Ian woke up after an exhausting day on the set.
The day before he had spent trying to get perfect shoots between the Home Alone crew. And most of the time, things hadn't gone his way, which he believed because of his mental exhaustion after going through the court.
Valerine knocked on Ian's bedroom door.
Ian walked towards the door and opened it with one swift movement.
"Good morning, Valerine."
"Master, Good morning. But there's a girl who awaits your presence downstairs," Valerine said with a smile.
Of course, Valerine knew who the girl is. She had been worrying over Ian for the past couple of days about how crazy the media went.
Even before sleeping, she watched the news daily to get a grasp of what happening outside the world.
At the end, when the people in the media had claimed that Ian was not a father to Sarah.
Not to mention, Sarah's face was all over the media.
"A girl?" Ian looked confused. "What girl?" he asked again.
Valerine cleared her throat before answering, "Sarah… Sarah Tuesday. The girl on the television," answered.
Ian's confusion grew more. He looked visibly worried about what came out of Valerine's mouth.
If he had gone down without knowing Sarah—the same girl who blamed Ian for her daughter, she'd baffle by Ian's naked upper body.
Ian hurried away to get dressed to meet the lady who was waiting.
-
"Good morning, Sarah," Ian walked down the stairs and greeted the lady who was waiting.
Sarah looked up the stairs with her huge eyes and smiled as she saw Ian walking downstairs.
"I- I'm Sarah," Sarah said quickly and jumped in to shake hands.
Ian shook hands in return as a gesture of politeness.
"I know," he muttered as he withdrew his hand.
"Uh, I need your help, sir."
Sarah's words made Ian's eyebrows raise in concern.
Yesterday, Ian was casually trying to get over his day while continuing to get perfect shots on set, today, the lady who assumed he was a father and humiliated in front of the entire world is asking for help.
What are the odds of waking up to aliens ruling the world tomorrow?
"Please, have a seat," Ian said and sat on the couch in front of her.
She looked bewildered for some reason. In Ian's head, she was quite a strong woman, at least pretending to be strong in front of the court with all her lies, but in front of Ian, she looked vulnerable.
"I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry for e-everything you had to go through, I-I need help," She said.
Her gaze was plastered on the ground, and her face showed how sad and disappointed she was.
Her stutters made Ian wonder what was she on about.
"What do you mean? Why should I help you, Sarah? You tried to destroy my reputation, and trust me when I say you almost did. I'm not a person who tries to hide the truth, so if you go visit any websites where Marriage Story, my latest movie is promoted, you'll see how many hate comments are there.
"Trust me when I say, they are quite frustrating when I'm not the one at fault here." Ian said and shrugged off the question of 'why' she needed help.
Sarah nodded as she was feeling helpless to Ian's words.
Of course, she hadn't expected Ian to give full permission in one go, but she realized how much of a depth and consequences her actions had—which reminded her of the words of her initial lawyer.
"I-Ian, I mean, Mr. Renner, I understand your situation and how it must be feeling for you. But with all due respect, I'm really sorry. I apologize for everything I've ever done."
Ian sighed and shrugged. Ian was still confused as to why the lady who turned his world upside down wanted help.
"Again, Sarah. Give me a good reason as to why I should help you?" Ian asked.
"I was just trying to do whatever that I could do for my daughter. I couldn't help it and you were the person who came to my mind that we could-"
"Why haven't you contacted the actual father? If anything, the DNA proved that I have no relation with you or your daughter, so why not Lilian's actual father?" Ian asked as he got comfortable on his sofa.
He put his leg above the other, and his hand was tucked under his chin.
"He left," Sarah said and took a deep breath. "I don't know where to find him, and as soon as I told him that he has a kid—-I have got a kid of him, he just left. He never looked back, and neither I tried to.
I wanted to raise Lilian of my own, but it's too hard," Sarah said, while her gaze raised to meet Ian's.
"Sarah, in all honesty, now I feel like you're just trying to manipulate me using Lilian. And if you are, trust me it's working. She is a cute little kid and doesn't deserve to go through any of these," Ian said and sighed.
"I- That's true, but I didn't try to manipulate you, not now, not ever," Sarah said and continued further. "At first I had this lawyer, but then two top lawyers… Very powerful lawyers, to be honest, offered me a pro bono for the previous trial. Uh-" Sarah said and Ian frowned at her words.
"What is it?" He asked back.
"Uh, but after I received the subpoena, now they're asking for a lot of money. Money that I wouldn't be able to collect even if I spend my entire year working," she said and smiled apologetically.
Now they had gotten comfortable, and her tone was rather familiar and friendly than how she came in—scared.
"I'll help you."
Ian said and in his mind, the story of the lawyers stayed solid. He wanted to dig further, but he knew now is not the time.
"What? You would?" Sarah asked, her eyes lighting up in disbelief.
"Yes, for Lilian's sake. As I said, she deserves more. You're not an idiot, so I hope you know that what you did was not something that I could forgive easily. I'll take drop the defamation charges explicitly.
"So, I'll let Valerine take care of the job for you. But on one condition," Ian said and leaned forward in his chair.
"What is it?" She asked back.
"I don't want to see you again," Ian said and she immediately nodded.
"I promise that you wouldn't see my face ever again," Sarah said and stood up to walk out of the room.
Ian who nodded at her stood up as well.
Taking his phone in hand, he thought no more as he walked to his bedroom so that he could start to get ready.
Another day and another round of filming for Ian.
Although the morning was somewhat a bit weird than he had expected, he thought that at least from today there'd be no more drama and that he could go on to create movies that he could enjoy and so did the fans.
-
Sarah was feeling relieved and scared at the same time.
A new life gave her new hope. But with her face everywhere in the media, she couldn't face anyone even on road considering how even the streets were filled with people who adored Hollywood.
Walking outside Ian's mansion, Sarah couldn't help but let out a relieved breath.
"Sarah, right?" Valerine asked popping out of nowhere.
Valerine was normally the type to be respectful to any guests who'd come in and out of the mansion, but now, her opinion changed entirely on Sarah. She was advised by Ian to get Sarah to settle with a job—A job that would relate to something like what Valerine, herself does, housekeeping.
"Yes, Mrs…?"
"Call me Valerine, I'll let you know when to meet and where to meet. Hope you don't mind working in a house right?" Valerine asked.
Valerine gave a calculating look at Sarah, and she almost flinched at her gaze.
"Yeah, as long as it pays."
"Uh-huh, young lady, Ian is only helping you because of your child. And don't mistake it for anything else.
"You should know that there are people who actually suffer from abuse, and who couldn't get help of any sort. And what you did there—is totally unacceptable." Valerine slapped her verbally.
Sarah felt it—harsh and rough.
She sighed knowing that there was truth behind her words, and everything that had happened was her own fault.
"I know-"
"Sarah, I'm not a fan of the media. Because I've seen it ruin lives just from the time period I've been in this mansion. But I've to tell you, this time, the media is right.
"There are actual victims out there, women who have faced worse. And yet you were here, trying to use their trauma as a weapon. Young lady, media wouldn't save your life always, So, it's better if you become true to yourself first." Valerine said and smiled sympathetically.
As much as she despised people like Sarah, she couldn't see a young girl, so helpless.
"I know, Valerine. Thank you for your words. I appreciate it," Sarah said and retrieved the smile.
"Can you give me your phone number, so that I could just call you tomorrow?" Valerine asked and Sarah gave her her phone number.
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