Her name was Mint.
Just *Mint*.
Like the leaf. Or the toothpaste. Or the kind of mistake you only make once.
Noa hated her instantly.
She had legs for days, lips like a Photoshop filter, and a walk that suggested she'd had sex on every surface in Las Vegas—including this hallway.
Ren was speechless.
"Hi," Mint purred, offering a hand. "I'm your co-star for Scene 4. I'm playing the 'temptress who teaches the soft boy how to sin.'"
Ren blinked. "Oh. Uh. Cool."
Noa narrowed her eyes. "You're just here for one scene, right?"
Mint smiled sweetly. "Unless the chemistry's too hot to waste."
---
Scene 4: **Bathtub Seduction.**
Set: Faux-marble jacuzzi.
Props: Wine, chocolate sauce, waterproof camera.
Wardrobe: Nothing.
Mood: Steamy. Literally.
Cherry Moon clapped her hands. "All right, darlings! This is a Mint & Ren exclusive. Noa, take five. Maybe... hydrate."
Noa stood stiffly off-set, wrapped in a robe, sipping orange juice she wished was tequila.
The camera rolled.
Mint slid into the tub beside Ren, every movement calculated.
She dripped water down her chest on purpose. Bit into a strawberry. Whispered something that made Ren flinch.
Noa gritted her teeth.
Luis whispered beside her, "Wow. That's some natural tension."
"It's murder," Noa muttered.
---
Mint moaned softly, leaning closer to Ren.
Ren smiled—nervously.
Noa squinted. She knew that smile. It wasn't lust. It was **"I'm trying not to panic but my penis is floating."**
Still. She couldn't shake the knot in her chest.
Then Mint giggled and said, "Oops, slipped," before straddling Ren in the water.
Noa's cup cracked in her hand.
---
Scene ended.
Mint wrapped a towel around herself like she owned the planet.
Ren emerged red-faced, dripping, half-hard, and fully mortified.
"You okay?" Noa asked.
He nodded. "She sat on my *soul*."
"She also licked your collarbone."
"She thought it was chocolate."
"It was."
They both shuddered.
---
Back in their room, the silence was thick.
Ren sat on the edge of the bed, toweling his hair. "She was just doing her job."
"She was doing *you*."
Ren looked up. "Are you jealous?"
Noa scoffed. "What? No."
Pause.
"Yes."
Pause.
"Maybe."
He smiled a little.
She threw a pillow at him. "Shut up."
He caught it. "You were watching."
"You looked… into it."
"I was panicking."
"You moaned."
"You ever had hot fudge poured down your back during a panic attack?!"
Noa burst out laughing.
---
Later that night, Ren peeked into her room.
She was scrolling through their fan page again.
New post:
**"Scene 4: Minty Fresh"**
Caption: *"Is Ren better off with someone who knows what she's doing?"*
Noa scowled. "Stupid fans."
Ren leaned against the door. "Hey."
She looked up.
"I don't want her."
She hesitated.
"I don't even *like* mint," he added.
She laughed.
And then whispered, "Good."
---
He walked in. Sat beside her.
Their knees touched.
No words.
Just quiet breathing.
And slowly, their fingers found each other—tangled, warm, shaking.
Mint might've been the scene.
But this?
This was the part that wasn't acting.