Arlan heaved a sigh of relief after hearing the promoter's words. "It's fine. This is my friend. Can she go with me?"
The promoter turned his gaze at Sofia and nodded his head. "Of course! Follow me inside. I'll take you guys to see the artists."
Sofia clapped her hands excitedly upon hearing this. "How did you do it?" She whispered to Arlan.
Arlan shrugged as he replied. "I didn't do anything. I just have some capable friends."
Sofia stared at him in silence.
Soon, they arrived in a room where the celebrities were taking pictures with the people who bought the VIP tickets.
The promoter clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.
Everybody turned their heads, including the celebrities. They stared at the promoter with questioning gazes.
"Everyone, this man right here is Mr. Arlan Dominic Roa. He will be financing your next movie project!" The promoter's words stunned Arlan.
'Huh? When did I say that? Aiya... It seems like Renz played a little prank on me...' Arlan thought to himself while cursing Renz in his heart.
The celebrities clapped their hands excitedly as they glanced at Arlan.
"Thank you so much, Mr. Roa!"
"Thank you so much, sir!"
The three female celebrities thanked Arlan repeatedly.
Arlan sighed in his heart. He couldn't reject them at this point. "There's no need to thank me, everyone. I've watched you guys perform and I believe in your talent and work ethic. I'm very excited to see your next movie."
The promoter held Arlan's hands and muttered. "Thank you so much, Mr. Roa! We thought that we would have to wait before we can begin."
Arlan forced out a smile as he retracted his hands. 'Why is this guy touching my hands weirdly?'
"Let's talk about that later. Please go on with the picture-taking. We can discuss this after wrapping up today's event." Arlan said before turning his gaze to Sofia. "You should take pictures with them."
Hearing this, Sofia nodded her head. 'Did he do this just to give me the opportunity to meet my idols?' She thought to herself and a wave of expectation bloomed in her heart.
Unaware of Sofia's thoughts, Arlan grabbed a seat and calmly waited for them. He took out his phone and texted a message to Renz.
- Thank you for your help, buddy. You owe me a drink for this little prank though.
He wasn't actually angry about what Renz did. Financing a local movie would only cost him a few millions of pesos. This amount of money was nothing in his eyes now.
Renz sent him a reply a minute later.
- Alright. It so happens that I want to discuss something with you. How about we meet this Saturday? What time are you vacant on that day?
Arlan furrowed his eyebrows when he read the message. He wondered what Renz wanted to discuss with him. Could it be related to the Presidential election?
- Saturday sounds good to me. We can meet at 1 p.m.
It was still Monday and there were still five days before Saturday comes. Arlan's meeting with Laurence Finn and Morgan Stan was on Wednesday so there's no clash in his schedule.
After an hour, the picture-taking finally concluded. The three female celebrities and the promoter invited Arlan to their office to discuss the finances for their movie.
Arlan had no choice but to follow them. 'I should have brought Khalon with me. He could have been my representative for this matter.'
Their office wasn't far from Maharlika Arena. Arlan brought Sofia along with him. He couldn't just let her go home all by herself. He was afraid that Leandro's men might still be searching for her.
When they arrived at the office, the promoter gave him the project proposal and told him about the story of the movie. The three female celebrities would star in this film.
After casually reading the proposal, Arlan returned it to the promoter. The plot of the movie was about the struggles of three sisters as they reach adulthood. Arlan felt that it was promising, but he didn't think that he would see it in the theaters because of the zombie virus. However, he didn't want to dampen everyone's mood so he gave them his honest feedback. He wasn't an expert writer so he didn't say much to avoid embarrassing himself.
Arlan didn't know how much money was needed to produce a film so he casually gave them a number. "How about this? I'll give you a fund of 100 million pesos for the movie."
"100 million?!" The three female celebrities and the promoter were shocked by this.
"Is it too small?" Arlan thought that it wasn't enough.
"No! No! No! It's more than enough! We'll accept it, Mr. Roa!" The promoter excitedly said. He even wanted to give Arlan a hug, but the latter quickly evaded the guy's advances and hugged the three beautiful celebrities instead.
"Thank you, Mr. Roa!"
The female celebrities were a bit surprised by his actions, but they didn't push him away. Heck! This was a rich and handsome guy who didn't even blink to fund them with 100 million pesos!
Arlan suddenly thought about something and said while pointing at Sofia. "By the way, can you give her a role? It doesn't have to be a big role, a supporting character will do."
"Of course! It's just a small matter." The promoter immediately replied.
Sofia was stunned upon hearing this and she speechlessly stared at Arlan.
"Great! I'll send you guys the money soon, but I want you to give me an accounting for the expenses." Arlan was a generous man, but he didn't want others to take advantage of his generosity.
The promoter grinned at him. "You don't have to worry about that, Mr. Roa! We will be transparent with the finances." Although he was a bit tempted by the money, he didn't want to offend this big shot who was introduced by another big shot. If he made Arlan unhappy, Renz might skin him alive. Just thinking about it made the promoter shiver.
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