Chapter 2: Fashion Comes First

“I can’t believe we’ll be joining them!” Renee screamed. The marble wall and ceramic tiles made it louder. “That’s five freaking hot men a few rooms apart us! Oh my gosh, I’ll lose myself in the halls.” She said and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.

“That was just so embarrassing. Most embarrassing of everything that happened to me,” stated Mary Ann, still blushing and staring at nowhere. She’s probably imagining them looking at her face. And innocently, with absolutely no bragging tone, she added in a whisper, “Good thing I’m naturally pretty.”

Mea pulled her eyes away from Mary Ann, almost disgusted by how starstruck the supposedly-shy girl was. She turned to Pamela when she screamed.

“Oh my god, it’s true!” The two daydreaming women looked at Pamela’s screen. Mea was right behind her as they all sat on her bed inside their hotel room. She could see the stalking girl’s screen whether she wanted to or not.

Pamela was on Erric Lin’s Gossip account. She tapped the latest photo to open the post and confirmed that it was The Marison Hotel. Two-week home, Erric captioned. Pamela pinched her screen to zoom in on the photo. The girls’ blurred figures were visible through the window. “That’s us!”

Under the photo was no other button but “gossip.” Pamela tapped it and it led to an empty conversation thread between her and the username erric_lin.

“I’ll do the chatting!” Renee suddenly took Pamela’s phone. They fought over who will chat and kept stealing the phone from each other’s hands.

Mary Ann held her own phone with shaking hands. Mea looked at her screen and saw hi written there with the blinking cursor. She was too nervous to even press send.

“Alright, we talk tomorrow. Go to your rooms, you all are crowding me here,” Mea said and sat on the accent chair instead. Pamela and Renee were still fighting over the phone. “Uh, you know what,” Mea raised her finger, “I think Mary Ann and I will take the other room instead.”

Mea knew it wouldn’t be the silent vacation she wanted.

Erric Lin sat on the edge of the pool with his feet on the water. He held his phone scrolling through gossip. As he thought, the numbers on the Gossips chats were increasing, but it didn’t bother him. Gossip did not notify the users of anything outside the app, even the chats, and it favored Erric.

Paul Sohan was on his inflatable chair with a tall cup of cola from given by the staff. He ordered it. “How did you schedule us right this morning? I thought the staff said we would have to wait for another day,” he asked Thor who was standing on the pool, it was too shallow for his height.

Thor smirked remembering the receptionist. “A wink,” he said and turned to Erric. “A wink was all it took.”

Erric knew Thor emphasized each word for him. Thor’s been wanting him to start acting like a Lin. To start being a player. “Look,” he said and put his phone on the rattan bench behind him. “No matter how much you tell me to learn your games, I won’t do it.”

A noise made the three look behind their shoulders. Several staff ladies were at one corner, pushing each other, and one of the trays they held had fallen. They probably heard what Erric said. They gotta stop mooning over me, he thought.

“Hey,” Thor called to them in a flirty manner. When does he not?

He climbed the pool ladder, flexing his shoulders. The water streaked from his shoulders down to the form of his biceps and from his chest down to his six-pack abs.

“Showoff,” Paul Sohan whispered that made him and Erric chuckle.

Thor walked towards them casually and said, “We’re thirsty, so—”

One of the ladies couldn’t contain her shriek and ran off to The Sans Café & Bar. Thor smiled and Erric was almost sure he felt pity for the runaway girl, feeding his self-conceit.

The Café was the hotel’s place for those who want to relax over a variety of drinks. The seats were full and most tables were still waiting for their beverages.

“I meant we would like some drinks real quick.”

None of the ladies spoke. They all just nodded their heads like obedient pets.

“Play it as I do. Only flirt when beneficial.” Thor went to sit on the rattan bench behind Erric, taking his phone and using it as if it’s his. Erric doesn’t mind anymore whenever his brothers did that. They’re persistent on making him a player even online, sending all the flirtatious replies in Erric’s name.

Thor opened Gossip’s built-in camera. It was the only way the app accepted any photo, sticking to its gossip principle of having no filters and edits. He snapped a candid picture of Erric from behind as he looked to the side, and typed the caption as he spoke it out loud. “Thirsty. Need something to drink.”

The number on the corner of the Gossip button went up. Thor tapped it, leading him to Erric’s Gossips box, and saw the previews.

Drink me!

Omg ur so hot

ERRIC BEST BOI

hi

DADDY

did you mean need someone* to drink?

Kent and Deuss arrived topless and wondered why Thor was laughing. Kent ran and jumped into the pool splashing on Paul Sohan and his glass of cola.

“Hey! What if you drink this?” he protested.

“Give it to the staff, tell them my sweat’s there. They’d take it.”

Deuss stood behind the laughing Thor and took the phone from him. He scoffed and smiled and started typing. Erric couldn’t care less. Deuss was the best on nasty things among them all.

Their drink arrived. The ladies were rushing. Thor took one glass and sipped with a smirk. “We’d need two more. Is it alright if we ask for wine? Five shot glasses too.”

Kent was shaking his head to drain his hair when he heard Thor. “Hey. Sohan’s gonna drink? You didn’t let me drink when I was his age!”

Thor sighed and turned to him when the staff left. “Alright, how bout I compensate for that with a thick white drink?”

Kent, confused, pointed at Thor, Deuss, and himself repeatedly. “Am I hearing this right? Do I know what you’re talking about?”

Thor nodded. “How about several, thick white drinks?”

“Uhhh,” he hesitated and looked at Erric. He was staring at the windows on the second floor. “Erric, you hearing this? Is it alright?”

Everyone knew Erric haven’t gone into bed with a woman despite his popularity. He thought about it carefully, glanced at each of his brothers then finally at Kent. “Yeah, try one first.”

Kent splashed the water out of excitement. It went to Thor’s and Erric’s drink. They spoke in unison, “Forget it.”

           

Mea woke up to Pamela’s fuss. She opened all her bags trying on dresses to meet Renee’s parents. They knew they had to look presentable in front of the people who paid for the hotel rooms, but Mea thought Pamela was hyping unnecessarily.

Mea rolled onto her back, kicking Pamela’s pile of clothes off the bed.

Pamela went out of the bathroom and saw her beloved clothes on the floor. Her face went from heaven to hell.

Mea spoke before her friend could. “Don’t even start on me.” She raised her hand and sat up. Her hair was literally a bird’s nest. A bird’s burnt nest. “Why are you even in my room? Mary Ann should be here, not you.”

“She’s having breakfast with Renee at The Sans and Café Bar. Downstairs,” Pamela said in between grunts as she picked up her clothes.

“And you?”

“Fashion comes first.”

“Damned life motto you have there,” Mea muttered to herself as she stood. The thick curtains allowed a line of light to peek at her purple eye. She blinked away from the flare, and in a minute she parted the curtains.

The Marison Hotel had an open area at the center that had a long rectangular 5-foot deep pool and a small square kiddie pool. Their room was situated on one side such that Mea could see the building across them with windows that glistened gold. They reflected the morning light and filtered them into a gentler warmth down the pool area.

Mea followed the pleasing view and it led her eyes to five familiar men. It was the Lin boys.

She had a second thought upon having them “familiar.” They looked like an entirely different group when topless. When wet and topless.

A group of ladies in line came to them with a trolley and a couple of trays. Mea guessed it was champagne. So much for rich people, she thought, then immediately felt guilty for Renee. She was rich too, but her kind is an exception for people who knew her well.

Maybe it was true for the men too, but Mea wouldn’t risk trusting them quickly.

She remembered the scene last night, how he looked at her as if she’s peculiar, and how she looked at him as if he’s lost.

The man who introduced himself as Thor Lin excused himself to settle matters at the reception desk, while Kent and Deuss proceeded to talk with Mary Ann, Pamela, and Renee. The kid did not introduce himself to them, he went by himself around the place without even telling his brothers.

Erric and Mea discussed their contract. Mea will be the Lin brothers’ photographer for Gossip. That’s why he handed him his phone for a quick evaluation of how she would manage to take a picture without her DSLR camera.

As awkward as Mea felt, she looked at him through Gossip’s camera on his phone. She was impressed that he had posed well, he knew his optimal angles and crossed his legs as he sat on the sofa. He rested both his arms on the backrest with one finger bent to support the side of his head. He nailed it on one pose.

Mea took pictures and he heard each shutter, he would change the direction of his head. This man would’ve bagged awards on my past fashion photo competitions, she couldn’t help thinking.

In the last photo, Erric Lin smiled at the camera. At Mea. The woman never thought the guy ever smiled for a photo, but she couldn’t deny it suited him well. Nevertheless, Mea adored him that moment like a photographer to her subject.

Erric finally stood and viewed his photos. He looked at them with a nod and said, “Not bad.” He looked at Mea, again with a few seconds of staring that made her uneasy. “We’ll be staying here for two weeks, we’ll need you to cancel all the plans you’ve made. If your stay at the hotel does not reach two weeks, we’ll pay to extend it. If you’ve made plans outside the hotel but cost you money, we’ll shoulder that too.”

Mea didn’t expect the urgency in his tone. If her photos were only “not bad,” then why would he speak as if it’s required. “All that for photos that are ‘not bad?’” she clarified.

Erric didn’t answer, he kept staring, which intimidated Mea. She and her friends haven’t made plans for their two-week stay. They knew it would be an equally two-week duration of a shopping spree, except if Renee decided otherwise. She’s the group's representative concerning long-term decisions.

“Yeah,” she hesitantly said. “Yeah, we’ll take that,” she added again, certainly this time.

“I’m hungry,” Pamela said, disturbing Mea's train of thought.

She looked at the pool area again and the boys were gone.

Mea remembered again, they’re supposed to cancel all their plans. She had to tell Renee they might have to reschedule their meeting with her parents.

           

Four foamy cappuccinos were served to the table of the four women.

“I miss the parties,” sighed Renee. “What if aside from shopping sprees, we’d look for open parties in town?” She suggested. “Or let’s go clubbing!”

“No,” Mea said immediately. “Remember, I want this two-week vacation to be peaceful.”

The girls pursed their lips into silence. “Right, um, about that,” Mary Ann started as she scratched her chin. “We need to tell you something.”

Mea waited for their continuation. She sipped on her mug calmly, trying to convince herself that this kind of silence never meant trouble. Except that it always did.

“We might or might not have made you a Gossip account,” Pamela finally said.

“What?” Mea asked. “W—How? When?”

“Back at the bus, when you went dramatic over the clouds,” Renee said.

Mea did not get dramatic, she only stared at the sky for the lack of other things to watch, and she fell asleep after a while. “For what? You know I don’t do your social media thing,” she said.

A waitress came to them and served them donuts, toast, and moist chocolate brownies. She took the menu from the table and replaced it with a piece of paper. Mea caught a whiff of the perfume of the paper and it didn’t match with the food. She fanned her palm in front of her and looked at the waitress that has already walked away. It annoyed her even more.

“Maybe it’s time to change that,” Mary Ann said politely. “You have to get used to checking your phone. The last time we had to contact you for a group output, you thought it was an unnecessary chat and you put us in your spam.”

Renee emphasized a matter that is a little less important than academics. “Besides, you could get more friends that would invite you to their parties by chatting. Think of all those events you missed because nobody met you personally and told you about it.”

Mea thought about it, but what was there to think about when it’s already done? “It’s made anyway. Which phone did you use? What’s the password and everything?” she asked in a rush.

Mary Ann held her phone up, “Mine.” They told her about her login credentials.

“I can’t believe you used my second name!” Mea said. She hated Cristy for its phonetic similarity with crispy. She said she felt like a deep-fried nugget when she’s called that. But the immediate reason was that she just wasn’t used to it.

She downloaded the Gossip app using the Café’s free wifi. When she logged in, she got confused with the twinkling red circle on her Gossips box. She tapped it and saw tons of accounts, all in men's profile pictures.

good morning

Hi.

hey, nice photo

wanna be my travel buddy?

Are you single?

She dropped her jaw and look at the girls in front of her, all avoiding her gaze. “What on earth did you do?” She asked and scrolled more. There were 34 conversations in her gossips box. Most of them were under the Requests tab, some were in the Chatmates tab, and nothing was in the Blocked tab.

Mea opened the first one under the Chatmates tab.

marcc_ wants to gossip about your photo

marcc_: i’d sit beside you so you could lean your head on my shoulder

itsmecristy: sure. you’ll have to endure my talkative friends tho

marcc_: i wouldn’t mind

itsmecristy: nice <3

marcc_: wanna be my travel buddy?

Mea glared madly at the three women who now ducked their heads down, feeling guilty even before she started. She still started anyway. “Seriously? ‘Nice’ and a heart damned emoji?”

Her phone did a whoosh sound. As the first time hearing it, she decided it was Gossip’s in-app notification. She remembered she heard at the launching at Mall of Asia that the app never sends a notification if it’s not currently open on your screen.

It was a new chat under the Unreplied tab.

Erric_Lin: don’t be so loud babe

Mea felt startled. She looked around to find Erric but he wasn’t at any of the tables. He can’t be in the kitchen either.

“Erric messaged me,” she informed the three silent women with the annoyance on her tone gone. Their faces lit up and they moved their chairs beside her to look at her screen.

itsmecristy: how did you know my username?

Erric_Lin: pamela messaged me. told me everybody’s username

Mea looked at Pamela to her left. The woman just drank her cappuccino bottoms up like a shot.

Itsmecristy: where are you

Erric_Lin: Heard you from out the window.

The girls looked back at the window. Erric stood in his all-white attire — a shirt, cargo pants, and high-cut sneakers. He waved his phone at them. Paul Sohan waved with his hand too, his shoulder bag was open and the top of an open bag of chips was visible. Kent was busy smiling on his phone as he leaned on the glass window.

A van came up behind them and Thor and Deuss rolled their windows down.

Mea’s phone caught her attention back with another whoosh.

Erric_Lin: come on out. Are we meeting renee’s parents or not?