Finishing up a role was always a hard thing to do for actors. Especially, when it was an intense role.
If you are too immersed into a role, then you feel like you are that person and it is hard to differentiate between your real personality and the role.
That had happened with Aiden when he played the role of Flynn Wheeler in [Sherlock of the Shadows]. It had a lot to do with him turning off security protocols that helped him stay sane during immersion.
But it was true that the role was intense.
Same was with Kai. Probably more so because Aiden felt much more close to him than any of his characters.
When he was doing the final scene, the only thing in his mind was that it was going to be the end of Kai and for a while, he even wondered if he would be able to remove Kai from his mind.
The answer was obviously no.
The characters he had played have lived on somewhere in his subconscious and the same was for Kai. Though, he does need to get out of the character after the shoot to go on with his life.
But in the case of Kai, the emotions and habits were such that it was hard to get the emotions out. When his affinity with him had reached 100 percent, the control he had on him had increased.
That helped and it got a bit easier for him. But he still needed professional help.
Even if there was nothing and he had no problem getting out of the role, he would have still gone to a psychologist. Just to be safe.
So, two days after the shooting, he got an appointment with Dr. Penny. It had been two weeks since then and he had made significant progress.
"Did you do the things that I told you to do?"
Dr. Penny asked as she looked at Aiden who was sitting in front of him. He was playing around with a rubik's cube in his hands.
"Yeah. I went bowling, tried out a few small restaurants that seemed interesting and just roamed around. Even went biking with my uncle."
"That's good. You were in normal clothes right?
"Yeah, I haven't really touched all the suits I have gathered in the last few days. It did feel a bit uncomfortable. Though, I still like things to be extremely clean around my house."
Suits and cleanliness were habits of Kai. The former was actually a metaphor for him seeing being a psychopath as a job, so he wore suits whenever he's about to kill people. Weirdly, Aiden has gotten a collection of suits out of the role.
"Going by your progress, you will be fine in a month or two. You have already processed a lot of the emotions you gathered when playing Kai. Just keep doing fun, little activities or even go on a vacation. You have money. Keep your mind relaxed."
Dr. Penny smiled and wrote a few things down before talking about exercises she had told Aiden to try out. She had also instructed him to write down his emotions if it gets too much.
That had worked extremely well last time.
In the end, she asked in a casual tone.
"So, are you writing down a new book this time too to get out of your character?"
"No, last time, I got inspired due to the artist I worked with on <Morpheus>. It's hard to think up a story because of a lot of things. I'm more of an author who waits to get inspired." Aiden explained, then added casually. "Actually, I was thinking of writing a book inspired by you in the future."
"Me?"
Dr. Penny looked surprised. She had never thought that Aiden would say something like that. A book inspired by her? How will that turn out?
"Yes, I have a habit of writing down interesting ideas when I come across interesting people or if I read something interesting. I have a good story in mind about a psychologist thanks to you."
Aiden had thought of a story about a psychologist after his first few sessions with Dr. Penny last year. Though, he had never really made it into something more than an idea.
Mostly because he was busy and because he felt like he wouldn't be able to do justice to the story in his mind if he wrote it right now. He just wasn't at a good enough level according to him.
"If that's the case, then I would love to read it."
Dr. Penny said, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
"I will show you when I write it. Just it won't be soon. I'm not in the right mindset to do it right now."
"Don't worry. Take your time and just write something you want to read right now."
Aiden blinked, hearing that and wondered about it.
'What he wanted to read right now?'
Probably something light and fun — That was the answer he got when he thought about it.
***
'Should I just sleep?. That was just a weird comedy.'
Aiden said as he looked at his screen. His break had given him time to watch all the movies that he had missed in the last year. Though, not all of them were good movies.
Currently, he had just watched a movie about a wedding in which chaos ensues because of a lot of things. The premise looked interesting but it had fallen flat on so many aspects that the movie felt boring.
Looking at the time, it was still 3 PM in the afternoon. Aiden had no schedule and he was free enough to do anything with his time.
He picked up his phone to check any new messages but there was nothing.
He sent a message to Wade.
[Aiden: Wade, do you want to go to the movies with me? I heard some nice indie movies are running.]
[Wade: Not today. I'm a bit busy with some personal stuff. Are you just bored?]
A reply came quick and as expected, Wade knew him.
[Aiden: Kind of.]
[Wade: Why don't you read the novels that you weren't able to read because of work. I remember you complaining about it to me more than once.]
When Wade sent that message, Aiden realised that it was indeed the case. Due to [Agnas] and then, [The Black Saint], he hasn't gotten any break and because of that, he hasn't gotten any time to read up on the web novels he was reading.
[Aiden: I will go read them. Thanks.]
Aiden typed and quickly opened up his browser to check up the web novels he was reading once. As expected, all of them have gotten a lot chapters and a few of them have even ended, meaning that he could go through them in one sitting.
He had gotten the habit of reading web novels early on in his life as he wanted to read books but had no money to buy them. Web novels were mostly free and it was easy to find them.
Moreover, there was a lot of variety, making them a great choice for him to read.
The habit had continued till now and it was only because of his career that he hadn't been able to make up time to read them.
'This would be a fun day now.'
Aiden thought and started going through the webnovels one by one. Time kept flowing at a rapid rate as he finished one chapter after another, enjoying a few chapters more than the others.
Five hours later, he had read through two novels and was on his third. It was then that a frown appeared on his face.
"What type of clusterfuck is this?"
He muttered in a frustrated voice. His face scrunched up in a scowl as he finished up the 1357 chapter of what was a cultivation novel.
The reason he was so frustrated was because the main character had just died for the third time. His love interest had been forgotten and he was now hitting on the finance of a powerful cultivator in what was apparently his third birth.
'I remember I read this 200 chapters ago too. Just with different characters. This novel is going nowhere.'
He thought in his mind. As a seasoned reader, he knew the problems that web novels have but it was stll very frustrating.
It was like the authors were ready to sabotage their creation just to keep it going. Aiden understood it as an ongoing novel meant a flow of constant cash but it was still something that one should rather avoid.
Scrolling down to the comments section, several of them seem to agree with his line of thought.
[Daoist Milfy hunter: It's over for me here. Why is the protagonist who's 1000 year old so dumb? He's a cultivator. He can get any girl who's normal easily. Why make enemies because you got horny?]
[My name is Suk Yu: If I was 1000 years old and did this, I would kill myself. Maturity really don't come with age.]
Those comments were displaying Aiden's exact thought and it was then that he saw another comment.
