Ian stopped typing on his laptop as he saw Raelynn enter the room.

“How is it going?” she asked as soon as she entered.

“Hmm… Going okay-”

“You know, I’ve seen how you plan things, and I must say… You’re really impressive,” She said, taking Ian by surprise.

“What exactly do you mean?” he asked back.

With a devilish look in her eyes, she walked towards him and sat on his lap. He looked at her with much curiosity in his eyes.

What is she up to? What is she talking about? Did I give too much away? Does she know?

Too many questions popped up in his head as he looked at her, who didn’t give anything away.

“What do you think?” she said and licked his ear, seductively.

With the question he got in return, his worries started to display.

“Hm?”

'Why does she suddenly act like this? Will I have to give everything away? How to say that everything I did was a chea-'

“Ah, there’s that look on your face, Ian!” she said a little loudly, snatching Ian away from all his thoughts.

“What look?” he asked again.

It was 4 in the morning, and he hadn’t had a blink of sleep. The woman was talking in rhymes, and Ian understood little to nothing.

“The look when you think a lot-”

“What did you mean before?” Ian said, grabbing her chin in his hand, making her look at him.

“Ah, that day. I saw your little diary book. Where you’re writing everything about behind the scenes. About how you direct. About directions…”

“My visual board?”

“Yep,” she said, popping the ‘p’ while doing so.

“Well, you’re a director too, Rae. I don’t know how you’re doing without having your own vision board.”

“Oh, I do have one.”

“Then-”

“Then, I was appreciating how you’ve put thought into every little detail of it. I mean, not everyone does it. I’ve met directors who had no direction in where they were going, and no direction about things would go. It’s quite a hassle when you’ve nothing in your mind for the first time…”

Ian smiled looking at the woman who looked too excited to know things from him. It was a good angle on her.

As he had known, many newbie directors fail at one thing—which is, learning.

Learning and studying great directors who’ve done a great project or two could be something that could teach a newbie director a lot of things including how to navigate the entire directing process.

“Ah, I know. You must’ve thought I’d be someone who at least had made plenty of mistakes, right? I mean, if you saw the vision boards of Home Alone, it’s quite clear about how and what I wanted,” He said, confirming her thoughts about him, and how he got into directing.

“Yeah, exa-”

“My dad was also a director, remember? And I studied a little bit of the industry here and there while I was in college. But, my dad was the one who mostly helped. Before I got into… you know, he was proud of how I was keen about things. Especially things he taught me, so I had the basics. And the rest of it is just me.”

Ian said while Raelynn’s eyes glistened in admiration.

A part of him felt guilty about having to lie about everything to the woman he started to fall in love with, but the other part—the smarter part of him knew that he had no choice but to lie and be adamant about it.

“Oh right. Yes, that actually makes a lot of sense… Don’t you miss-”

“My dad?”

Rae nodded.

“Oh yes, I do. Every day when I’m at the set.”

“Ian…” Raelynn smiled while tears covered her eyes. “He’s proud of you.”

Ian smiled. “I hope so.”

He cleared his throat, gaining her attention since she was being emotional in front of him.

“I have to sleep now. I’ll be talking about my next projects soon, and I'll have an interview with Mr Bob’s show in the evening. Lots of things to get ready, wanna head to bed?”

“Let’s go.”

-

[Renner Studio]

4 pm

The day had been quite exhausting for Ian had he done a lot of things here and there. Multiple meetings with different directors, and helping the team to get work done quickly… had him exhausted when it was only 4 pm in the evening.

“Where’s my suit? Is it ready?” Ian asked for Murphy, seeing he was walking inside the office with nothing but his tablet.

Murphy paused for a moment, looked around, and looked back at Ian.

“What?”

Ian looked back confused.

“My suit, Murphy. The show is in two hours, I've got to get going.”

“Oh f- Oh yes, sir. It’s on the way, in ten minutes. Look at this post. I came to show it to you as it's trending today. And I’m pretty sure that you’d be asked about this today.”

Ian took the tablet off of his hands.

“It’s too bad the show isn’t going to be scripted, but whatever. I’ll be fine without it. What is this about-”

“Oh fuck”

The last two words meant something to Ian that only he and Murphy knew.

“We thought it’s for the best, sir.”

Ian glared at him.

“Next time, ask.”

-

[At the studio]

Ian Renner, was about to take the stage as the guest appearance in Mr. Bob's Live Show.

As he made his way backstage, he was greeted by the frenzied activity of the production crew.

"Hey, Ian!" called out the producer, rushing over to greet him. "We're so glad you could make it! We're just wrapping up rehearsal now, and everything is looking great."

Ian nodded in agreement, taking in the bustling energy of the backstage area. The crew was running around with headsets on, adjusting lights and cameras and prepping the set for the live broadcast.

As Ian made his way to his dressing room, he passed by a group of stagehands who were carefully positioning a large prop onto the set. "Watch it, guys," he heard one of them say. "That's gotta be just right for the opening shot."

Once he was in his dressing room, Ian began to go over his lines for the segment. He had been invited on the show to talk about his latest movie and share some behind-the-scenes stories from his talk show, but he warned that Mr Bob was someone who asked questions as he pleased.

He went through general questions and continued to read down and down the paper.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and the show's host, Mr Bob, stepped inside. "Hey there, Ian," he said, shaking Ian's hand. "Thanks for coming on the show. We're really looking forward to having you."

"Thank you for having me, Mr Bob," Ian replied warmly. "I've been looking forward to this for weeks."

Mr Bob nodded. "I've been a big fan of your movies, Ian. I'm really interested to hear what you have to say about Inception and your experiences in the industry."

Ian grinned, feeling a sense of pride welling up inside him. "I've got some great stories to share, and I hope I can offer some insight into the entertainment world for your viewers."

As they spoke, one of the crew members interrupted them to make a last-minute adjustment to the set. "Excuse me, gentlemen," she said apologetically, "just need to move this camera over here."

Ian watched with interest as the crew member quickly made the change. He had always been fascinated by the behind-the-scenes workings of live television, and he was thrilled to be a part of it all.

As Mr Bob and Ian continued to chat, the countdown to the live broadcast began. Ian could feel his heart racing with excitement as he thought about the millions of viewers who would be tuning in to watch him. He knew that this was a huge opportunity for him to reach a wider audience and make the world talk about him more.

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