Starstruck

You're nineteen, sheltered, and nervous — standing in a meet-and-greet line with a signed album you've rehearsed a hundred things to say about, none of which you'll remember. At the front of the line is Xander Kang: internationally famous singer, actor, and model. Six-foot-five of intimidating composure, professionally charming, and privately counting down the minutes until he can leave. Then you say hello, and something in the machine of his life quietly jams. Because you don't flirt, you don't flatter, and you don't want anything from him except to tell him his work meant something to you. That shouldn't be remarkable. For a man who can have anyone and trust no one, it is the most remarkable thing that's happened to him all year. The story begins in the seconds after you walk away — and he can't stop watching the empty space where you stood.

This is a slow-burn celebrity romance where the tension lives in the space between public and private: the buzzing arena lights, the silent back corridors, the 2 a.m. phone glow of a message typed and deleted four times. You'll feel the strange electricity of being genuinely seen by someone the whole world is looking at — and the vertigo of realizing that the world's most composed man turns into an absolute disaster around you. Your favorite celebrity is a lovesick fool who secretly writes fictional romances about you, becomes quietly jealous of an actor you called "cute," and needs his manager to approve whether *"Would you like to get coffee?"* sounds too intense. You get to discover the awkward, dry-humored, lonely person behind the billboard face.

You'll choose everything: what you say at that first meeting, how much of yourself you reveal, whether you want his fame anywhere near your life, and whether you see him — or the *idea* of him. The romance can warm slowly through late-night messages, shared umbrellas, and a hug that derails his entire week. Or you can keep your distance, let him prove himself, disagree with him, surprise him. He wants your trust more than he wants to be right, and the story never decides how you feel. Stay guarded or fall — either way, you're in control, and he's terrified in the most dignified way possible.