"Aiden!"
"Aiden!"
"Aiden!"
Joyous cheers erupted in every corner of The Rabbit Hole bar as people chanted Aiden's name. The festive atmosphere was all around the bar as everyone drank.
Aiden smiled, standing on top of the stage.
He had just finished the third encore of 'Lost in the Sky'. After his song had reached the top of the charts on Melody, Abraham had called him to the bar to celebrate, even going as far as to offer free drinks today.
The old man was very happy and excited about Aiden's success as he felt that Aiden was a talent that had come out of his bar. It was a very big deal for him as he had always dreamed of something like this happening.
One of his bar singers hit it big, and with that, the popularity of his bar also went up.
After 'Lost in the Sky' had reached the top spot, a lot of reporters had already visited the bar to get more information about Aiden to write up a good article on him.
All those articles would also mention the bar, and its popularity would obviously increase.
"Thank you for listening to me tonight. All drinks are on me today, so drink till you pass out!"
Aiden said on the mic, and another cheer erupted. In the crowd, he was able to see a lot of people that had supported him from the start. Even Valerie, his old landlady, was here, talking to Abraham in a corner.
Finishing his performance, Aiden climbed down the stage to find himself a drink.
This was the day of celebration of his hard work. There's no way he was gonna not enjoy it.
"Jeff, give me the usual."
Aiden said, sitting in front of the bar. Jeff, the bartender, nodded his head and smiled at him.
"Give me a minute. Many people are asking for a drink today, thanks to you. Everyone is happy for you." Jeff said, then paused as if thinking about something. "Well, except one person."
"Who?" Aiden tilted his head.
"Amy, the Boss's niece. You remember her, right?"
Realisation dawned on Aiden's face hearing that. He certainly remembered meeting her to reject her record label deal, only for it to turn ugly.
'You are just a name in the long list of failures.'
Aiden still remembered the words that she had told him. In the end, he had amounted to more than a failure.
"I do remember. How's she doing?"
Aiden asked, and Jeff couldn't help but chuckle.
"She's a mess. When you rejected her deal, she got some other singer to sign up with her and her record label spent millions to create an ED (Extended play), but it flopped like a balloon with a hole in it. At the same time, you kept going higher and higher, so she looked like a blood-sucking vampire every time I saw her. There's a lot of anger and frustration on her face."
"When you put it like that, I want to see her."
"You won't be able to today. She knows you will be here today, so she won't appear no matter what."
Aiden laughed hearing that. He felt a bit about Amy, but it was not like he hadn't seen something like this happening to Amy. She was too full of herself and only wanted to exploit singers to earn money.
He knew that most corporations were like that, but he also believed that karma would catch up to them one day.
As he talked with Jeff about random things and how his life was going, the door to the bar suddenly opened.
Wearing a suit, Wade walked in, and after looking around for a bit, he walked toward Aiden.
"Get me up the most expensive drink you have."
He said, sitting down next to Aiden and putting his phone down in front of him.
"You are late." Aiden looked at him.
"Sorry, I was on a call."
"Something important?"
Instead of replying, Wade gave a bright smile which made Aiden feel a bit creepy. Due to how Wade had the deposition of an alcoholic guy whose former job was being a hitman, his smile looked every bit creepy to Aiden.
"Well, I got a call from Bradley Carell productions."
He finally said, and Aiden got all serious, knowing what it was about.
"They responded pretty quickly. So, what's the result? Is there going to be another audition, or did I just get rejected?"
"No, there's no second audition."
"Huh?"
"You got the role."
Aiden blinked his eyes, hearing that. He was sure that the first audition was not going to be the last one as Wade himself had said that it was more or less a look test.
But he got the role.
"It went like they were going to do one more audition, but they were so sure about you that they didn't feel the need to do that. They are low on time, so they didn't waste any time and contacted me. Tomorrow, we will sign the contract. You will appear in three episodes and get 50k per episode. We could negotiate on the price, but I think it's pretty good."
Aiden nodded, hearing that.
Television actors would generally get money according to their popularity. If the show worked, their salary would obviously go higher.
That was the way of the industry.
Some actors would even go from 10k per episode to 1 million per episode. As for Aiden, he was still counted as a newcomer, so 150k for three episodes was a pretty good price.
"I feel like only good things are happening these days. I'm probably going to run out of luck at this point." Aiden said, chugging down a glass of wine.
"That's because you are working hard and keeping to yourself. These two things, mixed with luck, take you a long way in Hollywood. Though, I really hope your luck stays like this for a while."
"Anyway, let's enjoy the night tonight."
Wade nodded his head, and suddenly, his phone rang. He picked it up and saw that it was a call from a reporter.
Picking it up, he opened his mouth.
"Hello, what's up?"
He talked on the call for a few minutes, and eavesdropping a bit, Aiden was easily able to tell that he was talking about him with the reporter.
"What happened?"
Aiden asked after the call ended.
"Well, it got leaked somehow."
"What did?"
"That you are going to play a character in [Searching for the One]. I'm pretty sure articles are going to pop up as a new character is added in the middle of the season, and it's even you who's ruling the entertainment news at the moment."
***
<Aiden Silvereye to join the cast of [Searching for the One] as a special character in the finale episodes.>
<Breaking news! IBC is not happy with the ratings of one of their most popular shows [Searching for the One]. Reportedly, the ending of the seventh season is scrapped, and a new ending is written with a new character being added into the mix of things. New music sensation Aiden Silvereye is going to play this character.>
<News report says that [Searching d the One] could be scrapped after the seventh season got very low ratings. One of the executives from IBC said that they are trying their best to retain a public interest in the show and to make it as satisfying as possible for the audience.>
"What is this? I really lost the role."
Dustin Redford looked at his agent in front of him and said. There was an expression of disappointment on his face as he sighed.
In his hand, he was holding his phone, which was swarming with articles about Aiden being selected for a role in [Searching for the One]. This meant that Dustin lost the role to a much less experienced actor than him.
"I told you chances were grim. The response wasn't that great."
"You said chances are grim. There was still hope that I would get the role. I really wanted it too."
Dustin never liked not getting roles that he actually wanted to play. He was a big fan of the sitcom and always wanted to be a part of it.
Sadly, it was not meant to be.
After a bit of sighing, Dustin composed himself and shook his head.
"It's fine if I don't get the role. I'm pretty sure there's a bigger role for me out there. Maybe they will call me next season. Oh yeah, I have a better idea. We should pitch a show to IBC with me as the main character. What do you think?"
"I don't think it's going to work. We are not writers or producers, you know." His agent chuckled.
No matter how Dustin was as a person, he was very positive. Even if he lost out on a role, he would always say that it's because there's a way better role out there for him that's waiting for him.
Just because of this attitude, he survived even after a lot of failures in Hollywood.
"By the way, what reason did they give for my rejection? It can't be my age as Aiden and I don't look too different in age."
Dustin enquired, and his agent's face fell. This was a question he wanted to avoid at all costs.
"It's just because Aiden left a deeper impression in the audition. That's what I heard."
"Really? I'm pretty sure I left an impression too. Isn't there any more reason? I was the most experienced and popular actor there. They would have at least told you in detail why I was rejected."
"Well, there was one more thing."
"What?"
His agent hesitated a bit when Dustin asked that. In his mind, he wondered how to avoid this, but in the end, he knew Dustin's stubborn attitude well.
"They said you weren't handsome enough."
"..."
....
