The park near the theatre was just a small park that was frequented often by the people who lived in the locality. As it was almost on the outskirts of the city, it was less famous but it was still clean and had a comforting feel to it.
As they walked, they could see some people playing American football on the side. They looked like high school kids who were having a lot of fun.
There were also couples like them around but thankfully, no one focused on them. Although Ava hadn't done anything to hide her face, she still attracted a few glances due to her beauty.
On the other hand, no one noticed Aiden who was wearing a mask. They just thought that he was someone with a cold.
If they knew who he was, then there would be trouble and both Ava and he would make up on the front page of some entertainment gossip magazines and a group of women on some TV show would be talking about them, claiming it as one of the biggest gossips in Hollywood.
He wanted to avoid all that if he could.
'I feel good today after a while.'
Aiden thought in his mind. For years, he had just become a robot. Wade would often label him as that too and he was right as Aiden had only worked or rested.
There were no vacations nor he had wasted any money on things he wanted to buy.
There were obviously reasons behind that as Aiden wasn't a natural workaholic. He had forced himself to be one and it had never been easy for him.
Though, it was a necessity. The results were also there for everyone to see. It was the reason why his career was doing so well!
People are social animals, so it would be wrong to say that he was satisfied. But today felt like a day that he had not experienced in years. A nice, warm day.
As he thought that, he glanced down to look at the hands of Ava. Naturally, he moved his hand to interlock it with her.
Ava looked up, a bit surprised by this but she didn't seem to mind it. Instead, she smiled and they kept walking for a bit before she opened her mouth.
"You know I never thought you would ask me out."
"Really?" Aiden raised an eyebrow.
"Yup, I mean we only talked about work aside from a few other instances. You never really asked me anything about my personal life either."
When Aiden thought about it, it was true. Now that he thinks about it, there were chances that Ava was already in a relationship as he hadn't even tried to find out if she was single. After deciding to ask her out, he had directly called her.
In some alternate world, Aiden would have been left embarrassed but it didn't happen fortunately.
"I could get to know you now." He said, looking at her. She stopped and their eyes met.
"Are you sure? What happened to your 'no dating' clause?"
"I didn't have a clause like that."
"Are you sure?" Ava smiled. "There's a rumour like that in the parties. They are pretty heavy on detail coupled with the rumours of you being asexual."
"People have a lot of free time on their hands."
"In this industry, yes."
They both laughed together and soon, the atmosphere turned a bit awkward. Before it could get ruined, Aiden opened his mouth with conviction.
"So, what do you say?"
"About what?"
"You know it."
He looked at her and she thought for a bit. It wasn't an easy decision at all and looking at Aiden, she knew that he was serious. Very serious about the prospect of them being together.
Ava had rarely seen him like this. There was a fear in his eyes that he was trying to hide. The fear of rejection that everyone has somewhere in their mind. That alone proved that he wasn't playing around and was indeed serious.
"Okay."
She said and nodded her head.
For a moment, Aiden felt like his soul was leaving his body as he let out a huge sigh. Although he wasn't showing it, he was extremely nervous that he was going to get rejected.
In a way, it was valid.
Ava was the most beautiful woman he knew. She was even better looking than most actresses and was an executive in a Big 6 studio. He was sure that she would get attention from a lot of places, so in his mind, he had prepared himself for rejection.
But it went well.
"You don't know how scared I was that it would be a rejection."
He said after calming down a bit.
"Really? When you called me to ask me out on a date, you looked confident."
"It was an impromptu decision and I was much better because it was on call."
"Actually, I wouldn't have agreed to the date if I wasn't interested."
Ava suddenly said and Aiden looked at her with interest.
"I thought a couple of dates are normal for people these days even if they are just friends."
"I don't do that. I have already gotten a lot of offers like this but it's not my thing."
Aiden nodded hearing that. Ava always seemed like a cold person when she talked to others. But to him, she was surprisingly warm. Their relationship started with favours as they both needed each other but it had developed into much more.
Slow and steady, he thought in his mind.
"Anyway, let's go see the lake."
Ava suddenly said, pulling Aiden out from his thoughts.
Their date continued like that.
***
<After his successful album and a return to his singing roots, Aiden Silvereye prepares for the release of his next movie [Hex - Part 1]. The fantasy action movie would be released on November 14.>
<Apparently, rumours of an internal screening with Titan studios producers and executives are already there and they seem to be extremely positive. The movie is going to make it or break it for book adaptations.>
<The marketing for [Hex - Part 1] will only start three weeks before the release of the movie. A teaser was launched in September and although it didn't show a lot of footage, whatever was shown was enough to excite the fans of the book.>
<A look into the career of Aiden Silvereye - How he had made a mark in Hollywood and introduced new trends in his short career, defining a new brand of stardom that Hollywood lacked, but will he be able to do the same with [Hex - Part 1].>
Although Aiden's personal life had been great recently, his professional career was still something he couldn't ignore for long. After every break, one needs to go back to the long schedules and get used to it as it continues for months.
He was supposed to promote [Hex - Part 1] and after that, the first schedule of 'Project Dream' would begin. With that, he also needed to give enough time to his relationship.
Though for that, he knew that he would handle it.
Anyway, Ava was herself busy with a lot of things, so both of them could only meet once in a while.
[Ava: Are you in the office?]
[Me: Yeah, on the third floor. Want to eat lunch together? The meeting will go on for a long time.]
[Ava: Come to my office. We can be at peace there.]
Aiden smiled reading that message. Alongside that message, there were a few heart emojis. Ava had started using it only recently but he felt nice that they were reserved for him.
'Well, it seems like it's going to be a nice day. Let's focus on the meeting for now.'
He thought in his mind and put the phone in his pocket.
Then he got into the elevator. There were already a few people inside of it and as Aiden was wearing a mask and sunglasses, no one recognised him. Two girls who looked like employees were whispering to themselves.
Surprisingly, it was about [Hex - Part 1].
"Was there really an internal screening of the movie?"
"I did hear about it but even if there was, it would be among the top brass. It's hard to know from just gossip but I heard the movie is actually very good."
"Really?"
"Yes, they are releasing it in two parts for a reason. They are very confident that the first part will get a good result and it will make the second part much more exciting."
"But I heard that Aiden didn't suit the role of the main character and how he and Olio had a fight on the set. Now that I think about it, there are a lot of rumours about the movie."
It was then that the lift stopped and Aiden reached the floor that had the meeting room. He got out of the lift with the two women being unaware of the fact that he was the one they were talking about.
'I wonder why there are so many rumours about the movie.'
He thought in his mind and headed for the marketing meeting.
