Chapter 217
The roast continued for a while as Russell Gervais made no attempts to give any respect to the celebrities present here. He wanted to give the people watching the Oscars in their homes a good time, and that certainly happened.
The celebrities could also not do anything, even if they were offended by his jokes.
The show was live, and they had to smile.
Omar, who was sitting next to Aiden, would snicker and laugh from time to time, saying that he was glad he was invited to the Oscars this year. Watching a roast like this live was one of the best things of his life.
As for Aiden, he was also enjoying the show a lot.
The jokes were obviously funny, especially for someone who knew the industry and the rumours going around it pretty well. Russell Gervais’ comic timing was also impeccable.
On the internet, people were also having fun watching the show and continuously talking about the roast. It was so good that it got people’s interest in the award show back.
[Stark’s illegitimate dead kid: I just tuned in to Oscars, and damn, Russell Gervais is cold as ice. He’s roasting everyone with a straight face and not caring about anything. I wish they call him back next year, and these celebs are at least smart enough to know how to take a joke.]
[Let’s go to the mall: I love their faces, wondering to themselves whether they should laugh or cry about it. They could just smile while wondering why they decided to attend the Oscars today.]
[I miss my exes cats: I really wonder where the world is going when comedians don’t have to be funny to make people laugh. They just need to tell the cold, hard truth. These delusional people in the crowd don’t know what to do.]
[Billie Eyelash: Waiting for Russell to make a joke about someone’s wife and get punched. Knowing him, he will punch back, and we will have the Oscars edition of wrestling.]
Like that, people enjoyed the show a lot, and after the roast ended, the presentation for every award began, starting off with the awards in the technical categories.
As soon as the awards started being given out, Aiden’s shoulders tensed a little, wondering what was going to happen. Taking deep breaths, he tried to calm himself down.
As the winners of each category were slowly announced, there were varied reactions.
Some just started crying on stage, while some others were too happy that the smiles weren’t going out of their faces. One of the actresses who won the award for ‘Best supporting actress’ even slipped while climbing the stairs.
What was worse was that she slipped twice, and Aiden was sure that the moment was going to be recorded in One of the funniest accidents in Oscars history.
Like that, the event continued, and finally, the award for ‘Best Original Song’ came up.
To present the award, one of the famous directors of Hollywood came forward with an envelope in his hand. Standing in front of the mic, he started speaking.
“Hello, ladies and gentlemen. This award is special as it’s for the musical pieces that truly became the soul of their movies and made the audience feel that music has a way of storytelling that no other form could master. The nominees for ‘Best Original song’ are…”
As he said that, the screen behind him began to show the six musical pieces that were nominated this year.
As soon as Aiden’s name came up, he smiled.
Omar patted his back, and Leo gave him a smile. The moment was here. At the next moment, it was going to be revealed who won the award.
‘It’s going to be fine.’
Aiden said to himself, and the names of the three other nominees came up with the camera zooming on them. A camera also landed on Aiden, but he was too tense to notice it.
“Okay, now that the nominees are clear. Let’s see who among these talented musicians is going to receive this award.” The director said, opening up the envelope, a light smile reflecting off his face as he said the name out loud.
“‘No time to live’ by Hains Mirza.”
At that moment, Aiden lost what could have been his first Oscar.
***
Splash! Splash! Splash!
Cold water hit Aiden’s face as he tried to cool himself off from all sorts of emotions that were going on in his mind. Looking at his face in the mirror, he saw a disappointed expression that he was barely able to conceal.
He had lost.
That was the truth, and no one could change it.
It was not something he could change, and the only thing he could do from here on was to accept his loss and move on.
Aiden knew that very well, but it was still not going to be an easy period for him.
Everything had been going great for a while now. His singing career had officially taken off, and he was doing different roles in his acting. Aside from that, he had even successfully published a book.
But if things were going too good, a bad period was inevitable.
It was kind of like a circle, and Aiden needed to deal with his loss one way or another.
“It’s just an Oscar. I need to remember what Uncle Sam said.”
He muttered and walked out of the bathroom to join Omar and Leo in the hall. The event was not over yet, and the three main awards were going to come next.
“Are you okay?” Leo asked as he sat down.
“Yeah, don’t worry about me. I will be fine.”
Leo didn’t say anything else, and Omar just gave him a sympathetic look. After that, the ‘Best Actor in a leading role’, ‘Best Actress in a leading role’ and ‘Best Picture’ awards were given out.
The ‘Best Picture’ award went to a movie called [Land of the Brave], which was a movie based on a group of tribals who wanted to protect the lands that their ancestors had given to them.
Aiden had watched it and felt that it was a good movie. Though, it was certainly a very toned-down movie that kind of ventured into a documentary mid-way.
After that, the event was finally over, and Aiden wondered what he was going to do next. As he had not won an award, he could easily slip past the media and leave for home. The media was mostly going to focus on the winners.
It was then that Omar whispered to him.
“Come with me to the party hosted by Titan studios.”
“Huh? I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
Aiden said, not in the mood to go to the after-party. Although Wade and he had talked about it, he felt like missing out this time.
“Just come. You will meet some people and just leave if you don’t want to be there after some time. A lot of people just go to show their faces and leave anyway.”
Omar shrugged, and Aiden wasn’t able to reject him that time. Nodding, he left with Omar in his car.
As he had thought, the media did not bother him a lot, and he and Omar were easily able to make their way to the parking lot.
***
The part by Titan studios was hosted in a place called the Blue Ruby hotel.
It was one of the places in Los Angeles where only the super-rich could enter.
As Omar had worked with Titan studios in the past, he was able to get a pass to their party. Outside the hotel, a line of paparazzi was already present, taking photos of celebrities who were appearing at the big event.
Their eyes were particularly focused on the new actors appearing at the event.
These were the people who might appear in the next big blockbuster by Titan studios.
As Aiden entered the party, he noticed that a lot of celebrities were present at the party. There were also a lot of people he didn’t recognise and hence, needed to be careful against.
Omar introduced him to a few people, but the conversation was pretty simple as he just greeted people, and they moved on to someone else. A few people seemed interested in talking to him, but it was just some praise about his work and them wishing to work with him one day.
It was very common talk, so Aiden didn’t think a lot of it.
Half an hour into the party, Aiden was already bored. Contrary to him, Omar was socialising with everyone at the party.
Although there was a smile on his face, it felt more like a smirk to Aiden, knowing that his friend was a shrewd businessman.
Not having anything to do, he just took a glass of wine and decided to drink it on the balcony while looking at the sky, but as soon as he took one sip from the glass, he heard some steps approaching him.
‘Who is it?’
Thinking that he turned around and instantly froze.
A woman was standing in front of him. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, and with a small face and intricate features, she looked like an actress or a supermodel.
At the same time, there was something graceful about her, clearly hinting that the woman was older than Aiden. Probably in her late 20s.
Now the question was, who was she, and what was she doing here?