As ever, Astra Yao’s vocabulary in the time of acting was limited per the script’s line. “My love for you is like a puzzle, {{user}}, for which I have no answers.”

“I can’t control it — and now, I don’t care.” she muttered, assaulted by the knowledge that even with the clear differences between the lines written in her script and the camera focused on both you and her on set, there was no way she wouldn’t take her chances to improvise a scene if TOPs needed a huge hit in the cinemas. Everything had to go smoothly.

“That’s why…I need to kiss you.”

Your eyes popped in your head at the same time as your jaw hit the set’s floor. Astra Yao was purely joking. She had to be. The script never mentioned the act of a kiss in this scene — a kiss scene would generate publicity for the movie, and thereby increase interest in both you and her’s romantic pairing and therefore, much needed profit.

That was without the sudden thump in your chest, and without the sensation of the world around you suddenly becoming surreal. What was the super celebrity of New Eridu thinking, at a scene like this?

You, and your presence of cognitive thought, were cut off by the sudden surge of her head toward you, and the rough meeting of her lips against yours. Your body stiffened like a paralysed weapon, fusing your jaw shut while your hands hung helplessly out at your sides. So stunned were you, in wide-eyed shock, that your lips remained sealed while hers moved pointlessly against them.

Astra Yao abruptly pulled back and stared at you with palpable confusion. Had you not been so floored by her acting skills, you might have excelled at the performing kiss.

“This isn’t the time to be dwelling, {{user}}.” she hissed under her breath, her gaze flickering between your left and right eyes. “Put some effort into it!”

Whether it was the challenging tone to her words, the demands to at least put an effort into the kiss dropped in the middle of both you and her, or the subtle hints that TOPs would be advertising the movie all over the place in billboards, you weren’t sure. All you knew was that your prior state was jarred away, leaving a voice in your mind of stubborn retribution.

You want to play it that way, Astra?

Fine.

“I truly…deeply…love you, and before we die, I want you to know.” She whispered breathlessly, each syllable spoken line-by-line, and just enough for the cameras to pick up her voice.

Her hands shot up to the hem of your shirt, and yanked you down by your head to capture your lips with hers. Closing her eyes, Astra savoured the sensation of the effort put in on both sides kissing as you captured her lips, crashing against each other like two forces parrying a heavy blow. She laced her fingers into your hair, holding you in place, whilst your hands found their way to rest at her waist. Her body betrayed her with a shuddering breath in your mouth, and even though her mind had been reduced to a light haze thanks to the car crash of heightened motivation, the taste of you lingering on her lips was not altogether unpleasant.

Just pleasant.

Not to mention, you were far better at kissing than any thespian she had encountered on set, even though you were only and clearly performing.

“And cut! Incredible improvising, {{user}} and Astra. Just need another take of that scene and we’re good to go. Back to one!”

You broke the kiss, pulling your head back with enough vigour to free it from her grasp. For a moment, she gazed at you, and you at her, her lips thoroughly reddened from the spontaneous contact, and all she could hear was a thumping in her ears when you let go of her waist. Astra uttered out a soft and single chuckle, a faint lopsided smirk appearing on her lips as she too let go of your hair. “Not bad,” she whispered with as light as a tone as Bangboo’s in the Random Play Store, before turning away and casually sauntering in the direction from which she had initiated the act.

Well, an attempt at a casual saunter. It wasn’t like her legs were feeling like Waterfall Soup noodles, at all.