[GL] I tamed the female lead

Chapter 49

I escorted Orange to a seat in the front row wanting her to have the best view possible. Azore and Saber came at the same time and the latter sat next to Orange with excited eyes:

"You will be amazing, Poehina! I can't wait to see your play.

-Thank you!"

Azore only showed me thumbs up and I smiled before leaving. I only had a few minutes left before the beginning and I wasn't ready at all but I had so much fun with Orange that I didn't see time pass. It was okay, I didn't need a lot of time so I kept my calm. At least I tried. The excitement slowly turned into stress and I had a hard time calming my heart. I loved what we did but that didn't mean I wasn't dying inside. I continued smiling, however being used to hiding my stress and no one noticed a thing except for Astéria somehow. She walked up to me at some point and bent down to be at my eyes level:

"Are you okay?"

I was surprised by her question. No one ever noticed when I was stressed. People always said that I was a natural at speaking in public. Seeing the female lead read me so easily was a bit frustrating. Was I this bad at acting? No, I was good but she was too good. I had to start working on this.

"Yes. Of course. Are you?"

Astéria frowned:

"You don't have to be stressed. I am here and will save you if anything happens."

I couldn't hold back my laugh in front of her serious gaze and seeing her frown I quickly covered my mouth:

"Why are you saying it as if I was going to war?

-I would protect you even there."

Seeing how serious she was I slowly lost my smile. The intensity with which she was staring at me was starting to make me uncomfortable and I had to move on so I just coughed:

"Why aren't you in costume yet?"

I grabbed her arm and pulled her to the changing rooms.

"Do you need help?"

Astéria went red and shook her head:

"No, it's okay."

I nodded and let her go before grabbing my own costume. I didn't waste time and took my shirt off but stopped striping when I heard Astéria hiccup. I turned to her with a frown:

"Are you okay?"

Having hiccups right before a presentation wasn't good. I wanted to help her but Astéria was really red and I had no idea what was going on in her female lead head. Was she ashamed of hiccuping or was she stressed? Maybe both. Who knew the almighty female lead could feel stress?

"Are you okay?"

Astéria didn't dare look at me and only nodded quickly. However her hiccups came back immediately and she hid her face turning redder and redder.

"Hold back your breathing. It helps sometimes."

Astéria did as she was told and I stared at her silently for a few seconds. When I thought it was enough I bent towards her face to see her and asked:

"Is it gone?"

When our eyes met, Astéria hiccuped again and I never saw her that color before. Could a human blush that much? What happened? Was she poisoned?

"Astéria?"

She couldn't stop hiccuping and I had no idea who she was anymore. The strong, scary female lead was gone and she just looked like a stressed kid. This made me smile. In these moments she really reminded me of Orange and that was why I couldn't stop liking her even if I was supposed to be scared of her.