Ian took Lilian to his hand and looked at the little being who has had a huge growth after Ian being away for quite some time.

As soon as Ian took Lilian, he looked into her eyes and realised how innocent and pure she was.

Ian’s world stopped as he continued to look into the eyes of the little kid who knew little to nothing about how dangerous the world is. He hadn’t felt how dark it could be, but seeing the little human who knew nothing about people stealing, killing, stabbing, or simply going behind someone else’s back just to get revenge or to their benefit ruled a part of this world.

And when Lilian would turn eighteen, if not her, someone of the same age, has the possibility of getting raped—or murdered.

As Ian looked at her, he felt so many things. It was just not the world, even his career. He first thought of what Lilian would mean to the world, but later on, he realised, not the world, but what he was doing daily was even unfair at some points. Artists getting blacklisted to celebrities climbing the ladder of fame by sleeping with other celebrities was already ongoing. If a person started to think about how corrupted the world is, and how every newborn would open their eyes to a world where peace would never be an option—-it’s simply disappointing.

His mother was someone who practically wanted to end his career, yet here he was, looking into how cute and how dangerous the world was for the little girl.

It was almost as if Ian didn’t remember what a horrible thing Sarah did to Ian.

“Mama!”

“Mama!”

“Mama!”

The kid started to call her mom. She was about to cry. Her little face turned to a cherry. Her lips formed a pout. Her eyes were watery. It was truly a sight to see.

Sarah smiled and extended her arms to get Lilian off of Ian’s hands.

“You guys should go now, it’s getting late.”

Ian smiled. “Yeah, we should. You should've come over to the mansion for dinner,” he said and she nodded.

‘So much for staying out of Ian’s sight’

“Bye, Lilian!” Raelynn walked over and kissed her cheek. “She’s cute. I hope you raise her well.”

She said, hinting at what she truly wanted to tell her. Don’t raise the kid like how you were raised. You were raised to become a joke to the public and make a fool out of yourself and the little kid, but, do not do it with the cute little kid—was what she wanted to say.

“I’m trying.”

-

Ian and Raelynn hit the waves of natural air as soon as they walked out of the building.

Ian was silent, and she didn’t try to break the silence either.

“Do you want to know why I’m genuinely concerned about them?” He asked.

She smiled. Of course, she wanted to know why he was doing all that. If there was anything that she knew about him, it was that he wasn’t the forgiving kind unless there was business in it for Ian. He wasn’t selfish, but Ian was like a diamond that got harshly shaped and valuable to fit the market. Strong and someone who knew his value.

But with the whole mess, she couldn’t figure out why.

Yet, she knew that it was not her place to do anything, which was why she stayed silent throughout the drive and inside.

“Yeah, I’d love it if you can just explain… She almost ruined your career, Ian. We all know it, so, just, why?” She asked, genuinely curious.

Ian smiled.

“When we met at the café that day, she was miserable. She had help to look after Lilian, but she was scared. Whenever she goes anywhere, people would often recognize her and ask her questions. Once, she took Lilian out and she cried out loud. In a way, I sympathise with her. If I can’t forgive her, the world would never.”

“Ian, I know you are not the type to forgive just like that. If there’s one thing you love the most in the world, it’d be your career-”

Ian thought for a moment before replying. “I’m not an idiot. But with this situation, there’s something that makes me want to help her, and just be there around Lilian, just so that she’d have a nice future…”

In truth, Sarah reminded him a lot of his mother. The one who gave birth to his soul, not body. Ian’s real mother always tried to do anything and everything possible to put food in their stomach. Even if it meant that she’d starve, or do something that wasn’t accepted by society.

Regardless, she made sure he was fed, and taken care of.

It was the same with Sarah. If anything, he forgave her thinking that she did it all for the kid. But he wasn’t stupid. Apart from Lilian, nothing else made Ian stay and be concerned about how the woman was doing.

-

[Editing Studio - Renner Studio]

The team including three men and one woman, along with their team manager—-Niko, who was the editor in chief started working on editing Inception right next week after Ian wrapped up shooting.

Niko walked in, seeing the people working with much focus on their screens. They all were too focused on what every one of them was doing. Ian had already made their jobs easier by giving them directions on every thing that they had to do.

Nevertheless, every part of the movie-making process needed professionalism.

As editors, Niko, and his team were to assemble all the footage into the series of movies that is. They manipulate the plot, score, sound, and graphics to refine the overall story into a continuous and enjoyable whole.

“...Not that, it’s not going to work. Try lifting it,” Ian asked the coworker for which he nodded.

“Yeah, but wouldn’t it look out of line? I was thinking-”

“How is it going?” Ian walked in immediately.

Everyone went silent.

“Good, just starting for the day. I’ve to talk about some scenes, Ian. Seems like they won’t come out as we expected. We’d have to change the settings a bit.”

Ian frowned.

“I want to know the scenes, we can start from there. Walk me through it all.”

Their conversation started to flow and continued for several more hours. In the background, the team was engaging in the editing process without many thoughts. They simply were doing their job as usual.

By the end of the work time, Niko walked outside the building and huffed into the night air. It was 7.30 pm. Things took longer than he expected, but it was all worth it.

The target for the day was covered, but his back was feeling extremely tired from the constant sitting.

As he walked outside, from the corner of his eyes, he saw a man standing beside his car. He was typing something on his phone and was wearing a bucket hat that made anyone who was approaching him unable to see his face or figure out who he was.

Niko walked closer and saw the familiar watch.

“Keith?” he asked a bit louder.

“You’re here!” Keith put his phone down immediately and smiled at Niko who looked surprised.

“What the hell are you doing? I thought you were a stalker, my heart!” Niko put his hand over his heart showing how scared he was.

It was Hollywood. Where they were practically known as the home of Hollywood. Although it wasn’t as easy as saying, the celebrities were all around the city.

Either by an SUV or by foot, many people walked here and there on the streets, always. The scariest part was how there had been several reports in the meantime, reporting about how stalkers or crazy fans would often put themselves in positions that’d harm the celebrities.

And in Niko’s head, he knew that those types of people come when it’s dark and alone—-which was exactly Niko’s situation.

So simply, Keith scared the living hell out of Niko.

“I’m sorry…”

Keith walked towards him and kissed his lips.

“There, there. All okay,” he said and smiled.

“Nothing is okay, let’s go home. Make up for everything you did, will ya?” Niko asked with a flirty smile.

Keith knew what he was talking about.

“You bet.”

-

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