Chapter 29: Bitter Little Asshole

Niall pulled himself up with a slight heave.

"Ninety-five, Ninety-six, Ninety-seven..."

Now installed above the doorway to the entrance of his bedroom was a DIY pull up bar.

Given his physique seemed to be in top-top shape thanks to his Gift of Vitality,Niall had figured there was no harm in equally putting in the effort to maintain it.

That said, having hit a hundred pull-ups, Niall casually dropped down and seamlessly slipped into a set of a hundred push-ups, sweat glistening on his body.

One would’ve expected his features to be shaped by seriousness. Perhaps a hint of strenuous concentration as he went through the motions.

Instead, a proud, relaxed smile hung on his visage.

Two days ago, he had cut off Callow and Goldleaf Talent Agency from his life.

That alone signified the progress he was making in this new life of his.

And though a $1,000,000 had been a lot, he wasn’t the least bit bothered by losing such a huge sum.

Afterall, with his respective 25% and 40% cut of the physical and digital sales of his book, both of which combined to net him a profit of a little over $2,000,000 when all was said and done, he was more than buoyant enough to live comfortably for a fairly long while.

Yet, that wasn’t the only reason for the pride he was expressing.

Not only was he done writing the lyrics to the first song for his script, he was done writing the lyrics to all the songs he intended to use in [Silver Comets], period.

All that was left, was making the tunes and melodies to said songs.

Rounding up the set, Niall made his way into the room and grabbed his dumbbells to begin another set.

As he began the exercise, his thoughts shifted, prompting his expression to phase into a hint of thoughtful worry.

How was he to secure not just a willing investor for [Silver Comets], but an equally competent director, producer and filming crew for the movie, all on his own?

Granted Niall’s books were selling well, the monetary gains from it... at least at the moment, wouldn’t nearly be enough to cover the entire investments that was required to film a full-fledged movie.

One with a good production value, no less.

And though he had considered the idea of pitching his script to a studio at first, he had immediately dialed back on the thought process for very obvious reasons.

For starters, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t try to wrestle the IP rights to the movie off of his hands, or worse still, the songs to be used in it altogether if the movie became a massive hit.

Secondly, he wouldn’t put it past them to completely dismiss his vision for the movie, and neither did he believe they would be willing to agree to his condition of being the movie’s male lead.

There was also the fact that he wanted a cut of the box office returns of the movie--a demand that would be laughable given his current lack of star power.

It also didn’t help that Niall couldn’t remember any studio or production company that was in dire need of a good movie script or a hit movie at this point in time, further limiting his opportunities.

The other idea he had considered, was having Feyre Publications invest in the movie.

That too, he had immediately dismissed.

Although he wasn’t of the belief that Michael wouldn’t be willing to hear him out, some part of him just didn’t feel inclined to go down the route given their relationship was largely more professional than it was cordial.

Also, Niall wasn’t that shameless. Considering the events that led to their partnership, he was even more averse to the idea.

’Might just have to play the long game instead,’ Niall mused to himself.

’It’d probably be for the best too, right?’

After mulling it over for a few more minutes, Niall let out a controlled exhale;

’There’s no use clogging my thoughts with solutions I don’t have at the moment,’

’I’ll place it on the backburner for now. Circle back to it once I’m certain of the best way to go about it.’ he decided.

’More importantly,’ his thoughts shifted.

’Now that I’m off the hook with Callow and the agency,’

’I really should submit my application to them.’ Niall mused to himself.

With the wealth of knowledge the young man had to go by, he’d already sifted through to settle on the most credible agency to join.

That said, the agency Niall had chosen wasn’t a bigger, more renowned talent agency.

Rather, it was a smaller one that was slowly building itself up at the moment, and the reason for this had been quite simple.

Although a bigger agency had more resources to expend on their talents in theory, it didn’t translate into practicality... often because said resources were spread thin and were usually siphoned to their well-performing and upcoming talents, and not the struggling bottom feeders.

In contrast, albeit a smaller agency typically tended to have less resources, there was far more room to expend and focus these resources on most of their talents.

An added benefit to this, was the possibility of Niall growing alongside the agency. This could essentially make him their star product if things gelled well enough, and ultimately result in gaining the supposed star power that he needed to make any artistic choice he deemed fit.

Rounding up the workout session for the day though, the young man made his way into the bathroom and freshened up.

Just as he was drying his hair a couple minutes later, he was pulled out of his reverie by the ringing of his phone.

Frowning, and hoping to high heavens it wasn’t another agency calling to offer their contract--something they’d been ever since he’d terminated his contract with Goldleaf Talent Agency, Niall casually picked up the phone.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

"Hey, David. What’s up?"

"Don’t you dare ’What’s up?’ me you sly devil!" David’s voice came from the other end of the line in a mix of awed exasperation.

"What did I do?" Niall innocently asked with a slightly furrowed brow, unaware of what the actor was implying.

"The question is; What, did you not do?!" David countered, and immediately demanded;

"Why am I just finding out you wrote a hit book today?!"

"Ah. That."

"My bad. I’ll send you a copy," Niall offered, a thin smile pulling on his lips.

"Don’t you dare try to bribe me, man. I want answers, now." David demanded once more, a hint of chumminess to his tone.

"Alright, alright. I’ll fill you in." Niall gave in to which David stated definitively;

"Good."

"Also," his tone took a curious approach.

"Why didn’t you attend the party yesternight? Were you that busy?"

Upon hearing that, Niall’s eyes narrowed.

"Party?" he repeated.

"Yeah. The celebration party for the movie." David replied, clearly confused.

"Did you not get the memo?" he stated, genuinely concerned that Niall seemed to have no idea of it.

Niall on the other hand, sighed in resignation. This definitely had Callow’s fingerprints all over it.

’Bitter little asshole until the very end, huh.’

Given that celebrations for successful movies were typically sent to the agents of artists to assess if it was worthwhile for their talents, it only made perfect sense that his former agent had chosen to keep said information from him, hence Niall’s uncouth remark.

"I didn’t, actually... but that’s fine though." the young actor soon replied, and then inquired of his friend;

"Anything interesting happen?"

Although Niall wasn’t exactly a fan of partying in Hollywood, he was pragmatic enough to understand the worthwhile opportunities it could have presented. More so when taking into consideration the thoughts he’d had a half an hour ago.

Which was why, he was a tad bit ticked off when David replied in the affirmative;

"Yeah. A couple of the executives wanted to meet with you. I, Emily and, Ivelia especially, had seriously bragged to them about how you were instrumental in shaping the movie’s script."

"Imagine not just theirs, but our unfiltered surprise when we rummaged through our goody bags later that night and found [The Token of Fate] with your name written on it!"

"No wonder you were always skulking off to a corner to jot something in that little journal of yours!" David delightedly added.

Massaging his temples in mild annoyance on the other hand, Niall soon let out a gentle exhale.

There was no use crying over spilled milk.

Though he’d missed out on a good opportunity to form possibly, long-lasting connections due to Callow’s insecurities, it wasn’t the end of the world.

Other opportunities--possibly even better ones--were bound to come along. It was only a matter of grabbing onto them with both hands.

Decidedly, Niall then chose to fill David in on what had happened and why he’d been generally unable to participate in all the events he’d been invited to.

Half an hour later, the man distastefully clicked his tongue and said;

"That’s rough, man. Honestly though, how do agencies like that still exist in this day and age?"

"Beats me," Niall simply shrugged to which David remarked;

"Concerning stuff... but, hey at least you’re done with them."

"Definitively." Niall replied matter-of-factly.

"So," David picked up on the conversation and then inquired;

"Which agency are you planning to join now?"

"I could put in a good word for you at mine." he added, his tone genuine.

To that, Niall replied in kind;

"Thanks, David. I really appreciate it,"

"But I’ve decided on which agency I’d like to join." he deferred the offer to which David curiously remarked;

"Oh! Which one?"

Before Niall replied, the faintest smile tugged on the edges of his lips.

"Hellion Talent Agency. That’s the agency I’m planning on joining." he then replied, recalling how troublesome said agency was, not just to other talent agencies, but Hollywood itself as a whole.

And though they were probably just starting up at the moment, in just a couple years, they would become the most problematic agency in TinselTown... for all the right reasons.

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/Caer07