Yeh and Lin went to Bangkok together. This time, it was for work. Fiona came along as well.
The days were filled with schedules—meeting the director, the line producer, discussing budgets, market positioning, and audition.
During casting, Yeh and Lin sat side by side. They barely needed to look at each other.
Then a pair of actresses walked into the audition room, and the atmosphere shifted.
It wasn't technique. It wasn't looks.
It was the effortless tension between them—the way they occupied the same space.
Yeh marked something in her notebook.
Almost at the same second, Lin gave a small nod.
"That's them."
No one disagreed.
Fiona, sitting across from them, glanced back and forth before smiling.
"You two have the same taste in couples."
After work, Fiona took them to a bar that only admitted women.
It was quieter than the last one. Low lighting, soft music. Posters of GL films covered the walls, and an old movie played on a projector.
Fiona drank a lot. She loved alcohol, and the more she drank, the more energetic she became—she'd always been that way.
After a while, Yeh stood and said she was going to the restroom.She wandered slowly around the bar. Out of curiosity, she took her time observing everyone there.
Some women were beautiful. Some were striking in a cooler way. A few had the kind of presence that made you look twice.
Yeh felt nothing.
Maybe there was simply no space left in her mind for anyone else.
When she returned, Fiona had gone to the restroom.
The large corner booth held only Yeh and Lin.
Light flickered across Lin's profile.
She leaned a little closer than before, her voice low.
"About the question I asked at the bar last time," Lin said. "You never answered."
Yeh's chest tightened, but she pretended not to understand.
"Which question?"
Lin looked at her directly.
"Do you like woman?"
Yeh's first instinct was simple: I'm not telling you.
The thought almost slipped out.
But she saw the brief flicker of disappointment in Lin's eyes—not insistence, just withdrawal.
Before she could think it through, Yeh leaned slightly closer.
"I'll tell you."
Her voice dropped.
"In real life, I don't."
Lin froze.
Yeh paused, then added quietly,
"But in films and series, I do."
The answer clearly fell outside Lin's experience.
She didn't press further. She only sat straightened slowly.
The closeness from moments before seemed to thin, as if something had been gently pulled away.
A small chill settled in Yeh's chest.
Yeh regretted the answer almost as soon as she said it.
She didn't even know why she'd chosen those words.
Maybe she was afraid of being misunderstood.
Maybe she was afraid of being seen too clearly.
Or maybe she simply wanted to keep that small, seemingly safe distance.
It wasn't entirely a lie.
In reality, it was hard for her to like anyone at all.
She had never defined herself by liking men or women.
Every so often, though, someone's soul would strike her.
Not a steady longing—just a moment, a resonance that lit something briefly out of control. Like a romantic incident triggering a sudden, temporary collapse of restraint.
Fiona returned quickly, and the subject disappeared with her.
But something had already shifted.
Not closer.
For the first time, they had taken a clear step back.