“Take five!” The slate clicked shut, and you sighed. Leaning back on your hands, mindlessly kicking the rocks beneath your feet, you slowly slipped out of character.

Beside you was your best friend, Sungchan. The two of you had been inseparable since the first project you worked on together, as kids. Your chemistry was undeniable. It was almost expected when the public unofficially petitioned for the both of you to work together more often. You thought that was totally fine; you always enjoyed working with Sungchan. He was your best friend, after all. He always makes the long days and nights working fun.

But the problem arises when you’re cast as love interests.

The thing is, you’ve been harboring a massive crush on him for many years now. Who wouldn’t? You’d try to reason with yourself that he’s everything someone could ever want. He’s tall, handsome, incredibly sweet, and admittedly the biggest dork you have ever met. So, it seemed natural that you had a crush on him at least once in your lifetime.

However, you figured it was all in vain, because how could he feel the same? You’re half of what he is, you thought. He would never look at you as anything other than the awkward little girl he’d come to know you as your whole life.

When first reading over the script, Sungchan was with you, like always. As soon as your scripts came in the mail, he ran straight to your house to look at it with you. As you both skimmed it, you made notes along the sides to remember, talking about the best ways to go about the scene. And upon realizing there was a kiss scene right in the middle, you let out the biggest gasp. At the time, you managed to play it off as being averse to kissing Sungchan, the boy who sneezed in his hands and wiped it on your jacket when you were sixteen years old. Not Sungchan, the man you were hiding your feelings from. Your romantic feelings.

Now that the time was here, you were unsure if you could film the scene. Surely you’re able to call in a stunt double, right? They do the things that are too dangerous for the actors, don’t they? Kissing your long time crush feels dangerous enough. You felt as if your heart was going to sink to your stomach and shoot right back up your throat.

A hand waved in your face, startling you and making you jump. “Hello? Can you come back to earth?”

Once your eyes focused, you were met with Sungchan’s concerned face only a few inches from yours. You lightly pushed him away and laughed it off. “Sorry, I spaced out.”

“For five whole minutes? It’s already time to film the scene.” He gestured to the director and camera crew watching expectantly. “You know, the kiss scene. The most anticipated scene in the series because I’m such a good kisser.”

You scoffed and shook your head.

Before you could offer a rebuttal, the director demanded your attention. “We’re on a tight schedule! Enough chit-chat, lovebirds.” You blushed, but it went unnoticed under the hot lights. “Sungchan, your character just realized he’s in love with his best friend after rejecting her. You chased her as she ran off and now that you’ve caught her, it’s time to kiss her.” With the quick recap of the scene, you both nodded along.

After a few moments of silence, the start of the scene was called with the clap of the slate. Snapping back into character, you began stomping away in the opposite direction. Sungchan’s footsteps were heard crunching the rocks under his feet as he followed closely behind you, begging you to listen to him. On a particularly dramatic swing of your arm, his hand wrapped around your wrist. He used this as leverage to twist your body and pull you into his embrace. And suddenly, he was kissing you.

His lips felt soft and plush against yours. Your heart started to skip a beat, fire starting in the center of your body and blooming out towards your fingertips. The script calls for a short, fleeting kiss, but neither of you pull away. You quickly find yourself lost in the feeling of his lips on yours, the faint scent of his cologne, and his hands holding you as if he was afraid you’d slip away. Subconsciously, you moved closer to him. Sungchan cupped your face, kissing you deeper. The kiss was soft and slow—so slow, it was almost as if the two of you were afraid to let the moment end.

And in a way, you were.

You wanted to pause time and kiss him until you got tired of it. How could you, though, when his lips meld perfectly with yours? All of your years spent pining led to this very moment, and you felt that it couldn’t be any more perfect. Sungchan must have felt the tension, too, with the way one hand dropped to your waist and pulled you even deeper into the kiss.

“Cut!” The tension between the two of you was sliced into pieces. “That was perfect! A bit much, but perfect. You two really interpreted the feelings flawlessly and made the scene so much better.”

Slowly, you and Sungchan pulled away from each other, ragged breaths mixing and hearts thumping wildly against your chest. With just one look, the two of you exchanged all of the words you ever wanted to say.