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..........M.E.R.I.D.I.A.N......L.I.G.H.T.S..........

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Ok, calm down! I'm the grown-ass woman here.

I shook my head and replied.

I'll chat you later, busy atm...

It was pretty chilly outside. I wore a crimson cardigan on top of my plain white blouse and denims. I hurriedly brushed my hair and put on strawberry tinted lip balm. My lips tend to get dry in cold weather.

It wasn't too long before I saw that familiar curly hair in the middle of the crowd. Javier waved at me with a broad grin on his face.

I mean, I could always give Pooh-san after dinner. I need to stock up on supplies before it gets too dark outside. Know how troublesome it was to scavenge for food in the middle of the night?

"Ready?" Javier started stretching like he's going on a marathon.

"Dude, it's not like we're going on a vacation far far away."

"Maybe not, but it is going to be several blocks away."

"Seriously? The nearest one is right across the road." I gestured my hands in that direction. We could practically see the neon signs of the store blinking cheerfully.

"Where's the fun in that? Don't you have a sense of adventure?" Before I could protest he started walking with hands pocketed in that red and white baseball jacket of his, whistling a jolly tune.

"Wha- yo- Fernandez...! Ahh..." I tilted my head backward before helplessly following the spaniard's escapade. "Coach Brian's going to kill us if we're out too late."

We got out of the hotel and walked along the wide sideroads. It was the end of fall and the start of winter. The trees decorating the roads had its leaves turned into a mesmerizing mix of red, yellow, and brown hues. A strong breeze knocked the fragile leaves off its branches and the leaves hurtled around dancing along with the wind.

Contrary to my expectations, Javier didn't try to bring up small talk or proceed to annoy me with personal questions like he always did nowadays. Instead, we walked side by side in companionable silence. My gaze drifted towards him. Seeing him so relaxed and comfortable brought out a sense of peace between us.

Who knows how long we walked. The longer we walked, the more relaxed I felt. The strains in my mind and my body that I didn't know was there gradually loosened. It brought out a sense of playfulness within me. I lightly skipped inside the squares on the hopscotch chalk drawing that some kids probably did. I outstretched my hands at the sides and chuckled lightly as I reached the goal at the end of the hopscotch.

The breeze ruffled my auburn locks with strands covering my face frequently that it became troublesome in a way. I should've brought my hair tie. Suddenly, warm hands held up my hair. I stopped walking involuntarily, casting a surprised gaze beside me. Javier gave me an amused smile and bunched up my hair carefully, twisting it slightly then tied it with a rubber band from what I saw.

My hair was most definitely in a quite messy ponytail now. For once, I didn't care about my appearance. I gave him a grateful smile and we continued our walk in peace. We visited a bakeshop on the way. The smell of newly baked bread was simply divine.

I was thankful to Javier. He must've noticed that I was too tense. I wouldn't be surprised if he noticed because I was kind of short with him recently. I felt bad about that.

He's a really good guy.

I glanced at him, or up at him. He's taller than the other guys I met so far. His height complimented well with his broad shoulders. I now noticed that those girls at the TCC and back at the stadium were on to something. Javi's gorgeous.

"Fallen for me yet?" Javi threw me a wink.

My face flushed. "No! In your dreams, Fernandez!" I flipped him off causing him to bark out in laughter. I scowled at him harder and stomped ahead.

"I very much love teasing you." His spanish accent was heavy as he wiped the corners of his eyes while restraining his laughter. He sped up to catch up to me outside the bakeshop.

"Don't get used to it," I warned him, threateningly pointing a baguette I bought earlier like a weapon. He had the audacity to laugh in return. I grumbled and bit the head of my crusty baguette. The taste was good but a little dry. Typical of a baguette.

"Want some?" He held up a mango jam in front of me. At my silent yet surprised question, he said, "Baguettes aren't meant to be eaten alone. Figuratively and technically speaking."

I huffed and narrowed my eyes before giving in. I held out my baguette and he tore half of it. We took turns dipping it on the jam jar and resumed our walk. We chatted about various things and pointed out interesting architectures and monuments. Javier may not be the typical historical nerd like I was but we had the common interest where odd and new designs caught our attention and we couldn't help but talk about it.

It wasn't until the sun began to set when I remembered something.

"Is there even a convenience store around here?"

"... dunno."

"What do you mean you don't know." I was scandalized. "You dragged me all the way here...!"

"Yes, it's pretty weird! There should be convenience stores in every block! Or... at least in my country it was that way..." he trailed off, then rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Guess my gut feeling is wrong."

"Ahh, let's just go back." I kept on sighing whenever Javier's with me.

In the end, we headed back and shopped at the first convenience store we saw. The one with the neon signs in front of our hotel. We arrived back at the hotel way past dinner time.

*****

I lost track of time.

That was my only excuse.

Oh, yes, I also forgot my phone before I went out.

That's just grasping at straws right there.

The guilt that I felt though. It was immense. Several missed calls and messages littered my phone. One was from Coach Brian asking where Javier and I was, which I promptly replied to - 'we're already at the hotel' - then the rest... it was from Yuzuru.

I haven't read the messages from Yuzuru yet. I was kind of afraid to open it which was honestly stupid. I mean was it because I abducted Pooh-san then went AWOL? I didn't know why I was hesitating to open his messages. Steeling my nerves, I was about to press the conversation open when-.

RING~! RING~!

I let out a shocked yelp and almost dropped my phone. I fumbled a bit before I saw that it was my manager from the Philippines, Eric Lito.

Why on earth...?

I was bewildered. Why would my manager for endorsements call me at this time? He should be relaxing back at the Philippines.

"Hello?"

"Elana!" came the frantic voice of Eric. "Finally, I couldn't get through earlier. Damn international calls. Anyways, where are you right now?"

"Um, at my hotel room...?"

"Are you really?" The suspicion clear in his voice.

"Ye- yes." I was mightily confused. "Why? What's this about?"

"You mean you still don't know? Haven't you seen the net yet? Social media?"

"Uhh-"

"Elana, you're blowing up! In a negative way!" Eric sounded harassed. "Ok, calm, calm... fshh..."

"Uh... what's happening?"

"Keep me on speakers," Eric ordered urgently, "Check your social media accounts."

I did as he told and logged into my twitter account which promptly made my jaw drop.

"No! Nuh-Uh! No way!"

What bombarded me were countless tweets bashing me front, right and center.

"Eric! This is not true! You gotta believe me!"

"I believe you, Elana." Eric sighed, his voice becoming warbled from the phone. "However, the tabloids doesn't care if it's true or not. Nor do the sheeps."

"But- but!"

Thousands of people were bashing me in the net.

'I knew there was something about her!'

'She's such a two faced sl^t!'

'I never liked her anyway. Worlds 2011 was a joke! @ISU is a joke!! Yuna should've won. Ferrer shouldn't even have the chance to touch the podium with those lackluster programs! #CorruptISU #UnfairJudging'

'Yuna was robbed!+1'

'Yuna was robbed!+2'

'In my opinion, Ferrer has some good programs in the past. I particularly love her Time short program couple of years back. However, the Beethoven program is kinda yawn inducing. The Dirty Diana short is simply horrendous.'

'Ew, I think she picked Dirty Diana coz she internalized it? lmao! #DirtyElana'

'LEL! #DirtyElana'

'Quite fitting! Didn't like her too. I tolerated her in the past but what she did is just too low playing both Yuzu and Javi like that. #DirtyElana'

'Yuna was robbed!+357'

'The hell with Yuna! Ando should've won the gold! Get Ferrer outta here! #DirtyElana #CorruptISU @ISU'

'Ok guys, look! Ferrer won fair and square in Worlds. You guys can watch the videos again and again and you'll know she won in TES. Doesn't hurt that her PCS is very nice too. Ando's pretty close behind in the TES dept but Ferrer nailed it. Yuna has the PCS down pat but she should really get the triple Axel going.'

'^ew, @ISU sheep spotted.'

'^^Is that @ISU's bogey acct? Lmao! #DirtyElana'

"This... it's-" I stuttered, at a loss.

The hashtag #DirtyElana was trending.

People I didn't even know and accounts that weren't following me were suddenly tagging me wherever. I got to the bottom of it in no time.

The photos and videos of Yuzuru and I back in the rink circulated and fans made a huge fuss of it. At first the teasing and banter were harmless. Majority of them even made a meme and drawn quick fanarts about the Pooh Abduction. The fanyus ignored it in general because I wasn't seen as a threat. I was just Yuzuru's perpetual friend to them. Or side-kick alongside Shoma, more like. It was supposed to be like that.

That all changed when photos of Javi and I circulated the net.

We were followed.

My heart thumped hard in my chest and my palms became cold and clammy as I continued to scroll down my phone. There were various pictures of Javi and I walking down the sideroads earlier. Some pictures were decent enough with us walking comfortably side by side, sometimes laughing, me pointing at something while Javi squinted slightly to look at it, Javi tearing our baguette in half, and us dipping it on his jam jar then staying close together while we ate. The worst part of it was the photo where Javi was tying my hair up in a pony tail.

'Javi and Elana... shiiiiiip! All aboard~!'

'They look good together! Are they going out?'

'Now that I look at it, they do look good together. They look like models on a runway. Javi's muscular broad build oddly fits Elana's slim feminine build. Oh my~'

'Javilana?'

'Navier!'

'Javana?'

'I hereby announce that my OTP - Navi - in the FS fandom has officially been formed. -bow-'

'Navi? Navi's hella good, nyahaha!'

'Are they on a date? Isn't that too irresponsible? I mean, tomorrow's the short program, why are they slacking off? Javi's not like that. That Ferrer girl must've been rubbing off on him. #DirtyElana'

'#DirtyElana is Dirty! Protecc Javi!'

'What's with the tag #DirtyElana? Sauce pls.'

'Anyone noticed the couple clothes though? I think they started going out at Skate Canada. They were awfully close there.'

'Oooh! tea! #CoupleClothes'

What couple clothes?! There is no couple clothes! There never will be couple clothes...!

I frantically observed the pictures again and let out a loud suffering groan. It may seem to outsiders that we deliberately coordinated our clothes, what with my crimson cardigan, white shirt and jeans. On the other hand, he has a red and white baseball jacket paired with denims.

There was another thread where Yuzuru was implicated. Some fans brought out past discussions, images, and events surrounding the two of us. There were pictures and videos of Yuzuru and I sticking close together, hugging, holding hands, and generally laughing and teasing each other. The Pooh Abduction incident -  formerly light-hearted - quickly became toxic.

'That biiiiii-! #DirtyElana'

'Laughing my ass off here, rofl! @ISU's new golden girl quickly turned out to be a rotten one. @ISU if you plan to push out Yuna, at least pick a nice one with a decent personality. #DirtyElana'

'Ferrer is such an attention seeker... get Yuzu away from her, yuck.'

'Yuzu is way too young! Why is there even a pair forming? Ferrer is like old OLD.'

'I know right! They so don't look good together. Ferrer is like a leech!'

'Maybe that's why Ferrer jumped ship to Javi's, lol!'

'Dirty Elana, nah~! Dirty Elana, nah~!'

'^lmao, I <3 you. XD'

'People nowadays are so mean. Leave the girl alone. Can't someone be friends with the opposite gender? smh...'

'^You're deranged. Don't you see what Ferrer's doing?'

'^^It's not that we're mean. Elana is laying her hands on BOTH Yuzuru and Javier AT THE SAME TIME. Get it now?'

'Again, agreed with upper commenter. The age gap between Yuzu-bae and Ferrer is a big no-no. Everyone should separate Ferrer from Yuzuru. That's just... can't explain it, and don't want to explain it.'

'Elana Ferrer is a witch. I'm disgusted at her behavior. I'm ok with her being with Javi. But with Yuzuru? No, please just no. Yuzuru is a kid for god's sake!'

'^strongly agree. @ISU should do something about this. Change your new golden girl!  Ferrer doesn't deserve the blatant favoritism! Don't be so biased in scoring, judges! #CorruptISU'

'Hmm, I dunno. I actually like Elana's programs. Honestly, I love her routines. And, I think she's just friendly, maybe too friendly? I think that's the problem here. She shouldn't lead Yuzuru on. Please don't bash me, this is just my take on the situation. I think Yuzuru has a crush on Elana. I don't know.'

'Yuzuru has a crush on Elana? Ew, no, just no... Why the hell would he have a crush on Ferrer? just no, need to wash my brain.'

'Yuzu having a crush on Elana is like saying Yuna wasn't robbed in Worlds 2011! ahaha!'

'For real? Elana was the one who took Pooh deliberately. If Elana wasn't teasing Yuzuru and wanted attention on herself, I'll eat my socks! The dirty ones!'

"Elana? Are you still there?" Eric sounded worried.

It was only then that I realized that I was trembling. My hands were trembling so much that I couldn't read the comments properly anymore. I took in a shuddering breath but I couldn't bring myself to reply. Eric continued to ask me questions and ask if I was ok.

I ended the call. I sent him a quick message telling him I'll call him later.

Taking in a shuddering breath, I felt my whole body tremble. This incident... I felt attacked, humiliated, unfairly scolded, and many more complex negative feelings swirled inside my chest. I clenched my fists and bit my lips. I couldn't reply to Eric because I might say something I would definitely regret.

Contrary to what Eric's probably thinking right now, I trembled not because I was in distress, anguish, or despair.

No, I was trembling because of rage.

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..........M.E.R.I.D.I.A.N......L.I.G.H.T.S..........

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(It is such fun bashing your own character, lmao!~)

(Now I understand why those CNovel authors write out the comments of bashers in their novels. I want to showcase to you guys the toxicity of the FS fandom.)

(If you like this chapter, please don't forget to vote and/or comment! Thank you!)