"I wanted to—"
Wade chugged down a whole glass as Aiden said that. No, he didn't even drink as the glass was empty but he still tried to. He fumbled after realising that it was empty and put it down on the tray.
"At least fill it before drinking." Aiden said but Wade just looked at him with an indescribable expression.
"Continue what you were saying."
"I wanted to for a second but I didn't. It was an impressive offer but it wasn't worth it."
"So, you are not joining SGA?"
"I will never. There's no point after I have stayed away from agencies for so long. Franco actually thought I was joking and his face was a good sight to see back then."
Aiden laughed a bit.
Wade didn't laugh at it. He felt like his soul had just left his body. Though, it was just stress and worry that had built up in all these weeks.
He felt a bit empty in a good way. His shoulders relaxed and eyes became clearer.
"I actually thought you would join SGA after I got to know about their offer from Wade. I thought it's an offer most celebrities in Hollywood would take."
Tom said, letting out a sigh of relief.
"It is. I mean they literally are saying we see a lot of potential in you, enough to take you global and we have every resource to do it. So why not join us?"
Aiden impersonated Franco Li while saying that. Then, he turned to look at Wade.
"Franco told me what happened in the meeting he had with you. I thought you were tired but it seems like it was something else all along."
"Yeah. Sorry."
"Don't say that." Aiden said. "I didn't think that you would feel like that but it does make sense."
Aiden thought about it clearly. As Wade didn't knew about him having a system, his growth was obviously something that he hadn't expected.
In one sentence, it was too good to be true.
In that case, it was easy to see that he was feeling pressured and thoughts such as 'Am I even good enough?' have sneaked into his mind. His meeting with Franco just solidified it.
"I just thought that you would be better off with someone with more resources. I know it was dumb of me to assume that but the situation was just like that."
"Did it change?" Aiden looked at Wade.
"It did. I have a good talk with someone." Wade smiled. "I decided to just let you make a decision and not think about it much. Though, I did expect you to not join SGA."
Tom looked at Wade like he didn't believe him. He was about to open his mouth to say something but when Wade glared at him, he shut up.
Looking at Aiden, he quickly changed the subject.
"Didn't Franco try to get you to join at any cost? If he was that interested, he would have given you a lot of promises."
"He did."
Tom perked his ears at that. Now that the heavy atmosphere was over, he was back to his secret job as "Gossip collector".
"Just the normal stuff that would entice any actor. A lead role in a superhero movie. Being the face of a franchise based on a popular novel about sand creatures. Getting a movie with an Oscar winning director. Collaboration with a famous k-pop boy band to enter the Korean market and even being an UN ambassador. He literally offered everything."
Wade blinked his eyes repeatedly hearing that then laughed.
"What the heck? You should have accepted it. Are you an idiot? Even I would have accepted it."
His tone was not serious but Aiden replied seriously.
"I would have just been a slave if I have accepted it. I mean it's all great but fame is fleeting. I learned that after reading about Agnas. His whole life was just that, you know." He closed his eyes for a second. "He started hating his music in the end. Became a joker whose only purpose was to entertain people. My idea of fame completely changed in the recent months."
"What is it now?"
Tom asked and Aiden took a sip of wine.
"I realised that it's not really after who has the most number of hit songs or hit movies. It's not even about how many fans you have. It's literally about the fact whether your art is making a difference in a common person's life or not. You need to make it in people's heart. Being number one and other stuff is just secondary. I will forget why I'm an actor if I chase after fame so much."
Aiden seriously felt that when he acted through the events that happened in Agnas's life.
He got into music because he liked it and genuinely felt that it was beyond any discrimination. But the industry and some decisions made him a prisoner of his fame. If he had tried to take more control of his life at some point, then he would have lived a better, happier life.
He was feeling like he was in some sort of a race recently with all the talks of him becoming an A lister. But due to Agnas, he decided to not involve himself in the rat race and just do what he's doing till now.
Doing movies and singing songs that struck a chord with him.
"You have matured a lot." Wade said and smiled at him. Inwardly, he was glad that Aiden really wasn't becoming a typical celebrity.
"I could say the same thing about you." He said, then thought about something and added. "One more thing, we need to be prepared. Franco Li doesn't like getting rejected."
"I know. He's going to do something sooner or later. He has a history of fucking over people who disagree with him. But don't worry, I will handle him."
Wade said, gesturing to Aiden to leave everything to him. Now that there was no anxiety in his heart about Aiden, he felt much better.
"I will leave it to you. I don't think he will do anything soon." Aiden said. "But I still want to do other things to prepare."
"Like what?"
Tom asked and Aiden told them the things that were in his mind all these days.
Something that he had been pondering over for a long time.
"I want to create a brand."
"A brand? Are you planning to get a sportswear or cosmetic company?"
Wade asked. A lot of celebrities would get their own companies. It was a great way to build a fortune and in some cases, celebrities have been able to become billionaires by playing smart.
Though, some have also lost billions due to just acting stupid.
"No. Not yet at least. I don't have any idea on these things. I just want to start investing in things like say some movies that I find good. I want to get into production slowly. It would help me get more creative power which I feel like would be good for me. Sportswear and cosmetic brands could come later."
"Don't you think it's too early? You have not really earned the big bucks yet as you have mostly just done indie stuff."
Wade said and Aiden also agreed with him.
"It is. That's why, I want to start slow. I wanted to change a bit in the contract stuff and just take up a percentage of the box office instead of taking a straight up fee."
"That's risky. Only top actors do that for a reason."
"I know but I need to take risks. If it's successful, I will get more and if it's not, then I will share the burden with the producer."
Aiden explained his thoughts on the matter and talked about a few other things. He felt like a shift was happening in his career as he moved towards being a much more popular face than before.
As he has started being trusted with movies and lead roles, it was a shift in how he had worked till now. The movie's successes depended a lot on him.
In the end, he said one more thing.
"By the way, I also want to start investing in any project I find interesting. Not only movies but also other forms of entertainment like comics and games."
"Games?" Wade raised an eyebrow and even Tom looked at Aiden with a confused expression.
"I can understand comics since you did have one of them. Even something like promoting new authors, I get it. But games? I didn't know you were interested in video game development."
Wade asked, tilting his head.
"I do play games."
"That's a different thing. I watch movies. It doesn't mean I want to make them."
"Well, actually, I'm in talks with someone about a game idea. It's very interesting so I wanted to invest in it."
Aiden said, revealing something that no one has any idea of.
