Chapter 20: Just Acting, Right?

Narrator: The script told us to kiss. So we did but no one said it had to feel like that.

Like falling. Like drowning. Like something we couldn't un-do, Now we're pretending it meant nothing problem is our bodies didn't get the memo.

"Scene 47. Ready? Cue lights. Sound speed. Action!"

I could hear my own pulse in my ears.

We were on the living room set, fake couch, fake walls, fake air between us.

Except what was happening didn't feel fake at all.

Ren stood right in front of me, casually flawless as usual.

Hair just a little messy like he didn't try, shirt rolled at the sleeves, voice low as hell.

I hated that he looked so composed.

I hated that I wanted him to mess up.

"Look at me," he said—line from the script.

So I did.

Big mistake.

His eyes locked into mine like a quiet dare, and then his hand came up, slow and careful, brushing my cheek like I might break.

We both knew what was next.

The kiss.

We had rehearsed it in theory.

Timing. Blocking. Beat.

But no lips had ever touched. Until now.

He leaned in. I didn't move.

Our lips met—and I forgot the damn script.

---

It wasn't supposed to feel like this.

His lips were soft but assertive.

Warm but precise.

Like he knew what he wanted, and for two terrifying seconds, I wanted it too.

No acting.

No camera.

Just Ren.

Then I heard it.

"Cut!"

But we didn't.

Half a second passed.

His mouth still brushed mine.

No lines. No breath. No excuses.

And when we did pull away, my knees didn't quite hold up.

I caught a glimpse of the monitor behind the crew.

Naya, my roommate, stared at it with her mouth slightly open.

Shun dropped his notes.

Karin from digital whispered, "Did they... actually kiss-kiss?"

The director clapped once. "Okay, nice take. Let's do one safety!"

I wanted to crawl into the couch cushions and vanish.

---

The day kept going. Unfortunately.

Every time I looked up, Ren was somewhere in my periphery—pretending nothing happened.

He asked for lunch menus. He held the door.

Like the kiss had been a sneeze we politely ignored.

I avoided eye contact.

I avoided talking.

I avoided... myself.

---

Later that night, the silence was unbearable.

Naya sat on her bed across from mine, holding her phone.

She didn't look up when she said, "You kissed him for real, huh."

"It was in the script," I muttered.

She scoffed. "The script didn't say 'kiss him like your soul left your body'."

I threw a pillow at her.

---

At 2:17AM, I couldn't sleep.

I wandered into the common kitchen for water and found him already there—back to me, leaning on the counter, sipping something hot.

He looked over his shoulder.

"You still awake," he said. Not a question.

"Couldn't sleep."

Silence.

He set his mug down. "You okay?"

I nodded. "You?"

He didn't answer right away. Then: "You still thinking about today?"

My hand clenched the water glass. "You're not?"

Another silence.

Ren turned toward me, leaned back on the counter again.

"That wasn't just acting," he said finally.

I nearly dropped the glass.

"No," I breathed. "It wasn't."

---

We stood like that, in the dim kitchen glow, neither of us making a move.

Not toward each other. Not away.

Then his voice, low: "Do you regret it?"

I stared at him.

"No."

He stepped forward, just a little.

"That complicates things."

I let out a small laugh. "Understatement."

He looked at me like he wanted to say something else, then thought better of it.

"Good night, Noa."

And then he left.

Leaving me with a pulse like static and a glass of water I didn't even want.

---

At 9AM, Karin uploaded a short behind-the-scene reel on the studio account.

The last frame?

Our kiss.

Uncut.

#chemistry

#notacting

#somebodytellthem

The clip hit 700k in under 3 hours.

My phone blew up.

So did my head.

And Ren?

Ren sent one message.

> "We might need to talk."

---

To be continued.