I Ran Away After Flirting with the Goddess - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

What is one second in hell and one second in heaven? This is it.

One moment, the Goddess declares she is straight; the next, she is about to rehearse a kiss scene with her.

Nervously, An Rongrong placed the script on her lap, picked up her mineral water, unscrewed the cap, and took a careful sip to avoid smudging her lipstick.

This was Director Mao’s personal habit: he liked to start with slightly intense scenes to help the actors find their chemistry with one another.

Back when Towards the Sun was filmed, it was said that the very first shot was the scene where the university student played by Shen Lishu runs for her life on a torrential rainy night.

Even though it was pitch black ahead and the road was muddy and treacherous, and the female lead had lost her shoes and was running barefoot with wet hair plastered to her face, she didn’t dare stop or look back, terrified that the light of a flashlight might be following her.

That scene had left the deepest impression on An Rongrong. While watching, her scalp tightened and her heart wrenched.

She was afraid the student would be caught again, and even more afraid of the villagers beating her. At the time, she had desperately wanted to take the panting, exhausted Shen Lishu’s hand and run forward with her, pleading with her not to stop.

Indulgence, however, was different from Towards the Sun; it was a romance drama.

And the kiss scene they were filming today took place during the peak of Ye Tan and Luo Yue’s relationship.

The two had started a secret underground romance, hiding it from all their colleagues. In public, they maintained a professional distance, but in private, a single look or a simple touch was enough to keep them secretly blissful for half a day.

But for two adults, this kind of interaction was both innocent and torturous, like scratching an itch through a boot.

Ye Tan yearned for more intimate contact with Luo Yue, and Luo Yue felt the same way.

On this day, all the colleagues had left. Only Ye Tan was still working overtime. Luo Yue held her water cup, peeked into the glass office, and dawdled at her desk, lingering instead of standing up to leave.

By politely declining invitations from others to go out for dinner or shopping, Luo Yue successfully remained behind.

After the last colleague picked up their bag and left, Luo Yue waited patiently for five minutes before standing up to find Ye Tan.

She tapped her knuckles lightly on the glass door. Her beautiful, clean eyes were full of smiles. Blushing slightly and feeling a bit shy, she looked at Ye Tan, who had raised her head to look at her, and asked softly, “May I come in?”

Luo Yue came from a family of scholars; both her parents were university professors. This family environment had cultivated her quiet and gentle personality.

In Ye Tan’s words, Luo Yue was as clean as the moon in the sky.

“Of course.” Surprised, Ye Tan stood up and offered her chair, looking so excited she was a bit at a loss for words.

Luo Yue was no better. She sat down stiffly, not daring to meet Ye Tan’s eyes. She twisted her hands together in front of her, searching for something to say. “How much work do you have left?”

“Not much, just the finishing touches.” On the surface, Ye Tan looked relaxed, leaning against her desk with her knees bent, looking down at Luo Yue in the chair. In reality, her fingers were secretly gripping the edge of the desk behind her.

The air in the glass office seemed to slowly grow stifling. Ye Tan wanted to unbutton her shirt, but her hands felt as if they were glued to the desk and couldn’t be pulled away.

From the time they confirmed their relationship until now, they hadn’t spent time alone like this at the workplace. Afraid of scaring Luo Yue, Ye Tan usually only held her hand or, at most, kissed her forehead—nothing more.

Ye Tan was not a vegetarian, nor did she advocate for Platonic love. She actually wanted a lot, but since Luo Yue was the one she had “turned” gay, Ye Tan didn’t dare take risks easily.

“Am I affecting your work? Should I wait for you outside?” Luo Yue looked up at Ye Tan, making a move to stand up.

“You’re not.” Ye Tan’s body reacted faster than her brain. She propped her hands on the armrests of the chair, leaning over to lock Luo Yue in place. “Don’t go.”

They were almost face-to-face, suddenly extremely close, to the point where they could feel each other’s breath and heartbeat.

Ye Tan stared at Luo Yue for a few seconds and finally couldn’t resist tilting her head to kiss her.

Luo Yue panicked for a moment, her eyelashes fluttering rapidly, not even knowing whether to close her eyes.

“Do you find me… disgusting?” Ye Tan pulled back slightly, cupping the side of her face with one hand and asking cautiously.

Though startled, Luo Yue shook her head without hesitation.

Ye Tan stared fixedly at Luo Yue. Seeing no hint of revulsion or rejection in her eyes, her excitement surged like a flood breaking through a dam, nearly swallowing her whole.

Ye Tan pressed her knee between the folds of Luo Yue’s skirt, kneeling with one leg on the chair. She bent her waist, pressing her down into the chair, and kissed her deeply.

This was their first kiss scene and the very first shot of Indulgence.

Shen Lishu, of course, couldn’t actually press down on An Rongrong and kiss her for real during a rehearsal, so they were just going over the lines and the blocking.

To suit her character today, Shen Lishu was wearing black pencil pants and silver stilettos. Her ankles were slender and bony, and the open-toed shoes fully showcased the advantage of her long legs.

On her upper body, Shen Lishu wore a deep green solid-colored silk shirt. She had unbuttoned two buttons at the collar, revealing half of her snowy-white, delicate collarbones. Her wavy long hair was tied up. Her makeup was exquisite, with a reddish lip color—a clean and capable workplace look.

“Don’t be nervous,” Shen Lishu smiled, noticing An Rongrong gripping her water bottle. “How about we go over other scenes first? We can leave this one for when we’re actually filming.”

An Rongrong nodded like a chicken pecking grain. She was afraid she would get too into the character during the kiss and scare Shen Lishu.

The Goddess’s workplace uniform look today hit every one of An Rongrong’s preferences! She kind of wanted to take a photo with her phone to use as wallpaper but didn’t dare be too bold.

The two went through the rest of the lines simply. Although An Rongrong had majored in acting, this was technically her first real scene.

After listening quietly for a few sentences, Shen Lishu keenly sensed that An Rongrong’s pronunciation wasn’t very stable.

It wasn’t noticeable when speaking calmly, but as soon as there was a bit of emotional fluctuation, her voice would crack or tremble.

Director Mao’s films always used the actors’ original voices; there was no such thing as post-production dubbing or voice actors. As long as An Rongrong wasn’t mute, she had to do it herself.

However, in Indulgence, the character Luo Yue was quiet and not someone who would scream or shout, so this small flaw of An Rongrong’s seemed inconsequential.

“You’ve memorized them very well,” Shen Lishu praised her, then asked curiously, “I heard you debuted in a girl group?”

Coming from a girl group, she must be good at singing and dancing. Since she could do that, her lung capacity should be great—so why was her breath support lacking?

An Rongrong felt a bit shy and picked at the plain white flowers on her skirt. Her large, watery eyes looked at Shen Lishu as if seeking praise. “I passed every dance test on the first try, always with the highest score.”

She was incredibly proud.

Shen Lishu had a bad feeling. “And the singing?”

“Singing…” An Rongrong blinked a few times, choosing her words carefully. “It was okay.”

That “okay” was rather thought-provoking.

Shen Lishu tried her best to restrain her curiosity and didn’t ask An Rongrong to perform a song on the spot.

She had a feeling she might regret it if she heard it.

The filming set was mostly ready. The assistant director came to knock on the door, poking her head in while holding the handle. “Teachers, we’re getting ready to start filming.”

The filming location was chosen to be on the sixty-sixth floor of an urban office building, said to be for good luck. Don’t look at Director Mao’s rough exterior; he was actually very particular about small details when filming.

“It’s so high,” An Rongrong marveled.

Looking out the window from this height, one could almost see the entire scenery of Shanghai.

An Rongrong asked curiously, “The rent here must be very expensive, right?”

“That’s why we should try to get it in one take.” The assistant director was a woman in her early thirties with a good temper. Hearing An Rongrong’s question, she couldn’t help but chime in, whispering to her, “Try to have as few NGs as possible.”

This film’s orientation was too niche; they couldn’t do massive publicity or attract too much mainstream traffic, so the budget given by the investors wasn’t high.

The only saving grace was that Best Actress Shen had only asked for a symbolic fee; otherwise, the money would have been mostly spent just on hiring her.

No one else in the drama had a status higher than Shen Lishu, and An Rongrong was a newcomer, so they hadn’t spent much on the cast.

So where did the money go?

Naturally, it was spent on the “blade’s edge”—the locations, clothes, and props. Director Mao pursued extreme perfection; everything used was the best, and he wished he could split every penny in two.

An Rongrong gave the assistant director an ‘OK’ sign. “I’ll definitely work hard!”

“You can do it.” The assistant director cheered her on.

Director Mao looked up from the monitor. After confirming everything was ready, he picked up his megaphone and shouted, “Everyone in position! Makeup artist, one last check on the leads’ makeup. If there are no issues, we’re rolling.”

To pursue good luck, usually the very first shot is done in one take; this symbolizes that the rest of the filming will definitely go smoothly.

While other directors with such superstitions would choose the simplest shot for the first take, Director Mao was different. He was particular, yet he also wanted to film the hardest part first.

This was quite difficult for people.

“Teacher Shen’s first shot for Towards the Sun was a one-take,” the assistant director said, having worked with Director Mao many times.

An Rongrong’s eyes went wide. She looked at Shen Lishu beside her and couldn’t help but whisper in awe, “But that was a long take!”

And it was done in one go!

The Goddess is a beast!

Shen Lishu glanced over and added with a smile, “It had to be one take. After all, for that torrential rain, Director Mao waited in that mountain area for nearly half a month. He was covered in mosquito bites, and his whole body was swollen—he looked like a grizzly bear that had been stung by bees. He had a terrible temper back then.”

An Rongrong burst out laughing at the mental image.

No matter how good her mindset was or how many times she had been on stage, she couldn’t help but feel nervous as filming approached, especially with the pressure of the “one-take” hanging over her.

Only then did Shen Lishu tell her about Director Mao’s past misfortunes to ease her mood and distract her. “Feeling better?”

“Much better,” An Rongrong felt warm inside. She took a deep breath, her eyes serious. “Thank you.”

Shen Lishu smiled. Noticing Director Mao wasn’t looking, she leaned in to whisper in An Rongrong’s ear, “I’ll lead you later. Just hand your body over to me. Just sit there and don’t move.”

If Shen Lishu hadn’t said she was straight before, An Rongrong would have suspected she was an “experienced driver” based on that sentence alone.

Director Mao’s megaphone sounded again. “Everyone in position! Indulgence, Scene 1, Shot 1, Kiss Scene, Action!”

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