The movie shooting officially ended. Ian and John wrapped up the shooting, after seeing and knowing that all the scenes were covered including the additional scenes that they had planned.

After the shooting, everyone—including the cast, team, and even the directors was asked to join the party of wrapping up shooting.

If one knew about Hollywood, one would also know that Hollywood is all about being famous and showing yourself at parties. Not to mention, of course, there are efforts and improvements that everyone looked forward to. But the main part of every famous person’s life was to create connections and manage those.

In a way, there are also moments when celebrities have been blacklisted. Unrelated to Ian’s afterparty, yet the whole can-be-blacklisted fact is interesting. But, there is no official Hollywood “blacklist” per se, but there are several people whose careers had seemed to fall off a cliff, and not because of a lack of talent. But because of a public freak-out, being difficult to work with, or being racist and/or homophobic. This also explained that the career of celebrities doesn't always rely on their talent.

That's also a reason why even minor parties like celebrations of wrapping up shooting were important to everyone in the industry—especially for the famous people; currently, anyone around Ian and working under/with him.

-

Ian, who was getting dressed in his favourite suit, looked at himself in the mirror and smiled. He was getting prepared for the party that was being held to celebrate the ending of the shooting.

Normally, for these sorts of parties, the studio ought to invite almost everyone as they can. But for this, Ian and John decided to keep it between the crew and the team. Nevertheless, there were some miscommunications in the discussions.

He looked at himself and felt good, prepared and ready to head out.

“Rae, are you done?” Ian shouted her name as she was still in the bathroom.

Raelynn had decided earlier in the day to get dressed and be Ian’s date for the evening. She had her gorgeous velvet dress on, with the cute earrings that matched her outfit, and by looking at herself in the mirror, she was sure that she was going to drop some jaws on her way out.

“Not yet! Give me five minutes!” She yelled back from the bathroom.

‘I know how that five minutes goes’ Ian thought to himself and shook his head.

Five minutes of a lady can take up to twenty minutes or more than that. Ian had to learn it the hard way, yet he did—and that’s the first rule of being a good boyfriend.

“I’ll be down, be soon!” Ian said, smiled, and walked downstairs.

In the room, it was just Raelynn. She looked left and right inside the room. A part of her mind was yelling that she shouldn’t be doing this, looking inside Ian’s stuff when he isn’t there, but the other part is willing to learn more about him.

She was a curious person after all.

Raelynn walked over to the nightstand and took his notebook by her hand. It was the same notebook her eyes met thousands of times whenever she was in his room.

The tension in the room increased by several degrees. Her breath hitched in her throat as she opened it.

‘What the fuck?’ She thought to herself as she swiftly turned the page.

-

[Downstairs - Renner’s Mansion]

Valerine’s eyes dropped at what was in front of her.

“Oh. My. God!” she talked in a loud voice.

Ian muffled his mouth without saying anything but looked at the gorgeous huge bunch of flowers in front of him. It was for Raelynn.

“I know, it’s pretty. Haha! You should look at yourself in the mirror, Valerine. You look baffled, calm down,” he said and kept the roses away.

“They are so beautiful.”

The look on Valerine made Ian slightly feel sad. 'A bouquet for her birthday it is' he thought to himself.

He said nothing but nodded and waited for Rae to come down.

Ian had a part of him worrying about his relationship with Raelynn, and the other part of his life too focused on work and everything related to movies. But if there’s anything that he had learned during the entire time he’d been working, it was to balance both of them.

-

The notebook in front of Raelynn made her yelp in shock.

“What on Earth?” She whispered to herself.

It was full of director notes. There were so many sketches, plans, director notes, and things that are deeply related to so many movies. The majority of the movies were already done by Ian, and there were several others that she couldn't recognize.

“This is wonderful…” She said and smiled to herself.

She hadn’t felt like this in years, and what she felt looking at the words, pictures, and sketches including every little detail was amazing.

She felt like she finally got into the mind of an icon. It was the same feeling that one would get when they intrude upon their idol’s space.

Which also made her heart raise and breathing catch in her throat with more and more drawings she saw.

“Is this all real?” she thought to herself while a finger swept across the page.

It felt surreal.

All this time, she had been imagining him as a hard worker who tries his best to do things and someone who took maximum advantage of having a very creative brain, but seeing the hard work put into action… The respect for Ian increased by miles.

“Rae… How long are you going to take?” Ian’s voice came from downstairs which made Raelynn Jump.

“Coming!”

-

[At the party]

“I didn’t think there’d be this huge of a party. Who knew? Right?” Ian whispered in Raelynn’s ear as they continuously kept looking at people who passed by them.

“I mean, I kinda knew because I was a planner?” She gave a duh look to her.

From afar she saw Will, from the Lincoln studios walking with a huge fake smile plastered on his face. Looking at his smile, the smile on Raelynn’s face dropped. Noticing how his girlfriend’s mood changed immediately, Ian frowned and looked the same way she was looking.

“Who the fuck invited him?” Raelynn asked with much anger layered in her voice.

Ian was shocked by the fact that Raelynn asked the question. Because as she mentioned before, if anything, she should know who comes and goes inside and out of the party; but with such a coincidence, something told him that the situation was slightly different.

“I’ll be back,” she said with anger in her voice and walked away.

The entire situation made Ian wonder what was going on.

“How have you been, Ian? Is everything good? From the look, you’re blooming. I saw Raelynn—your girlfriend with a huge bunch of roses and all… It’s going well huh?”

Ian adjusted his tie and took a sip from his drink. Talks like this need alcohol running.

“My private life is none of your business.”

“It’s still in public though. You’re dating a director from your studio, and making grand entrances in public… How is it private?”

Ian felt as if he had enough. Not to mention, this was their first meeting. And he already had enough considering these types of comments were just not "it" for Ian.

There were certain things that Ian had heard about Will, and by the sound of it, he doubted if any of it were false.

“Is Raelynn your daughter?” Ian asked suddenly—somewhat louder than Will spoke.

“What?” He asked back immediately.

“Is she your daughter? Sister? Or a family member?” He asked again. Repeating his question much more boldly now.

Authenticity held in his voice.

“N-No.”

“Oh, good to know.”

Ian couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows in surprise. “Keep your comments to yourself unless neither one of us are your family. Our business and relationship are ours, while yours are… the ones that are falling.”

He said straight away without even blinking.

Ian wasn’t a man to throw faults at people. Insult them publicly, or even someone who’d insult anyone even privately.

But even much to his surprise, the words came harsher than he expected—yet, he didn’t regret it.

Will shrugged and looked away. He was embarrassed.

“You’re not getting away with this,” he muttered.

“Away with what? I heard pretty interesting rumours about Lincoln studios. Are they making you leave every part of it? And why? Because of your obsession over me?” Ian asked back with the same intensity in his voice.

“W-what?”

The female voice clearing her throat shifted the attention from the heated moment.

“Baby, a few directors are waiting, oh- Excuse me, I’m Raelynn,” she came and introduced herself as if nothing happened.

‘Smart move, Rae’ Ian thought.

“Let’s get going.”

The pair walked hand in hand away from Will and Gar. The latter man had his jaw dropped at what happened.

Raelynn who walked beside Ian had her heart beating in her ears.

“I never thought you’re that…. Angry” She said with huge eyes. Trying to smile at the pictures that were being taken around them, but her eyes were on him.

“I’m not an angry person. But there’s been a lot going on on their side, and with his smart mouth, I couldn’t help it. Did you just call me baby?” Ian asked with a surprised look.

They had gotten used to calling each other by names, that apart from while having sex, they rarely called by anything sweet.

Raelynn blushed and looked away, while Ian felt butterflies in his stomach.

‘Fucking teenager’ he thought to himself and chugged down the entire glass.

Let the party begin.