Behind the Script

Chapter 20: The Aftermath

Ling Ling smirked, pulling her blazer away from Orm's grasp. "Just giving the fans a little service, N'Orm."

Orm's laugh was light, but Ling Ling caught the flicker of something deeper—something Ling Ling quickly dismissed as another performance.

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The rest of the morning passed in a haze until Orm finally cornered her during a break in an empty room. 

"P'Ling," Orm said, her voice low, "are you trying to make me jealous?" 

Ling Ling didn't look up. "Is it working?" 

Orm exhaled sharply, her frustration palpable. "Why are you like this?" 

Ling Ling stood, her calm demeanor cracking. "Why am I like this? You're the one sending mixed signals, Orm. One moment, you're acting like I'm special, and the next, you're posting white hearts for someone else!" 

Orm froze, her brows knitting in confusion. "White hearts? What are you talking about?" 

"The sports person you were dating," Ling Ling snapped, the words spilling out. "I've seen the posts, the pictures, the comments. All those hearts—don't tell me they didn't mean anything. Are you guys together? If yes, please tell me and spare me!"

Orm stepped closer, her voice firm. "P'Ling, those hearts weren't for her. They were for you. And we are not together!" 

Ling Ling's breath hitched, but she refused to back down. "Don't lie to me, Orm. Don't make me feel like a fool for thinking I was different." 

Orm's frustration boiled over, her usual composure breaking. "You are different!" she said, her voice rising. "Do you think I look at anyone else the way I look at you? Do you think I'd let anyone else get under my skin like this?" 

Ling Ling blinked, stunned by the raw intensity in Orm's voice. 

Suddenly, Orm's shoulders dropped, and her voice softened, tinged with something that sounded painfully like defeat. "What did I do wrong, P'Ling?" 

Ling Ling faltered. "What?" 

Orm's jaw clenched as her eyes searched Ling Ling's face, desperate and vulnerable in a way she had never seen before. "I've done everything I could to show you how I feel. I tease you, I stay by your side, I look at you like you're the only one in the room. But no matter what I do, you still think it's for someone else. Tell me—what did I do wrong?" 

The weight of Orm's words hit Ling Ling like a punch to the chest. For the first time, she saw how much her doubt had hurt Orm. This wasn't the playful, confident Orm she knew. This was someone cracking under the pressure of being misunderstood. 

Ling Ling's voice was barely a whisper. "Orm... I didn't know." 

"You didn't know," Orm repeated bitterly, shaking her head. "How could you not know? You're supposed to see me, P'Ling. Not what the fans see. Not what Mae sees. Me." 

Ling Ling's eyes stung, and she hated how raw and exposed Orm looked in this moment. "I thought—" 

"You thought I didn't mean it?" Orm cut in, her voice breaking slightly. "That all of this—everything I've done—was just for the show? You think I'd risk this, us, for anyone else?" 

Ling Ling felt her walls shatter completely. "I thought you were just being Orm. You're so playful, so sure of yourself. I didn't think you could actually..." She trailed off, unable to say the words aloud. 

Orm let out a shaky breath, her frustration ebbing into something quieter but no less intense. "I've never been so sure of anything, P'Ling. But you—" She broke off, shaking her head again, her eyes glistening. "You make me feel like I'm chasing something I'll never catch." 

Ling Ling's chest tightened, guilt and regret pooling in her stomach. "I never meant to make you feel that way." 

"If you didn't mean it, then why can't you see me?" Orm asked softly, her voice trembling. "Why do you keep looking for reasons not to believe me?" 

Ling Ling couldn't answer. She didn't know how to explain the fear that had rooted itself so deeply in her heart. 

Orm exhaled heavily, taking a step back. "If we didn't have this show to shoot, if we didn't have all this makeup to worry about, I'd kiss you right now," she said, her voice steadier now but no less emotional. "And then maybe you'd finally understand." 

Ling Ling's breath caught, her heart aching at the raw honesty in Orm's words. 

"I don't want anyone else," Orm said, her hand brushing Ling Ling's in a fleeting touch. "And I don't want you thinking otherwise." 

For a moment, the world shrank to just the two of them. But then reality intruded—someone knocked on the door, calling them back to set. 

Orm sighed, stepping back reluctantly. "This isn't over, P'Ling." 

Ling Ling watched her leave, her emotions a storm she couldn't control. Orm's words echoed in her mind, unraveling every doubt she'd built around her heart. 

Could she really mean it?

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