THERE WAS NO call. Zilch. Nada.

Not even one week later. Una semana después, as the Spanish call it.

Not that I was counting anyways.

If they aren't going to hire me... I'll call the 'scammer' back for my bus fare. I'm living off my sorry $10k. Ten bucks means a lot to me. I can buy a soda, instant ramen and a cheese stick at the convenience store with that money.

I told Pat that, and she told me to wait.

"Good things come to those who wait," preached Pat, and hung up. Pat's dating a guy now- lucky guy- and once again, I'm left to my own devices.

After living with that same gap of loneliness in my soul for a week, I have finally grown tired of it. Wanting some form of unfamiliarity back as a form of companionship, I found my finger lingering on the call icon of the 'scammer''s caller ID.

I am genuinely tempted, you know. It'll be great to play a prank on him. Tell him that I've hacked into his Fornite account- assuming he has one, that is. He definitely has one, right? It is all the rage these days-  and demand ten bucks as ransom.

Should I, or should I not?

I was itching to do so. To satisfy that itch, I saved his contact as 'Fake Scammer'.

Glancing at the newest contact in my phone, I told myself, Iri, wait. If you're still lonely after watching 'Crash Landing On You', watch another kdrama. That's what Netflix is for, Iri.

And so I went back to my Son Ye Jin and Hyun Bin, hoping that the two's characters would marry soon and have twins.

___

6 PM.

I sobbed as I sat on the edge of my seat, and am at a loss of words after watching the suspenseful ending of episode 14. Internally, I began cursing Netflix for not releasing episode 15 and 16 of 'Crash Landing on You' soon enough.

It's utterly ridiculous that us loyal fans of the drama have to wait 48 hours for the 15th episode and 72 hours for the finale! Why can't they just release it now?

The need to know what fate awaited my Ri Jeong Hyuk and Yoon Se Ri was an intense one. It is so close and yet so far.

And now, I am bored again.

For the sake of my piteous eyesight though, I can no longer bring myself to binge-watch any more of those terrifically produced Korean dramas. Otherwise, my flawless 20/20 vision may end up becoming 00/00 in a matter of time.

So I resorted to my last resort. I dialed him.

"Hello?"

Now that I was really paying attention to his voice, I was glad to find that it was mellow, and quite a pleasure to listen to.

"Hi, so, are you Jace Koh?"

Jace Koh? The heck, girl, nobody is going to be named Jace Koh.

"Pardon? No, that's my friend. I'm Joaquim Korl. How did you get my number?"

Oh. Jace Koh does exist after all. Or maybe he's just playing along, waiting to call my bluff?

And Joaquim's stupid too. How can he not recognise my caller ID? Did he not save my number? Darn it.

"Sorry?"

Oops. Did I say that aloud? "Jace's Fornite account has been hacked-"

"What? AGAIN? I knew it shouldn't have linked our accounts together. So actually, my account is the one that has been hacked? What did he buy this time?"

"Erm, hold on. He bought many things, sir. He bought the legendary Frostbite outfit, Nog Ops, Galaxy skins..." I listed off as I read off the weird names off Google. This must be one of the worst ideas that I have ever made in my life. I literally am multitasking just to try and pull this off- I'm currently Googling for "expensive stuff on Fornite" and still am currently trying to trick Joaquim.

Thank god Pat isn't here. If Pat was here, she'll be videoing this and putting it up on a Youtube. The headline's flashing in my brain: How Not to Scam: a first-of-its-kind Youtube Tutorial by Brainless Girl. 

Maybe Pat's right about me wasting my life away after all. Perhaps I should follow Tom Hills's way of life and find an okay lad to marry.

Also, why couldn't I have chosen something else, like the fantastic RPG game, Dragon Age Origins? Ugh. But the probability of Joaquim playing Fornite was higher so...

"Tell me, did he buy every skin? Was one of the skins embedded with a virus code or something?" Joaquim's irate voice jolted me out from my internal turmoil.

"Yes, sir, yes he did. The 'Nog Ops' skin had a malware virus and-"

"This is a scam."

He caught on lightning quick! I didn't even get to read off the full list. "No, sir, this is real-"

"Jace won't dare spend $455 on Fornite skins. I finally gave him my blessing to date Millie. He wouldn't risk her. Hold on, you sound familiar. Hey..."

Here we go.

"You're the girl who thought I was a scammer!"

"Nope, that's not me. Sir, you need to pay transfer ten bucks-"

"You're she! I mean her," the flustered Joaquim stammered.

"I, ya, it's me." I finally admitted, not wanting to play cat and dog with him anymore.

"You're the girl who thought I was a scammer, and now you're trying to scam me back? What the heck? You are literally the first person I've ever known to take a leaf out of a scammer's book." Joaquim chuckles before he continues to lecture me. "If you're gonna scam somebody, learn about the topic you're trying to scam them with first. Heh. But I am a bit of an imbecile. You now know my friend's name. But it's not Koh though."

"You sure are dense- why are you telling me Jace's surname? I don't care about him. And you're fortunate I didn't intend to harm you."

"Why did you call me? Are you checking on your job application status? If you are, you're accepted. We were going to inform you tomorrow."

"No, I wasn't- oh, wait, what? I am? Wow, oh my god, thanks!"

"Ya. See you there soon."

He hung up on me again after bidding farewell to me.

The silence in my heart and home was never more pronounced. For a moment, I got carried away with my goal and forgot that I was living a life not worth living. For a moment, I talked to someone other than Pat. For a moment, I felt something other than boredom.

Pat. I should drop Pat a WhatsApp message about this. She'll be proud of me, won't she? She's always trying to get the extroverted side of me to show up, and now that it's peeking out, how ecstatic will she be?

After I did so, I released a sigh as I gazed at the tabs on my laptop, and they were all related to Fornite stuff.

I closed them all and my eyes too, setting an alarm for 11am tomorrow, impatiently waiting for the new sun to greet me in a warm embrace.

Hey guys how have you been? I hope you enjoy this chapter!

What shows have you been watching lately? I'm looking for new shows to watch on Netflix and Viu and if you know any shows/movies that is of a horror/ romcom/ adventure genre please comment here! Also I'm really curious if any of you have already watched "To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You". If you have, please share your thoughts on the film. I'm curious how other people view it.

As usual, please vote if you like my book! Thank you for your support too 💕💖