39 Unnecessary Feelings
"Time to eat," she called Ellise in a gentle voice.
She dropped the phone and stood up from the reclining beach chair and followed the woman back to the cabana where everyone is watching the chef preparing their lunch for today.
After the sumptuous meal, when most of the adults are having their after-meal wine, she's drinking coconut juice freshly picked from the tree that is abundant on this island, she opened her phone again to check why it's vibrating non-stop.
She saw thousands of notifications from her Weibo account, she frowned at her phone thinking what the hell was happening for her to get these many notifications. She excused herself from the table when she saw Madame Bae giving her a reprimanding look.
"Why did you post that picture in Weibo? she asked Dana.
"Do you like it? she asked back like she did nothing presumptuous.
"Removed that picture right now!" she demanded in annoyance.
"But it's my gift for you, I spent my whole day yesterday to finish it," she said, pretending to be hurt.
"Hello? Are you still there?" she asked because she could no longer hear Ellise voice on the phone.
"It's one of your drawings? This isn't the picture you took with your phone? She dubiously asked.
"I'll take that as the highest form of compliment I've ever received from you!" she said laughing at Ellise.
"By the way, your boss shared that photo on your Weibo official page," she informed her, imagining her irritated face, she chuckled.
"The internet on the island is unstable, we'll talk when we get back!" she threatened, before dropping the call.
Dana laughed. It is fun to make Ellise mad since there are very few things that could ruin her perpetual bland facial expression. She is being tagged as the Ice Princess in the CTF circle.
---
Grand shared the latest sketch that Dana posted on her Weibo. It's the photo of Ellise slumped on an armchair, pouting. He laughed with the thought that Ms. E will definitely be pissed off with her photo outside her life in CTF being circulated online.
He has the urge to talk to Dana and asks her what happened when Ellise found out about it, but then he is still trying to avoid her.
He sighed. He misses her. He wants to see her face, he wishes to hear her voice.
He checked her WeChat Moment and found out that there was no new picture posted. It's been days that her Moments are empty. He wonders what happened. It's unlike her to not post anything.
"Captain! Should I share Ms. E's picture too?" Seven barged in the room.
"It's up to you if you want to get killed later on, then do so," he said grinning. All of the members of WIZ, even Mr. Wan, had shared the said photo. It was even shared on their official website. The photo has already gone viral. Everyone was talking about the artist named Arbiter as much as the fans of CTF, especially Ms. E's, can't get enough of how she looks like a snotty princess, solidifying her status as Ice Princess.
He felt an unnecessary pride for Dana.
---
"I just got out of my Mandarin class, the teacher gave a surprised quiz," she whined to Bobby over the phone.
"Take your time, I'm waiting for you across the main gate."
She hung up the call when she entered the bathroom together with two of her classmates to freshen up, where she just brushed her hair and applied some lip balm on her lips.
She exchanges messages with Bobby while waiting for them to finish retouching their makeup.
She sent a text message to Bobby asking him if he already found a driving teacher for her, which he answered with a short yes.
"We will hang out with some boys, do you want to join us?" her Thai classmate asked her.
"Sorry, maybe next time. My friend is picking me up today," she answered.
"Is your friend a boy?
"Of course it's a boy, I mean, duh! No girl friend will take time to pick up a friend just to meet up," she said scowling.
"Introduce us! We want to meet your friend." she insisted.
Dana felt conflicted, she doesn't want these girls to meet Bobby, but if she didn't do it, she won't have anybody to talk to in the class. She hates feeling alone in the classroom, but she knew for sure that these girls wouldn't leave her alone once they saw Bobby. And she would hate that more.
"He was still stuck in traffic. You wouldn't want to be late to your first meet up with the boys you're meeting up today," she said, lying to them.
She acts like she's busy with something in her bag, but in reality, she's just avoiding their gazes for she is sure they will find out she isn't telling the truth. While she was in it, she sent another message to Bobby apologizing and telling him that she will be late.
Before she could put her phone back inside her bag, it rings. And it was Bobby!
She has no choice but to answer it. She excused herself from her classmates and entered one of the empty cubicles. She was guilty and in a hurry to explain what was happening to Bobby that she didn't catch the exchanging of looks of her classmate towards her.
"My classmates want to meet you!" she whispered without telling hello.
"And…?"
"And what?"
"Invite them, I'll buy you guys a meal. I'll wait at the restaurant next to the red building across your school," he said then hung up.
Dana was irked with Bobby, and at the same time confused why Bobby would like to meet her classmate. They are not her close friends, she doesn't want to be close with them. She just has to wait for three more weeks, and once the class is over she has no plan to contact any of them. She's uncomfortable making new friends.
But since Bobby is already waiting at the restaurant she was left with no choice but to invite the girls, she just hopes that they would decline her invitation. She knew the restaurant that Bobby was talking about. It's a three stars Italian Restaurant that requires a reservation. For sure, Bobby has another friend there, she smirked thinking.
When she went out of the cubicle, her classmates were waiting with an expecting expression on their faces. The idea of them declining flew out of the window. She knew they overheard her conversation with Bobby and now waiting for the invite.
"My friend said, he has a table for four at the Italian Ristorante." she squirmed relying on Bobby's invitation.
---
"Party of three under Mr. Wu," she answered the waiter after he asked her for their reservation.
Upon hearing Bobby's name, he smiled and led them to the back. Dana smirked inwardly, - another friend.
The two girls behind her are grabbing each other's hands and squealing like they entered an amusement park for the first time.
Dana hid her displeasure with a smile when they arrived at the table where Bobby was waiting. She turned back to talk to the two girls who suddenly went quiet and Dana was faced with her classmates gaping at Bobby with hunger, but not with puttanesca, which is the specialty of this restaurant.
