The next morning, after an exhausting day with the answer-seekers also known as reporters, Mason was extremely tired.

Yet, the fresh cupcake which sat on his table gave him hope to carry on with the day. Wait- not just the cupcake, but also the pile of papers beside that.

‘MARRIAGE STORY’

SCRIPT WRITTEN BY,

IAN RENNER.

Ian had finally completed the script that he had been working on for the past few days. Walking towards his table, he took a bite of his cupcake and rubbed his hand so that the particles would fall.

‘Hmm… Let’s see.’

Mason muttered while taking the script into his hand. He thought how it was adorable that every time Ian completed a script, Mason was the first one to read it.

They would even spend hours talking about the movie, its production, and what kind of actors and actresses Ian wanted to start the movie.

Not just that, Ian also had this mass plan with the songs, execution, camera placement, view on how he wanted specific scenes to be portrayed, and basically everything.

That was something surprising, yet refreshing—which had made every movie they produced much easier.

Touching the front page of the script, he remembered how Ian had met him on the first day. With the eyes wanting to have hope and trust in him, and explaining why he was doing all of it—Mason thought that this feeling would never fade away.

And one thing Mason was feeling this way is how Ian was someone who would not forget the start and be grateful for whatever help he get from people without kicking them out of his life once he is done with them, Mason knew it.

There were reasons for the success of people, one was how they treated others. From what Mason had seen from afar, the kid had a spoiled start in life. Kicked every opportunity and wasted his youth in girls and parties.

But then, once he wanted to get out of whatever it was going on with him, he changed for good. That too, 180 degrees.

His heart swelled in happiness, and he couldn’t read a single word due to how emotional he became. ‘His dad would have been so proud’, Mason thought while rubbing his eyes to clear his vision.

Turning to page one, he saw how the movie started.

From there, he did not stop reading until he reached the end of the script.

The process of the plot took him by surprise. He was taken by a little bit with different scenes.

First, it was how the character Nicole revealed her sad story. From what Mason gathered, her character was kind of interesting. It started with how it’s clear from the way she talked; She talked with so much enthusiasm about when they first got together before gradually coming apart when vocalizing all of the ways she felt disrespected in their relationship.

And then, it took Mason’s interest in how the movie opened with a lovely montage about Nicole and Charlie as seen by the other. Though then, the people found it is part of a divorce mediation process, it helped to reveal a lot about the two of them before the story even began.

‘....This is wonderful.’ Mason thought after reading more than half of the script. Scripts were not like a normal book to read, a story to understand, or even a picture to imagine.

But for an experienced man like Mason, it was easy to picture the entire movie in front of his eyes with a single script.

There were a lot of turns in the movie which caught Mason’s eye. And by the end of the 45th page, his cupcake was finished wholly.

“Hey, Andy. Can I get another cupcake from the cafeteria?” He said through the intercom.

“Sugar sir, but keep the sugars intact,” Andy’s voice came dull as ever.

-

At the BeePlus Company building.

The meeting was scheduled two days ago. It had been on Ian’s to-achieve list since his first year as a director, to get his own OTT channel.

‘This is going to be one hell of a long talk,’ Ian thought to himself and walked in with Murphy by his side.

Murphy was holding some documents which Ian thought would be useful by the end of the discussion that he was going to have with the CEO.

“What can I help you with?” The receptionist asked in a rather rude way.

“Well, we had an appointment scheduled with the CEO. And this is Ian Renner, the CEO of Renner Studio. Can you help with that, maybe?” Murphy talked to her the same way she talked.

Ian stopped the smile which was about to show through his lips. A new side of Murphy, who knew.

“Please go in sir, down the hallway to the right and– Uh, let me show,” She stood up from her seat and walked in front of them.

Murphy stayed back until Ian walked in front, and all of them went together to meet the so-called stubborn CEO.

The door was opened to Ian by the lady receptionist who walked in front of him, and the office room made Ian stop in his tracks.

Things were almost everywhere—except where the short fat man sat with his legs crossed and arms on the table.

The mini library was full of dust, and the chairs were placed untidily making Ian’s nose scrunch in disgust.

“What on Earth?” murphy whispered under his breath making Ian nod in agreement.

“Mr. Renner?” The man stood from his chair, trying to greet the man in front of him. Due to how extremely unhealthy he was; he was popped back into his chair with a thud.

“What happened to this place?”

“Is that why you’re here?” He asked back.

The man was bald. Probably in his late 40s, but looked as if he was robbed not longer than five minutes ago—and that was how bad the state looked.

Ian’s eyebrows raised in his question knowing this was not going to be a fine talk, unless the man opened up more, or adjusted his mindset to talk about the deal more.

And Ian was ready.

In no time, Murphy screeched a chair for Ian to sit, which was neat—in fact, the most shining one among every other chair.

“Nice to meet you too,” Ian said while shaking his head in displeasure.

The man’s eyes were everywhere but on Ian.

“Look, sir. I know why you are here in the first place. And trust me, my answer would be the same. I’m really glad to see you here and sorry for the weird welcome. I just-”

“Are you okay?” Ian asked.

Taking a look around the place, he knew that it wasn’t going any better. All he wanted was a good way to talk with this man.

“Mr. Reggi, I know the past couple of months were not fine. Also, I know how you haven’t been allowing anyone to meet you for weeks, but why?”

“How could you even ask it? Do you have any idea how much I’ve poured to make this work? From the scratch… Mr. Renner, from the scratch.”

Ian took a deep breath in, which made him cough a bit. “Can I get another room to talk with him whenever he is ready?” Ian asked the receptionist.

Indirectly, he was giving the man in front of him a chance to talk it out. Because if anything, he looked as if he was all over the place, and that was something he shouldn’t be doing at such an age.

Walking out of the room, Ian felt as if he could finally breathe. Calming down the boiling irritation, he took a seat on the sofas that were put in the lobby of their company.

“Are you sure about this decision, sir? I don’t think this place or that person is a good idea.” Murphy mouthed his thoughts out.

“Let’s see. I myself have to find out if it’s possible or not. But if it is not, it’s his loss,” Ian said and took his phone out at the *ding* sound it made.

It was a text from Mason.

[29th of June, 2019.

Just now.

I read the entire script. Would like to talk more about it. When will you be back at the office?]

|| Tomorrow morning. See ya.

“Sir, Mr. Reggy is waiting–” The blonde-haired woman said, as both Ian and Murphy turned to look at their faces in sync.

Standing up, they were led to another room, which was rather neat; a conference room with around 20 chairs sitting with a large oval-shaped table in the middle.

“I’m sorry for the mess earlier, Mr. Ian Renner, have a seat.” He said while gesturing at the seat right to him.

Murphy stood in the back—facing his back to the door.

“Tea or coffee?” The CEO asked, and Ian got the hint.

“Or how about we start from where it all went wrong?” Ian suggested politely ignoring the request for coffee.

Don’t get it wrong, if Ian was even on the verge of heaving his last breath, he’d still ask for a coffee, but this… Was not the time for it.

“Hmm…” Reggy sighed loudly. “Two months ago…”