Chapter 2: Viral Fame and Snake Hugs

Finally, my day off came and I didn’t have to keep selling my persona on camera. But then the director called me over and over in the middle of the night.

My phone buzzed like it was on fire. I groaned, faceplanted into my pillow, and considered changing my name. Why do I even answer unknown numbers anymore?

I had no choice—I’m just a minor celeb.

That’s the thing about this business: you’re always at someone else’s beck and call, especially if you’re not the one with your name in lights.

Resigned, I dragged myself out of bed and hurried to the zoo, where I had a five-minute staring contest with the peacock.

It was just me, him, and the cold glow of the security lights. He looked miserable, and honestly, so did I.

“Buddy, you were doing fine. Why are you making things hard on yourself?”

I crouched down, trying to sound gentle. He just stared, feathers limp, eyes big and sad. If he could’ve talked, I’m sure he’d have called me a heartbreaker.

The peacock shook his tail, raised his sparse feathers, and ran over to rub against me, acting cute.

His usual confidence was gone, replaced by this almost shy energy. He nudged my leg, then looked away like he was embarrassed. I never thought I’d see a peacock act bashful, but here we were.

He’d lost his usual flamboyant spirit and seemed a little embarrassed, his gaze wandering.

It tugged at my heartstrings in a way I wasn’t prepared for. I reached out, brushing my fingers through his feathers, whispering, “It’s okay, buddy. I’m here.”

From the director, I learned that during my two days off, the peacock refused to eat no matter who tried to feed him.

Apparently, he’d turned his beak up at every treat, ignoring even his favorite snacks. The keepers were worried, and so was the director—nobody wants a star’s pet to make headlines for the wrong reasons.

Because he kept showing off, the zoo even paired him with a gorgeous female peacock.

They tried everything—fresh fruit, new toys, even a little matchmaking. But he wasn’t interested in the other peacock at all.

But not only did he refuse to let the female into his territory, he also kept pulling out his own tail feathers.

He was so upset, he started plucking his own feathers, which is basically the bird equivalent of stress-eating an entire pint of ice cream. It was heartbreaking.

Worried the peacock might hurt himself, the director had to ask me to come in.

He looked apologetic, but desperate. "Maya, he won’t eat for anyone else. Please, just try."

As soon as I arrived, the peacock returned to normal—eagerly showing off his food, drinking water, acting nothing like the depressed bird the director described.

It was like flipping a switch. He perked right up, strutted around, and gobbled down his food as if nothing had happened. The director stared, mouth open. I just shrugged, feeling a weird mix of pride and confusion.

I stayed with him until nearly dawn, and eventually started dozing off. I felt something warm burrow into my arms. Instinctively, I hugged it and slept even more soundly.

I woke up hours later, sunlight streaming in, the peacock snuggled up to me. It was oddly peaceful. I didn’t even care that my back was killing me from sleeping on the floor.

At noon, my phone blew up with calls.

I barely managed to fish it out from under my tangled blanket. My notifications looked like fireworks. Something was definitely up.

My agent kept calling me “baby,” like I was a Powerball ticket worth millions.

“Baby, I knew you were a star in the making! You’re going viral! Our good days are finally here!”

I could hear her practically dancing through the phone. Seriously, it was that obvious. I tried to act cool, but my heart was pounding.

I quickly opened my laptop and saw that the forum discussions about me had even surpassed the top female star in our group—I was solidly ranked first!

My jaw dropped. There I was, front and center, my name trending. For once, it wasn’t because I’d tripped on stage or mispronounced someone’s name.

I clicked on the video. It was footage of me interacting with the peacock last night.

There I was, in my baggy sweats, hair a mess, feeding the peacock and talking to him like he was my best friend. I cringed at first, but then I saw the comments.

Forced by the director to turn on the camera, I was in sweats, no makeup, skillfully feeding the peacock, gently stroking its tail, talking to it, then hugging it while dozing off.

Somehow, my most unguarded moment had become internet gold. Go figure.

The comments were full of exclamation marks:

“Who would’ve thought I’d be shipping a female celeb x a peacock!”

I nearly spit out my coffee. The internet, man.

“Please! I want a clingy boyfriend like this peacock!”

“Please get married! I’m not joking!”

“Replying above, I just asked my great-grandma—she says these two were a married couple in a past life!”

……

It was wild. Seriously, people were making memes, fanart, even writing little stories about us. I laughed so hard I almost cried.

Come on, you wild fans—don’t be so crazy.

But honestly, a part of me was touched. It felt good to be seen, even if it was for something as silly as bonding with a bird.

Clicking on other recommended videos, they were all compilations of me and the peacock set to sweet background music, with a few fake couple scenes between me and the python mixed in.

Someone had gone full rom-com, splicing together all my animal interactions. There were even slow-motion shots and cheesy love songs. It was embarrassing and adorable at the same time.

Seriously, am I just not worthy of dating a human?