First Kiss
Episode 3 of I Need Romance begins with Tofu inviting Najai over to his hotel room. She believes it’s going to get hot and heavy, but he’s quick to dismiss that and tell her all his stuff is actually at the hotel. She politely declines but finds herself thinking about it later on that night. However, Najai’s spare bedroom has been completely cleaned ready for Tofu to move in. She’s obviously not happy, oblivious that Tofu and Arlan are both the same person. Meanwhile, Aun tells Kiss that his break-up was actually a test to see if Najai really loved him. Given how nonchalantly Najai dropped him, Aun believed he was right and that’s why he quit. Well Aun, there’s a reason you don’t mix business with pleasure! At work, things take a turn for the worst. Out of all the celebs our group bring in, it falls to Kiss as the best candidate. Najai is not happy, letting her personal issues affect her judgment. Maple gets the brunt of this, heading out to the balcony and calling Najai an old toad. While they’re at work, Tofu breaks in to Najai’s place and takes a look around. He notices old pictures up and uses that as ammunition for his next call with Najai. He mentions the old playground they used to frequent and she gives him directions so he can visit. Well, when Najai heads over to the playground later on she finds Arlan sitting on the swings. She still hadn’t clocked that he’s Tofu and asks if he’s seen a guy who looks plain. He continues to play this game, using moments they shared in the past to try and jog her memory. The next day, Najai hits even more bad news when Kiss actually declines their invitation. She’s too busy with another project, which happens to be Arlan’s music. Mesa shows up to try and convince her but she’ll only do so if Najai asks her personally. Only, Kiss has no intention of actually taking the job, she just wants to see Najai try because it’ll be “fun”. Kiss has always been jealous of Najai for a while now, desperate to beat her any way she can. This explains why she’s been stealing her boyfriends and why she’s not interested in actually working in unison. The next day, Arlan encourages Najai to head out and join him. After smashing his side mirror earlier in the episode, it’s the least she can do. Anyway, he drives her up to the lake; the hang out spot he visited at the start of the series. There, Arlan admits that he likes Najai and leans forward, giving her a big old kiss.
The Episode Review
So our main couple have now kissed and this sets up lots of implications for the future. This episode does shed some light on what happened to Kiss and Najai in the past too, including the jealousy that’s been consuming Kiss all this time. It’s really petty, to be honest, but it fits her personality and explains just why she’s so resentful. Meanwhile, our various supporting characters get a bit more screen-time too. However, all of their stories are so reliant on work-related issues. It’ll be interesting to see if this expands over time to include more of their personal relationships. I know Maple and Piewa have had glimmers but it’ll be good if that’s explored more. However, the real crux of the drama here comes from this Arlan/Najai romance and after this kiss, it looks like we’re on course for a cute pairing!
