Absinthe

Chapter 23: It Started With A Mischievous Kiss

Halfway through our meal at Jollibee, I fished out my phone to check if there were any messages from

my friends. None. I sent a quick text to Cassie, Faye, and Derrick. I doubted they would respond, but I

just wanted to let them know that I was open to talking things over with them.

"Do you have any social media accounts?" I asked Jiwoo.

"I don't really have time for those."

"You know that you can get some income from them, right?"

"Really?" Jiwoo was now interested, his eyes suddenly alert.

"Yeah. If you get enough followers, brands will start to notice you and give you sponsorships." Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Jiwoo was quiet for a bit. "How do I do that? And will it really allow me to earn a lot of money?"

I nodded. "Pretty much. I've heard of some IG stars buying houses mostly with their earnings from IG."

"How do I get... What did you call it? Followship?"

"Followers. Well, there's no surefire way to get them, but in your case, you can always use your face."

"I don't understand."

"I'm talking about fan service. Everyone wants to see attractive people, so you just have to show them

your handsome face!"

Jiwoo smiled and blushed. "You think I'm handsome?"

Fuck. How do I answer him without revealing my attraction to him?

"I think you're more handsome than I am," Jiwoo added.

"That's not possible," I said.

"So you really think I'm handsome, then?"

"Do you know Gossip Gurl?" I asked, suddenly remembering something and deliberately ignoring his

question. "She posts pictures of the hottest people in the metro, celebrities and non-celebrities alike.

She even had a photo of you one time!"

"Can I see it?" he asked excitedly.

"Here." I opened Gossip Gurl's page and showed it to Jiwoo. And I'll be damned—it was now full of

candid photos of me and Jiwoo earlier in Recto. "See? Gossip Gurl's making money off of your face

and mine!"

"@bjmesoftly and mystery handsome guy on a date in Recto!" Jiwoo said, reading the caption of

another candid photo of him holding my hand and crossing the street. "How did she get these pics?"

"I was told that people who follow her secretly take photos of her subjects and share them with her."

"Are you @bjmesoftly?"

Shit. It was Faye who had come up with that username several years ago. I only had like 30 or so

followers back then.

"So you don't like it hard, huh?" Jiwoo teased.

I felt my face burning in embarrassment, and I punched Jiwoo lightly on the shoulder. "I wasn't the one

who thought of that. I'm changing it right now!"

Jiwoo laughed. "I was kidding. Can you tell me how to make one, though?"

I helped Jiwoo set up his Instagram account. He chose the handle @g_whooo as a play on how his

name sounds like. I taught him how to follow other accounts by following Chef Maxwell's account. He

then searched for my handle and followed me right after.

"Wow, you have a lot of followers. Do you earn money from this, too?"

I shook my head in response. "I didn't specifically create an account to gain followers. It just sort of

happened when this Gossip Gurl started tagging me in photos."

"You look cute here," he said, pointing at a picture of me and JM with Elle and Eiji, Faye's twins. "And

I'm guessing this is Gold Digging MoFu."

I took out my phone and deleted the photo. It was nothing but a sad reminder of how gullible I was, and

there was no reason for me to keep it on my IG feed.

"And these must be your exes," he said, scrolling through more pictures of me with men from Seoul.

"You live in Korea?"

I noticed the sudden change in his facial expression, and I remembered what Janus had told us last

time about Jiwoo's parentage.

"I used to," I admitted. "But I'm back here for good."

Jiwoo didn't respond to that.

"And not all of those people are my exes!" I added. "Some of them are my friends."

"How come most of your followers are females? I mean, this Gossip Gurl is practically screaming your

sexuality."

"Oh, that?" I chuckled upon seeing the confusion on Jiwoo's face. "Those are what we call BL fangirls,

as in boys' love. They're basically fans of guys who date one another. I don't really know why, but they

get a high from learning about the lives of homosexual couples."

Jiwoo was deep in thought. We continued to eat the rest of our food. I must say that their palabok is

amazing. I don't expect a lot from Jollibee since it's a fast food restaurant, but their palabok has a

creamy shrimp sauce and lots of fish flakes that give it a distinct texture.

"Kiss me then."

I almost spat half the palabok still in my mouth and nearly choked on the other half I had just

swallowed.

"Let's take a photo of you pretending to kiss me. Maybe that will get me followers more quickly."

I nodded and pretended that the whole suggestion had not shaken me. But, in all honesty, I was

shookedt!

Jiwoo put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me toward him.

"You mean now?" I asked, flustered and trying my best to conceal my nervousness.

Jiwoo nodded as he raised his phone in his left hand and prepared to take a selfie. "Just pretend to

kiss me. Make your mouth go like this." He pouted to show an exaggerated kiss.

I humored him, closed my eyes, and mimicked giving him a kiss on his cheek.

"Let's take another one," Jiwoo said. "Don't close your eyes this time."

I repeated the gesture, this time keeping my eyes open. Jiwoo snapped a couple of shots before

declaring, "Not like that!" He was clearly still unsatisfied.

"How?" I asked, annoyed.

"Like this!"

It all happened so fast. My mouth was still slightly open, forming out the vowel in the word "how." Jiwoo

turned and pretended to kiss me, only our lips connected because I had yet to turn my cheek toward

him.

I immediately moved my head away, picked up a tissue, and handed it to him.

"Sorry," I said.

"What's this for?" he asked, taking the tissue away.

"You're straight, right? Our lips touched. You might be disgusted by it."

"Nonsense!" he said. "Try to look sweeter, okay?"

Now I was regretting what I had done. I shouldn't have taught him all about BL fangirls and IG. I'd

created a monster!

"I have a better idea: I'll kiss you instead."

Soon enough, his arm was back on my shoulder, and he raised his left hand with the phone camera

ready to capture the perfect moment. Then he pointed his lips toward me.

And click.

"Great!"

Jiwoo showed me the photo he had just taken. His lips were pouted exaggeratedly, and his eyes were

pleading, begging to be given that kiss.

Meanwhile, my face was red, the expression of genuine shock plastered from forehead to chin.

"You like it?"

I shook my head in protest. "No! I look like—"

"My girlfriend," Jiwoo said, cutting me off. "You look like my girlfriend who's blushing because I was

teasing her with a kiss." He snickered and proceeded to upload the photo to IG. "How do I tag you?"

"Oh god, please don't."

"Oh, so that's how."

I looked at my IG feed and found that he had indeed successfully uploaded that dreadful photo.

His caption read: First day of boyfriend duty. I hope you enjoyed it, @bjmesoftly.

"Wow, that was fast!" Jiwoo's face was of pure delight. "Look, it's not stopping!"

Jiwoo showed me his phone. The follower notifications continued to flow in. He was now at about 5,000

followers.

"You should turn off your notifications," I said. "Otherwise, you won't be able to do anything else with

your phone."

Jiwoo nodded, still smiling boyishly. I checked out Gossip Gurl's page, and sure enough, we were

already there. It was a photo of when we accidentally kissed on the lips.

Mystery handsome guy identified. He's @g_whooo! Our informant gets to win a brand new iPhone!

Please check your DM for details. XOXO, Gossip Gurl!