The first trial gave a lot of fuel to the trolls on the internet. It had been three weeks already after the court hearing, and yet there were people still grunting, sharing memes, and even shit-talking about Ian or Sarah back-to-back.

When Ian woke up in the morning, his head hit the bed rest and he gasped uncontrollably at how exhausting the nightmare was.

‘Fuck fuck fuck!’ he cussed and rubbed his heart to calm down.

Taking the phone from the nightstand, the notifications kept pushing in. There were many tags on almost every social media he used.

The first thing he remembered after seeing all the tags and comments was what the day was.

| Reminder: Marriage Story movie premiere! |

Putting that phone away, he took his personal cell phone and call Mason.

-Hello, Ian?

“Good morning, uncle. How is it coming along?”

-Good morning, and it’s nothing to worry about. Come by whenever you’re free.

“Okay, bye,” He hung up.

-

[Renner Studios, California]

“Ian, we were waiting for you!” Mason walked out of his office, after seeing Ian coming inside the huge office.

The office was like an entire lobby area, but the private offices were separate from glass doors and shields—some were blurred, some were not.

Mason saw Ian’s light brown suit. He looked like a model who got out a runaway.

“I’m excited for today, uncle,” Ian said as he slid the phone he had inside his pocket.

“...And who is your date? You looked to be in a really good mood today, aren’t you?” Mason gave a dirty look.

“Haha… That!” Ian chuckled. “I did invite someone to be my date, and she must be here anytime sooner-”

“You did not pick her up, what sort of a gentleman are you?” Mason looked at Ian disapprovingly.

“It was her idea, uncle, and you know I’m really a gentleman, don’t you,” Ian shrugged.

Mason shook his head with a slight smile lingering on his face as he walked outside.

It was 4 pm, and the premiere was supposed to start at 4.30.

Ian had called his date to be in the office considering she insisted on meeting somewhere outside rather than Ian going to hers.

Also, she had an important business to attend to in the office.

She walked in, wearing a glowing classy red gown. She had her purse dangling down her hips, it was truly a view to admire.

That could be known as the first time Ian found himself gawking at a woman.

“Hey!” She waved at him.

“You look stunning,” he said right away after he gained consciousness.

“Thanks, let me upload these to the drive, and I’ll be with you shortly.”

“Oh, all right, I’ll stay here,” Ian said as he saw her walking away to her office.

The environment was not calm at all. Ian was feeling a bit awkward since they hadn’t talked about what happened between Scarlett, yet he invited her to be his date.

Why? Because Niko couldn’t make it, they were arguing about it in the office, where Ian showed up and found himself asking to be with her at the movie premiere.

[Back in the day, in the office]

“...This is going to be the first premiere I’m attending alone. It’s alright though, I’m just excited to watch Marriage Story with everyone watching it!” Rae said and looked at Niko.

Ian cleared his throat, grabbing the attention of the duo.

“I don’t have a date either….” Ian said and contacted Raelynn. “Raelynn, if you want, we can go to the movie premiere together, as friends, I don’t mind,” he muttered.

Raelynn’s eyebrows went up in surprise.

“Me?” she asked again.

“Yeah,” Ian chuckled.

“Yes, let’s go!”

“SEE! It doesn’t matter to you, I wouldn’t be there, and you’d replace me easily,” Niko said and sobbed dramatically.

“I’d still miss you. Too bad you won’t be able to watch the wonderful unravel of the Marriage Story.”

“It’s alright, Rae. I watched it plenty of times while editing, and,” Niko turned in his striding chair, “Have fun for the night!” he said.

[back to the present moment]

Raelynn and Ian walked out of the building. Ian, being the gentleman he is, opened the door for her, and walked around to get in.

In less than two minutes, they were on their way.

“Raelynn, did I say that you’re absolutely beautiful today?” he asked.

Raelynn blushed but composed herself before she could get carried away with what she was feeling.

After all, she had been working on herself for three weeks.

"Thank you, Ian.”

“We need to talk about what you- what you saw the other day,” Ian said.

Raelynn chuckled awkwardly. She was looking outside the window.

“It’s alright, my bad for just barging in, eh.”

Ian didn’t say anything more but continued to drive ahead. Raelynn sighed at the silence.

-

The ceremony started in no time, and not to mention the red carpet questions that were thrown at Ian made him walk away ignoring every question or statement.

“They are just trying to piss you off, Ian. Don’t mind them,” Raelynn said with a smile, yet walking through the crowd.

Her smile was symbolic of not showing that the comments and the questions were bothering Ian or Raelynn.

“I know, I just hate the word that I’m abusive,” Ian muttered. From his face, he smiled at the audience, but on the inside, he wanted to talk everyone out.

“We have one more week to see the results, and it wouldn’t take too much time for them to turn back on what they throw at you.”

Raelynn said and put her hand in his.

They walked inside with smiles still formed on their lips.

Thirty minutes passed, and the movie started.

During the entire movie, different expressions were going on the faces of all the actors.

[...] “Fuck. LOOK AT THAT!” With the closing credits, the behind the scene shoots were played.

Everyone burst into a fit of laughter.

“Is that Mark Hamill? Oh my god, dude! You are sleeping like a baby!” The guy next to Mark shouted and laughed loudly.

Mark who laughed looking at them, shook his head. “Never knew that was there!”

The scene changed to the one where Ian and Mark were repeating dialogues like an old couple.

Ian’s expressions were on the spot which made things even more fun. Mark was repeating the lines with Ian and the crowd laughed along with everyone else uncontrollably.

“Gosh! Ian, this is so cute,” Raelynn said while grinning from ear to ear.

“Alright, I guess we are done here,” Ian said and stood up to go to the stage.

Within seconds, the screen closed, and the entire focus was shifted to Ian’s. He grabbed the mic and waved at everyone.

“Hello, everyone!” He said and the reply he got back was immaculate.

After the movie, everyone was equally excited, if not more.

The reality of the movie premiere was, that the celebrities who got called here does not react to how good or bad the movie did, but they act along according to the energy.

But the critics, on the other hand, give out their honest opinions considering…. Well, it’s technically their job.

“Good evening, everyone. I welcomed everyone here, and now the movie is over, I’ve got to say several things to make sure that this message would deliver to the public.

“In a way, I’m pretty sure that how things would be once the movie hit the theatres. According to the little ‘situation’ going on with me, people’s perspective on me must have taken a huge turn, one way or another.”

Ian took a breath before continuing.

“That is actually bad news to me. When I first started writing the movie and thinking about the execution of this, all I ever considered was how this would be an art movie.

“Yep, that’s right,” The cheers came from the crowd hyped Ian up.

“But yes, with tomorrow’s release of the movie to the public, what I can ask is to have an open mind. Thank you,” Ian said and earned a round of applause from the audience.

Everyone was somewhat shocked, yet sympathized with him and his words. Ian’s words meant a lot of things, which at a level explained how true his words were.

The entire movie premiere ended with Ian delivering what he wanted to the public; to have an open mind.

[....] “The movie was differently produced from any of your previous movies, I could say that much at least,” John who walked to shake hands with Ian muttered.

“Not sure how this would turn out,” Ian said in a ‘meh’ tone.

“Weird to see you unsure of your movie, man.”

“I know right, this is a first, but gotta deal with it. Another movie is on its way, so I have no choice but to just let things be the way they are,” Ian said and smiled at the cameras that were focused on them.

The entire theatre was busy as one by one left the premises.