Every year, Golden Globes is held on 11 January and this year was the same. It meant that Aiden didn't have a lot of time left for the event and had to quickly do a lot of things.
After the celebration party, he got busy with stylists and the attire he was going to wear on the day. A very famous suit brand sponsored him for the event to gain exposure through him and Aiden happily accepted it.
A lot of clothes of celebrities would always be sponsored by some brand, especially on these types of events.
As a lot of people watch these types of events, the brands get visibility.
But it was still a lot of work to go over different types of suits. He also had to decide on his complete look way before the event.
His stylist asked whether he wanted a bit of a unique look as she showed him a lot of suits that could only be termed 'colourful'.
One of them even had a design of a feather which just made it look like something that would only suit a magician from the 16th century.
Aiden rejected it at a glance and opted for a more ordinary look.
According to him, he won't be able to carry a more vibrant look because that just wasn't him. Until he's comfortable in what he's wearing, he won't look confident.
His stylist understood that and his look was decided just like that.
One more issue was his date.
Celebrities would often take their wives or partners to events. It was common and if someone was alone, reporters would often ask them annoying questions like who they were taking home tonight?
Aiden had also dealt with that in the past.
A few people he knew would even take someone from their team to the event, just to avoid those types of questions. Though, that would end up with fake rumours coming up about the relationship.
Aiden had a funny interaction with Sasha and Wade about this when they were just sitting around.
"Why don't you take Ava with you? I doubt she will reject you." Wade had asked.
"I asked. She's going to be in London during the event. She wanted to come but she's busy. So, it's out of the picture."
"Don't you have someone else? Here, I thought celebrities have lifestyles that normal people could only dream of."
Sasha muttered as she looked at him.
"I'm a very boring person. You know that."
"Your movies are your girlfriends. I know that."
Sasha smiled and it was then that Aiden asked her something that made her freeze.
"Sasha, why don't you come with me? To the Globes. You can act as a sort of fake date."
At that question, Sasha had blanked out for a minute, not expecting him to ask her that.
"Aiden, if I went with you as a date, fake or not, I won't be able to live a simple life from the next day. My Skygram would be filled with messages. Moreover, I'm married. So, you are three years late."
It was the first time that Aiden got to know that Sasha was married.
***
Aside from all that, one more thing that happened was the progress with [Hex] went ahead.
Although Alberto tried his best to reject Aiden for the role, Olio had become hell bent on having him. A lot of it wasn't even about him liking Aiden a lot.
Somewhere, it had become the case of two egos clashing with each other.
Alberto had been against Aiden to a degree that it had rubbed Olio the wrong way. He felt like the producer was trying to have more control over the project.
He certainly didn't like it.
So, he made it a condition that he had to have Aiden on board for the movie. Alberto almost went crazy due to stress but it was impossible for him to do anything if the director was like that.
A major reason why [Hex] was greenlit was because of the director and his filmography. Moreover, a Golden Globes nomination just made Aiden's stature bigger.
Rumours were also spreading in the company about it and those weren't nice to Alberto. So in the end, he had no choice.
"I hope we will get along during the filming."
"Just don't get on my nerves. I'm already going to tolerate you with all my strength. So stay in your limits and I won't try to fuck you over."
"Obviously. We all want the movie to be successful here."
Aiden resisted as Alberto tried to squeeze his hands with as much strength he could muster. He had just signed the contract that made him the lead for the first [Hex] movie.
It meant that he won against Alberto and the man hadn't taken nicely to it.
The first movie was signed for 3 million dollars from Aiden's side. It was lower than the salary he was getting for Red Ant studios's movie but every movie was different for an actor.
[Hex] was a way bigger risk for Titan studios and they weren't willing to spend a lot on actor fees. Aiden also understood that well, so he had taken 3 million dollars only.
He felt better knowing that more money could go in VFX and other important aspects rather than his fees. In [Hex], the VFX work was going to be extremely heavy.
Both he and Wade knew that if the first movie worked, then the signing fee for the next movie would probably go over 10 million dollars easily.
Maybe even 20 million depending on how the movie does at the box office.
"Just so you know." Alberto said after they ended the handshake. His hand felt a bit numb but he ignored it. "If the movie fails, I'm coming after you with everything I get. I will blame it on you, so make sure it doesn't come to that."
Hearing that threat, Aiden gave a blank expression but there was a fire in his eyes.
"Don't worry, I will give it my best. Just don't interfere and try to make my life difficult."
"Do better than your best."
The conversation ended there. He left the Titan studios office with his lawyers after that and after parting ways, the first thing he did was to call Tom.
"Aiden, how did the contract stuff go? Alberto changed his tone or is it still the same?"
That was the first thing that Tom asked after the phone connected.
"Still the same. But it looks like he won't try to fuck me over since we in the same team now. Can't say anything after the movie though. He seems like he would send a hitman after me if the movie flops."
"It won't though, right?"
"I will do my best to make sure it doesn't."
For some reason, those words from Aiden were assuring to Tom. It was only after that they got to the main topic.
"So, what did you find? About Dustin."
Aiden had asked Tom to find information about Dustin after their awkward call. For a moment, he had felt like he should leave it alone as it wasn't his place to do anything.
But that didn't feel right.
Dustin was one of his few close friends in Hollywood. If there was something bad going with him, he needed to look into it.
"He left that action series midway actually."
"What?" Aiden was surprised to know that. It felt like the feeling he had was right all along. Dustin lied to him.
"Yeah, they were shooting in Australia and he had also shot a few scenes. From what I heard, most of the things were well but Dustin had suddenly left the series. Apparently, he wasn't well and even had to pay a fee for breaking the contract but he still backed out. He hadn't signed anything after that and has been without work for the last six months from what I know."
When Dustin had first signed up on the action series that was going to be steamed on Zetflix, he had told Aiden about it and how he was very excited.
Him leaving it midway like this and not even having work after that was very strange.
Actors normally would go from one project to another. Even if he hadn't signed anything due to the action series, he would be in contact for some small roles here and there.
"Do you know the reason why?"
Aiden asked and Tom shook his head.
"Nothing came out from the action series set. No other actors left and they all look good with the producers and directors, so I doubt the problem is there."
"Do you know where I could find Dustin?"
"I don't but I got his agent's number. I will send it to you."
Aiden nodded his head and cut the call.
A minute later, Tom had sent him the number. The bad feeling in his heart like Dustin was in some sort of trouble was increasing every minute in his heart.
After taking a breath, he finally called the agent.
***
