Prologue

           “Gossip is finally in the Philippines!” announced the hologram of Miss Universe 2019 Pia Wurtzbach in the mezzanines of Mall of Asia Manila. The crowd clapped out of excitement as the virtual beauty queen disintegrated into blocks and formed a phone. On its screen was “Gossip.” 

There was an uproar and lots of whistling. This event was announced a month ago, scheduled two weeks after today, but once the developers saw how excited the Philippines was, they drove it quick to this day. The earlier launch was even strongly supported by the Filipino woman in the developer’s group named Chella Molinar, who was standing now on the stage on the first floor. “Thank you, everyone, for your anticipation of our homecoming. Being the social media capital of the world, of course, the Philippines would not lie in wait anymore. We need to have the ultimate gossiping platform with its gossip-safe features. Tired of getting edited or photo-manipulated pictures? The only pictures to be posted in Gossip are those taken in the app. No filters, no nothing!”

The crowd cheered Chella Molinar. Most of the men were clapping harder this time, probably sick of getting catfished. Can’t blame them.

Erric Lin scoffed as he watched the camera pan around the noisy mall. He was watching the event from his phone on Live. Several chat previews obscured his view and he cursed immediately. He locked his phone and logged in to his laptop to continue viewing the Live. He made a mental note to disable the chat head feature on his chat app again later. One thing he learned about being famous online is that it’s easy to disregard people, they won’t bug you if you don’t let them.

The developer on the screen continued, “Private chats are classified into three tabs: Requests, Chatmates, and Blocked. Requests are those you’ve never replied to, Chatmates are those you’ve replied to, and Blocked are those you would never want to reply to again. Right girls?” The women inside the mall cheered loud this time.

Mea Cristy Del Bien pressed her ears with her fingers. She used to be one of the loud women in gatherings, but this one, she couldn’t relate to. She’s a party-goer accepting all invites from everyone even acquaintances, even at places she’s unfamiliar with. She got used to visiting far party halls ever since her stay in Manila for her university life. It has just been a year, but she’s exhausted with all the socializing. She was so confident back then. She still is confident now but maybe coming of age truly feels like this. You do not socialize with the people you think are unnecessary socializing with. It just started taking a lot of energy than when in high school.

Mea felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, the ring was shushed by the cheering crowd. A notification appeared on her screen.

Renee: Mea, this is the link for our summer vacation. We’re coming home!

Renne sent an attachment.

Mea tapped the link and saw the planner that Renee scheduled.

The Marison Hotel, Legazpi, Albay, Philippines. May 8 – May 21, 2021. 

While watching, Erric Lin couldn’t help but notice the notifications increase on his account. Upon clicking it, they were mentions and tags on him about being on Gossip, with most of them asking “Will you be there?” He disregarded them. He clicked the group chat of his brothers when he saw a new photo from the eldest in the Lin family.

It was a screenshot of a sudden vacation.

Thor: We’ve been almost all around the world but Mom’s country. We’re going here, no excuses.

Erric’s Mom is a Filipina. He thought the Philippines could be a good escape from the internet. He’s been tired of dealing with nine accounts on different platforms, what more if Gossip adds to a ten. Well, maybe it’s a better idea to not use his phone during vacation. Social media detoxification as they called it. Right here in Singapore, that kind of detox would lead to boredom. He never went out to physically socialize with people, so he used his free time socializing online.

The problem when you’re rich but young and in a big family is that you got a whole lot of free time.

But in a vacation, maybe boredom was acceptable. Or maybe there’s something good to keep him accompanied in the Philippines.

He zoomed in on Thor’s screenshot and checked particularly where they’ll go.

The Marison Hotel, Legazpi, Albay, Philippines. May 8 – May 21, 2022.