P’Sign tells us to post on social media as much as possible. Noi and I both make new accounts on Instagram, Tiktok, and Bluesky, and suddenly we’re taking photos of what we eat and selfies of where we go so that we have something to post. Staff members take candid shots of us between scenes and during breaks and post them on Rainbow TV’s website, and Noi and I take on just about every TikTok trend there is.
One day while taking a break onset, I’m concentrating on watching Noi, who is in this scene without me, when I feel someone hovering nearby.
“Oh, sorry. Can I do something for you?” I say to a girl around my age. She looks familiar, but I can’t place her.
Color blooms on her cheeks. She gives the wai. “I just wanted to say hello, P’Sud.”
I must look blank, because she adds, “My name’s Cora, and I’m in the theater arts faculty with you. I, uh, gave you cookies a couple of times.”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t recognize you away from school.” I suddenly remember she not only gave me cookies more than once, but she also confessed that she liked me.Crap.
“I’m interning here this summer,” Cora says.
“Oh, that’s cool.”
“I’m just a runner, but I get to see everything that’s going on. It’s really awesome that you got a part in this bl series.”
I nod, a little uncomfortable. At school, I’m used to getting attention from girls. I tend to brush them off, which Noi has scolded me for more than once. Cora made me cookies and put herself out there to tell me she likes me, and I probably didn’t give her the time of day. Feeling like a jerk, I chat with her for a while and promise myself I’ll make an effort to smile and greet her when I see her around the set.
If Noi and I receive a lot of attention these days, it’s still nowhere close to what P’Tar and P’Payu get.Hearts Set on Fireis their second series together. The first one, in which they were the lead couple, was a huge hit and catapulted their ship to number one. P’Tar once told me that he feels very pressured for this one to be as popular. I know it wasn’t intentional, but that comment put a lot of pressure on me in turn. I’ve never told Noi. I don’t want him worrying about it. Acting isn’t easy, and our director isn’t exactly known for his patience. I can tell Noi is having a rough time, frustrated when he gets something wrong.
On a relatively light day of filming, I notice Noi standing off to the side of the set, biting his nails. As soon as the womanreapplying powder to my face is finished, I go to him and wrap my arms around his waist from the back, propping my chin on his shoulder.
“Are you okay?
“Of course. Why do you ask?”
“You’re biting your nails. P’Nang will be over here with a file if you don’t stop.” P’Nang is Rainbow TV’s head makeup artist. At the moment she’s doing her best to make a curl on P’Tar’s forehead stay put.
Noi stuffs his hands in his pockets. “I’m fine. I didn’t realize I was doing it.”
“Which is how I know something’s bothering you.” I give him a squeeze and let him go. “If it’s that little mess-up with your lines, it was no big deal.”
“Says you,” Noi mumbles. “You never screw up your lines.”
“I’ve had a lot more practice at it than you have. Give yourself a break, Noi.”
He shrugs.
Stepping closer to him while blocking him from sight with my body, I tip up his chin with my finger. “Seriously. Are you okay?”
“I said I was.” He tries to pull away, but I grip his chin. “Look at me, Noi.”
Reluctantly, he lifts his eyes to meet mine. “You’d tell me if anything was wrong, wouldn’t you?” I ask.
A corner of his mouth lifts. “Don’t I always?”
“I don’t know anymore,” I say.
“Nongs!” the director’s assistant’s voice clangs through the cavernous room like a bell with a damaged clapper.
Noi makes a face, and I can’t help but smile.
***
At P’Sign’s suggestion, Noi and I do a live chat on Instagram. We do it in my apartment when my roommates aren’t home and unbox some of the gifts that have been sent to us by fans. I can’t believe we even have any fans when, other than the series trailer, the most we’ve done is appear on a Rainbow TV game show where we did things like pop balloons against each other’s back and team up with other actors in a game of volleyball.
“Hello, Stuffies!” Noi says when the live chat begins, waving with both hands at the screen. Already, more than three hundred people have joined, and the comments are coming in fast.