BEYOND THE SCREEN

The first thing Dahlia Okafor saw every morning wasn't the ceiling of her bedroom.

It was him.

Shen Minghou smiled down at her from the life-sized poster covering the wall opposite her bed. Morning sunlight slipped through the curtains, warming the edges of his face until it almost looked as though he were smiling directly at her.

She smiled back.

"Good morning," she whispered, stretching lazily before hugging the pillow beside her.

His face was printed on it too.Most people would have found it strange.

Her mother certainly did."Dahlia!" her mother's voice echoed from downstairs. "If you're not awake in the next five minutes, I'm giving your breakfast to the dog!""I'm awake!" Dahlia laughed.

She reluctantly placed the pillow back on the bed, careful not to wrinkle the custom-made pillowcase she'd ordered online.

Her room looked less like a bedroom and more like a fan museum.l,Posters,Photo cards,Drama DVDs,A shelf filled with magazines featuring one face.

Shen Minghou.

China's biggest actor.The king of romance dramas.Her lock screen?

Shen.

Wallpaper?

Shen

Laptop sticker?

Shen.

Even the mug she drank tea from carried his smiling face.

Her best friend, Amara, once joked that if Shen Minghou sneezed in Beijing, Dahlia would say "Bless you" all the way from Nigeria.She wasn't entirely wrong.

Dahlia had watched every drama he'd ever acted in.Twice.Some she'd watched ten times.If a new Chinese drama was released and his name wasn't in the cast, she wouldn't even bother reading the synopsis."No Minghou...""No watch."That had become her rule years ago.

She hurried downstairs, still smiling.Her mother looked up from the dining table and sighed the moment she saw the T-shirt Dahlia was wearing.It had Shen Minghou's face printed across the front.Again."You have over fifty shirts," her mother said."And every single one has that young man's face."Dahlia grinned.

"I have sixty-three now."Her younger brother nearly choked on his bread."She's counting!"Their mother pinched the bridge of her nose."Dahlia, you're graduating from university in three months.""I know.""You should be thinking about your future.""

I am."Her brother burst into laughter."

Her future is in China."Dahlia froze.Then smiled.

"Maybe."

The table fell silent.Her mother stared at her."You're joking."Dahlia lowered her eyes and quietly stirred her tea

.Was she?

Sometimes, late at night, she'd imagine walking through the streets of Beijing, accidentally bumping into Shen Minghou just like the heroines in her favorite dramas.

She knew it was impossible.At least...She tried to convince herself it was.

Her phone buzzed.A notification.Shen Minghou uploaded a new photo.Her heart skipped.She immediately opened the app.The comments were already pouring in by the thousands."

Marry me!"

"You're so handsome!"

"Our favorite actor!"

Dahlia smiled as she pressed the little heart beneath the photo.

She didn't leave a comment.She never did.Instead, she simply admired him from behind her screen.

Safe.

Far away.

Completely unaware that the man who had become the center of her world had no idea she even existed.

Not yet.