Alberto Dundley felt like the wind these days was getting colder and colder. But he had warmth all around him.

He finally seemed to be walking a path of flowers instead of the path of thorns. Last year was one of the worst times of his career with several of his projects failing and he had started to lose out in favour with the company.

But after the company started its plan to start franchises, he knew that he needed to be at the top of it. Because if it worked, then he was going to be one of the most important people in the whole company.

His stature would rise exponentially and his failures would be behind him.

Though, he also felt like he was walking on thin ice at first as the chances of failure were extremely high. But things changed since Olio Fermen got on board with the project.

The man was trying to adapt <Hex> in a movie for a long time and just going by his record, Alberto could say that the movie would be good. The chances of failure with this novel adaptation were also low due to the number of fans of the series.

With Olio at the helm, he could be rest assured and would just need to take a backseat as he knew how he worked.

He didn't like any interference in his job until the editing part. One of the main reasons Alberto had good relations with him was because he was a master of handling directors and knew that some directors should just be left alone.

Big directors have too much ego and confidence that they don't even mind screaming at the producers. One big director recently threw things at a producer because he wanted to change a few things in the script.

Only after that, the director was left alone to work on his vision.

Olio was someone who was fully capable of doing something like that and Alberto would avoid it if he could.

"We have marked 3 actors for the lead role. Most of the supporting roles are already casted but Mr. Fermen is still in the middle of deciding the main lead."

"Why are we having problems on that front? There are enough talented people in Hollywood."

Alberto asked as he looked at his assistant. They were currently in the car, coming back from a meeting with the CEO of the VFX company that was working on [Hex].

He had mostly left casting to Olio and was only responsible for recommending actors to him. The final decision was for the director to take.

"Mr. Fermen is being choosy as he wants someone with a lot of charisma. The actors you recommended were rejected on the basis that they simply weren't big enough to portray the lead role. As you know in the story, the main lead is extremely charismatic and persuasive."

"Olio could simply write the role for a more older actor. It happens a lot."

"Yes, but he wants to avoid it just because it happens a lot. He's a big fan of the original series and wants to stay true to it."

Alberto frowned, feeling like it was pretty much a dragged mess. They needed to start on the production as soon as possible because a lot of time would be spent in the post production for all the VFX shots.

In these types of projects, post production becomes one of the most essential parts.

"Turn the car to his office."

Alberto suddenly said and his assistant looked bewildered for a second.

"Right now?"

"Yeah."

"You have other appointments, sir."

"Cancel them. I'm letting Olio do what he wants but I need to be strict too in these times. Or he would do just anything."

He said and his assistant had no choice. He told the driver to turn the car and drive to Olio Fermen's office. It was better to talk in person and decide on the lead.

When he got here, Alberto straight walked up to the main room where Olio was typically found.

All around in the office, posters and character arts for [Hex] were laid out. Olio and his team were working here for a few months and the progress was easily seen.

Alberto quickly found Olio's assistant and asked.

"Where's Olio?"

"He's in a meeting on the second floor."

Hearing the reply, Alberto wondered if it was a meeting with the crew about the filming.

"What meeting?"

"A meeting for the casting for the lead role in his upcoming movie."

Alberto was pleasantly surprised when the assistant said that. He was here to sort out the main lead issue but it looked like Olio was faster than he thought.

Now that he was here, Alberto decided to go and check what was going on in the meeting and who was the actor. He hoped that it was at least someone who was marketable and would have age on his side.

Stepping into the second floor, Alberto directly headed for the meeting room and excitedly opened the door.

But suddenly his face froze. He wondered for a second if he was having delusions as everyone in the meeting room scrambled to their seats. A few people from the crew were in the room and there was obviously Olio Fermen.

He was a bald man in his late 40s that gave the impression of a weak, scrawly man. With the proper look, he would look like a retired man who had worked his whole life in an office.

Very ordinary.

"Alberto, I didn't know you were coming here today. What a surprise."

Olio muttered, walking up to him but Alberto didn't respond. His eyes kept being fixated on the man who was sitting in front of the door.

The man his eyes had landed upon after opening the door.

"What are you doing here?" He finally blurted out.

"I'm here for a meeting with Mr. Fermen. Regarding me playing the lead role in his movie."

"What are you saying? We already had the meeting and you know very well how it went."

Alberto looked at him with angry eyes. The atmosphere quickly heated up and people noticed that there was some unpleasant air in the room suddenly.

If Olio wasn't standing besides him, he would have even grabbed Aiden by the collar.

"I know." Aiden said as she put on a smile. His voice was not confrontational and was persuasive. "But while I was leaving the company, I met Mr. Fermen just in front of the lift. When he heard that I was in a meeting for [Hex], we ended up having a long talk on the original books and the characters."

"Yes and Aiden here impressed me a lot. He actually has the same reservations about a live action [Hex] that I had and our ideas are very similar."

Olio added and it just strengthened Aiden's case. Alberto opened and closed his eyes wondering how this had happened. He had thought that Aiden would throw away his ambition to be a part of [Hex] but he had entirely skipped the producer and went for the director.

"So, Aiden is your choice to play the lead. Am I understanding it right?"

Alberto looked at Olio who still hadn't noticed the strange atmosphere between him and Aiden.

"Not yet but I like his ideas and viewpoint. I still need to take an audition but he's way better than the other candidates. Moreover, he just gave a 500 million dollar movie, so he's extremely marketable. I heard your meeting with him didn't go right? Why was that?"

"We had a few disagreements."

Alberto said, barely. He kept glaring at Aiden while he said that.

"Well, I guess it's not something that can't be solved. Why don't you join us? We were in the middle of discussing the main character. You don't have any other appointments right?"

"No, I don't."

He sat down and wondered if he was really seeing things right. Aiden, who he had rejected, was now sitting in front of him and they were discussing the lead role.

'Bastard. I won't let you take the role so easily.'

Alberto thought in his mind and Aiden was having similar thoughts.

'No matter what you do, I'm going to fight for the role.'

***

As Aiden was fighting for the role in [Hex], award season was coming up. Actors who had given out great performances in the past year were now hoping for some kind of nomination in any award.

Some movies have already started campaigning for a case for the Oscars. And even Golden globes were being sought after.

Last year, Aiden had only gotten nominations for [Agnas] and had even missed out on an Oscar nomination for the best actor. But this year, a lot of people felt like he had way better chances.

Last year, there were too many great performances and Aiden's age played against him. This year, the good movies were fewer and meaty roles were only played by a few actors.

The chances of awards had never been this high before.