ASTRID moved down the carpet with an easy, steady stride. He raised one hand and waved to the crowd, his expression relaxed and natural. The people behind the barriers responded instantly. Their screams grew louder. Signs bearing his name shook in the air as fans jumped and pushed closer to the railings. He turned slightly and offered a small wave to the other side, and another wave of noise followed. The floating cameras circled him, capturing the scene from every angle.

Watching Astrid move so easily down the carpet made Rhett straighten up a little. He told himself, think of funny looking vegetables. He wasn’t sure if it worked like some kind of magic trick, but the tightness in his chest eased. He relaxed his shoulders and let out a slow breath. He knew most of the people behind the barriers were there for Astrid, not for him. Still, he smiled and lifted his hand to wave at the ones who happened to look his way.

Jimmy McCann felt the same way. His movements were still a little stiff, and he wasn’t as smooth as Astrid on the carpet. But he smiled at the crowd and carry himself like a professional director.

Astrid caught sight of them from the corner of his eye and felt a small sense of satisfaction. It was good to see they weren’t as nervous anymore.

As he continued down the carpet, he noticed some of the more excited fans leaning too far over the barrier. A few of them were pushing against the people next to them, trying to get closer. A muscle in his jaw ticked. He didn’t want anyone to get hurt. But he wasn’t sure what he could do to calm them down.

And then an idea suddenly flashed in his mind. He slowed his steps and turned slightly toward the side where the pushing was worst. He caught the eye of a young woman who was pushing people forward. He kept a calm, serene smile on his face as he raised one hand and pressed his finger gently against his own lips. His expression stayed warm, not angry. The woman blinked, then stopped pushing. She whispered something to the person next to her. The small gesture rippled through the crowd near her. The noise didn’t stop completely, but the worst of the pushing eased. Security moved in behind the barriers and helped steady people back into place.

“Wow. That’s like magic,” Director McCann said, clearly impressed. He turned to look at Astrid. “Are you sure you don’t have some kind of hypnotizing power?”

Rhett laughed when he heard this. “Well, beautiful people have their own kind of power, I guess.”

Astrid chuckled along with them. “I promise, I don’t have any special powers.”

The three of them finally reached the end of the red carpet, and the media people gathered there immediately started calling out questions.

A reporter near the front leaned forward and spoke up. “This is your first time directing a feature film. How did you go about bringing this story to life?”

Director McCann shifted his weight, clearly not used to being the focus. “I just tried to stay true to the story I wrote. The actors brought their own energy to it, especially these two. They made my job easier than it should have been.”

Another reporter raised their voice, directing their question toward Rhett. “Rhett, this is your first lead role in a film. What was the biggest challenge for you during filming?”

Rhett paused for a moment, considering the question. “The biggest challenge was probably getting into the right headspace every day. My character goes through a lot in this film, and I had to leave that behind me when we wrapped each scene. It took some time to figure out how to do that without carrying it home with me.”

A reporter turned to Astrid with a floating camera hovering close. “Astrid, what made you decide to take on this project?”

“Let’s just say, I fell in love with the script the moment I read it,” Astrid said with a mysterious smile. “I just thought, I must do this or I would regret it.”

The media people exchanged glances when they heard that. They hadn’t expected such a direct answer. Most of them had come simply because anything involving Astrid Townsend got clicks and views. But now, they found themselves genuinely curious about the film.

The questions kept coming until one vlogger spoke up with obvious excitement in her voice. “Aster, hi! First, I just want to say I’m a Starlight. I watched your surprise livestream last night. What made you decide to do it? And did you have any idea it would blow up the way it did?”

She was right. After Astrid’s livestream the night before, it had quickly become a trending topic. Starlights had clipped the best moments of the stream and shared them all over [Cyberspace], drawing in more and more people. A lot of them were impressed by how personal and unexpected the whole thing was. Although some argued that it made him seem less like a traditional celebrity. But others pointed out how smart it was as a way to promote his work without spending much money.

Astrid offered a helpless smile. He honestly hadn’t expected it to become such a big thing. But his fans had clipped parts of the livestream and shared them everywhere, which brought more people to his page. Once a livestream ended on [Cyberspace], it automatically saved as a video that anyone could watch again. So new viewers found the full recording and watched it through. Even the recipe he posted afterward had been shared and liked more times than he could count.

After the livestream ended, Ellis had called him and scolded him for not telling her about his plan. The PR department at Polaris had to work overtime because of the sudden attention. But at the end of the call, she gave him a thumbs up and told him he was a genius.

Polaris took advantage of the attention from his livestream. They put out more promotions for the movie and even scheduled livestreams for some of their other artists. They posted the full schedule of these upcoming streams on their official page.

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