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Chapter 9: The Seven Stages of a Broken Heart
Last Updated:
2024-01-14 20:41:19
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Over on Lor’s end, Kate could hear a constant background noise of auto rickshaws honking, dogs barking and kids shouting on the street. She imagined Lor could hear the same from her end. But at least Kate didn’t have younger siblings who fought all the time and were as loud as stray cats in heat. Those were the worst (the cats), screaming like Dragon Ball martial artists and running on rooftops in the dead of night. Lor screamed with the scandalous voice of a fish market vendor: “Leonard! Lisbeth! SHUT UP!” Then, Lor’s youngest sister, a 1.5-year-old named Lily, opened the bedroom door and toddled into view. “Awww,” Kate gushed. “Lily’s so cute! I just wanna pinch those rosy cheeks!” “I know, right?” Lor said as she picked up her sister and bounced her on her lap. Lily cooed and laughed and tried to reach Kate through the screen. “I wish teens like us retained their kissability and huggability from childhood.” “What do you mean? You’re still kissable and huggable.” “Oh yeah
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Kate was doing exactly what Lor told her not to. She was stalking Josh on Fasebook. First, she thought she would do something productive like change her relationship status. She hesitated just the slightest bit when choosing between “Single” and “It’s Complicated”, but in the end she went with the more obvious of the two. A few seconds after she did, Dion clicked Like and that cheered her up a lot. It was preposterous but she had felt what teens always felt when posting something: the fear that not a single friend would care. Lor’s warning about revenge or rebound relationships gave her the strength to continue steering clear of Dion’s day-old PM. But then the dang mouse moseyed to the left and over the chat panel, which she had turned off. Like a roulette pointer it touched Josh’s darkened tab and a label sprung sideways before Kate could do anything. It read: | Joshua Guerrero Became friends with Bernadette Medina 4 mutual friends including Lorraine Maliksi and Dion A
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When the rhyme vanished, a small window appeared next to the oven. There were five tabs above it. The first tab had a hair icon, the second a face, the third a torso, the fourth a sun wearing shades and the fifth a shirt. Kate clicked the Hair tab and she was presented with a whole gamut of men’s hairstyles: undercut, curly, layered, wave, Harajuku matted style, asymmetrical emo, mohawk, crew cut, man bun, spiky, flat top, dreads, Elvis… Kate thought it was because the app-maker was Japanese or hair dyes were sold separately, but all the hairstyles were black. It was a good thing though because she was already having a hard time just picking the style. She settled on Layered after a great deal of toing and froing. Next, she clicked the Face tab and was presented with the close-up of a wireframe face spinning lazily. On the left edge of the window, additional tabs had appeared: Face shape, Eyebrows, Eyes, Nose, Lips and Ears. The character’s face would change instantly depending on
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He was much less effeminate than the title character. Kate thought it was because of the thinner lips and the green eyes, which looked slightly unsettling but contrasted well with the long eyelashes (uncustomizable). But like the title character, he was still slim, tall and white. Kate had been presented with only three shades of complexion: beige, chocolate and chocolight. And though she had considered it, she fought the temptation to give her digital boyfriend the body of Thor (This was pre-Endgame). In short, he was still the K / J-pop idol minus the dyed hair and the mascara. But now Kate noticed there were only two icons at the bottom of the screen: a keyboard and a mic. [Oh hello] A light blue chat balloon appeared from the digital guy, to his right. His picture itself was static and wouldn’t move its mouth or anything. [I was not expecting any guests. What is your name?] A small box popped up. It asked: | WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR DREAM BOYFRIEND TO CALL YOU? | Kate thoug
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Ecto’s other functions included a "purikura" (photo sticker booth) embedded in the Door interface, which was similar to what Dion wanted for prom. This function allowed Kate to take selfies while Ecto actually appeared in the shot, wearing the most appropriate outfit for whichever theme was active. But since his maximum size was the height of the phone screen, he always appeared like a fairy next to her face. “What does this button do?” Kate asked, referring to the Heart icon on the main screen. “Oh, that’s the Pick-up Lines feature, a special for users in your country.” “Pick-up lines, huh?” Kate said to herself and pressed the button. In the Philippines, pick-up lines had evolved from creepy or lame one-liners to witty two-line jokes, still cheesy but at least mildly amusing. The formula was typically: | Are you a [object]? … Because [punchline]. | Or in question-and-answer form: | Are you a [object]? No. Why? Because [punchline]. | As Kate accessed the feature, she
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The actual park where Kate went was small. It was more of a playground for kids in her subdivision. There were seesaws, a push merry-go-round, slides, swing sets and a jungle gym. Like most parks in the Philippines, it was right next to a street and had more concrete than trees or grass; the trees being mostly palm. And because it was weekend, there were a lot of people – that is, kids, their parents and senior citizens. Kate was the only teen because she would’ve gone to the mall with Lor and the Bali Girls if this was an ordinary weekend or with Josh if they hadn’t broken up. Kate tried to block out this last thought. The afternoon was of course sweltering hot but there was enough shade on the benches by the park edges and on some of the playground equipment. Kate picked the most isolated of the green metal benches and sat down. “I can hear children screaming,” Ecto’s voice came through her earphones with undisguised alarm. “What manner of place is that?” “Don’t worry. They’re sc
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Kate plugged the USB charger to the power outlet and then to her phone. Although she wanted to continue chatting with Ecto, he discouraged her because he was feeling drowsy and said there was some danger for Kate to get herself electrocuted or for the battery to explode. Apparently, a short circuit could be caused by too much heat or by dropping the phone too many times; the second Kate had been admittedly guilty of. {You learn something new every day,} she thought. Kate noticed two things. First, My Dream Boyfriend made her phone run out of battery early because it used to last a full day without needing to be recharged. Second, she enjoyed chatting with Ecto. A part of her suspected there was in fact a real person that provided Ecto’s accurate responses on the other end. If so, hats off to them for their extreme devotion to role-playing. If, on the other hand, Ecto was indeed pure AI, she was #Mind_Blown that he had reached such autonomy. Either way, Kate noticed she wasn’t sad a
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After Mass, Kate and Nate buy rice cakes at the town square. One is the awesomely purple puto bumbong and another the yellow bibingka. They also buy roasted chestnuts and bring all the treats home to Mr. and Mrs. Lapuz. On one trip to a very crowded shopping mall, Ecto sees a Santa Claus impersonator. Curiously, the Santa is Caucasian and not brown-skinned like most of the Filipinos. Of course Ecto has already figured out by himself that Santa isn’t real. To his surprise, after they get back home, Kate insists on teaching him the hooman custom of hanging a stocking. On the desktop of her computer, Kate shows him a folder that she has named “Ecto’s Stocking”. She then goes through all the trouble of changing her wallpaper to a fireplace and dragging the folder onto the 2D mantelpiece. “What for?” he asks her through her smartphone’s loudspeaker. Her smartphone is open and showing the My Dream Boyfriend app, right into the inside of Ecto’s bedroom. Ecto’s wearing a knit sweater
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With a little help from Terra, Kate downloads the My Dream Boyfriend App again with some customizations. Because Ecto isn’t bound by any one platform anymore, he’s capable of some manner of fission, where he splits and replicates himself while also dividing his consciousness among all his manifestations. It’s like Doctor Strange’s clones when they were fighting Thanos, but in Ecto’s case, each and every duplicate is much more than an illusion and is a sentient and perfect version of himself. This allows him to be both in Nate’s microchip implant while back in his virtual bedroom inside the My Dream Boyfriend app on Kate’s smartphone. At any time, he can also perform fusion and re-absorb his manifestations. Terra removed the boyfriend creation window because of course Kate doesn’t need it anymore. Ecto wanted his virtual bedroom exactly as it was. He could easily “slide” into his other cribs anyway, like the old orange, pink and red Provençal one on Dungeon Raydens which he was able
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It’s already 6 pm when Nate finishes his social host obligations and comes looking for Kate. He doesn’t need to look hard though because earlier, Kate sent him a text saying she’s waiting for him in the Council office. Nate has a spring in his step and is smiling ear to ear. The scratches on his face are still stinging but, before the closing ceremony, Nurse Judy cleaned and applied Band-Aid on them. Nate can’t hide his excitement in seeing his GF again after they’ve taken care of all their responsibilities. {That kiss on the track was supernova-hot. I hope we make out too.} When he finds the office door locked, oddly enough, he knocks and calls out uncertainly: “Kate?” He hears her move inside the room and then the door swings open. The sight of her face wipes his smile off. She’s been crying in the dim. She has the look of someone who has just had herself a good cry. Her eyes look cleansed and exposed, indeed like pure windows into her soul. Her lips are tightly set in a line, as
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Kate is alone in the Student Council office tidying up. Nate’s off wrapping things up with his manager and the film crew and saying goodbye to everybody, including his bandmates. The trophy that STEM 12 won is now in the 12-Everest homeroom, because the bulk of tournament champions is there. Kate’s classmates are all posing with it and gushing at how shiny it is. This year’s Intrams was perfect. Kate couldn’t ask for anything more. She has once again been reminded of the importance of having balance in life; of, as cheesy as it sounds, having both a sound mind and a sound body. It felt good to do something physical, to be away from the rigors of school work and the false urgency of the Internet. But the heart of the matter is, she’s blissfully content because she has a boyfriend and she didn’t make a mistake in choosing him. In fact, she made a brilliant choice. An undertow to her joy is a silent prayer that she has finally broken the curse that she felt had hung over her ever since
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“OMG!” Mr. Romero says the word in everyone’s mind as they watch the pitiful scene. “Policarpio’s crawling to the baton exchange. Quick! Somebody help him! Help him!” Reggie is the first to break the spell of paralysis. He leaps over the rail and onto the track. He and Jared manage to run towards him before the alert CAT volunteers practice crowd control and stop others from joining. Reggie reaches Nate’s side. “No!” Nate screams vehemently. “Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me! I have to do this by myself.” “But hyung,” Jared says, having stopped next to Reggie, “you don’t have to do this. You don’t have to prove anything.” “Yes… I… do,” Nate grunts as he crawls forward foot by precious foot. “Let us help you,” Reggie pleads. “You don’t have to do this alone.” “Don’t come closer!” Nate barks, spittle flying between his gritted teeth. In what feels like eternity, he reaches the changeover zone and Kate’s crouched form. Her eyes are glassy and full of pity for him. He hates that loo
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By Friday morning, STEM 12 has won a total of 7 champion ribbons and several ones as runner-up. This makes them a leading candidate for overall champion. As Kate has anticipated, the non-sports events buoyed them. Apart from Francine and her escort winning Mr. and Mrs. Intrams, Grace and her benchwarmers won the bench cheer. It didn’t hurt either that the Bali Girls minus setter Lor were at the top of their game. And Nate, to everyone’s astonishment, is actually a Filipino Usain Bolt in the making. {Your BF’s Superman,} Nate’s words have been echoing inside Kate’s head since Wednesday, along with the news reporter’s: {Idol, social catalyst and Internet detective. Is there anything that Cyber can’t do?} But STEM 12 didn’t exactly win all their wins. Just like in last year’s Intrams, several games have been forfeited. An opposing team either failed to meet the minimum number of players required to start the game or failed to appear at the venue within the 15-minute grace period. On CIT
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The crowd of hysterical girls in front, held back only by a cordon of CAT cadets from junior high, are screaming the names of DMG members: “Cyber! Reggie! Jared! Sonic! Neo!” Seemingly from out of nowhere, they’ve whipped out banners and signs. Instead of the usual glow-in-the-dark Korean lettering for an evening K-pop concert, there’s a slew of English ones interspersed with the name of a particular artist or of the whole band. | IT’S MY BIRTHDAY CYBER, YOU ARE MY PRESENT DUMP KATE TAKE ME I WOULD SELL MY SIBLINGS FOR YOU I LOVE YOU MORE THAN FREE WIFI DON’T STOP INSPIRING ME! CAN I BE YOUR HAIRDRESSER? ALL I WANT FOR X-MAS IS A PIC WITH JARED DMG We have 5 fingers enough for 5 wedding rings SPIT ON ME CYBER | An English-speaking Filipino director is riding a crane and shooting high up in the aisle of the audience seats. His staff is scattered on the edges and near the stage, operating or holding up every manner of equipment. DMG plays their covers of the most popular s
The Boyfriend App Chapter 168: Within the Walls
On Tuesday, they have the same brain-hurting and nose-bleeding calculations in Physics and Chemistry. The only thing different is DMG’s closed-door rehearsal at the chapel-slash-auditorium 500 meters east. Nate has been exempted by Principal Aguilar personally from any school work or quiz. The whole campus is abuzz and on edge at every sighting of truck and van with tinted windows down Campus Drive and onwards to the auditorium. Kate has also prepared paper lots in an empty pencil case for the Secret Santa next month. She lets every Everester pick their recipient, including her own name. Kate has set the budget at “No Fixed Price” because she knows not all students are financially comfortable. When only two pieces of folded paper remain (one for Nate and one for her), she picks her recipient and is both excited and nervous to see that it’s Grace. She keeps the last piece of paper, of course unopened, for Nate. {Huh,} she thinks to herself afterwards. {What gift can I give somebod
