"So this is how she looks nowadays?" Tony said looking at Nick's phone screen. "She hasn't changed much since then."
It was the picture of Nick and Jessilyn, who was currently disguised as Julia. They were sitting across a table from each other, facing the camera, which was placed at the side.
"Looks like the picture has already received lots of upvotes in such a short time!" Tony said, with his eye widened.
"Of course. Julia is quite popular, both in the internet world and the real world. She is a regular vlogger with thousands of followers too."
"Man, you are so lucky!"
"Don't worry, Victoria will also bring you the same fortune." Nick said. "So, when are you meeting her?"
"Tomorrow."
"The sooner the better."
As Tony scrolled down to see the other entries in his phone, Nick recalled the previous night in his head.
"Let's take the picture that we met for," Nick said.
Julia hesitated a bit. "You sure you want to do that now?"
"Yeah, why not?" Nick shrugged. "I mean that's what we came here for."
"Yes, but the evening didn't go exactly as we planned, right?"
"So what? It doesn't matter if you are Julia or Jessilyn or someone else. Yes, I came with a different sort of expectation. I was looking forward to meeting my old friend whom I still have a crush on. I had so many things in mind to say to her. But she's dead. It's hard, very very hard to accept that, but neither I nor you can do anything about it."
Nick waited to assess her reaction and continued, "See, I don't know why you are running for this contest, but I have my reason. I did not participate just because I thought it would be fun and neither have I any intention of meeting Mr. Heart and act beside him. The only reason I am doing these ridiculous tasks is for the prize money. I need that. My scholarship request has recently been declined. My mom is sick. My dad is missing for years. The only source of income we have right now is my Part-time job here. You might not realize how serious this is for me, and it's okay if you can't, but please understand that this contest is too important for me to back out now."
Julia came back and occupied the same seat again.
"As you say, Nick. See, I am not very interested in this contest either. My family is pretty rich. I participated just because my friends and relatives insisted. Yes, thanks to Julia's face, I have friends now too. They said if it's a popularity contest then who else would be a better candidate than me. It's so ironic, isn't it? I was never popular in my school. Forget about being popular, I wasn't even significant enough. But now I am in a popularity contest with people backing me up and constantly assuring me that I will be the winner. I have a huge fanbase on the internet who religiously follow my vlogging channel. They are the most excited about this. They are supporting me constantly and would like to see me in the contest. They have been commenting stuff like 'Julia will make the perfect co-star for Mr. heart' or 'If Julia doesn't win, no one deserves to win.' But are they going to abandon me if I don't win this? No, never. They will blame it on the contest organizers and the people who didn't vote for me. Those people will still follow me and support me. That's how fans are like. So, my stakes are low. But if it means so much to you, then I am happy to help."
"Thanks," said Nick. "I am not very popular either."
Julia smiled. "The internet begs to differ though. Your entry-level photo went viral. And this one will get you tons of likes too."
Then she winked at him and said, "Don't worry, I have lots of fans who will make you famous too. There's one more thing we should do."
"What is it?"
"You should feature in my next video. I will introduce you to my viewers and mention that you are the person whom I was assigned to. Tell me one talent you have which we can perhaps showcase in the video."
Talent! Nick thought. Nothing that came to his mind. He suddenly realized how boring of a person he was. He didn't have any hobby, or any special abilities. Nothing to make him an interesting figure. If he was ever part of a novel or a movie, he would be an insignificant side character. He wasn't the least bit qualified for the role of the protagonist.
Julia smiled seeing him getting lost in his thoughts because she knew that a person wouldn't have to think so much about whether he had any talent or not if he had one.
"It's okay. We can do something else. Some funny online challenges or something that sort. We'll figure that out. Just let me know when you want to do that. Better if we can do it in the next two-three days, well before the voting ends."
"Sure. That'll be helpful."
Then he called Daniel to take a photo of them.
"Nick, Nick!"
"What?" Nick returned to reality by Tony's call.
"You just received a message from someone named Paolo. Who's Paolo?"
Nick snatched the phone out of his hand and looked at the message.
"He's the guy from the medical shop who wanted to talk to me." Nick said.
He opened the message which read:
Tomorrow after 5:30? Or day after tomorrow. Let me know.
Nick quickly replied back: Tomorrow works. Where should we meet?
'What about Glen's? It's closer to your place' came the instant reply.
Arghh, I am getting tired of that place!
'Sure, works.'
He kept the phone back in his pocket and thought about the recent encounter he had with Paolo.
What does he want to tell me? What is he hiding? What does he know about that person who came to my diner? What does he know about my dad?
"Hey buddy, if you want to sit here and daydream, then go ahead. I will be leaving now." Tony said picking up his college bag.
"No wait, I will come too."
Before splitting apart, Nick said, "Good luck with your meeting tomorrow."
"Yeah. I just hope that she's not a succubus or anything like that. And good luck to you too with your meeting with this Paolo guy."
Nick looked distracted. He didn't know what kind of encounter it was going to be. It couldn't go very well, that was the kind of vibe he got from Paolo's body language last time, so he hoped for it to be just bad and not terrible. The anticipation was killing him.
Just when Tony disappeared around the corner, he got another text message.
He read the text and almost dropped the phone from his hand. His eyes shot up; his fingers fumbled.
What the hell is this? What is the meaning of this?
He looked around to see if anyone suspicious was following him, but he found no such person.
He looked at the screen again and read the message repeatedly. No matter how many times he read it, the message did not change. It was a very clear instruction to him. There was no mistaking about what it meant or implied.
He took a deep breath to calm himself down and stared at his phone. The message was from an unknown sender.
It read:
If you don't want to harm Paolo, then don't talk to him ever. Avoid him at any cost. I suppose you don't want to be responsible for the unnecessary misery of his family.
- A piece of friendly advice from a dear friend