hearing that, Wade couldn't help but have a slight frown across his forehead. He was still confused regarding Sam's recommendation.

"I don't know why he recommended me. Using his connections, it won't be hard for him to get you into a top agency. He still knows people, in and out. You are better off there."

"I know that, but I don't want restrictions. There's too much internal competition in those big companies, and a contract with them basically means I will be bound to them for at least five to seven years… which is not good for my plans. So this is why I believe I'm better off finding an agent in the free market."

Wade didn't remark on it and just thought that there would be a lot of reasons why Aiden was saying that. Otherwise, young actors can kill each other to get into a top agency.

'At least he's someone who thinks.'

He thought. It was very important to think a lot about your every move in Hollywood and to take one step at a time. A well-planned step that you're comfortable with.

"Since you say you are better off in the free-agent market, let me tell you a few things. First, it won't be easy for you at all. A free agent won't be able to get you great connections or top movies. Take my example. Even though I have been in the industry for quite a few years, the number of connections I have are pretty limited. Not that I tell this to every actor who comes to me, but you're a family to one of my close friends, so I think it's my obligation to at least let you know what you're getting into."

Aiden nodded his head, "I have thought of that, but getting an agent on my own means my agent will be able to focus on me fully. In an agency, the focus will be divided."

"You know a lot about how agencies work."

Wade said, a bit impressed. It seemed like Aiden had already made up his mind, and anyway, he had already made it clear to the latter what risk he was taking, anything further was not his concern.

"I did a bit of research on you before coming here." Aiden looked keenly as Wade suddenly said. "If I'm honest, you are very lucky. You got a bit of popularity from X-Star, and then your song went viral because of that. People now even think it's unfair on you. You have beginner's luck, at least in terms of your singing career."

Saying that Wade stared at Aiden's face and found him listening to him. Satisfied, he continued on the acting part of it.

"The same can't be said about acting, though. After struggling for two years, you got your first role, which is actually not bad in Hollywood. But after this role, you don't have any work, and you don't know how to get more auditions as there are not many options for actors without agents. So probably because of this, you are looking for an agent."

"You are right."

Aiden nodded. Even if he tried to find another open audition or take help from Abraham, there was no guarantee he would get a role, and even if he did get one, the chances of one with dialogues were even lower.

In the [Shadows of War] audition, he had gotten the role because they were especially looking for a South Asian actor.

He just fit the bill.

He was not counting Leo's movie as it was still a script getting written.

If he really wanted to make a conscious effort to get a good role, an agent was necessary for him—someone who could get him auditions.

Thus, after a moment of thought, Aiden said.

"I want to do a lot of roles, but those aren't going to come to find me, so I need an agent, and my uncle said that you were one of the best he knew."

When he heard that, Wade couldn't help but laugh out loud. He might be good at what he does, but many things were better left unsaid about him.

"I know my job. But I don't think your Uncle told you, but I'm good at punching actors too. Most of the actors I know don't last more than a year on average. You might not even last that long."

Aiden wasn't unaware of this. He had also done his homework on the former.

"I know about your temper and personality. But those aren't big issues for me. I just want a good agent at my disposal."

Wade thought for a moment and then added, "I can leave any day, any moment if I feel like I can't work with you anymore. This clause will be on the contract."

"That's okay with me." Aiden nodded.

From what his Uncle had told him, the only reason Wade would punch actors or leave was when they had annoyed him to a degree and weren't focused on their work.

It was a common occurrence, and Wade was already tired of it.

"Let me ask you something then. What kind of star do you want to be?"

"I don't want to be a star," Aiden replied quickly, not even thinking about his answer, and when Wade made a confused face, he replied. "I want to be an actor, and it's on people if they want me to be a star. Acting is the only thing in my control.'

He thought of a famous line from a book that said that all actors were stars, but all stars weren't actors.

"That's a good answer. But even in actors, agents try to normally get an actor into two categories – Commercial and Art movies." He said before adding, "You need to choose one."

Aiden went silent hearing that. Art movies were generally done to work with a certain director or just to hone your own skills, but they are nearly always bad at the box office.

Some of them would work, but many actors these days do it just to get nominations for awards, such as at the Oscars.

Commercial movies, on the other hand, were big blockbusters on an epic scale, and they normally earn a lot of money.

But actors can get type cast in the same roles for several years. Fans might love it, but the actor's growth becomes stagnant. And it takes a long time to get back to playing different roles.

Though, a commercial actor was very rich.

"I won't limit myself to one thing," Aiden answered after thinking. "I want to do movies that interest me. Nothing more, nothing less."

"But you probably won't be able to pull it off. No actor has ever had… maybe one, but he's not someone we can use to compare."

"I will try to do my best. Rest is in the audience. Currently, I just want to move on to another movie, so I genuinely want you to be my agent."

Aiden sincerely asked, and Wade began thinking about it. Although he didn't have any actors, he didn't want to say okay just because of that.

At the same time, he knew that Aiden was not an idiot. He was smart and ambitious. Come to think of it, most of his family was.

Moreover, in his eyes, Wade was able to see the passion for becoming the best, so he thought a lot about it.

'It will be another bet against luck. And this time it's a Silvereye. How bad can things go?'

Wade thought inwardly. Movies and getting actors to the top were some of his joys in the world, and he was happy to see Aiden show those desires under his eyes.

The desire to reach the top.

It was hard to see it in people because they get embroiled in money and girls after achieving a bit of success. Not realising what they could achieve more.

"Okay, I will be your agent, kid but trust me, I will leave the moment you get ahead of yourself after tasting success."

Wade narrowed his eyes but Aiden was already smiling. He had finally gotten an agent, though he looked more like a gangster.

As for his warning, Aiden was sure that he wouldn't change a lot. He just wasn't the type to.

"Thanks, you won't regret it."

"I hope not. We will sign the contract tomorrow, and I will start looking for work for you."

Aiden nodded with a smile.

He wondered what his next role was going to be. Maybe an actor one or just a supporting character to the lead.

Whatever it was, Aiden would be pretty happy to get just another role.

…

/DreamNote/

Hi guys, sorry for the delayed chapters, it's took long time to finish this one because of the number of breaks I had to take. Anyway, here it was. I hope you liked it. Don't forget to vote with power stones and golden tickets!

We still have 10 more bonus chapters for this month~

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"When you said you would bring me work, I didn't expect this."

Aiden muttered, taking a bite out of a sandwich. In front of him, Wade was also in the middle of eating a parfait. After finishing it, he replied.

"What were you expecting?"

"Something like auditions. Movie or TV series. I thought you were more proficient in that. But we are here, eating food at a wedding."

Aiden made an awkward smile. It's been a week since Wade had become an agent, and after immediately becoming one, he had gotten him a lot of singing gigs, with most of them being in a wedding because of the popularity of 'Hold onto me'.

He was paid very well, so Aiden didn't have a lot of complaints. Wade had made a plan for him in just two days, keeping both singing and acting in mind.

He wanted to capitalise on the current popularity of 'Hold onto me' and accumulate money to invest in future ventures like better music videos, Aiden's styling and clothes, and many more things.

It was hard to maintain an actor's image in this age without money. But it was soon getting pretty monotonous for Aiden.

"I know a bit about the music industry, and people know you more due to music for now. Anyway, I looked out for suitable auditions."

Those words quickly got Aiden's attention, but Wade shook his head.

"Most just want a well-known actor, and in acting, you are an unknown face. There might be more requests for you after [Shadows of War] releases, but that's a waiting game. For now, there's none." He finished another parfait before adding. "Though, I did hear of one project that's casting unknown actors. It's from a well-known studio too."

"Which studio?" Aiden quickly asked.

"Granite Films.".

Granite Films was a mid-sized studio that had a long list of good movies that won't be big-budget ones, but they would work well at the box office. Their formula was to make romantic comedies and dramas that don't take a lot of money but have the potential to do great business.

In just a few years, they had become very big.

They were particularly popular with unknown actors because they would actively give chances to new faces.

"What type of a film is it?"

"I don't know. It's in pre-production, but nothing about it is out. My contacts in the actor's guild told me that they will start the casting in about a month and would hold auditions for unknown actors."

"Another month?"

Aiden frowned. That meant that he needed to sing at weddings for another month. It wasn't too bad, but he wanted to do something different.

"We can't do anything," Wade explained, shaking his head. Then, he thought about something and smiled. "Although nothing could be done on the acting front, there's something I got to elevate your indie music career."

"What?"

"We got an offer from Neu entertainment. They want to buy your song 'Lonely'."

Singers buying songs from indie artists wasn't something uncommon. Many popular artists had used indie songs and even collaborated with indie artists, so when Aiden heard that Grey was interested in Lonely, he was surprised, but after a while, it settled in.

Grey was an artist who had topped Melody's Top 50 Chart and several other charts a lot of times with his songs, and Aiden had followed him for a long time to know the type of music Grey makes.

He was someone who normally does pop songs with a rap segment in them, making him very popular with teenagers and young adults. Because of this, Aiden was even a bit surprised that he had liked Lonely enough to try to buy it.

Lonely was a pretty different song than what Grey would usually sing, after all.

Normally, record labels just buy out the rights of the songs, but both Aiden and Wade weren't willing to do that.

Even though it was a good way to get a big amount of hard cash at once, it was not a good choice in the long run. It was way better to try to get a collaborative deal to increase Aiden's popularity.

Even though the record label and Grey would take the majority profits, his popularity would increase a lot, and he would own the rights.

Originally, during the negotiations with Neu entertainment, Wade hadn't expected them to agree to the collaborative deal. Even Jason, Grey's agent, was very sceptical at the start, but after over a week of negotiations, the deal was signed.

It seemed like Neu entertainment was fed up with Grey not releasing any music in the last two years and wanted to sign the deal quickly, so Grey doesn't fade away from the public memory.

For this, they were even willing to let Aiden, who was just a viral indie artist, take away the spotlight.

After they signed the deal, Aiden and Wade quickly flew to Los Angeles to meet up with Grey and start the recording for Lonely.

As Grey was going to be the main singer of it, Aiden also needed to change some parts of the song to suit him better. As the song's composer, no one other than him understood it more.

"It's very nice to meet you. I've been listening to your music for a long time."

Aiden said as he shook hands with Grey, who flashed a smile at him. The latter was wearing a simple red shirt and jeans with messy hair.

They were currently in the lounge area of Neu Entertainment, and people were moving here and there.

All in all, it was a pretty busy environment.

"I have wanted to see you ever since I heard Lonely and even your other songs. They are pretty good."

Unlike how he looked, Grey wasn't someone who would waste time talking about random things. As soon as he met Aiden, he started talking about the song.

"Thanks. I just make them in my free time."

"It's not an easy thing to do, especially when you are on your own."

Grey complimented as he and his agent, Jason, started showing around the massive office of Neu entertainment. It was a four-storey building with all the facilities a singer would need.

'Neu entertainment is pretty much rivalling Cyco media in terms of resources.'

Aiden thought as he walked. Both the record labels controlled most of the popular artists in America. Of course, there were those who weren't contacted with these two, but they weren't a lot.

As they were walking, Grey suddenly noticed a sign and smirked.

"Up ahead is the recording room."

"Oh, can I see it?" Aiden asked.

They were going to start the recording tomorrow, but Aiden was still interested in seeing it. It was because he had only been to a professional studio a few times, and those were pretty cheap.

"Sure."

Saying that Grey walked ahead of Aiden and opened up the room to the studio. The studio was filled with all the necessary equipment to record a hit single. There was a recording booth on the other side, and Aiden's eyes shined seeing it.

Glancing towards Aiden, Grey asked, "How about you go sing Lonely in there?"

It had been a few months since X-Star started, and although it was not a smooth sailing journey all along, yesterday night, the third season finally came to an end.

The ratings hit the peak during the last episode of the season, especially due to a lot of celebrities who attended the finale, making it a big event. It was also trending number one on Sparrow, with all the fans of each contestant cheering them and voting for them.

As soon as the winner was revealed, the Gossip Tribunal released a long article on it. Many of their daily readers read it quickly, and those who have not gotten the time to see the finale also opened it just to know who the winner was.

[The third season of X-Star finally came to an end with a big finale attended by many famous singers. Some of the former contestants also performed at the finale.

This season has been nothing but a rollercoaster ride with some happy, sad, frustrating, and mind-blowing moments. But out of the four finalists, only one would take home a million dollars and a record label deal.

The finale started with a snippet of all the finalist's journeys till now, and after that, they all performed like they were in their own concerts.

A lot of stuff happened throughout the night, but the main question was still about who will be the show's winner.

As the finale reached its end, the results were out, and the voting had ended.

Everyone already knew that the final result was only going to be between two contestants – Cameron and Rachel. Although both Emily and Lydia were good, they were never able to make huge numbers of fans.

So, it was no surprise when Emily and Lydia were revealed to have come in 4th and 3rd place, respectively, earning 250k dollars each.

When the host Marlo stood up by Cameron and Rachel, the entire auditorium where the finale was held was silent to hear the winner's name.

Both of these were great musicians and have proven their skills in the show, but in the end, Rachel overpowered Cameron by a thousand votes to win the third season of X-Star.

Not only did she receive 1 million dollars and a record label deal, but it's also reported that she would soon be releasing her debut single…]

…

/DreamNote/

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[Grey Oliver] [28 years old]

[Singing ability: Intermediate Grade 7]

[Special skill: Pop songs specialist]

Aiden couldn't help but stare upon seeing the level of Grey.

He was currently seated in the recording studio, just before the recording was about to begin. Aside from Grey, who was in the booth, there were other people present here, including the sound engineer, arranger. Even Wade and Jason were sitting in the back.

As Grey was about to start the recording, Aiden had checked his level, and even though he had expected a high level, this was still a shock to him.

It was the highest level he had seen till now, and he could only imagine how it would be to listen to Grey's singing live.

'He even has a special skill. A pretty good one at that.'

He recalled at one point, all Grey was releasing were pop songs with electronic music. It was also the time when his career had taken off at a rapid pace.

It made sense for him to have such a skill.

"Are you nervous?"

As Aiden was thinking about Grey's singing levels, a voice made him break out of his stupor. Turning his head to the side, he saw a slightly fat guy with a hat.

He was Toby Ellis, the sound engineer that was handling the recording. Apparently, he had been working with Grey ever since the latter's career took off.

"Not really. It's Grey who's singing. Not me." Aiden replied, but Toby shook his head.

"Not as a singer but a composer. It's your song, so I am sure you are probably a bit nervous. Hoping that the recording goes well."

Toby said that because he himself was a composer and would be a bit nervous before each recording. When he pointed it out, Aiden realised he indeed was a bit nervous..

"A little bit. But I feel like it will go well."

Toby nodded, and at that moment, Grey gave the signal that he was ready to start the recording.

Then closing his eyes, he took a deep breath before starting to sing.

"Where have the good days gone?"

"The times where we used to ask our friends for games to loan."

"We used to have a dream of growing magically."

"But did it all end up so tragically?"

As Grey finished the first verse, Aiden noticed a silver light filling the recording booth. Until now, he had already gotten an idea that each light was unique to its own grade.

White light meant that the singer was singing at a beginner level, and Silver meant intermediate. Maybe there was gold for the advanced grade?

'He's really good.'

Aiden thought as Grey's voice came out from the speakers. It was a pretty good voice that didn't sound rough, but it wasn't overly sweet at the same time. Moreover, it blended well with electronic sounds.

But he noticed something weird when Grey began the second verse.

"Now, I'm just a guy sitting in the small space that has become my life."

"No friends, nothing, nada, for whom I would strive."

The light suddenly turned a bit weak. Ultimately, Silver turned to white, and Aiden frowned.

"Stop for a second." He turned towards Toby and said.

Giving the signal to stop to Grey, Toby made a confused expression. Even Grey made a similar expression and asked after coming out of the booth.

"What's wrong?"

"I feel like we could do this one better. It just doesn't seem right. The first verse was great, but the second one sounded very weak. Can you play both one by one?"

Toby nodded and played them one by one. In the first verse, Grey's voice felt powerful, and the notes were all right, too, but the second verse felt a bit lacking compared to it, like the song had completely lost touch.

"You are right. It does sound a bit off." Grey sighed, putting a finger to his lips, wondering what they could do. "What do you suggest?"

He looked at Aiden, who had pointed it out.

Thinking about it for a second, he tried to remember which part the light had become weak at.

"I think the tempo could be faster here to keep up with the music, and we can increase the volume here and fix the tone a bit too. And yeah, near the end, try to give a bit more emphasis on words, like get the notes to get a bit higher…"

Grey just stared at Aiden as the latter blabbered on. He didn't know where Aiden got his confidence from, but Grey felt like following his instructions. Who knows? Maybe it might really work.

"Okay. Toby, handle the tone."

"Okay."

Toby fixed the tone a bit while glancing at Aiden. Normally, newbies would just observe things and rarely give out their views. Especially someone without any backing, but Aiden was also the composer of the song, so his instructions were nonetheless valuable.

After getting the signal, Grey again began to sing.

"Now, I'm just a guy sitting in the small space that has become my life."

"No friends, nothing, nada, for whom I would strive."

"Every day, just hitting a new low."

"Surviving with a coffee to gooo."

This time, the results were completely different. There was no white light, and the silver light was very strong too. Aiden's instructions have worked perfectly, so much so that even Toby was a bit surprised.

"It really improved a lot. It sounds way better now. You really know your things."

He said, giving a smile to Aiden. Even Grey looked satisfied from the booth.

"It was more on instinct," Aiden replied, not knowing how to answer it. It was his skill that had helped him here.

Even while recording his songs for Melody, Aiden would use his skill to only present the best version of his song to the listeners.

"Still, you have great ears and a good sense of music."

Toby praised, and like that, they went on with the recording.

There were many times when they needed to record the same line multiple times and times when they used autotune to make the verse sound better.

This was typical in any recording these days, and throughout the recording, Aiden tried to learn different things from Toby about how to arrange a song and use various equipment.

He was being so proactive because music had already become a huge part of his career, and he wasn't going to give it up even if he leaned more towards acting, so it was better for him to learn things.

But it was truly Toby and, to a certain extent, Grey who was surprised by Aiden.

There were a lot of instances where Aiden would stop the recording and point out stuff that could make it sound better.

At first, Grey had felt a bit annoyed, but as he saw that the song was just improving in quality thanks to Aiden, he started appreciating it more and more.

Even Wade and Jason standing in the back were shocked to see such a hidden talent of Aiden.

"Okay, start when I give the signal."

After a few hours, Grey went out of the recording booth to take a rest, and Aiden entered it. As they were collaborating on the song, he was also going to sing some verses with the chorus sung entirely by Grey alone.

It seemed a bit unfair to him as he was just playing second fiddle to Grey in the song. But Aiden was already satisfied to have a song together with Grey.

He just wanted to give his best in the song.

"Okay, start!"

Getting the signal from Toby, Aiden took a deep breath and started singing the pre-chorus.

"The bright blue skies had turned grey."

"Going to work, faking a smile every day."

"If I try to tell anyone, they just laugh and turn away."

"I just want to scream out loud, only one thing that sits in the back of my mind."

The pre-chorus wasn't easy for him as it was different from the original and had a lot of changes in it. The essence of the song was maintained, but Toby has added a lot of different instruments to it and increased the music volume.

Because of that, Aiden's voice needed to keep up with it and, at the same time, express lyrics that seemed sad in a happy tone. To do this, he tried to focus a lot on expressing the song and putting in the right emotions.

It seemed to have worked, too, as white light mixed with a silver burst forth. As the verse ended, Aiden felt like his voice was good enough.

Although he won't be able to sing it on the same level as Grey, Aiden was very confident in the expressions of the song. And thankfully, Toby seemed to like it too.

"Okay, that was good."

It was at that moment that system notifications suddenly popped up in front of him, and seeing so many notifications suddenly, Aiden was frightened for a second.

But when he read the messages, his eyes widened.

[Your song 'Hold onto me' has crossed 100 million views (53 million on MeTube and 47 on Melody) on social media platforms.]

[You have gained a lot of experience.]

[You have advanced to Intermediate Grade 1 from Basic Grade 10. Congratulations on unlocking such a huge achievement. Rewards have been given.]

[You have unlocked more functions of the system.]

[You have gained the mastery of silver light.]

[You have gained the skill 'Song appraisal'. Now, you could check the score of your composed songs.]

…

/DreamNote/

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64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

[You have gained the skill 'Song Appraisal'. Now, you can assess the score of your composed songs.]

[You have started to understand your self-composed music a lot better.]

When Aiden skimmed through the notifications, he felt his right hand quiver with the excitement he was feeling. He took a deep breath to calm himself down before checking the new skill that he had received.

'Lonely.'

A holographic window opened immediately as he thought of the song.

[Song name: Lonely

Composer: Aiden (original)

Proficiency: 87%

Song score: 55/100

-As a bonus for being the composer of the song, it's easier to increase proficiency.

-The song score doesn't reflect whether a song will be popular or not.]

'…How do I know if the score is good enough for my level?'

Aiden frowned when he saw the song score for 'Lonely'.

'Does 100/100 score mean it's best song for my level or is the score independent of what my level is?'

After a few moments of thoughts, he inwardly shook his head.

In all honesty, he felt the score of 55 felt low, maybe this was a reality check for him? It was indeed true that was his Composing Level was not too high.

However, at the end of the day, this was not a bad score and he was more satisfied upon thinking that he still had room for improvement..

Moreover, it was clearly written that a song score doesn't mean that a song will be popular. When Aiden thought a bit more about it, he also felt like it made sense.

There were too many factors involving a song's success. A singer was one of them. Lonely might not get a lot of views with Aiden singing it but it would get more views if a popular singer like Grey sings it.

Marketing and hype were also major reasons for a song to become popular.

There were countless good songs that weren't popular or heard by many while there were a lot of bad songs that were really popular.

'I wonder how my singing will sound now.'

Aiden thought in his mind. He removed the system notifications in front of him and saw that Toby was giving him weird looks.

"Aiden, are you okay? You suddenly look out of place."

"Yes, I'm fine. Was just thinking about something." He quickly replied.

"Okay, let's go on to the next verse. We will take a break in half an hour, so let's get some more lines right till then."

He nodded, but suddenly got an idea. He had sung the last verse while being in Basic Grade 10. He wondered how it would sound now that his level has increased.

"Toby, can we do the last part again? I feel like I could do it better."

"Sure."

Toby didn't reject it as he was going to get more recordings of the verse later to compare and select the best one. He adjusted the music and gave the signal to Aiden to begin.

When Aiden heard the music, he began to sing, feeling a completely different feeling in his voice.

"The bright blue skies had turned grey."

"Going to work, faking a smile every day."

"If I try to tell anyone, they just laugh and turn away."

"I just want to scream out loud, only one thing that sits in the back of my mind."

Silver light burst forth from his singing and filled the room as the verse started. This time, there was no white light mixed with it and the silver light was as pure as it could be.

Earlier, Aiden would sing this verse a little lighter with more emphasis on the emotions but now he felt like he had more understanding of his own music.

He began the verse with more strength in his voice and added a bit of humming sound at the end.

The silver light seemed to dance around the recording booth in a happy mood as the verse finished.

"How was it?" He asked after finishing up the verse and Toby seemed to be staring at him in wonder.

"It was a lot better than before. Yeah, a lot better. You sang it a bit differently this time but I think it suits you more. Can we continue recording some more of this?"

Toby asked, looking a bit excited all of a sudden, and Aiden nodded his head. His singing saw significant improvement after the breaking through to the Intermediate Grade.

The recording continued like that, with Aiden finding more strength in his voice.

"This kid is a monster."

Grey, who was surfing through his Skygram comments on his latest post, raised his head and stared at Toby weirdly, hearing those words.

"Are you talking about Aiden?" He asked before joking. "He looks pretty human to me."

"Yes. And I was talking about his singing." Toby ignored the joke and Grey shrugged.

"It sounds pretty normal to me."

"Then, listen to this."

Toby passed him some headphones and played the verse that Aiden had recorded before advancing to Intermediate Grade.

"It doesn't seem amazing to me."

"I know. But I recorded it again. Let me play it."

Grey nodded and Toby played the verse again. This time, even Grey realized that this was way better than before. The voice was the same but the quality and feeling it gave were completely different.

For a second, Grey thought it was just autotuned with a lot of effects but he knew music enough to quickly realize that there was nothing like that.

"Is it because of the singing style? The verse improved because it was sung differently?"

Grey wondered but Toby shook his head. This was not as simple as it looked.

"No, the quality of his voice is somehow improving, like he's developing at a rapid pace, and at the same time, he was understanding his music a lot better."

After saying that, Toby typed something on his laptop and showed it to Grey. There were various tabs opened and in each of them, there were videos related to Aiden. Grey ignored the CulturalHub tab and looked at what Toby was trying to show.

"I looked into him when I heard we will be working together and I found out that his singing has changed a lot, also in the right direction since he appeared on X-Star. It's like he's rediscovering himself and making breakthroughs in his own music every few weeks."

Toby sighed. He thought back to Grey when he had started. He was good but he didn't evolve so rapidly. In the early phases of his career, his voice was heavily helped by Toby during the recordings and his live singing was very different from the studio album.

It was only later on that he had some improvement.

Aiden was surely a monster in that regard. When Grey contemplated all this, he also felt like it was true.

From what he had seen of Aiden, he was pretty hard working and sincere, at least in his music. When he glanced back at him, he saw that Aiden was talking about something with his agent.

"So, we discovered a monster," Grey muttered and Toby nodded.

"Yeah, but I think he's gonna miss out a life changing opportunity because he told me he's not planning to get a label. Artists who tried to rely on MeTube and Melody streams only never really became mainstream centered."

It was majorly because these artists never had a lot of resources like the labels, not even a good PR team, and would mostly fade away after getting a bit of money and fame.

Even the sincere ones never got the same number in a song that some mainstream artists got in a Skygram post.

"A lot will depend on how Lonely is received then."

Grey remarked and Toby nodded. Changing the topic, he asked.

"How's the reception of your posts on social media?" Grey smiled and just showed Toby his phone where there were more than 100k likes on his photo in the recording studio with Aiden.

Social media has already buzzing with the news of Grey's highly anticipated return.

On Skygram and Sparrow, a discussion quickly flowed among Grey's fans as he posted a photo of him and Aiden from the recording studio with the caption 'Time for something new'.

It made all his fans excited as it was his comeback after two years of hiatus.

His fans and followers discussed his comeback with vigour while some were just wondering who exactly was the person standing beside him in the photo.

[Angel of Darkness: Wow! Wow! Wow! Grey is finally making a comeback. So excited!]

[Don't be mad, I'm Chad: The day Grey remembered he has a music career too.]

[Alon Rusk: I didn't expect Grey to release a new song. Thought he retired. Anyway, I would finally have something to listen to while making this rocket.]

[I'm your father: From what I read in an article on the Neu entertainment website, it's going to be single and will be released in the upcoming weeks. It seems like they bought the song of some indie artist.]

[Jenny Bieber: Who's the guy besides Grey? Never saw him before.]

[Skyneves: Damn! What is Aiden doing there?! A collaboration with Grey! First the news about him shooting a movie and now this. He's getting popular too quickly.]

[Sad Keanu: Who is Aiden?]

[Oprah WindFury: He was a contestant on X-Star from what I know. Wasn't even in the finale but got famous, I think. Don't know what he's doing with Grey though.]

[Hoosie your daddy: I think they are collaborating after his song went viral. There have been a few instances of something similar happening or maybe he just joined Grey's record label. Still, what I care about it the new song, we're finally getting something.]

[Rachel my queen: I didn't know Aiden was going to collaborate with Grey. It's somehow weird that Cyco media is going to release a single for Rachel soon too.]

[AkiraLight: Doesn't that mean both of those will clash? Though, Rachel would be at a disadvantage. Hehe, a rematch!]

[Kiss my axe: I won't say she will be at a disadvantage. She has everything as a new artist, coupled with the hype of winning X-Star. Moreover, the only thing Aiden will have is Grey's fans and he's in a delicate position in his career. Not having a song out for two years is a big deal and he wasn't even doing any concerts.]

[So much work: So, it's an even ground for both of them.]

/DreamNote/

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"Rachel, you are doing the steps wrong again."

Rachel stopped in her tracks when her choreography teacher, Karen, called out once again. Seeing the frown on the latter's face, she knew she would get another scolding.

"I told you multiple times to focus. If you mess it up on stage, you will be a laughing stock for people on social media. It's a simple step at that, so focus on it!"

"I understand."

It's been two weeks since Rachel was crowned the winner of X-Star Season 3, but rather than celebrating the success and taking a break, she had decided to focus on her debut album and use the momentum she had due to her newfound popularity. Steven, who had given her the contract for Cyco media, was happy to see her dedication.

Moreover, it was the ideal time to make a debut when she had the hype of X-Star.

The debut song was already completed, and Rachel was busy recording it. Aside from that, she was learning some dance steps for her performances.

But it wasn't really going well.

'I'm not really good at dancing.'

She thought. If it was singing, she was very confident in it, but her dancing was the opposite as she had never learned it. Now that she was told to learn some steps in a week or two, she was finding it very hard. Another reason for it was how she was brought up. People of her background mostly have to act very refinedly and composed and pay great attention to body language. But, on the other hand, a dancer needs a free reign over his body to let the movement flow and awe the viewers.

"Let's start again, and this time, focus."

Karen said, and as Rachel was about to start, a middle-aged woman barged into the dance practice room. She stared at Rachel and opened her mouth.

Her name was Linda, and she was the manager assigned to her by Cyco media, and since Rachel had met her, they had gotten a good working partnership and were getting along very well.

"Rachel, come with me."

"What happened, Linda?" Rachel asked as she stared at Linda. Even Karen squinted her eyes, disgruntled that her lesson was getting interrupted..

"I'm sorry, but this is important." She tried to explain to Karen before turning to Rachel. "Just come with me."

She dragged Rachel to the PR team room. As soon as Rachel entered, she found the atmosphere a bit heavy. Linda sat her down before a computer, and on the screen, the Skygram webpage was open.

"See the post!"

Rachel stared at the post and saw that it was by Grey. She obviously knew Grey but what attracted her attention was the man beside him. It was a very familiar face.

"Aiden." Linda nodded when she murmured his name.

"Yeah, apparently, he and Grey are releasing a song on the same day as us. It's Grey's comeback single, and he's collaborating with Aiden, who is the song's composer. And yes, it's official because Neu entertainment just released an article about it."

A PR team employee chipped in as Linda finished her explanation.

"Many people are already noticing that you and Aiden are again going to clash, and some are even saying it's going to be a rematch, and the public will be the judge this time. After he was eliminated from X-Star, this guy has gained a lot of fan following due to his viral songs, so it could turn out to be a fan war.

Although it's good for publicity, it could also harm you in the early phases of your career. This time is very risky for you."

Linda frowned. Cyco media was pretty exhilarated about Rachel's potential, especially Steven, and had planned for her to become a top singer in the coming years.

But this was just ruining it.

It was important for her debut single to get positive feedback for the studio to start thinking about an all-out album. Or at least an EP (Extended play).

"What are we going to do then?"

Rachel asked, sighing. It's been weeks since she had seen Aiden, and they have not talked after she won the battle against him.

She never imagined him to become an obstacle in her path.

"We can't do a lot here. Grey is an established artist, so he has fans, but many consider him to be past his prime, mainly because he hasn't given a song for a long time. We could just hope our song becomes more popular than his, in case people start comparing you and Aiden on Sparrow. We are going to go hard with the marketing from the start," Linda said, then asked Rachel. "Are you and Aiden friends?"

"No, we are not."

A short and simple answer came from Rachel.

"Mm."

Linda nodded, finding the answer satisfying.

On Sparrow, Grey's post got a lot of attention. Even Aiden posted some snippets from the recording session as Wade had instructed him to try to better his social media game.

Without a big agency, it would be hard to promote his accounts, so he needed to get better at promoting himself.

As soon as he confirmed his collaboration with Grey, most of his followers were elated, particularly a group of people who were a part of a group named 'Aiden Silvereye fan club'.

It was not a big group, only consisting of around 690 members, but those were his core fans who had been following him since his first-round audition in X-Star.

The group was created by Skyneves, who also acted as the head of the unofficial fan club.

[Skyneves: Did you all see Aiden's post? He confirmed that he would be singing with Grey! That's so big!]

On that message, several other people started replying.

[Greynon: Yeah, he's suddenly in the big leagues. Did he get roped in by Neu entertainment? I didn't hear anything about that.]

[Hollywood Insider: No, he's not interested in agencies or labels. Trying to find his path alone. Pretty brave and stupid. #Aiden supporter]

[Aiden's wife: Does anyone know when the song will come out?]

[April on the roof: I searched articles, and it said it would release on 3 September. Coincidentally, Rachel's debut single is released at the same time.]

[Horn x y: So, it's finally revenge time!]

Many group members joined the discussion when a member talked about revenge. However, everyone in the group still berated Aiden's loss against Rachel and felt like it was his chance to take revenge.

He wasn't able to defeat her in X-Star, but his songs have gotten a lot of views, so he could actually defeat her in the music charts.

In the recording studio, both Aiden and Grey were singing together. Toby wanted some recordings of their voices together for different versions of the song, so they were doing that part.

And while singing, Aiden felt like he would go blind with all the bright silver light.

"I don't want to go down like this."

"I can't find the passion, and the only thing I could do is to wish."

"No, I don't want to be picked up."

"Even if I'm lonely, I know I could be something more."

"Maybe that is lost in my heart, but I'm trying to find it and soarrrr."

"I just want to scream out loud, only one thing that sits in the back of my mind."

A melodic and catchy tune with guitar and keyboard sounds played in his ears as he and Grey sang that verse together.

It had taken a bit of time, but they succeeded in getting their voices together in harmony, and their lights were mixing well with each other.

Though, it was clear that Aiden's silver light was way weaker than Grey's. But as he was trying his best, they could keep it together.

'Just the final verse is left now.'

Aiden thought and took a deep breath before the final verse.

"Ooh, I just feel lonely."

"Looking for a way out of this, but everything is fading slowly."

"Ooh, I just feel lonely."

"My days are eating me up, nights feel empty, and no one knows me closely."

"Ooh, I just feel lone…ly…"

As the last line finished, the silver light started to die down. Aiden felt a bit parched and tired as he had poured every bit of his emotion and energy into his voice that he could gather.

And looking at the smile on Toby's face, it seemed like things had turned out good for him, and the recording had gone well.

"Okay, guys. This is it!"

"You sure?"

Grey asked, wiping the sweat off his forehead. He was soaked in sweat as he had sung continuously for a long time. It was especially taking a toll on him because he was doing such a long session after more than a year.

"Yeah, good job. I think we have enough. Let's wrap the recording."

When Aiden heard those words, he couldn't help but smile. After working for so many hours, they finally finished the recording.

It was his first official recording, and he has truly learned a lot of new things. It was truly a much-needed experience for him.

'Now, I only need to wait for the viewer's feedback. Let's hope this song gains some traction so I can firm my foothold in this industry..'

He thought, thinking of the release date for Lonely, and prayed in his heart that it would do well.

…

/DreamNote/

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Every week, a famous music magazine, Record, which covers everything in American and international music would publish an article on the upcoming songs.

They mainly covered mainstream singers or those from famous record labels.

These articles would be free for everyone visiting their website and would talk about singers and their songs. This week, the magazine covered one of the most interesting music clashes in recent times.

The title of the article was interesting enough for people to click on it.

The new list of songs that are going to be released this week. From an anticipated debut to the return of a pop star.

Like every week, we are back with some of the most anticipated releases of this week. On the music charts, 'Wild dogs' by the rock band 'Hounds' and the pop song 'All I see is red' by famous Canadian singer 'Ron McLarry are still ruling.

Both the songs have already gotten over 100 million views on MeTube and are one of the most popular songs to stream on Melody and other streaming services like Musicify.

But do the songs released this week have enough strength in them to pass these songs' popularity? Let's discuss that.

First of all, there are not a lot of songs released this week. Only two, in which one of them is a debut single from someone who had gotten a lot of fans by winning the famous reality show X-Star and the second one is a pop star that has largely become irrelevant after taking a break from showbiz but is now planning a comeback.

Yes, we are talking about Rachel Rose and Grey.

Rachel, who had recently signed a deal with Cyco media, seemed to have worked day and night in her debut, according to the rumours.

Her debut single is titled 'Forever' and it seems to be a love song written and composed by famous songwriter Alyssa Williams, who was also one of the judges in X-Star.

Due to Cyco media promoting her aggressively as their next big icon, her song has been expected to do well on the music charts.

Now, let's come to Grey who hadn't been spotted anywhere in recent times and had suddenly announced a new single. What is more interesting about it is that the single 'Lonely' is a ballad written and composed by Aiden Silvereye, one of the contestants on X-Star who failed to make it till the grand finale but had recently gotten popularity due to a viral song of his..

It is reported that the song has been rearranged and has been converted to a Folk-pop song, something that is well within Grey's strong zones.

Due to Rachel being the one to defeat Aiden on X-Star, people have been discussing how it was going to be the second clash between them. This has given the two songs releasing on the day some rivalry.

Though, it would be interesting to see who would be the winner between the both of them. Or would both of them turn out to be a flop?

We could just wait and watch.

Although the recording was over, Aiden's job wasn't. Just the next day after the recording ended, he needed to do the shoot for the cover for Lonely.

As he was the original composer and featured in the song, Grey and he shot for the cover together. Apparently, this was also on the contract.

Even after the photoshoot, he needed to practice the song with Grey to perform on the stage together with him. For a whole week, both of them practiced together.

Thankfully, there was no shoot for the music video as Neu entertainment had hired actors for it instead of using Grey and him for it. It was done to save time as they were in a hurry to get the single out.

Apparently, next month, another famous artist of theirs, Andrea, was going to release a full-fledged album, so they didn't want the dates to clash.

It was decided that they were going to do the first performance of the song on 'The Rory Chambers show', a talk show by Rory Chambers, who was a comedian and actor.

It was just going to be a segment at the end, but it was a very big opportunity for him as the talk show was very famous on the tv channel CMN, being watched by millions.

Moreover, Aiden was just going to appear in some of the performances at the start and Grey would mostly do them on his own as it was his song and Aiden was just featuring.

Even though it was a bit unfair, showbiz was just like that and Neu entertainment was the powerful one here. They would not have signed the contract if Grey was not getting most of the limelight.

Both Wade and Aiden understood that well and were just using this chance to get some more popularity.

That's why, Aiden practiced hard and even though he knew that people were pinning him and Rachel together for a clash on social media, he just focused on improving himself and giving a good performance.

Social media discussions were irrelevant to him. Aiden wanted to know how people were going to react to him after he had evolved his skill to Intermediate Grade.

And finally, on Saturday, 1 September, the day of the first performance came.

"I don't want to go down like this."

"I can't find the passion, and the only thing I could do is to wish."

"No, I don't want to be picked up."

"Even if I'm lonely, I know I could be something more."

"Maybe that is lost in my heart, but I'm trying to find it and soarrrr."

"I just want to scream out loud, only one thing that sits in the back of my mind."

On the stage, Grey was waving at the audience who were looking enamored hearing his singing. Silver light filled the hall as the performance was at the end.

It had started with the introduction of both Grey and Aiden and after that, the audience had just gone wild when the song began.

With Grey's charisma and Aiden's sweet, charming voice, the audience truly got an experience that they had not expected at all.

As Grey finished his verse, he looked up at Aiden who was standing on the left and both of them started singing the last verse together.

"Ooh, I just feel lonely."

"Looking for a way out of this, but everything is fading slowly."

"Ooh, I just feel lonely."

"My days are eating me up, nights feel empty, and no one knows me closely."

"Ooh, I just feel lonely… Yeah, I just feel lonely."

They both softly sang the last line, giving rise to their emotions that immediately connected with the audience.

The slow background music died down as silver light started to turn thin and mix with the atmosphere. Aiden smiled at the audience as Grey gave him a nod for a good performance.

This was their first show and it ended very well.

"How do you like it, people? That's Grey for you with a very talented young man, Aiden performing their new single together called Lonely. You could stream it for free on Melody and watch the music video on MeTube." Rory Chambers said on the mic with his iconic smile as the performance ended. "With that, good night to you all."

"We have 3 more shows tonight and 4 tomorrow. Apparently, we managed to get a timeslot for 'Song night', so we are going to perform there too."

Jason, Grey's agent, explained, looking at his watch. They were currently in the van after the performance at The Rory Chambers show.

"Song night? Damn nice. A lot of people watch that." Grey smiled, leaning on his seat.

Song night was a program in which famous singers would sing their songs back to back. Every singer can perform only one song and after that, another would come out.

It was never known to the audience which singer will be performing, so it was always a surprise for them, making it a pretty simple yet unique show.

'The schedule is tough.'

Aiden thought, but somehow, he didn't feel like he wouldn't be able to do all of it. In fact, he felt excited as the more exposure the song got, the better it was going to perform.

As he was thinking that, his eyes landed on Wade who was scrolling something on his phone.

"What are you looking at?" He asked.

"Music charts. Some of them will be updated next week but Melody's New Top 50 singles chart is updated every day. I'm looking for Lonely in there."

His words attracted the attention of Grey and Jason too and they quickly asked.

"In what position 'Lonely' is?"

"Yeah, it must be at least in the top 20."

Wade scratched the back of his head, giving an awkward smile which made Aiden worried for a second. Was the song not doing that well?

"Actually, it's 11th on the charts."

Aiden sighed in relief hearing that. Grey and Jason looked a bit relieved too. 11 was not a bad number by Grey's standards. In a matter of few days, it would surely get into the top 5 which was a great success.

"Why are you looking so awkward when the song is doing good?"

"The thing is… See it for yourself."

Wade just tossed the phone to Aiden and at that moment, his eyes went wide, finally finding out why his agent was acting so awkward.

[Lonely by Grey ft Aiden Silvereye- 11th]

[Forever by Rachel Rose- 8th]

They were behind Rachel.

/DreamNote/

The second bonus chapter for the super gift.

Please continue voting for this book with power stones and golden tickets

[8 Bonus chapters up for grab] (none due)

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

The next few days for Aiden could be best described with the word 'hectic'. It was as if the days were passing by too fast, and he was just running around from one place to another, doing shows.

Wake up at 7 in the morning, put on makeup, practice singing, doing shows till 4 in the morning before getting some sleep.

They needed to perform the song at various places and promote it so more people could hear it.

From tv shows to smaller events, they moved from one place to another. Neu entertainment even hosted autograph events where even Aiden got asked to give autographs which became an extraordinary moment for him.

His throat felt dry from too much singing, and the only good thing was that he was getting a lot of experience. Aiden was hoping his skill level could increase again.

But as he had climbed upgrades, he had noticed that it was getting harder and harder to level up.

After a week of living the life of a singer, Aiden finally understood how hard a singer's life could be. Wade told him that the schedule being so hectic was one of the reasons he never tried to become the agent of a singer.

Even though he was finding it tiring, Grey was pretty used to it, saying it was nothing compared to an album release.

He had taken a two-year break, but he was still someone who had lived a mainstream singer's life for more than a decade.

"What's next on the schedule?"

Aiden asked before taking a sip from a bottle of water. He and Wade were currently sitting in the van as another show had just ended. Grey was still outside, taking photos with his fans.

"Another small event at a mall. We have this stuff till tomorrow before participating in Song night." Wade replied in a monotonous voice.

"At this point, my throat will give up before these events end.".

"That's how a singer's life is. An indie singer might not get a lot of events, but someone like Grey is very different. It's good that you got to work with a mainstream singer to see the lifestyle. And, it's better to get an idea for the future."

Aiden nodded, hearing that. If he was going to make singing a major part of his career, then it was not wrong to say that he was aiming to be a mainstream singer. Although such a singer without a major label was unheard of, having a system was not something sane either.

If anyone could do it, it was him.

"Which position are we in the music charts?" Aiden asked, changing the subject.

"7th in Melody hot 100, 8th in Musicbox, and 12th in Chartbuster." He said before adding. "On every chart, we are behind Forever."

Aiden frowned hearing that. They were doing a lot of shows to promote the song, but it was still behind Rachel. Somehow, it irked him, maybe because he had lost to her before.

"They are doing a lot more promotions than us."

"Yeah." Wade nodded. "It seems like Cyco media are betting everything on her and are very confident in her potential. But, unfortunately, we can't do the same."

The main reason Rachel's song was higher than theirs on the charts was because of the aggressive promotion strategy of Cyco media. They were pushing her song to become number one.

On the other hand, Neu entertainment was already happy with the comeback single of Grey. It had done well without too many promotions.

They were pushing all their resources into Andrea's album next month, so even if Aiden wanted the song to do better, he couldn't do much.

"You should not worry about it too much. You are already doing a lot better than I thought." Wade said, seeing Aiden's expression. "How many people with no company backing them up could reach so high up on the chats? Grey is popular, but the song is yours."

When he heard those words, Aiden felt like someone had poured cold water over his head. He realized he was being too hard on himself for no reason.

'I forgot to enjoy my success due to thinking too much about beating Rachel.'

He thought, shaking his head and smiling a bit.

"I think I was acting too hard on myself for no reason." He muttered, and Wade nodded.

"Yeah, after we finish all the shows, we should enjoy ourselves a bit for doing a good job."

"I can't think of any words…"

Joseph Quinn frowned, looking at his PC where a blank document was opened. He had been trying to write for two days now, but no matter what he did, he couldn't think of any words to write.

Before, he would be able to type out hundreds of words, but he had been suffering from writer's block for a while now.

'My deadline is near.'

Joseph thought. He was a very popular author who even had a bestseller in his resume. But for a while now, he was not able to write well.

Currently, he is in the middle of writing the next volume of his most popular work, a fantasy based in a dystopian world. The first three volumes were very popular, especially among young adults and teenagers, and people were anticipating the next volume.

But the truth was that Joseph had not been able to write even a single word till now.

His editor was calling him every day to ask about the progress, and he could only give an answer that disappointed him.

"I won't be able to do even a single chapter like this."

He sighed, rubbing his eyes and getting up from his seat. He walked around his house for a few minutes before slumping down on the sofa, anxious about his novel.

Not knowing what to do, he took out his phone and decided to listen to some songs. Opening up Melody, he saw some advertisements for some of the newly released songs. He was trying to scroll down when he accidentally clicked on one of them.

He normally didn't listen to any songs from artists he didn't follow, so he frowned when an unknown song suddenly started playing. It just added to his annoyance.

But as he was about to click back on the song, the soft melody of the guitar stopped him in his tracks as he immediately felt like it was a very sweet tune.

When the first verse started, Joseph was slightly surprised, but he soon relaxed. At this moment, he decided to listen to the whole song.

As minutes passed by, the first and second verses passed, the chorus started, and another verse entranced him after it passed. When the whole song ended, Joseph played it again.

It was only after the fifth time that he felt he was satisfied.

"Lonely by Grey and Aiden Silvereye."

He muttered out the name of the song and singer. He felt like he had heard of Grey, but the second name was very unfamiliar. Still, it didn't matter.

He found a good song today.

Somehow, the song had distracted him from all his worries, and at the same time, he was clearly able to see that the song carried a whole story in it.

As an avid music fan, he knew that songs like this were very rare these days. Only some singers were able to pull it off.

'I suddenly feel like trying to write again.'

He thought as he felt his stress lessening a little. One of the major reasons for his writer's block was the stress and the deadline coupled with the anticipation of his readers.

He didn't want to write a book that didn't satisfy his readers.

But the song reminded him of the time when he still used to work as an HR employee in a tech company. He was like the guy in the song, not expecting his life to become like that, doing something every day that he didn't even enjoy.

No matter how much he tried to like his job, it was not working out, and he would secretly read novels during office time, and those inspired him to write a story of his own.

The problem was that he didn't have any time. There was no way for him to leave his job as he needed to pay his bills every month.

It was then that he had started to write a novel during the weekends. He had decided to sacrifice his holidays to give his hobby a chance, and it had worked out in the end.

A publisher had given him a contract, and his life changed after that.

He had forgotten about that time when he just wanted to write a good story, not for anyone else but himself. Joseph logged in to his Sparrow account while reliving those moments through his memory.

His account had more than 2 million followers with the profile photo of an onee-san from a popular cultural anime.

He had not tweeted in a while, but he decided to do so today.

[Just got the inspiration for my next volume, thanks to a song. You all should listen to it. It's called 'Lonely' by Grey and Aiden.

Check it out, guys! You won't be disappointed.

Anyways, back to writing!]

His post quickly attracted a lot of comments, and in the next few hours, many of his followers started logging onto Melody to listen to Lonely.

Not only him but many other people who had listened to Lonely also liked it enough to tell their friends, families, and followers about it.

…

/DreamNote/

Don't forget to vote with your power stones and golden tickets

Creation is hard, cheer me up!

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 53

On the MeTube account of Grey, which had more than 5 million subscribers, the engagement had risen significantly in the past few days due to the release of his new song 'Lonely'.

The music video featured a TV actor acting like a middle-aged man with a routine lifestyle that he doesn't enjoy. Throughout the music video, he gets increasingly worn out, and the final bits of it just show him punching his boss and running on the streets with a smile on his face like he was finally free.

It was a very well-thought-out music video, and until now, it had already gotten 19 million views with over 500k likes and only 23k dislikes.

The fans actively chatted in the comments section.

[Lewd electric rat: The music video is so good. I could watch it every day.]

[Knife in my eyes: I love this song. Why does it have so few views? It should be over 100 million at the least when songs about girls' private parts get billions.]

[You can't see me: This is so bad of a song. Ugh, I'm not too fond of it. Grey is way past his prime, and who is even Aiden? Anyone could become a singer these days. Dislike! Dislike! Dislike!]

[What Glitters is gold: Grey is back finally! Was waiting for it for a long time. Great song.]

[Please like and subscribe: Can you please check out my channel. I work so hard and only want 100 subscribers.]

[Ugly guitar dude: This song makes me wanna punch my boss and run out but then my wife gonna punch me back to my office.]

[Mitron: The song is really different from Grey's previous songs. He's finally evolving his music, it seems.]

[Where are cute guys: Can you all give me the Skygram of this Aiden? I saw some photos, and he seems cute enough to check out his profile.]

[America's ass: The song dope af.]

[Hormonal: I love this song so much. Hearing it on a loop these days. I really hope Grey holds a concert soon.].

The response to the song was outstanding according to the estimate, but it was still lacking compared to Forever by Rachel.

Though, it didn't matter to Aiden.

He was already over the thought of beating Rachel and focused more on taking slow, small steps and enjoying his success.

Compared to the start of the year, he was already miles ahead.

It was vital for him to focus on himself, and after Wade had made him realise that he was subconsciously not appreciating himself, he immediately changed his attitude.

Aiden's streak of performing with Grey ended as the promotions for Lonely were soon going to end.

Grey was going to go to Canada and the UK for more shows while Aiden wasn't going to accompany him. He would return to New York.

But before that, they needed to perform together on the show 'Song night'.

Song night was a show on Alphabet Network, one of the top three channels in America, so its impact was pretty significant, and this was the final push in their promotions.

"You are second on the show after the band 'Caged animals'. When we give the signal, you need to start your performance. Just do the same as the rehearsals."

Currently, a staff member was explaining about the show to Aiden. They were backstage, and it was a pretty busy atmosphere, with people running around here and there.

In the distance, he could even see some famous singers and bands. One of them was even flirting with a production employee.

"I understand." Aiden nodded to the tired-looking staff member.

"Where's your partner Grey?"

"He went off somewhere, saying he would catch up with a boy group that he hadn't seen in a while. He would probably be in one of the waiting rooms."

The staff member frowned, rubbed his forehead, and left to find Grey to clarify the schedule to him.

'The job must be very stressful.'

He thought, feeling a pity of pity. The job of an employee in the production of any show was very hard, especially on a show like Song night with many celebrities involved.

"I should also look for Wade."

Aiden muttered, glancing around. He was just going to enter the hallways to look for Wade when his eyes suddenly noticed a familiar face.

'What is she doing here?'

He thought, suddenly feeling a bit stiff.

It was Rachel and as to what she was doing here. That was pretty self-explanatory, but he had no idea she would participate in Song night. She hadn't even appeared in the rehearsals.

As he was looking at her, she suddenly noticed him.

Her face showed some surprise, and suddenly, she walked toward him.

"I didn't expect to see you here."

It was after a few months that they saw each other, so the atmosphere was a bit awkward, especially because of the rivalry between the two of them.

"Yeah, congratulations on winning X-Star." Aiden smiled, trying to act normal. "Your song is doing pretty well too."

"It's just hectic. Going from one show to another, giving interviews where they will ask you the same kind of question. It's kinda annoying."

She said while frowning. Her words were a bit blunt, but Aiden understood where she was coming from. She was under a lot of pressure from Cyco media.

Then, she suddenly stared at him.

"Aren't you doing good by yourself? Viral songs and then a collaboration with a famous singer like Grey."

"I am, and I'm pretty happy about it." Aiden smiled, but it seemed like Rachel wasn't expecting him to give that answer.

"Still, I won. Your song is still behind mine."

She said, in a bit highfalutin tone, surprising Aiden. He knew that she had a lot of pride, but it seemed like she was not hiding it anymore. Not knowing whether it was good or bad, he shook his head.

"Yeah, but it already exceeded my expectations. I'm not really taking the online fan war as something important. I'm happy with where it is right now–"

"Aiden!"

As he spoke, Wade suddenly walked out of a door connecting the hallway to the backstage. He was panting a bit, looking exhausted.

His sudden entry startled both Rachel and Aiden.

"What happened? Is there anything wrong?" Aiden asked, walking towards him, but Wade just showed him his phone.

"Lonely is #3 in Melody's charts! Ahead of Forever! Even the views on MeTube are increasing a lot faster now."

"What?"

His words made Aiden's eyes widen. But rather than him, the expression of Rachel standing beside him was something truly indescribable.

She looked pale as shock appeared all over her face.

In the next few days, Lonely left Forever behind on the charts and reached new heights.

On Melody's New Top 50 singles chart, it stayed in the 2nd position for a long time. Other than that, it was going places in other charts too.

On the Chartbuster website, it was the 5th, while on Musicbox, it was the 4th. Musicbox, a music magazine, even did a whole article on Lonely, saying how it was the song of the second quarter of the year which truly connected with the people.

It made people recommend the song to their friends, which was essential in its growth, which was pretty slow at the start.

On MeTube, it got 47 million views in just a month, and it was estimated to reach more than 100 million by the end of the year. It was doing way better than Forever, whose growth had stagnated at around 44 million views.

The results were more or less similar in Melody and other streaming apps.

Its popularity of it was clearly seen in Aiden's social media numbers. They had already reached 200k after Hold on to me had gone viral, and with Lonely, he was now sitting at 700k followers on Skygram.

On Sparrow, the number was 550k, and his unofficial fan group was slowly getting more and more members daily. It now stood at more than 2500 people.

[Skyneves: Let's party! Aiden beat Rachel in their second clash. I knew he would beat her.]

[Girl boss: Yeah, although I was scared because Cyco promoted her too hard. I was only seeing her on every single app.]

[April on the roof: That's just their aggressive marketing. But word of mouth spread quickly about Lonely.]

[You are welcome: Even my dad was recommending the song to me today. Apparently, both of my dads were.]

[Pups are power: @You are welcome, I feel like something is wrong with your family.]

[Cats are supreme leaders: I'm so happy for Aiden. It shows just winning the show isn't enough. Even if Aiden was not even in the top 5, he's doing way better than Rachel or Cameron.]

[Rifana: I am so disappointed that I didn't get any tickets to his shows. Does anyone know if he will have more shows in LA or other cities?]

[All about that bass: I don't think he has any. According to the Neu entertainment website, Grey is going to have shows in other countries, but it doesn't mention Aiden at all. Maybe, he doesn't have any more shows in his contract.]

[Hollywood Insider: He will surely start auditioning for other movies. Still waiting for [Shadow of War]. #Aidenfan]

[Ara Ara: @Hollywood Insider Why do you always tweet like you know Aiden's next gig?]

…

/DreamNote/

Thank for you another super gift, Mr Omar. I am planning a character for you, if you have anything specific in your mind, you can dm me on discord.

Bonus chapters will come tomorrow, exactly 24 hrs from this chapter.

Everyone, you're invited to join the discord community: /dreamthree

Please support this novel with your power stones and golden tickets

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

"We need to quickly move on to your next gig."

Wade said, setting a piece of paper that had a schedule on it in front of him. It had been two days since they had returned to New York City.

Aiden's time in LA was pretty good, but he was mainly working there, so after coming to New York, Wade told him to take a two-day break, which he mostly spent playing video games and watching movies.

After the break was over, Wade had called him to his apartment to talk about his next ventures, and currently, they were sitting in his living room.

"More shows? And people are still calling me to their weddings. Why are there so many people even getting married?" Aiden grumbled, reading up on the schedule.

It was filled with shows in different bars and clubs, mixed with performing at some parties and, of course, weddings.

Aiden had thought he wouldn't have to perform day and night after coming to New York, but it seemed like his luck was cursed.

"Can't help it. You were in the 'Top Ten Indie Singers of the month' in Musicbox's latest magazine. 'Hold onto me' and 'Life is a story' are still in Melody's Top 50 Indie hits chart. You are famous now, so shows are inevitable."

He was very well aware of his newfound fame, especially after Lonely had done so well. Uncle Sam and his mom constantly called him to say how proud they were of him.

His efforts were finally bearing fruit.

"I know shows are inevitable, but I wanted to work on my next song. Or just focus more on the acting side."

Wade smiled bleakly at that and tried to explain, "I understand what you mean. But we need to first capitalize on your fame, and there's nothing better than getting your face out there as a celeb. Talk to people, smile. Even if you don't feel good, you need to smile. Give a good impression. The plan that I have set for you, the first step is to solidify the brand known as Aiden, the singer."

Realisation struck Aiden as he finally saw where Wade was trying to go and what the goals were in his mind..

"An album, you mean."

"You are smart. But not now. It's too early. We don't have that level of popularity or enough resources to pull out an album. Even if we did, it would more or less not work."

Everything has a time, and they need to slam the hammer at the right time. But the metal needed to be heated appropriately first.

"An album would cost more than a million dollars to make," Aiden said, trying to calculate in his head.

"Yeah, maybe more. Depending on how we go with it. We both are alone, with no godfather or company to back us up, so we would be investing the money you are earning. If we are lucky, you might be able to be a step closer to being the first mainstream singer who is not bound by a label."

Aiden slowly nodded. With the advent of social media, it's only a matter of time before a singer who has huge popularity but doesn't belong to any agency pops up.

But the thing was that record labels would generally give out deals to MeTube singers that are doing good.

Indie singers who had rejected contracts like Aiden were few, and even then, not one of them have become mainstream. Though, the risks were a lot too.

"If we fail, we are basically back to square one," Aiden said, sighing.

"Yes, and that's why we must also slowly grow the brand of Aiden, the actor." Wade's sentence attracted his attention as he noticed something different in it.

"You have something for me?"

"Yeah, remember I told you about Granite films?"

Aiden gave him a nod, gesturing to Wade to continue.

"Well, I got confirmation that they are holding an audition next week. Fortunately, someone from Granite films watched one of your clips from [Shadows of War, and they liked it a lot, enough to send you an invitation to audition. So, if everything goes right, you might have your next acting role."

He couldn't help but smile upon hearing that. Finally, after more than a month, he would be able to prepare for another audience.

As Aiden's passion for acting was much greater, he was truly happy.

"You got any information on the movie or the character? Who's the director?"

"Not a lot in the movie. It's called [Black Saints]. Just know it's an action movie. It seems like Granite films are delving into different genres. As for the director, his name is Zavier Lamb, a rookie. But he has directed a few famous TV series like [Ghost under the sea] and [Mental magician]."

"Those series are pretty good, but it would be hard to prepare just knowing that the genre is action."

Aiden made an awkward expression. There were different types of action movies. Noir action, a no-nonsense cop movie, or even a cowboy action movie.

Action genre has a whole lot of subgenres in it, and it was tough for an actor to prepare for it without knowing what type the movie was.

"What about the character? There must be something about it."

Aiden asked, and fortunately, Wade nodded this time.

"Yeah, they will send a short script tomorrow, so you could practice. As for the role, it's very different from your first role. You are not auditioning for a good guy this time. Instead, they want you to audition for an antagonist role."

"A villain? That's interesting."

They were calling him for an audition after seeing a bit of him in [Shadows of War] where he has played a morally good guy, and even his scenes were like that, so them calling him for the role of a villain was very unexpected.

"It is interesting. But any role currently is good enough for you."

Wade said, and Aiden agreed with him.

"I never really played a villain before. Though, I always wanted to play one."

"Yeah, and you need to give your everything if you want this role. From what I heard, Granite films are calling many good and even established actors to try out for the role."

"How's the casting going?"

A middle-aged man wearing a suit rested his arm on the desk and asked. He had a mustache on his face and was smiling.

His name was Anthony McCarthy, the CEO and major stockholder of Granite films.

"Pretty good, especially after we got Ray Hardy as the main character. Having connections with the X-art agency helps a lot."

A relatively younger guy replied. He had an unshaven beard and looked to be in his mid-30s with blonde hair.

He was Zavier Lamb, the director of [Black Saints]. Both of them were currently talking about the pre-production and casting of the movie.

"Ray liked your script, and he got on board only after that. He's pretty choosy in his script choices these days to solidify his position as an A-lister."

Ray Hardy was a British actor contracted with an X-art agency. He had given two back-to-back hits last year, entering Hollywood's prestigious A-lister category. But it was very hard for any actor to keep their position intact.

Their shares rise and fall with the release of each of their movies in the eyes of producers.

"Yeah, him choosing to act in [Black Saints] means he thinks the screenplay will work, and it would be a good addition to his filmography."

"But the problem is still the character of Kai."

Zavier said, and Anthony couldn't help but share the same sentiment. The major characters in the movie were the protagonist and the antagonists.

Kai August was actually not the main antagonist and only had a 15-20 minute role, but he was still one of the major characters and one of the beloved ones of Zavier.

Actually, there was even a plan to do a prequel to show Kai's backstory if the audience liked him enough.

"We are holding auditions for him next week. Some good actors that we recognised from small roles here and there and some that are more popular. It's an interesting bunch."

"Someone great in that bunch?"

Anthony asked, and after thinking for a bit, Zavier nodded.

"There's the godson of Harisson Owens, Tyler Reed." Anthony's eyes widened hearing that.

Harrison Owens could be counted amongst the most famous actors and producers in Hollywood. However, he had stopped acting long ago and was focusing on producing movies while enjoying a lavish lifestyle.

He also had many godchildren, one of them being Tyler Reed, who had only recently started making a mark in Hollywood.

Apparently, he was the nephew of Harrison, who had decided to help him out in his Hollywood aspirations.

"Is he any good? I haven't seen him act yet."

"He's average," Zavier replied, and after a moment of thought, he added, "But I think he's an actor who's just a bit lazy. He has talent, but it's about him putting in effort in his role."

"Probably because he has a huge backup being the godson of such an influential guy."

Anthony tilted his head, wondering if it would be good for Granite films to connect with Tyler Reed, who will be a link for them to Harisson Owens.

"Yeah, it depends on the audition. I do want to give him the role if he's above average. The media focus on Tyler because of his connections, so it's free publicity."

"So, more or less, the role is his."

…

/DreamNote/

Bonus Chapter coming soon, please vote with power stones and golden tickets!

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From the next day, Aiden's life got busier with all the shows he was doing. He would wake up early to sing at a wedding and end the night with a show in a bar.

Other than that, there was also the audition that he was preparing for.

He had gotten a short script that was a whole scene. He read it every time he got a chance to understand better the character he would audition for.

He kept one eye on his system and his acting skill, which was just a step away from breaking into Intermediate Grade 1.

Aiden was very curious to see what new skills he would get after breaking through, especially because of the effects of him getting his singing skill to evolve into Intermediate Grade 1.

His singing had changed entirely, got a lot better than before, and he could use his empathy skill a lot easier.

He was hoping for the same thing to happen to his acting.

On Friday, two days before the audition, Aiden was in the car with Wade, drinking Tea. It was still early in the morning, and he was a bit sleepy.

Taking a sip out of the cup that he had bought at a coffee shop, he couldn't help but grumble, "I don't know why they call it Chai Tea. Chai basically means Tea, so it's like saying Tea Tea."

"Well, Cultural differences." Wade chuckled. "They may have failed to understand what it means. Not like people care."

Aiden shook his head and glanced outside. The weather was a little bit cloudy. It was the middle of September, and winter was still two months away.

"Anyway, I've never been a model for a clothing brand. Do you have any tips?"

Aiden said, turning towards Wade. Today, they were going to a studio for a photo shoot for an endorsement. .

As he had gotten famous, brands and companies had started to keep an eye on him. Aiden was handsome, and he was also getting popular at a rapid pace, someone perfect for brands.

One of them, a clothing brand, had contacted Wade about an endorsement deal, and he had agreed after checking out the contract.

These endorsements were always a great way to earn a lot of money in a short amount of time.

"I have been to a few. Nothing much. The photographer tells you to give poses and take a photo. That goes for the whole day with different clothes." He said before suddenly adding. "Obviously, it's also a great chance to score a fun night if you are modelling with someone. I have seen a lot of models getting frisky in the middle of the photoshoot."

He laughed after saying that but sadly, Aiden didn't really have time to get frisky with anyone.

"I have my audition on Sunday, so I'm going to practise tomorrow. Unfortunately, my schedule doesn't allow time to get frisky."

"You can do all that after getting famous. Be successful when you are young. It's harder when you are old, divorced, and haggard like me."

Wade replied as he turned around a corner. Aiden didn't say anything and hoped everything would go well today.

"Move your hands a bit like this. No, you are doing it wrong. Yes, yes, like that."

Click! Click!

The sound of a camera clicking rang out as a white light flashed in front of Aiden. He was currently in the middle of the photoshoot while the photographer made him do a lot of different poses.

There were a lot of times the photographer, a middle-aged Briton, got irked but in the end, Aiden was able to give a good pose.

He was modelling for a clothing brand called 'ZXO'.

Aiden didn't even know how to spell it properly, but he was getting paid 70k dollars just for one day, so he was gladly putting in the effort to learn a bit of modelling.

'I wonder if the system has a modelling skill.'

He thought, making another pose. The extent of the ability his system had was always a fascinating topic for him, and he was sure that he didn't even know 10 percent of it properly.

Even the reason he got the system magically. Aiden didn't know, and he could only be grateful.

"Okay, let's take a break for lunch!"

The photographer said, sweeping off sweat from his forehead. The staff dispersed at those words, and one staff member came to take off the white jacket he was wearing that was especially meant for the shoot.

Aiden didn't know how much it cost, but it felt nice while wearing it.

"Aiden, come here."

Suddenly, Wade called him out, standing in the far right corner. Aiden walked towards him, wondering what he needed, and saw a woman standing with him.

She looked to be in her mid-20s, around the same as Aiden's age and had night-black hair. At the same time, she was giving out a weird aura that made people nervous in front of her.

As he stared at her, Wade introduced her to him.

"Her name is Skye Ellison, the CEO, and owner of ZXO." Aiden widened his eyes hearing that, but Wade wasn't finished. "She wants to have lunch with you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. As pleased as I am to sit here, I am also curious to know why you wish to have lunch with me?"

Aiden asked, staring at Skye. They were currently sitting in a French restaurant that was near the studio.

It even seemed to be an expensive one, but all of his attention was on Skye. He felt it was really weird that she had called him out on lunch.

'I don't think she just likes me, and it's a date.'

That was the most basic reasoning one would get in this situation, but it was based more on fantasy than anything. Of course, stuff like that happens, but Aiden didn't feel like Skye had those kinds of intentions.

"Why do you think I invited you?" She asked, smiling.

"I don't think it's something like a date, and you are interested in me."

"Why can't I be?"

"You don't seem to be. You're a busy lady, and I just had a photoshoot for your company's clothes. I'm not dense. I am sure there's something important to discuss."

Skye laughed hearing that. It seemed to her that Aiden wasn't really a stupid guy. At least he was straightforward enough to ask.

"Well, you are quite right. I just wanted to meet you to know what kind of a person you are. Think of it as trying to see if someone is good enough to invest in. When you buy a house, you visit it to see if it's nice enough for you to spend money on, right?"

Although he found that analogy a bit weird, Aiden did understand what Skye was saying.

In simpler words, she was checking him out to know if he was a person that was worth spending money on.

"So it's indeed related to the endorsements," Aiden replied, and she nodded. "I thought it was more about numbers."

Skye smiled and replied, "It is about numbers, but your personality matters a lot to me. My brand endorsing you is basically associating ourselves with you, and ZXO isn't a prominent brand yet, but we want to keep a good image. So I am here to ensure that the celeb we associate ourselves with is at least smart enough not to provoke scandals and unnecessary attention for us."

In a way, Skye was telling him that she had decided to have lunch with him to see if he was smart enough.

It was more of gauging his personality.

"I'm not really a celebrity."

Aiden replied. His reply wasn't in the sense of being humble. He really meant that. He was nowhere close to being a true celebrity.

"Maybe not currently, but in the future, for sure," Skye replied. "You have achieved a lot in a short time. First, just after getting into X-Star, you got famous, and now you even have a song out with a famous singer. All within just four months, and I do find you as someone with good potential."

"I worked for years to prove myself in those four months."

Aiden replied, and Skye nodded her head. It was hard to tell her thoughts from her expression, but Aiden did notice a satisfactory glint in her eyes

As the food arrived, her eyes didn't leave his face. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, he tried to shift the conversation towards business again.

"So, will ZXO keep associating itself with me going forward?"

"There's still much to think about, if I'm being frank," Skye replied without wasting time. "We want to grow with a celebrity, in a way that the celebrity's growth is associated with the company, so we work with people we identify as someone who might be big in the future. But people are very fickle, especially in an industry where money and fame can get you anything."

Aiden realised that Skye was being very frank with him. Her words weren't something extraordinary but just the truth.

For example, Aaron, the main lead of [Shadows of War]. He was a big star, but at this point, he had made it a habit to sleep with random women, not thinking about many things.

Although Hollywood was very lenient towards guys like him, it was only a matter of time before he caused a big scandal.

It might not affect him a lot as there would be producers who would still want to work with him. But the brands and companies are very sensitive, especially if they are paying exorbitant amounts.

"So, what do you think of me? Am I worth investing in?"

Aiden asked, and Skye just smiled before replying.

"We will see about that."

…

/DreamNote/

Bonus chapter! Please continue supporting this novel with your power stones and golden tickets

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

"Did you really get frisky with Skye Ellison?"

"What kind of question is that?"

Aiden stared at Wade with squinted eyes. His expression was like he was asking, 'Do you even know what you are spouting out?'.

"It's a genuine question." Wade coughed and explained. "After the photoshoot, I got a call, saying ZXO is hopeful to work with us again when their new brand of clothing is out. They will even pay more."

Hearing that, Aiden understood what was going on in his agent's mind. He was thinking that Skye had given him this deal because he had slept with her.

It was pretty common in Hollywood, for both genders and even in the business world.

People in positions of power will often try to sleep with those with no power. Especially in Hollywood, it was one of the major dark spots but no one was ready to speak against it.

"You are making weird conclusions. I had lunch with her and returned to the photoshoot. Then, you dropped me home. When would I even have had the time? And even if I had the time, I wouldn't sleep with her to get money or a deal."

"Don't get so serious. I'm just joking."

Wade laughed. He obviously could tell that nothing like that had happened between the two of them, but he still felt like joking around.

He was very happy that ZXO was happy with Aiden. Endorsement deals were always good for a celebrity.

Trying to change the subject, he asked, "Are you confident about today's audition?"

"Yeah, I have done my best to prepare for it. Now, it all depends on the performance and what the director thinks of it."

Aiden replied while trying to fix his hair, looking at his reflection in the mirror. He was currently wearing a suit that he had especially prepared for the audition.

They were currently sitting in the parking lot of the Granite films office. The audition was scheduled to be in their office rather than in a theatre like the last time..

"Remember, you need to at least impress one of the directors or the producer, The CEO of Granite films. It's rumoured that he's closely involved in the production this time."

Zavier Lamb and Anthony McCarthy – Wade had explained intensively about them to Aiden. To get a role, it was very important to give a good impression to the director and the producer.

After all, the movie was basically their creation and the character he was playing was just a part of it.

If they liked him, the role was as good as his.

"Let's hope it goes well."

Wade muttered and got out of the car. Aiden followed him, fixing his suit and glancing at the sky.

The sky was bright and clear today, giving him a bit of hope.

"Thank you. We will call you later to inform you about the results."

Zavier looked towards a blonde haired guy who was giving off a charming smile.

He stood at 6ft with a robust body, like a bodybuilder and a dominant aura around him. Looking at him, anyone would think that he was the embodiment of the action heroes in the 90s that Hollywood had churned out.

His name was Tyler Reed, one of the actors that they have zeroed in to play the role of Kai. He had just finished his audition but it was nothing short of underwhelming.

"Can't you tell me about the results now?" Tyler asked, not wanting to wait for the result.

Mostly, he would get the result of an audition straight away due to his backing. It was also because of his backing that he had rarely been rejected for a role before.

"I'm sorry, but we need to discuss it a bit more to come to the conclusion. We will release the results in two days."

Anthony replied this time. The other people sitting besides him – the cinematographer, the casting director, production manager – felt a bit uncomfortable at Tyler's question but Anthony answered quickly.

He knew very well that he can't come out as a pushover.

"Okay."

Tyler simply replied and left the room.

Although he was sceptical about the results, he didn't really focus a lot on it.

His agent had told him that the role suited him a lot and it was as good as his, so he was not worried.

Ironically, both Zavier and Anthony thought completely opposite of that.

"He doesn't suit the character at all."

"It's not only about his body stature not really suiting the character. But it's also his expression. Rather than giving off a menacing feel, it's more like he's auditioning for the role of a harmless bear who likes honey." Zavier made an awkward smile. "His expression is too blank."

The other people nodded at those words. They all shared similar thoughts about Tyler but due to his background, it was hard for them to completely reject him.

"Do we even have a choice here? Harrison Owens will surely push for him to get the role. He has a lot of influence in Titan studios. I don't know if it's good to get on the bad side of that man."

The production manager said, rubbing his bald head in worry. Titan studios was one of the major film companies in Hollywood and also the distributor for [Black Saints].

As a mid-sized production company, Granite films still didn't have any distribution channels and hence, it needed to rely on big studios.

Titan was one of their close partners since the studio had begun.

Harrison Owens had given a lot of blockbuster movies to Titan studios in his prime, so he held a considerable amount of influence there.

"Let's just go on with the auditions."

Anthony said, getting the topic back on track. Turning towards one of the staff members, he said.

"Call the next guy in."

The staff member quickly went to the hallway and after a minute, he came back with a guy who was oddly wearing a suit, like he worked on wall street.

"What's your name?"

Zavier asked when the guy stood in the middle.

"Aiden Silvereye."

When Aiden had gotten the screenplay of a scene that he needed to perform in the audition, he had felt that the character he was auditioning for was a stylish, cool character.

Someone who took care of the way he dresses up and talks.

It was just a small thing he had noticed from the script and because of that, he had come to the audition wearing a black suit and gelled hair.

"Why are you wearing a suit?"

As expected, the first question that was asked of him was regarding his outfit. Even in the hallway, no other actor aside from him was wearing a suit.

"When I read the scene given to me for the audition, I imagined Kai to be like this. Someone who is well maintained. So, I thought a suit was the best outfit for him. I kind of took it as one of the traits of the character."

Zavier nodded at that answer. Every actor saw a character in a different way and Aiden's explanation was something that Zavier found interesting.

'At least he has taken time to understand his character.'

"What other traits did you notice?"

Suddenly, Anthony asked and Aiden instantly recognised him as Granite films CEO and the executive producer of [Black Saints].

After thinking for a bit, he replied.

"Cold, someone who stays mostly composed but menacing at the same time. Although I didn't notice anything related to his background, I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a simple one."

"Why is that?"

"Someone from a simple background wouldn't really threaten a gangster."

Zavier laughed at that. The scene that was given to Aiden was one where Kai would be threatening one of the gangsters in New York City. It was a one on one conversation but it needed to be gripping enough to captivate the viewers.

"Who is this guy? I haven't seen him before." Anthony whispered to Zavier and the crew. One of them replied after glancing at Aiden who had no idea what they were discussing in whispers.

"I think he's more or less a struggling actor but has a role in a movie that's going to release soon. One of the assistant directors finalised him for the audition after seeing one of his scenes. Apparently, he's said to be good."

Zavier nodded at that and Anthony put a finger on his chin, "We will know if he's good enough after seeing the performance."

Saying that, he turned towards Aiden.

"Okay. You can begin your performance."

Anthony gave the signal and with that his performance started.

Just like his last audition, this one also required a staff member to play a role. The staff member was playing a gangster who Kai had come to meet regarding something.

The staff member was sitting behind a desk while Aiden who was trying to get in the mindset of Kai was standing.

'I need to give a good enough performance.'

He thought, taking a deep breath. After reading and analysing just the one scene, he had liked it a lot and didn't want to lose the opportunity to play as him on the big screen, so this opportunity was a big deal for him.

'I need to trust myself.'

He thought as his immersion took over. His surroundings changed and the staff member now truly seemed like a gangster. Aiden was even able to see imaginary gangster goons beside him.

Zavier, Anthony and other crew all disappeared as his personality slowly mixed with that of Kai.

…

/DreamNote/

Another bonus chapter guys

IMPORTANT NOTICE

From now on, newly earned bonus chapters will cumulate and will be released in bundle on the 30th June.

Although there are 6 more bonus chapters available, if we cross the limit, I won't ignore that and will deliver the chapters you deserve on the 30th June.

From next month, we will go back to releasing bonus chapters as soon as you earn

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 57

"You are a difficult man to meet, Mr. Black."

Aiden, now as Kai, stepped closer to the desk of the audition staff who was playing the role of Mr. Black, a rival gangster.

Kai's face had a smile on it. Not a menacing kind but the one that would make people drop their guards down.

"I never wanted to meet you."

"That doesn't matter."

Kai said, glancing at a chair and moving it up before sitting down on it. Then, he leaned forward and put his hand on the table and tapping it with the tip of his index finger.

Seeing his actions that seemed to entail that he owned the room, Mr. Black squinted his eyes at him before saying his lines.

"Why are you here?"

"To see your face. After all, I need to at least know who owned the town before I killed him to take it for myself."

Kai said those words casually, like he was saying 'hello' to someone but it angered Mr. Black a lot who slapped his hand on the desk.

He was one of the oldest gangsters in New York and no one had talked to him like that in years.

"Do you realise what words you are speaking? Or where are you? One word and my men will come in and shoot all the bullets they have in your brain."

Kai smirked, not really caring about the threat. If he really was scared so easily, he would not have come here. In the first place, he wasn't someone who would do things without thinking them through.

'Life is too random, one needs to learn to control your luck.'

He wouldn't be here if he didn't have a way to control the probability of being killed. He had everything planned out and that's why he was being this frank..

Clicking his tongue, he leaned towards the table and asked, "Have you not heard of my reputation?"

Mr. Black stayed calm and after a while, he gave off a nod before speaking out about all the things and rumors that Kai had achieved till now.

"You killed two policemen with a pocket knife two years ago, the police weren't able to find you and six months after the incident, you joined the Don Morelli gang. Two years after that, Don died in a car accident and you took his seat."

Mr. Black stared at him for a moment before the last part. The death of the Don wasn't a coincidence. Anyone in the city would be able to tell that much.

An accident related to someone in power was normally the result of other parties' interest and less of a random event.

There were a lot of things that were missing in Mr. Black words but Kai didn't try to remind him of them. The truth was that the actual horrifying things he had done were something that no one knew about.

They just flew around the city like rumors, making his reputation far more devilish. Making him a symbol for anarchy.

"What did you learn from it, Mr. Black?" Kai asked, but went on to give the answer himself. "I achieved the position you are sitting in less than three years while it took you more than a decade. Doesn't that tell a lot about us?"

"It doesn't say anything."

"I think it does. What do you think I can do in the next one year? Maybe kill you… too. Take your place. Powder gets a lot of money in the market these days."

"Don't cross the line!"

Mr. Black shouted but it didn't seem to have any effect on Kai. The latter just sighed, giving off a smile and leaning on his chair.

"What if I cross it?"

Kai directly asked this time. The smile on his face faded like it was never there. A hint of dread appeared in Mr. Black's eyes and the aura around Kai turned a bit creepy, something that will send chills down the former's spine.

No, that creepiness was always there. It was just concealed until now and was only revealed now.

"I will kill you. You won't go out of here breathing."

"Then do it." Kai said, making a firm face before adding. "You misunderstand me a lot. I'm not another gangster out there wanting to take the city for myself. I'm a symbol. Kill me, my fear will still haunt the city."

Kai's words seem to have dug into Mr. Black's soul. For the first time, he gulped, truly scared by the presence of the man in front of him.

"What do you want?" In the end, Mr. Black asked.

"I am gonna make an offer you can't refuse," Kai unexpectedly smiled, "A part of your drug trade. I want a portion of that powder's profit. It's a sweet offer, a lot more worth than your worthless life."

"You're asking for too much…"

Mr. Black replied with all the courage he had left in him.

The smile on Kai's receded. He leaned forward and stared dead at Mr. Black.

"Black, be careful what you choose. Once you cross me, it's f*ck you and everything about you."

Mr. Black gulped. Even if he was an old gangster, Kai had already become what the city calls the devil – someone who couldn't be killed and even if someone did try, how was one to kill the devil himself?

And with that, the scene ended.

At that exact moment, his immersion ended and some system notifications suddenly appeared in front of him. A bit surprised by them, he nearly yelped.

[You have gotten a lot of experience.]

[You have advanced to Intermediate Grade 1 from Basic Grade 10. Congratulations on achieving such a huge achievement. Rewards have been given.]

[You have unlocked more functions of the system.]

[Your immersion has gotten stronger. Now, the personality of the character you are playing might affect your real one a little.]

[You have gained the skill 'Script appraisal'. Now you can check the score of your scripts.]

[A special reward has been given due to reaching Intermediate Grade in both singing and acting.]

[The unique skill 'Charisma' has been given.]

[You will unlock more skills of the system and other rewards as you level up and achieve extraordinary feats on your path to stardom.]

Seeing the system prompts, Aiden widened his eyes before a sharp pain hit his head.

Aiden splashed water in his face in an effort to calm himself down. His emotions were in a disarray and after the audition was over, he quickly went to the bathroom to cool down his mind.

He didn't know if it was because of him getting new skills, but his head seemed to be overflowing with emotions and information that he couldn't really pinpoint.

Nothing like this had happened last time so he was a bit confused.

'It hurts so much.'

He thought, gritting his teeth.

Finally, after a while, the pain lessened before eventually subsiding. Aiden splashed more water on his face and finally felt like he was fine.

Now, having calmed down, he opened up his system inference to check out his new skills.

[The skill 'Script appraisal' has been gained. Now you can check the scores of the scripts you recieved.]

Aiden clicked on it and another window popped up explaining the skill.

[Script appraisal

-Now, you could check the skills of the script you are given. To check the score of a script, put your hand on it and think of the skill.

-The score of the script doesn't reflect the popularity of it.]

He felt like this skill was more or less the same as 'Song appraisal'. Just for different talents and both of them were very useful to him.

One of the skills of an actor was choosing good scripts.

Although a good script doesn't always mean the movie would be commercially successful, it was still a very necessary skill for an actor.

There were many actors who didn't have a good script selection. There were even actors who would choose any script, not caring whether they found it good or not.

There was a famous legend about an actor that had gone on to do a lot of mediocre and below average projects to pay off his debts. None of them worked but he did get rich through them.

Like him, many just cared about money but for Aiden, he cared more about leaving behind a good enough filmography and doing a project he was really invested in.

'Script appraisal will come in very handy in the future.'

He thought, before moving on the second skill that he had received. He was much more excited about it just because of its name.

[Charisma

-The ability to attract people towards you with the charm oozing out from your aura.

-Gives a bit of an edge to both singing and acting.

-With a higher charisma, it's easier to win over people or get them to agree to your words.

-As your skill level rises, the effect of Charisma rises too.]

Aiden stared at the skill description in a bit of awe. He knew how important of a skill it was.

Every celebrity has a bit of charisma, especially in certain actors. Rather than their acting skill, it was their charisma that attracted people towards them and was also their most talked about trait.

'If I did the same audition again, I feel like I would do much better.'

Suddenly, he felt a bit regretful that he hadn't asked Zavier or Anthony if he could retake the audition.

His head was hurting so much that he had immediately left after his audition had ended. He didn't even know if his audition had even left a mark.

'I can't go back now…'

He thought regretfully and closed his eyes. It was already half an hour since he was in the bathroom and even Wade would be looking around for him.

He needed to get back.

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 58

Two days after the audition, the crew of [Black Saints] organised a meeting to discuss the status of the filming and one of the agendas for the meeting was casting for Kai August.

"So, who should we go with?"

Anthony began, as he looked at the people gathered in the meeting room, his eyes stopping at Zavier for a bit longer. Most of the important members of the crew were here.

The cinematographer, prop director, stage director and many more. All in all, the room looked crowded.

"It's a difficult decision. We did have some good performances but first, let's cross out the bad ones."

Zavier said, glancing at the profiles of the actor on the table.

A laptop on the side was showing all the audition tapes of the actors that had auditioned for the role.

Granite films would go over each and every important character in the movie very carefully, because for them, casting was everything, especially for a movie like [Black Saints].

If it was a romantic comedy or a teen drama, they could cast actors more on looks and charisma, but a gangster flick like [Black Saints] needed capable actors.

There was a similar movie released last year, more of a cop action piece but the performances of the actors weren't strong enough to carry the movie and it became a disaster in the box office.

Zavier had written every one of his characters very intricately and every single one of them were complex, needing an actor to show a wide range of emotions.

"So, first is Drake Westwood. 23 years old and had worked in some TV series as a supporting character."

One of the staff members read out the profile of a causacian stoic looking guy. After seeing his audition again, Zavier clicked his tongue.

"No, he doesn't suit Kai at all. Looks too young, maybe also because of his short height."

"We could try him in the romantic comedy we are planning next year. For now, rejected."

Anthony gave out the verdict that everyone was thinking of and they moved to another profile..

More than 50 actors auditioned for the role of Kai and it was a daunting task to go through each one of them. But that was just filmmaking.

Every step took a long time and you need to tread carefully.

As they watched more and more auditions, some actors impressed them while some were outright weak in front of the camera.

"Next is Tyler Reed."

Zavier made a conflicted expression hearing that. A frown also appeared on the face of Anthony who couldn't help but ask.

"Do we even need to watch it again?"

"Not really. He was awful." Zavier said, then added regretfully, "But how about giving him another chance? Maybe he will do a bit better."

He was only saying that to get a chance to make a move up ahead in Hollywood. Zavier was pretty new in the movie business, even if he had a good name in the tv industry. Both industries were correlated to each other but were very different.

By giving a role to Tyler, it was a chance to indirectly make a connection to a big time Hollywood actor and producer and get into the richer circles.

But Anthony shook his head.

"No, there's no need to. It's not good to damage a movie just to please someone. We need to choose the best actors possible."

Saying that, he gestured to the staff to move on to the next actor. Zavier didn't say anything on that, not really too keen on Tyler in the first place.

It was just a passing suggestion in his mind.

The crew looked at more and more actors throughout the afternoon and had varying responses to each of them.

"That guy doesn't even have any acting skills. I wonder why people get into acting without knowing how to do the one thing that they are paid to do – act!"

"Okay, this guy is good. He even looks tough, but he doesn't give off the Kai vibe. There's the villain look, not the vibe."

"No, he's very average. We need an actor that could give life to Kai, not make him look like a 2d character from a generic novel."

Like that, they discussed most of the shortlisted actors before they got to Aiden's profile. It was already close to evening when they looked at his audition tape.

"This guy… he's the only one who came wearing a suit."

"Yeah, his acting was pretty spot on too."

"The guy who acted the role of Mr. Black said he was truly scared when he was performing. He's a good actor."

"No, I think his eyes look very soft. We need sharper eyes."

"I think he's good enough."

Opinions about Aiden were exchanged in the room. Some thought that he suited the role while some had the complete opposite reaction.

But one thing was sure that Aiden's performance was discussed the most.

Though, the decision was only on two people who were the most important part of the crew – The director and the producer.

"His name is Aiden Silvereye, right? 24 years, he's good for this age. A capable young actor." Anthony said that because the ideal age for an actor in Hollywood was between 30-45, most of the famous actors were around that age.

That was the reason behind why even many teen dramas had 30 year old adults who didn't really look like high school students.

"What do you think?"

Turning towards Zavier, he asked.

"He's better than what we have seen till now. One thing is that he was the only one who actually put time in trying to make an image for his character. I like that in an actor."

Zavier put a finger on his chin and thought about it clearly.

Few names roamed in his head that had impressed him as Kai. But Aiden's performance was something that stood out, because of the small things.

He noticed that during the audition Aiden had moved the chair from the side to sit in front of the staff member playing Mr. Black. That wasn't in the script given to him.

He had done it himself, thinking that Kai would do something like that in order to make it seem like even if he was in his enemies territory, he was still in control.

At the same time, Zavier also felt like Aiden was a bit too young for the role. An older actor would be able to play it better.

"I think he's…."

"I just wish we could fast forward the bad parts."

"Maybe, just freeze the good parts."

"So, that they forever last."

In the bar, The Rabbit hole, silver light filled the entire place as people calmly listened to Aiden's singing.

In the last part, he got his notes really high, touching the boundaries of the F note. The customers seemed to love that as they cheered for him after the song finished.

"Aiden, that was great!"

"You are the best. Encore! Encore!"

"I never get tired of hearing your songs."

Basking in all the applause and praises, Aiden just smiled and put down his guitar. He had already stopped working here a while back but Abraham was now paying him to come sing some songs.

This was the privilege of being the famous indie singer that Aiden had slowly become.

If he was being honest, he would have sung here even if he wasn't being paid, just because he had gotten really familiar with this place during his stay in America.

Old Don, Freddie, Jessie – he had gotten used to performing for these people who would always greet him when they saw him in the bar. They would have small talks and then, would be on their way.

[You have gained experience.]

[You are now one step closer to Intermediate Grade 2.]

As Aiden got off the stage, these system notifications appeared in front of him. He shrugged them off as he would get them after every single performance.

He was going to leave the bar when suddenly, he saw a familiar face stepping inside. It was Wade with a cigarette in his mouth.

Going by the atmosphere around him, Aiden guessed that it was something serious.

"Wade, what are you doing here?"

Aiden asked, walking up to him.

"Looking for you. I just got the call from Granite films about your audition."

"So, they liked it?"

Wade took a bit of time to open his mouth, making Aiden get a bad feeling. Maybe, it was another audition that he failed in?

"You got the role." His agent said, quickly giving out a smile.

"Really?"

"Yeah, they liked it a lot. From what I heard, there were other people that were close to getting the role but they ultimately decided on you. They will send the contract in a few days and you will get the full script at the same time. Then, we need to prepare for the read through." Wade said, before adding. "Anyway, congrats. You worked hard!"

Aiden could not help but smile widely upon hearing that. In the span of a few months, he had gotten his second role. It really seemed like the clock of fate was finally turning in his favour.

'One more step closer."

He thought in his mind but Wade patted his shoulder to get his attention before Aiden could ask for drinks from a waiter.

"Let's celebrate! I know the best place for it!"

"Where?"

Aiden thought, wondering if Wade was going to suggest something like a strip club. For some reason, the latter looked like someone who would go there often.

"I have two invitations for a party. Let's go, you might meet some interesting people there."

…

/DreamNote/

All bonus chapters will be uploaded in bundle on the 30th

Thank you Mr Geddon Kennedy for the super gift

Bonus chapters: [2 Due] [4 Unclaimed]

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Parties in Hollywood are very common. Too common.

After all, this is a very social industry, and parties are the place to meet up with influential people and get to know them better, form connections, and if lucky, the parties could lead to life-changing encounters.

A lot of stuff happens there that may or may not be legal.

Actors, producers, directors, and even singers throw parties to celebrate their success or just because they are bored. But it wasn't easy to get into any party.

One needs to know someone who's been invited to the party or to have an invitation card for themselves. Some people even organised the parties secretively due to the paparazzi lurking around them.

So, it was a big deal if someone had the invitation to any party from the bigshots of Hollywood.

"So, whose party is it anyway?"

Aiden asked, looking outside the car's window as buildings and pedestrians passed by them.

"Some producer. I don't remember the exact name, I think it was Sebastian something.."

"How did you get an invitation then?" Aiden raised an eyebrow.

"I still have my connections," Wade smirked. "Anyway, I'm not really bringing you there to have free food or hit on girls. Though both are good if you want to try that, but the main reason I'm bringing you there is to form connections. Any contact you can get is better than what we have right now: nothing."

Aiden nodded. Building connections was critical in Hollywood or any other industry. One never knows when they will need help, so having considerable connections was always a good thing.

He knew Grey in the music industry, which could be considered a good enough connection for a newbie. But in Hollywood, he hardly had any connections.

Maybe, Lincoln or Leo could be considered one. But Aiden knew he couldn't rely on them. This was why tonight's party was a good chance for him to make connections or if he was lucky, then leave an impression on some big director.

"Do you know any prominent people who would be there?" He asked after thinking about something.

"I heard some A-listers would be there. Some rappers. Models who aspire to be actresses – a lot of those. But try to get connections with the business folk. They are the ones who truly control the money in movies."

"How will I recognise them?"

"They have a certain aura about them. And when the time comes, you will know."

Wade shrugged his shoulders. They arrived at the location in around half an hour and got out of the car..

'I can hear the music from here.'

Aiden thought, walking towards the doorman. Wade told him his name, and the doorman marked it off on his notepad before allowing him and Aiden inside.

After walking inside, Aiden felt a bit surprised.

'I recognise a lot of the people here.'

An actor he had liked in a movie franchise was in one corner, with a beautiful woman in his arms. He had only heard rumours that the actor was a playboy, but it seemed true.

On the other hand, an actress he recognised from a tv series was laughing about something amongst a group of people.

Like that, there were many other people that he had seen in movies or magazines.

"It's a high-profile party," Aiden muttered.

"It's good to have a grasp of where we are. This is a treasure trove for you, Aiden. Try to make some 'friends' today. I'm going to check out what drinks they have in stock."

Nodding at the young actor beside him, Wade finished his words and left.

Aiden pursed his lips, wondering how he would make connections.

'I don't think they will like it if I suddenly barge in on their conversations.'

Everyone at the party already seemed to have a clique of their own. It was hard for him to try to be a part of it suddenly.

Shaking his head, he walked around the party before taking a drink from one of the waiters and sitting on one of the empty couches.

'I don't know about making connections, but at least I can celebrate my success in the audition.'

He smiled before taking a sip of the drink, which seemed to be whiskey.

At that moment, a man suddenly walked up to him. He was wearing a suit with a sharp face and tanned skin. Aiden could also see a partly hidden tattoo on his neck.

The man didn't seem to be American. Maybe he was mixed?

Aiden didn't pay much attention because he wasn't expecting the former to converse with him. After all, he hadn't even met the guy before.

But to his surprise, the man gestured at the couch and asked.

"May I?"

"Yeah, sure," Aiden nodded. The couch was spacious enough.

The man nodded, and as he took sat down on the couch, a waiter approached them and offered drinks.

The man slightly frowned while staring at the tray.

"Sebastian's wine collection is sh*t. Bring me whiskey."

The waiter nodded and left.

The man then glanced at Aiden.

"You look familiar, but I can't seem to recall your name."

"I am Aiden. Aiden Silvereye." Aiden replied.

"Oh," The man just nodded. The name seemed familiar.

"What do you do?" The man asked with a curious expression, "Are you a director?"

"No," Aiden shook his head, "I am an Actor."

"Actor… ah," The man nodded, "So that's how I know your name."

"You know me?" Aiden was genuinely surprised. He was sure he wasn't famous enough to be recognised by anyone at this party.

"Well, knowing you would be quite a far-fetched description. Let's say I have heard of your name. But then where have I seen you? Do you do anything else other than acting?"

Aiden nodded.

"I sing too."

"Ah… Aiden Silvereye," The man nodded his head, this time a bit more vigorously, "I remember it now. A friend mentioned you in the passing and showed me a clip. Are you the one who sang with Grey?"

"Yes," Aiden affirmed.

"That's good," The man nodded, and just then, the waiter had returned.

Picking up a shot glass of whiskey, the man raised it in front of Aiden.

-clink!

"Cheers!" "Cheers!"

The glasses clinked, and the man said, "I am Omar. Omar Alshaikh. I'm a… well, let's say, an investor." After a slight pause, he added, "Did you come alone?"

"No, my agent brought me here, but I don't know anyone here, and he's busy with something else, so I'm just sitting here alone."

"Ah, he must have brought you here for the connections," Omar replied after taking a sip.

Aiden was a bit taken aback by the latter's straightforwardness.

Aiden could only nod at this.

Omar smiled, "Chill and relax. Aren't you here to celebrate?"

"Yeah…" Again, Aiden was taken aback, "How… do you know?"

Omar shrugged, "Didn't I tell ya that your name is familiar? It's because I heard that Zavier mentioned your name. He's the casting director of the movie, [Black Saints]."

"Ah…" Aiden nodded as a face of a young man flashed in his mind, "Are you also a part of the movie?"

"I am investing in the movie," Omar replied.

"Oh…"

"Yeah," Omar chuckled, "So you better act well. I don't want my money to go down the drain."

Aiden smiled, a bit relaxed now, "You won't be disappointed."

Omar nodded. Then finishing his whiskey in one gulp, he said.

"Well, I have invested in some movies from Granite in the past, so I know the company's inner workings. The studio is a good one, and if you act well, this could help you get a lot of clouts."

Omar sounded like it was not a big deal, but Aiden thought of something else.

'An investor.'

Aiden hadn't missed this word when Omar had mentioned it earlier, but now he had a better grasp of Omar's background.

For a moment, he felt like Omar was one of the business folks that Wade was talking about. He didn't know if the latter was a part of any studio, but he surely was not an ordinary guy.

Aiden felt like his luck was running good today that he had suddenly encountered an investor.

"Hey Omar, come here!"

Suddenly, a scrawny-looking guy waved at Omar from a corner. A group of people were gathered there.

Omar gestured to Aiden to follow him, and they walked towards the group, mainly consisting of young people who looked like models and Skygram influencers.

None of them even looked to be in their 30s.

"What happened, Brian?" Omar asked the scrawny-looking guy.

"You are involved in the new project by Granite films, right? That gangster-crime drama flick. Saint something?"

Omar nodded, and Brian pointed at the man in the group's centre. This tall and muscular man looked like he played a lot of football in high school.

"Tyler just told us that he auditioned for a role in it. Do you know if he got the role?"

Tyler Reed, the person in the question, just gave a charming smile and added.

"My agent told me that results would be out by tomorrow, but I'm pretty curious about it as I worked really hard for the role."

As he said that, a girl standing beside him held his hand slowly and replied, "Tyler, don't worry, I'm pretty sure the role is as good as yours."

At her words, others also chimed in.

"Yeah, you are a great actor, Tyler. There's no way anyone else bagged the role."

"I'm pretty sure your agent will call you soon and say that the role is yours."

"Just going by your earlier performances, they will cast you."

Seeing that, Aiden couldn't help but think that the whole group was just a bunch of lackeys for Tyler.

They were trying hard to please him at every step due to him being a godson of a big Hollywood personality.

Until now, Aiden had only heard that many people would act like bootlickers just to stay in a circle that could get them more opportunities. It was an intelligent strategy, too, but he felt like too many people were trying the same approach.

Not like bootlicking guaranteed that they would rise in their careers.

"Anyway, do you know anything about the casting?"

Tyler asked, silencing his lackeys. Omar was just about to reply when he suddenly glanced at Aiden, who was silently standing till now. Smirking, he replied.

"Actually, I do know. I just learned about the results, and Aiden here has bagged the role."

With those words, suddenly, the group's attention was on Aiden.

…

/DreamNote/

Bonus chapters: [2 Due] [4 Unclaimed]

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64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

'Here we go…'

Aiden thought, not knowing what to do for a second. The gazes of Tyler and his lackeys were stuck on Aiden, like they didn't know how to process the situation. The words that Omar had said casually seem to ring in their heads.

The guy in front of them who they have never seen before apparently bagged the role that Tyler had auditioned for.

It seemed absurd and unbelievable to them. After all, it wasn't far-fetched to think that a studio would prefer an actor with a good background and connections over someone whom no one had heard of.

"You're kidding, right? Omar, you should stop pulling pranks."

The scrawny looking guy, Brian, shook his head, trying to bet on the fact that Omar said those words just to spite them.

"Do I have a reason to lie? And why would I even bother to lie," Omar replied with a shrug, "Tyler's agent will have the news of his rejection by tomorrow so that's more than enough proof. This guy here has already been informed that he has gotten the role."

After saying that, he put a hand on Aiden's shoulder, making it look like they were close friends.

"Is he your friend, Omar?"

In the end, Tyler couldn't help but ask and Aiden finally opened his mouth.

"My name's Aiden Silvereye. I'm an actor."

"Oh, you auditioned for the role of Kai?"

"Yes, I did. And I think I may have seen you too in the Granite Films office. If I recall correctly, you seemed to be on that day."

When Aiden said that, a smile formed on Tyler's face. That much proof was enough for him to know that Aiden was really there on the day of audition.

Moreover, there was indeed no reason for Aiden and Omar to lie about the audition since the truth will eventually come out.

'Is he going to get angry or try to get me out of the party?'

Aiden thought in his mind. Tyler had enough influence to do that to him and in that case, Aiden assumed even Omar was less likely to help him..

But rather than being angry, Tyler just looked disappointed and shook his head.

"Ah… it seems like my performance wasn't that good enough. I must have not satisfied the director." He muttered. "Anyway, congratulations on getting the role. I'm sure you will do justice to it and since you have gotten the role, you better bring out the best of it, haha."

Saying that, Tyler put out his hand in front of Aiden and the latter shook it, feeling a bit surprised inwardly. He hadn't really expected Tyler to be such an amicable guy.

Maybe he assumed all that because he was reading too many webnovels these days?

"Thanks. I'm pretty sure you will do well in your upcoming auditions."

Aiden said, still trying to be a bit formal. Although Tyler didn't seem to be a bad guy, he didn't know him at all, so it was safe to be formal.

"Which agency are you from, if you don't mind me asking?"

Tyler suddenly asked, raising an eyebrow. The guy in front of him had bagged the role, so his natural thinking was that he was backed by a solid agency.

Maybe SGA, Red Ant or even Global Agency – Tyler's thinking was that Aiden probably belonged to one of these.

"No, actually, I am not part of any agency. I am pretty much independent for the moment."

"Who's your agent?"

"Wade Spectre."

"I haven't heard of him."

Tyler said, having a bit of a conflicted expression. It didn't seem like Aiden was even under a very popular agent.

"You managed to get a role without an agency, that's quite rare but it also speaks volumes about your acting. I wish you good luck, my friend." Tyler smiled.

Aiden nodded.

Just then, Brian, the scrawny faced lackey couldn't help but chime in, "Maybe they got you for… the way you look?"

To this both Omar and Aiden raised their eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Omar was the first to speak.

"No, I mean," Brian tried to explain, "Maybe the director wants him because he looks a bit indian?"

Omar frowned and glanced at Aiden.

"You're indian?"

Aiden nodded, "Yes." And then staring at Brian he said, "There was no such requirement."

Brian frowned, "Oh…"

Omar narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything.

"How did you know he was indian? He doesn't look much like one…" One of the young men in the group suddenly chimed.

Brian shrugged, "I just took a guess. I mean, how can they hire a nobody when Tyler already audition for-"

"Stop it, Brian."

Tyler interrupted him before he could finish the sentence. Then, Tyler gave him a stoic look before turning to Aiden.

"I'm sorry for my friend. He can be like this sometimes." He said with an apologetic smile. "As I said, if you got the role without an agency, then you must be pretty good. It seems like I will have good competition from now on."

Tyler said, giving Aiden a calm smile.

Both he and Tyler talked a bit more about the audition and just general things about movies. Before leaving with his entourage, Tyler gave Aiden a good impression.

At least unlike Brian, he knew what to say and what not to say.

"He's not a bad guy like I thought. At least the first impression wasn't bad."

Aiden muttered but Omar, who was still next to him, shook his head.

"There's a lot of talk about him. Being the godson of Harrison Owens, people get the image of an arrogant guy who gets things too quickly without working for it. But I have yet to see him act rude but…"

"But?"

Aiden raised an eyebrow. There was something amiss in Omar's words.

"But you never know in Hollywood. All sorts of people are here. A lot of twisted people." Oman frowned, like he was remembering something from the past. Not a good memory.

"So, Tyler's like that?"

"Can't really say." Omar said before laughing. "It's way easier when people are like Brian. Showing what they are thinking without filtering out any words. It's very simple then."

Aiden couldn't help but agree to that.

"Who is he anyway?"

"Belongs to SGA. One of the young actors there. Worked in a few movies here and there – nothing big – and currently in the middle of licking Tyler's boots to get a big role one day. At least paparazzi click his picture if he's with Tyler. Though, they cut it out before selling it to tabloids."

"So, not a big deal."

Omar nodded. There were thousands of these guys in Hollywood and they were one of the small fries. In an action flick, they are the ones the main character kills to show that he's strong.

"You will easily be bigger than him if [Black Saints] works." He said, before looking up at him and taking out a card from his pocket.

It seemed like a business card.

"Call me if you want to catch up or to hang out or if you need any help. You're technically in the movie I'm investing in, so I'm hoping it turns out good. We could even discuss some business opportunities together."

"Sure."

Omar left after that and Aiden was once again alone. Checking his watch, he realised that it was already close to midnight.

'Where's Wade? I need him to drive me back to my apartment.'

He thought, sighing at the troubles of not having his own car. The only thing he could do right now was to search for his agent.

At the party, a lot of people came with luxurious cars. Mercedes, Rolls Royce, Porsche – every famous brand was here. One of them was a Mercedes Maybach.

The owner of the car was Tyler Reed and sitting in it, he was thinking about something. The meeting with Aiden was currently running in his mind and the rejection from [Black Saints] had hit him hard.

Especially because he was sure that the role was going to be his.

Due to this, he had even sent his entourage on their way and was now alone.

In the end, he took out his phone and dialled a number. After a few rings, someone picked up the call.

"Is Uncle there?" Tyler asked and a rough voice replied.

"No, do you need him for something urgent? He's pretty busy at the moment." The voice said. "If there's nothing urgent, I can help you out."

"It's just that I need help in getting information about a person. His name is Aiden Silvereye, probably registered in the Actors union. He's a small-time actor." He said, looking outside the car window for a moment.

"Did he do something?"

The voice asked, a little bit of menace in his tone but Tyler just smiled. Leaning against the seat of the car, he replied in a calm voice.

"No, not yet. I was just interested in him. No big deal."

"I can get that done. Ain't going to be hard. What else do you want?" The voice asked, like he was telling Tyler to ask whatever he wants and it would be done.

Tyler thought about it for a moment. It was not a hard decision for him to make but he was contemplating how it was going to pan out.

He needed to be very smooth in every action – That's what his godfather had taught him.

It was never about what he thought but what he showed. The perception around him changed depending on that.

"There's a movie I auditioned for…"

He finally said it on the phone and the call went on for more than half an hour.

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 61

It was noisy.

When Aiden opened his eyes, it was still dark in his room. His phone was on the table and was ringing and it was also the reason as to why he had suddenly woken up.

'It's still early in the morning.'

He thought, looking outside the window. The sun hadn't risen yet and it seemed to be around 4 or 5 in the morning. He wondered if he had set his alarm wrongly.

While fumbling to unplug his phone from the charging cable, he saw that it was not his alarm but missed calls.

There were 6 missed calls and all of them were from Wade.

'It's still 5:04 in the morning. What happened suddenly? Is he alright?'

Thinking that, he called him. For some reason, an ominous feeling was in his heart like something bad was going to happen. The missed calls had made him a bit sceptical.

Things were going very fine in his life for a while, so he was hoping that it would stay like that for a while longer.

But when one starts to feel like everything is going okay, something bad would happen at that exact moment.

"Hello, Wade. I saw your missed calls."

He said after the call was picked up. A ragged voice came out from the other side. There was a worrying feeling in it.

"Aiden, I'm coming to your apartment. We need to talk."

"What happened?"

"I got an email from Granite films. It was about the audition. They said that you didn't get the role of Kai. They decided to give it to some guy named Tyler Reed after having another meeting."

Immediately, his sleepiness was all gone. For a moment, he was not even able to process what Wade had spoken. Tyler Reed? Kai? The role? Those words echoed in his mind..

"Didn't they confirm that I got the role?"

"Yeah, f*ck, I still have the email they sent before. They are saying it was sent accidentally. Some intern made a mistake. I call that total bullshit."

Wade cursed on the phone.

Aiden's mind suddenly played the images of the party last night. His meeting with Tyler, him giving a good impression and even congratulating him on getting the role.

'You never know in Hollywood. There are all sorts of twisted people here.'

Omar's words rang in his head. It looked like the latter was right.

Although there was no proof, it was easy to pinpoint that Tyler Reed had done something to get the role back. Aiden was sure of it.

'F*cking two-faced bastard.'

Aiden frowned in his mind as Wade's words came out of the phone.

"Are you there? I'm coming to your apartment. Let's talk about it more there."

"Okay."

After that, the phone call ended and all sorts of thoughts flooded Aiden's mind. His throat felt dry and he wondered how he was going to tackle this situation.

"So, you met him at the party? Are you sure everything went normal?"

Wade asked, standing in his apartment. Aiden had just finished narrating to him about the events that had transpired in the party last night.

How he had met Tyler and what they had talked about. He told Wade everything but the latter just frowned hearing that.

"Yeah, it was very normal. I didn't say a lot because I was being careful. But it did seem like he was not happy about getting rejected for the role. I thought it was just natural and his attitude was always amicable."

Every actor goes through rejection, so in the industry, they are pretty used to it. There were various roles that one auditioned for and there were various reasons one was rejected for them.

Only the top actors get to choose their script.

So, when Tyler had felt dejected, Aiden was sure it was just a normal reaction because he also had them in the past.

"What can we do now?"

Aiden asked, knowing full well that they can't do a lot here. But still being a bit hopeful.

"If I'm being honest, we can't do anything. Go to the Granite films to talk about it but they will stick to the fact that it was a mistake. At most, they will give you some other role. Not like it's the first time that a person with influence has taken away the role of someone with no backing."

Wade frowned, feeling like punching Tyler's face into a bloody mess.

This was not the first time one of his actors had experienced something like this. It was very normal in Hollywood, but he felt very frustrated every single time.

Especially knowing how hard they had worked for the role.

'What can I do now?'

Aiden thought, sitting down on a sofa and closing his eyes.

The obvious answer was to let go, try to do more auditions and just hope that one day he would be above Tyler, not because of any backing but because of his own strength.

But he still felt empty.

'You need to make it to the top no matter what. There will be troubles but don't let them just walk over you. At least, try to fight them.'

Some words suddenly rang in his head. Words that he had heard a long time ago. Words that he hadn't forgotten yet.

'I can't let a two faced f*cker walk over me like this.'

He thought, taking out his phone. His brain worked at a rapid pace as he thought of a way to put Tyler in place.

There were not a lot of things he could do against him.

'He has everything. Influence, money, power – but he's surely got a lot of secrets. Any two faced person does, especially in Hollywood.'

He just needed to find a way to get his hands on those secrets rapidly. Anything that might help him.

Although it was just like firing an arrow in the dark, Aiden needed to bet on anything he gets.

Thinking like that, he felt like there was only one person that could help him out.

On the big screen, a cloaked figure was slashing down enemies, while hiding in tall grass.

It was all happening at a rapid speed as Uncle Sam got close to breaking his record combo.

"Cloaked Assassins was worth staying awake all night."

Cloaked Assassins is one of the best single player game experiences, developed by a big gaming studio. It was also one of Uncle Sam's favourite games.

Uncle Sam muttered as he paused the game and took a can of beer from the small fridge to the left of the sofa. He was having his once a week game night, playing around with his old game collection.

It was at that moment that his phone suddenly rang.

Wondering who was calling him so early in the morning, he picked up his phone and saw that it was his nephew. Hoping that everything was fine, he picked up the call.

"Aiden, what happened? Are you in jail?"

His weird question threw Aiden off and it took a second longer for him to respond.

"No, I'm not in jail or anywhere close to it."

"Then, why are you calling me so early in the morning? In my memory, the only time I have gotten a call so early is because someone was in jail or my wife was pregnant."

Uncle Sam chuckled saying that. No matter what time, he always had his typical sense of humour that he didn't care if people liked it or not.

On the other hand, not wanting to waste any time, Aiden quickly came to the point.

"Uncle, I need some help?"

"What help?"

"I need information. About a guy named Terry Reed, he's the godson of Harrison Owens. You must have heard of him."

Uncle Sam widened his eyes for a second and got serious. It seems like his nephew was in some type of big trouble.

"I have met Harrison Owens. He thinks with his dick but is pretty lucky to have made it so big in Hollywood. As for his godson, I heard a thing here and there. Nothing much. What happened between him and you?"

"It's related to my role in the movie by the Granite Films studio. I hope you can find something interesting about this Tyler guy."

Uncle Sam rubbed his chin hearing that.

"Granite Films? Is that a new studio or something? I haven't heard much about it."

"It's a new studio," Aiden nodded.

"Hm," Uncle Sam frowned, "I have long left Hollywood and don't want to get back into it so soon either. I don't think I would know anyone from this place, but I will see what I can do to help you. So, what kind of information?"

"Interesting stuff. Anything that could be considered a big scandal. I don't just want to know who he's sleeping with but something more."

"Aiden, you do know I'm not a paparazzi, right? Anyway, even if someone has information like that on him, that old guy Owens ain't going to let it get public. He cares a lot about the people under him."

There was a pause on the phone as Aiden thought of something. He spoke after a few seconds.

"I won't get anything public. I can work without doing that."

"Again, I'm not a pap-"

"You do know them."

Aiden interrupted Uncle Sam as the latter went silent. It was true that he knew people, a lot of them, but only a few would help him out in such a short time.

"Aiden, I can't promise anything. I can look for something but I can't say for definite. I would need to dial a lot of people."

"Any help is appreciated, Uncle."

Aiden said, a sense of gratefulness in his voice that Uncle Sam clearly felt. He sighed before saying.

"Alright. Even though I can guess what happened, I want you to tell me what's going on after everything is over. And remember, you can't afford to get into trouble so early on in your career. You're no way near your goal. There's still a lot to do."

After that, Uncle Sam cut off the call. It seems like his game night is over now.

…

/DreamNote/

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"I didn't expect to meet you again so soon."

Omar said, sitting in front of Aiden. It had been three days since they had met and since then, there was no contact but suddenly, the latter had called him to the cafe.

The only reason Omar even came was because Aiden had said that he had something interesting to show to him.

"Were you busy?"

"Well, that doesn't matter now. I am curious about what you wanted to show me. You didn't call me just to drink coffee, right?"

"No, it's purely for work." Saying that, Aiden smiled. "You heard about Tyler Reed getting the role of Kai in [Black Saints]."

Omar nodded. As one of the investors in the movie, he did know about it. He was a bit surprised when suddenly, Tyler was assigned the role of Kai but he could already guess what had happened behind closed doors.

That's why, after taking a wild guess on what Aiden was going to say, he said.

"I'm sorry I can't help you with that. My investments aren't large enough to give me enough power to change casting decisions, especially if it's about Tyler. At most, I could tell you why exactly you were changed."

"Why?" Aiden asked despite knowing the answer.

"Because you are not Harrison Owens godson. As simple as that."

Aiden nodded hearing that. He knew that well and even had an idea as to how it could have gone. Tyler feeling bad about his rejection and calling Harrison to get the role for him as the one who actually got it was just an unknown actor with no agency.

With Harrison's connection, it wouldn't be a hard job when the role was not even that big.

"I know all that, Omar. I didn't call you to request you to get me my role back."

Even if Aiden had called him for that, there was no reason for Omar to do such a thing for him. They had only met once and didn't even know each other enough to form a friendship..

"Then, why did you call me?"

"I wanted you to see this."

Aiden said, passing his phone to Omar. There was a folder open on it, with some photos in it.

Omar took the phone with some scepticism before going through the photos. With each photo, a shockwave passed through his brain and he struggled to even speak.

"This is…"

"Aren't they interesting?" Aiden asked and Omar just nodded his head, before asking.

"Are they true? If they are fake, it's not a good prank."

"They are not. Apparently, a paparazzi got to know that Tyler was meeting up with his godfather and the latter's new girlfriend, so he started following him. You do know Harrison Owens is still a playboy in his 60s. The age gap between him and his new girlfriends keeps on increasing."

Omar nodded as Aiden continued.

"Apparently, the paparazzi who thought he would write an eye-catching article found out that before meeting Harrison, Tyler met a man and saw him buying drugs. The picture of him with drugs in his hand is as accurate as it could get."

Aiden pointed at one of the pictures in the phone. It was of a man with tattoos all over his body holding a packet with some substance and passing it to Tyler. There was one more photo of the latter snorting the drug in his car.

"This is unbelievable."

Omar muttered and Aiden couldn't help but agree. Tyler taking drugs was not the unbelievable part, but it was the fact that the latter was so careless.

"The good boy of Hollywood found with drugs – That's a big headline right there. As Tyler was going to meet up with Harrison that day, even his name could come up in this if it's leaked." Aiden said before adding. "One more thing, the man who sold him the drug has quite a criminal record of his own. I think both of these guys being associated with each other is far worse than Tyler caught buying the drugs."

"Why hasn't this been published yet and how did you get your hands on it?"

Omar asked, feeling more curious about the second question. Aiden was not from a prominent Hollywood family from what he knew. In fact the latter was not even from this country, so how did he have this information? It was truly baffling.

"The publisher that got its hand on these photos was apparently going to make a backend deal with Harrison Owens and Tyler after the latter gets a bit more famous. They were playing a waiting game to earn a lot of money in one go."

"What about my second question?"

Aiden shook his head on that. He couldn't really mention Uncle Sam's name here. It was better for him to be a secret.

"I will just say that I have my own ways. Can't tell you more than that."

"That's like saying nothing."

Omar said but didn't ask any further. He had his doubts when Aiden had called him here but these photos were truly something very interesting. If done right, it could easily become a big scandal this year.

He even felt like laughing seeing that. He always thought Tyler was just pretending to be a good guy and it turned out to be true.

'This guy is very interesting.'

Omar thought, looking at Aiden. He hadn't expected him to dig up something like this on Tyler after getting his role snatched.

Normally, people would just feel disappointed before moving on.

"So, what do you want to do? Upload these to the internet?"

Aiden shook his head at that question. He had no intention of ruining Tyler's reputation, especially if it meant making Harrison an enemy.

He just wanted one thing.

"I want my role back. Just that. Granite films are very careful in who they associate themselves with, right. They surely don't want Tyler when he's like this."

"But it's not out that he's into drugs or associating with big criminals."

Omar said, wondering what Aiden would reply.

"It's not out… yet. Would you like it if this article gets out when the shooting of [Black Saints] is going on? Or after the release? Think how it will affect the movie."

Aiden was just giving out an empty threat here but as Omar can't be sure of it, it was truly a serious problem that they needed to reconsider.

'Looks like Tyler ain't going to get everything he wants.'

Thinking like that, Omar nodded and just smiled.

"I will do what I can but with these photos, I don't think Tyler will be considered for the role. From what I heard, his audition was bad in the first place. This is the final nail in the coffin which means the role is as good as yours."

"I wouldn't say that until I sign the contract. I've been stripped of it once already."

Omar just smiled at that.

It seems like a random meeting with Aiden had turned out to be something good for him.

"What the fuck happened suddenly?"

Tyler shouted as he banged his fist on the table. Glaring at his agent that was sitting in front of him, he felt like swearing every single cuss word he knew.

"I don't know exactly. Granite films called – They don't want you in the movie no matter what. They are pretty resolute in their case and that they are going back to the original actor who got the role before you."

"But why?"

"There was no explanation!"

His agent shouted back. He was pretty sick of Tyler's attitude. Although the latter behaved normally in public, he always showed his true face in private, blaming his agent for most of the things that are going wrong in his career.

"I just know it's something serious enough that they immediately got you off the project. Go check the internet, they were going to announce the cast today but they stalled it."

Tyler calmed down a bit on that and asked.

"Call Uncle."

"I did. He's busy. His assistant said he tried but he couldn't help. He told you to let go and find some other project." His agent sighed. "There are several great projects in the market currently. I think we should choose one of them."

Tyler didn't say anything about that. There was no response. Just a constant frown on his face. He hadn't expected that he would lose out on this project and an unknown guy will get it instead of him despite him taking the help of his uncle.

'I'm sure that fucker did something. Or was it Omar?'

He thought inwardly.

In his eyes, Aiden wasn't someone who could change the decision. So, his suspicion was on Omar but he wasn't known to interfere in stuff like this.

He was a thorough businessman who would maintain good relationships with each party and wouldn't go out of his way to help someone. That's why, it confused him even more.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."

He cursed, ignoring his agent in front of him. His mind hurt from all this.

Standing up, he wore his jacket and headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

His agent asked, frowning at his behaviour.

"To the club. I need to drink to get my mind right."

Saying that, he left immediately. On the next day, one of the tabloids posted a photo and article of him fighting with a group of guys after getting drunk in the middle of the street.

[Harrison Owens's godson Tyler Reed fought with a group of college guys in a club, injuring two of them before getting arrested. A video of him fighting is going viral!]

That was the headline on the tabloid.

Although he barely escaped one scandal, Tyler got into another one right after it.

…

/DreamNote/

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It didn't take long for Aiden to receive the contract for [Black Saints]. In fact, Granite Films contacted Wade the very next day as the former didn't wish to take any more chances.

They were even willing to pay him 100k dollars, 30k$ more than what he had gotten in his previous movie. It was because this time his role was much more prominent and the shooting would also go on for more than a month.

The pre-production of [Black Saints] would still be on-going for two more weeks and after that, they would fly to Chicago since that was where the shooting was going to take place.

Until then, he just needed to attend a read-through which was more or less a script reading session before the shooting for the cast to meet each other and go through their dialogues.

But before that, there was one more special event left.

[Shadows of War] was going to be released.

"Marketing! That's the only thing we need to focus on. War dramas don't get a high audience rate at the start but they get famous because of word of mouth. We need to keep that in mind!"

Franklin, the executive producer for [Shadows of War] shouted as he looked at his team. They were in the middle of the meeting right now, trying to come up with ways to increase the audience rate in the theatres for the movie.

For him, any movie was a success in this age due to the marketing. If there was no good marketing around the movie, it would fail no matter how good it was.

There were various examples of this. Sometimes, good marketing would even get a bad movie to work.

"We are marketing it a lot. But the public is more interested in [A day in the life of Jonathan] right now, it's a romantic comedy and the director has been making good rom-coms for a while. They are the safest bet, so at least in the first week, they would surely get more interest from the audience."

One of the PR employees said, looking at social media numbers. These stats reveal a lot about the audience's mindset and which movie they are more interested in.

"The lead actor, Charles Waller even seems to have gotten into an affair with the female lead, so there's a lot of noise because of that.".

"That's just an old trick to fool people. It's been used for decades now. At most, it would have been a one night stand, not a true relationship."

The other employees talked, being used to most of the rumors going around in Hollywood.

"Yeah, also, our trailer got more than 8 million views and most of the comments are good. We just need good enough reviews from critics to top it off."

"I heard Night Hawk studios is buying out some critics."

A blonde haired employee said, attracting all the attention. Night Hawk was the studio who was releasing [A day in the life of Jonathan] on the same day as their movie.

"How do you know it?"

"My friend works there. It's just gossip apparently, so more or less a rumour."

The employee explained and Franklin smiled. If that was really true, then Night Hawk was not confident in the movie, completely opposite of Zero International.

Though, there was still scepticism in Zero International about the movie, so they had not allocated a lot for the noise marketing, this was why Franklin and his team needed to be smart with the budget in hand.

He himself had seen the final version of the movie after Lincoln and his team of editors had finished with it and had liked it a lot. That's where his confidence stemmed from.

"I think we should constantly release footage of the movie to keep the audience's interest intact." A female employee said but her words quickly got refuted.

"Like that, we could run out of content. We can't show everything for free. Otherwise, people will see the movie and say that there was nothing new."

"One more thing is that many just want to watch the movie on their streaming services. They don't mind waiting a month or two for it. Most movies appear on those after a while anyway."

Everyone in the room nodded. That was just the changing times of the movie industry as a whole due to the OTT market that had sprung up.

Many movies which had been a hit years ago were now turning out to be flops as people wanted to watch them in their home in comfort. A famous critic even said, "Any movie which can get people to leave their homes is a good movie in the current circumstances."

Even [Shadows of War] was already negotiating with a streaming service called Zetflix for the rights. If everything goes well, the movie will start streaming there in two or three months.

"I have an idea."

Suddenly, a bespectacled guy said, raising his arm.

"Speak!" Franklin gestured to him to open his mouth.

"If we are going towards word of mouth, we should have a lot of free screenings, not only for critics or celebs. But we could also get an online competition in which we give a whole family a chance to come to one of the previews. If the movie is good, which we know it is, then word of mouth would do the rest."

"That's a good idea."

Franklin nodded, truly happy with the idea. That would surely help out the movie. Thinking about something, he glanced at his assistant.

"What are the estimates for the first week?"

"Uh, around 16 million dollars. Going by the advanced booking, this much is the number but word of mouth will affect it a lot. We might expect a higher number or lower depending on it."

"Let's see how it goes."

3rd October, 2015

Chinese theatre, Los Angeles.

It was the day of the movie preview for the movie. Zero International had called a lot of movie critics from different newspapers and even some independent ones. Aside from that, a lot of B and C-list actors were given invitations along with some A-listers who were currently working with Zero International.

After all, an article saying that a certain famous actor attended the preview of a movie was good publicity.

"Who do you think we will see at the preview today?"

Outside the theatre where the preview was going to happen, a lot of reporters were gathered together, chitchatting. They were just low level reporters for different companies, some were even interns but were paid well for good enough photos.

"Aaron Hart, George Watts, Layne Connor, Lincoln Bradley… A lot of big names. I heard some actors with upcoming projects in Zero International and some singers will attend too."

At those words, a reporter who looked like a college dropout, asked.

"Will Christina Hadid come too? Ain't Aaron Hart and her having an affair?"

A reporter smoking a cigarette laughed at that, "Rookie, Aaron Hart is in an affair with a lot of women in Hollywood at the same time. Once, he was even caught having a quickie in a restaurant's bathroom with one of the waitresses. He had taken his wife to dinner that day."

As the rookie reporter looked shocked hearing that, another reporter chipped in.

"There were rumours that his wife spent 5 million dollars in the next month after that."

The reporters laughed at that. As ground reporters, they knew too many rumours in Hollywood. Some were true and some had just sprouted out of nowhere.

It was then, a limousine entered the premises and Aaron Hart came out of it with his wife, a former model. The reporters quickly started taking photos from a distance as the security guards stopped everyone from coming near him.

Aaron even posed with his wife who gave out a smile. No one could tell what their actual relationship was through these photos as they just seemed like a normal couple.

After that, more and more luxury cars, the same as many celebrities entered the theater. Aside from that, there were also many critics and some B and C-listers.

Even some social media influencers were called to the preview in an effort to get them to promote the movie through their followers.

The reporters felt like they were having a great day as a lot of photos were taken by them. The more photos, the more money they would get.

It was then that they saw a guy coming out of a taxi. He was wearing a nice suit with gelled hair. He even looked handsome but the reporters didn't know if they had seen him before.

"Does anyone know the guy?"

"He looks good. Maybe he's an actor that's in the movie."

"Why's he coming in a taxi? Even those social media Influencers came in nice cars."

"Trying to save money I guess. It's better than a showoff."

As the reporters discussed, the rookie reporter suddenly remembered where he had seen the guy before.

"He's a singer. Aiden Silverguy or something. I think one of his songs went viral a month or two ago and he even did a song with Grey. Went around doing lots of shows in LA. I heard he's doing pretty good in his indie career."

"Why is he here then?" A bearded reporter asked. "Zero International won't call an indie singer."

"Maybe he got an invite from somewhere. Anyway, it seems like he already has a bodyguard. Even looks scarier than other celebs bodyguards."

The rookie said, pointing to the bearded man besides Aiden who was whispering something to him. All the reporters nodded but they didn't seem to care about him and focused on other celebs.

It was only the rookie reporter who took some photos of Aiden.

It was only the next day when he felt like it was the best decision of his life as the photos of Aiden got him a lot of money from the news agencies.

…

/DreamNote/

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After the first few previews of [Shadows of War, a lot of critics and online movie reviewers posted early articles with most of them being highly positive and urging the viewers to go see the movie in the theaters.

-Some of the headlines of the reviews posted by famous movie critics.-

A war drama that might actually give you a glimpse into the horrors of war. Just like its name, the movie depicts the shadows a war can leave in the mind of soldiers. -Holly Times

The emergence of a new blockbuster war drama that might be studied in film schools for the next few years. -@Criticye

A perfect example of a great storytelling with the main character going on a journey that changes his personality as well gives the viewers the ride of a lifetime. -Rotten Apples

A movie that might have struggled due to the personality of the main character that tries hard to be relatable to the audience but the strong performances make up enough for it. There was even a character that made you cry for him. -@BeeTheMovieCritic

Although most of the reviews were highly positive, there were a lot of negative ones too. Most of the common points in the negatives ones were about how the movie tried too hard to present a relatable main character for the viewers to connect to but failed to execute it well.

One of the negative reviews was by a famous movie website called 'Film Fraternity' which stated, "There's not enough substance in the movie to keep the audience intact to their seats if they are not connected to the main character and Lincoln Bradley failed to learn anything from his last venture and needs to go back to the his first few movies to learn more about making good characters."

Many internet users thought that the review was a bit harsh and others agreed with it. But it was not hard to see that the movie was getting pretty mixed reactions from some people.

Other than that, there was also the point of historical inaccuracy of the movie but Lincoln Bradley, the director of the movie, openly tweeted that the movie was never meant to follow every point of history and was just set in the backdrop of World War 1 to show a journey of a common guy..

One more point that was pretty evident in the negative reviews was that the movie didn't give enough time for the side characters to show more of their personality and they rather were situated in the main character's journey to make him doubt his ideas.

One of the reviews that got very famous after the release of the movie was by a big newspaper which published a long article about why [Shadows of War] had a lot going on in it but it undoubtedly worked in the end.

[Shadows of War] Is a Movie About the Horrors of War, Told With a Devotion to Beauty and Life

A good movie can be built from any number of components: a great story, distinctive visuals, a haunting score. But sometimes a face can take you 90 percent of the way. And although Lincoln Bradley's extraordinary World War I drama is notable for the technical feat of its cinematography, and its story, it tries hard for you to get invested in the story of the main character, Ethan Blake.

The story starts out with Ethan joining the army and the first thing that is noticeable is how young every soldier around him is – They are all just out of boyhood.

It is then the journey of Ethan begins with him not understanding the horrors of war and believing that he will survive the war, even looking a bit greedy for the glory it could bring him.

The First World War, one of the deadliest wars in modern history, came with no satisfying "The bad guy is dead!" ending. The losses were devastating for all the countries involved, certainly for Great Britain. And the imagery we associate with this war is bleak enough—the dank trenches, the dead horses, the ghostly barbed wire, the rows of grave markers in its aftermath, most of which guard the remains of very young men, make for an especially somber endnote. And Lincoln Bradley presents it very well.

The cinematographer, Jeremy, captures all of the tense sadness, yet the film which is dedicated Linchon's grandfather, a veteran of the war—also has a glorious, pulsing energy. It's largely about death, or the risk of death, but in addressing some of the horrors of this particular war, Lincoln has made a film that feels wholly alive. It is a carefully polished picture, but not one that strives for gritty realism. However its inherent devotion to life and beauty is part of its power.

Now, let's come to the characters. The movie was never meant to be a showcase of men fighting enemies and showing brotherhood. It devotes itself entirely to one character which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

There's a scene in which we are introduced to a fun character who is killed just a minute after we start warming up to him. This might throw people off, but that's what the movie is all about. How war is far too random, way more than life is.

Another vital character in the movie was one of an Indian soldier who was deported to a war which was never his and this is something a lot of history books lack — We don't even hear his name, an analogy to showcase that history don't have their names — but there are definite records of it. Here, we see one of the best story arcs for Ethan with him forging a friendship with the character and then getting a letter from him. The letter acts as a medium for Ethan to try to stay alive, even if he has given up on himself at the end of the movie.

Still, in the end, we are presented to a very cruel ending. It happens when the viewer is relaxed, thinking that Ethan had survived the war, delivered the letter and now, everything is fine but in the last scene, we find out that he succumbs to the infections he got while being in the war, as no appropriate medicines were developed.

Maybe, that's the true cruel nature of it…]

Because of the reviews and a lot of previews, word of mouth about the movie quickly spread and in just the first week, the movie was released with a great reception.

It even started as the 3rd in the North American box office and was expected to gradually go up.

[Shadows of War – 18 million dollars for the first week]

[A day in the life of Jonathan – 6 million dollars in the first week]

Compared to the rom-com that was released at the same time, it had almost triple the business as the audience of the rom-com gave it a bad rating after the guests initial reactions.

Even the critics weren't easy on it. Although Night Hawk studios paid some critics, the movie still turned out to be a disappointment and their only hope was to earn back the cost of the movie and somehow break even.

But with the momentum of [Shadows of War] and the other movies already running in the theatres, it seemed like [A day in the life of Jonathan] was going to be crushed.

"I'm so proud of you!"

Uncle Sam slapped Aiden's back multiple times as they came out of the theatre. Aside from that, a lot of people who had just finished watching the movie were chatting among themselves in various groups.

They had just watched [Shadows of War] in a theatre that was near to Sam's restaurant.

Aiden's cousin and aunt also wanted to watch it, but they were busy with other stuff and would have to watch the movie tomorrow. Even Wade, who was handling some things for Aiden's next few gigs, checked the data for how popular Aiden had become in the last few months and how the movie was going to affect him.

He was very busy at work, so Aiden had just come with Uncle Sam who has a constant smile on his face throughout the movie. On the other hand, Aiden was just happy his scenes weren't edited out a lot.

"Have you contacted your mother? Is there going to be a screening in India?" Uncle Sam asked and Aiden nodded.

"Yeah, there are some in big cities. She said she's going to invite all the neighbours."

"She's always enthusiastic about you." Uncle Sam said. "You are leaving for Chicago in three days right? Try to give your best in it as you went through a lot to get that role."

"Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it."

He had gotten the script for [Black Saints] recently and reading it, he was glad that he had done everything he could to get the role.

It was then that they heard a conversation between a group of friends that were standing adjacent to them. The reason the conversation attracted him was because the group of friends were talking about him.

"Who was the guy who played the Indian soldier? His scene made me cry."

"Yeah, his death hit me hard. Search the internet. I think I have seen him before."

"Okay, I hope there's information about some other movies he's part of. He looks like a good actor."

Hearing the praise about him, Aiden felt a little bashful. But this was what he had been working for for so long. Some appreciation for his talent from the public and now, he had finally made his debut successfully.

As he smiled at those words, one of the boys in the group suddenly glanced at him before giving him a confused look.

"Hey, squid face, look at that guy."

"I told you to not call me that. And who?"

His friend looked at Aiden and even felt like he had seen him somewhere before. They whispered among each other before one of them approached Aiden.

"Hey, were you the one who played the Indian soldier in the movie?"

"Ah, yes, that's me."

"Can I get an autograph?"

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