Chapter 22 Sud
Chapter Twenty-two: Sud
The release of the unofficial trailer changes everything.
Suddenly, people everywhere recognize me and Noi.
The fansite message boards are talking about us nonstop, and we have a fan club.
They’ve named themselves the Stuffies—I think because my profile mentioned I like stuffed toys and that Sud once gave me a teddy bear.
(I did not mention that I like to sleep with it.)
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 Fire is 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 woman reapplying 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.
“We’ve had a lot of mail from you. P’Sud and I want to express our appreciation for forming a fan club for us.”
His unexpected use of the honorific when he isn’t apologizing to me for something makes my heart flip.
Noi and I respectfully wai at the screen, and then I hand Noi a box I’ve opened with my pocketknife.
He pulls out a large yellow stuffed cat and a pink stuffed bear. The chat fills with comments that the cat is Sud and the bear, obviously, is Mee Noi.
“Oh, how cute!” Noi enthuses. For an introvert, he’s doing really well taking the lead on this live. It probably helps that he can’t see the people he’s talking to.
“Look, Sud, it’s us. You are kind of like a big cat. All sleek and graceful.”
For some reason, that makes me blush, and the fans notice, their comments flooding the chat.
Noticing the bear has Velcro on its paws, I lean over and latch its arms around the cat’s neck, then I hold it up for the camera.
ProudStuffie25: Ooh! P’Sud made P’Mee Noi hug his neck!
B0yzlove13: How cute! P’Mee Noi should hug the real P’Sud.
“They want you to hug me,” I tell Noi, after reading the screen.
Noi smiles in a way I can only describe as flirty—a look he’s never directed at me before that I can remember—and I can’t deny that it does something to me. Setting down the stuffed animals, he wraps his arms around me. I can hear the comments pinging as they come in fast and furious.
Blsmylife2010: Awww! So cute! Now P’Sud is really blushing!
ProudStuffie25: OMG, I love them (five heart emojis)
MMMromanceluvr: Yes!
Asiandramaguru555: Cute, but fanservice.
“Noi and I are best friends. We hug all the time. It’s not fanservice,” I say when I read that comment.
Fans comment on how much they love that. Someone says, “Are you sure just friends?” but we ignore it.
While we chat and unwrap and make a fuss over the gifts, Noi and I take turns answering questions, although we have to skip some due to inappropriate content or trolling.
We ignore those, but our fans go on the attack, driving those commentors out.
Someone suggests we assign a moderator next time to keep out the troublemakers.
An hour later, the floor is covered in wrappings and gifts. I’m surprised by the number of handmade items we received. When Noi unwraps framed fanart of the two of us, tears fill his eyes.
B0yzlove13: Aahhh, don’t cry, Baby Mee Noi!
BamBamMyMan23: No, no, don’t cry!
HiKitty618: Oh, now I’m crying! (four crying face emojis)
SudMeeNoiFan2025: Mee Noi’s crying!
Yaoimangaguy69: It’s okay, Mee Noi. (seven heart emojis)
Overwhelmed, I hold back my own tears while patting Noi’s back. When he starts wiping at his tears with his sleeves, I go find him a box of tissues. When I get back, I hand them to Noi and address the chat participants.
“We don’t know how to thank you all for your support. Noi and I are working hard to give you the best performance we can give. We hope we won’t disappoint you.”
FahRama_ghostship: You could never disappoint us!
LyknLustgrl: Don’t worry about that, P’Sud. We won’t be disappointed.
Tar_Stan24: Take care of yourselves, that’s all we want!
When we end the live, I fall back against the couch, exhausted.
“Are you okay?” I ask Noi.
He nods. “That was a lot.”
“Yeah, it was. By the end of the chat, there were over nine hundred people on it.” I look around at all the picture frames, art, and toys. “What are we going to do with all of this?”
“I want this fan art,” Noi says, clutching the laminated pages to his chest.
“I don’t mean I want to get rid of any of it, but how and where are we going to put it?”
“Maybe Mae and Pah will store it for us. Later, we can go through it all and decide what to keep and what to donate.” Noi looks around. “I hate to get rid of any of it, though. I can’t believe people out there like us so much that they spent hours making us gifts.”
I nod. It’s very humbling.