"OH. MY. GOD!”

Niko’s voice echoed throughout the office room as Raelynn, Martin and Ian suddenly turned. Ian personally knew that Niko is the dramatic one among them, but he never knew that he could shout like this, in the middle of the day, and in front of his colleagues without giving heed.

The guy who wore a navy blue suit walked inside without giving any second thought to anyone present in the room. His eyes were straight on Raelynn and the excitement she gave outmatched his.

“Have you seen the numbers?”

“Numbers?”

“Yes! The movie is out, and we’re already trending in fifth. My bet is we’re going to make it for at least twenty awards in the next two months!”

“That’s too far-fetched, even for you,” Ian mocked and rolled his eyes dramatically.

“If only we weren’t in front of these people, I’d have hugged the shit out of you, Rae. You’ve done a great job, and with a little help, everything is going very great. For you, and for everyone else….!”

“Us being here never stopped you, Niko,”

Yet again, it was Ian. Niko wasn’t surprised by his outbursts of Ian. This wasn’t the first time he talked/joked around, and probably wouldn’t be the last either.

A couple of best friends laughed along and walked away from the office as they still had so many things to do.

“Maxin is here, sir,” Murphy said, gaining Ian’s attention.

With his approval, from the door to the room, Maxin walked in with a huge smile.

“Murphy, look at you grinning from ear to ear!” Martin commented.

“This is actually great. What we’ve to do is, keep all the social media active with videos, necessary behind the scene hypes, actors keep posting about The Dark Knight… And the social media is going to break with the movie!”

“That's so great! I mean, I wish there were something more we could do about it…. Aren’t there any?”

“Besides basic interviews and talk shows, I think the comic store started the newest talk show kind of thing last week, for other superhero fans and cosplayers. Christian can make an appearance, and that’d be a great photo op. Also, the comic con, in San Diego next weekend, as it’s one of the biggest events to ever exist…” Maxin kept talking on and on.

-

“.... Ninety-five….”

The screen in front of them was a bunch of numbers.

2999995

“... Ninety-six!”

…. “Fuck, and 3 million!”

Raelynn clapped loudly, making Niko jump in surprise as he was fully concentrating on something else that gained his attention for the time being.

“What the fuck are you shouting for?”

“3 million subscribers within forty-eight hours of release! The U-Tibe channel is full-on blast mode, but as U-Tube is the third hardest platform to gain subscribers, it seems that people are excited about the movie even before watching them, or so I saw…!”

Raelynn smiled at Niko sweetly after bursting his ear drum off.

They were close by, and the whole time, she was obsessing over the little digits that continuously kept increasing its value.

“I swear to god, if someone like your boyfriend barged in when you’re continuously counting your subscribers, he’d have been regretting his life decisions right now!”

Raelynn said nothing but smiled sheepishly at his comments because even she believed that there was some hidden truth behind his comment.

-

[Inside the office of Ian Renner]

“...Everything is arranged. Thank you for the meeting, Maxin. I know movie releases are the toughest part of your job. But you’re doing good!” Martin talked to the PR manager with much friendliness.

Ian nodded and Maxin walked out of the office as if nothing happened although inside, he had so many things to do.

The movie releases were not easy for him, but he enjoyed every moment of what he had to do. Keep checking the reviews of people, keeping posts, and updating on every social media was in his hand.

He walked inside the huge lobby area where all his teammates were seated.

“Enjoying lunch?” He asked as he walked in to avoid any sort of uncomfortable pleasantries.

“Yes, sir!”

“How did the meeting go?”

“Are there things we should know?”

“I’ll be inside within ten minutes!”

“Hey, relax. It’s still early days! And working with the movie, as we all know… Is not just a day or two. So, take it easy, guys! Once lunch is done, come to conference hall 103, I’ll be waiting to explain the plan for the next seven days!”

“Alright!”

“Sure thing, captain!”

“Okay!”

“Thanks, Maxin!”

Everyone addressed him and Maxin finally walked away.

[...] He was in the conference room.

There were many chairs to his right and left. And in the middle, the table was huge. The black shiny cushions of the chairs made him wish that they had been occupied with people, not emptiness.

In a minute, one of the helpers of the office walked in with a trolley, which had water bottles and files that were necessary for the meeting.

“Please, keep them, thank you. You wouldn’t even know I’m here,” he said kindly as he saw the old woman get to work.

In no time, the table was set, and the staff started filling in.

“Alright! How about we start with the analysis…?”

-

[RedHall Movie Theatre]

In front of the theatre, there were too many people for any introvert’s liking, making chaos about who came first and who came last.

“No, I literally told you, I was here before you... What the fuck, Stan?” A girl asked in a high-pitched voice.

The cuss made everyone turn their head and see what they were arguing over.

Among the crowd, there was Mariah, who looked confused as the majority of people were, but also annoyed.

“I have no idea why they act like that,” she told her cousin who had worn a batman costume to the theatre.

“Sissy, if you weren’t this shy, I’d have talked to them loud and clear-”

“No, stay…”

“No, really. Urgh!” Her cousin shook his head in disapproval as she dragged him to the opposite side from where the fight was happening.

“What is it with you and your obsession to help? You weren’t like this before you were sick!”

His cousin said in a low tone. She liked and enjoyed spending time with him as he was one of the very few people who understood and respected her for who she was—without any judgement.

“You won’t get it even if I said!” he said and smiled.

The voices around them died down as the security walked over. Although they were still chatting and trying to make conversations aloud for everyone to hear, the presence of the authorities made them lower their voices.

“Just tell me,” the girl pushed the guy harder to get into the subject.

“You know how I was sick?”

She nodded.

“Well, at the time, Batman visited the hospital. I think I’ve told you the story-”

“You only said that Batman visited and that you were on TV. Remember we watched it together?”

“Ah, yes. True. I was just… Hesitant to say what exactly happened.”

“So, what happened?”

“One thing that no one knows what happened is how Batman talked to me. He said that life is too short to be doubting what you should do when the right thing is right in front of you. He said it in other words, but I understood what he said completely, and as I said, I’m not going to stop listening to him… What you did before is unacceptable.”

The girl was bewildered by his confrontation. The same shy cousin she knew was no longer him. The person in front of her was someone who wanted to fight for what was true, what was right, and what was fair.

“Wow… Why didn’t you say anything about this before?” She asked as it was the first thing that came out of her mouth.

“Your reaction… Eight now-” he said and shrugged. “We’re next, let me adjust the mask, so we can get our tickets,” he said bravely.

“Yeah, okay…”

They said and walked hand in hand inside the theatre.

As soon as they seated in, the movie started.

“How did we not know that we were the last in the queue?” the guy who was dressed as batman asked.

Although his facial expressions were unclear, the tone of his voice gave everything away.

“Might be because we were fighting over your new morals, but I must admit… They’re cool. The fact Batman said all those things and now you’re affected by them… It’s cool!” she said and high-fived him as he nodded.

“I know right-”