Name: Lim Ah Kau

Department: International Accounts

Role: Manger

Client #1: Ah Seng (Heng?) Fish and Consulting

Password: x2 ?? i?

Luna – likes tea. Dislikes: try-ards

How not to be a tryhard

Client 2: something about construction??

Chloe tried to read her notes again. There had been an interview earlier but she totally did not catch what the guy was saying. His jaw was practically falling off and everything sounded like a moan; how was she supposed to write a complete report like that?

"Eh Chloe, since when you friends with LunaSenshi?" Lily asked as she peered over Chloe's shoulder. "And you mis-spelled 'manager', you forgot the 'a'. Also, the oxford comma here don't need. And this report cannot lah, so short. And you even write about—"

"I know lah," Chloe said, groaning. "But I couldn't understand what he was saying!"

"Cannot understand until must talk about Luna ah? Eh, what's she like?"

"She's so nice," Chloe gushed, completely forgetting about her report. "She told me to call her Luna! I was actually asking her if I could do a collab, but she offered to mentor me instead so I'm being her PA part time!"

"Mentor you? I thought you didn't want to be an influencer and that you were 'just sharing my life online to make friends'?" Lily made air quotes as she spoke, as dated as that gesture was.

"Well, I am just sharing about my life," Chloe said, "I guess she just saw the potential in me."

"What about the collab thing?"

"Oh? I meant I just wanted to meet her! Like all my favourite influencers. You know, I should totally do a list of like other up-and-coming influencers to follow. Do you think people would enjoy that?"

"You must be very lucky to be able to meet so many of them," Lily said with a straight face. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you're breaking the visiting limits. Anyway, all the best with your report, I heard that Mr Khoo is very impatient to get it."

The report. Chloe groaned. It was almost five but if she didn't hand in the report, the company could technically make her stay till half an hour before dark, which was six-fifteen today. She wasn't going to be able to go to Luna's house if that was the case, and she did not want to piss off Luna so early in their relationship.

"How am I going to hand it in?" Chloe asked. "I couldn't catch anything he said."

"What did your training say?" Mr Khoo said from behind her. Chloe jumped out of her seat and turned around.

"Mr Khoo, I didn't mean to complain, I just... I have a small issue with this report."

"Chloe, what do I always tell you girls?"

"You're lucky you're chio because if you're not you wouldn't be able to get a job?"

Mr Khoo sighed and placed his hands on Chloe's shoulders, forcing her to look into his eyes. "No, I always tell you girls that you have great potential. And it's your duty to your parents to live up to your potential."

Oh no, Mr Khoo was going into speaker mode. Before he became the head of the Information Retrieval department, Mr Khoo worked as a recruiter and motivational speaker for the bank. Apparently, his speeches were very well received, albeit with a relatively high attrition rate from his recruits. Chloe fidgeted but Mr Khoo didn't notice.

"When you have some time, I want you to close your eyes and imagine your parents dead or worse, Infected. How would you feel if you haven't done anything with your life? How would you feel knowing that you couldn't even make them proud by helping Singapore continue to function?"

Chloe thought of her parents and the increasingly feral way they ate their food. Losing them wasn't some distant possibility, it was something that she was fighting against. She didn't want to think about what would happen if they were gone, she would not let them go.

"I need the bathroom," she said as she abruptly broke away, tears streaming down her cheeks. As she left the room, Chloe heard Mr Khoo say to himself: "I've still got it!"

******

ThatGirlChloe: [Picture: Staring out of the grilled window, a coffee in hand]. Don't you just love the end of a workday? It gets a bit tiring cooped up in the office so I'm glad for the view I have, even with the grills in place. I know it's for protection, but anyone have any recommendations for a nicer (but safe) grill?

(Posted: 40 min ago, 143 likes and 44 comments)

SengSang: What is Luna like in real life? Chio or photoshop?

GrillSG: Hi @ThatGirlChloe ! We have some amazing grills, shoot us a DM and maybe we can work something out!

Reply - SengSang: Can close comments liao, goal achieved

"Hi Chloe, are you feeling better?"

Chloe quickly smoothed her expression from one of unbridled joy at getting her first sponsorship to something resembling distress. "I don't know what to do," She sighed, "between the comments and the fact that I'm surrounded by walls all day, it's so hard."

Luna closed the front door, made sure it was locked, and then patted Chloe sympathetically. "Does your office have a mental-health unit?" she asked as she turned and walked towards her room.

"You know, it would make me feel better if you give me a nickname," Chloe said to Luna's back. "I think Chloe-bear is cute. It would totally be awesome if you called me that."

"I don't really call people by nicknames," Luna said, not even turning back to look at Chloe. "It's how I try to draw boundaries between my work and personal life."

"I thought we were friends!" The words slipped out before she could do anything.

This time, Luna paused and turned around to give her a small smile. Chloe totally got the message. She just had to spend more time with Luna and she was sure she would be considered a friend in no time. They walked into Luna's room and Chloe immediately melted into the soft couch at the end of the bed.

Chloe heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't know what got into me. It's just been so hard and you know with Chermandy—"

"I thought she was your friend?"

"Oh, she definitely is but she loves lives and I find them so stressful. Plus some of the people she hangs out with are a little questionable, even if our audiences have significant overlap. I like to think that I appeal to a more rational public. Perhaps you have some tips on how to handle them? So my mental health doesn't suffer?"

Before Luna could say anything, the door opened and Luna's mum poked her head into the room. "LunaSenshi, is your friend staying for dinner?"

"I'm not having a live now, mum."

"Only if it's not too much trouble, auntie."

They spoke in unison. Auntie frowned slightly but left the room. Did that mean that she could stay?

"Chloe, the truth is—"

Again, they were interrupted as the door opened.

"Sis, I'm back." The mask might obscure most of ther face, but Chloe recognised that pixie cut anywhere.

"Hi Amy, or can I call you Ames like Luna? I'm ThatGirlChloe." Chloe said, bouncing out of the room and sticking out her hand. Amy just looked down at it.

"Sorry, Chloe," Luna said, "Ames doesn't shake hands or takes out her gloves until she's sanitised herself."

"Oh." Chloe looked down at her outstretched hand. "I'm sorry, but I am so glad to meet you?"

"Amy, dinner in ten minutes." Auntie shouted from another part of the house. Without another word, Amy turned away and walked off.

******

"So, Chloe, what are you doing here?" Amy asked as soon as they sat down at the dinner table.

"Oh, LunaSenshi has been so nice," Chloe gushed. "She messaged me when I was at my lowest and—"

"Yeah, I tell her not to do that. She should be treating social media more like a job."

Chloe kept her smile. "Well, it literally saved my life, I was so close to suicide."

"Poor thing," Auntie said, giving her a piece of har cheong gai. It smelled pungent and amazing and the chicken was so juicy that Chloe got distracted.

"Auntie, can you show me how to make it? The supermarket one is so dry."

"Oh, does your mum cook? I can pass her my recipe directly, what's her number?"

"Mum," Luna quickly cut in. "Do you think tomorrow you can cook ABC soup? There's another grocery delivery tomorrow."

The talk turned to the logistics of groceries, what had to be cooked right away and what they actually wanted to eat. It was such a normal conversation that it hurt.

"Chloe," Amy's dry voice cut through her thoughts. "You're crying into your rice."

Auntie pushed a box of tissues towards her. "What's wrong? Do you need me to get you some liang teh?"

"It's just, my parents are always out so I don't often get a normal conversation like this."

Auntie clucked. "Poor thing, some companies are really too much, asking people to work when it's dangerous. Do your parents know that they can report illegal overtime to MOM?"

"It's okay," Chloe said as she took a piece of tissue and tried to daintily blow her nose. "But you know, it would really help my loneliness if LunaSenshi takes me on as her PA or something."

"I don't know," Luna said, biting her lip.

"Of course," Auntie said firmly. "LunaSenshi needs so much help, the offers are just pouring in."

"It's not like that," Luna said. "Chloe, not that I don't like spending time with you, but since you're an influencer it's best if we don't spend too much time together."

"Oh, I totally won't take advantage of our relationship," Chloe said earnestly. This was the chance. "I just really want to spend time with more people in a safe environment. And I want to be helpful, of course, which is why I proposed the PA thing."

"Sounds like you just want to learn to get more followers," Amy said.

"Amy!" Auntie managed to compress a whole lecture into that name. "Be nice. LunaSenshi, you need the help, I see you working so late at night. Just hire Chloe. It's not like we have people visiting the house most of the time. I video call everyone so she can come over anytime she wants."

"I work when people are up, mum."

"No excuses," Auntie said. "Now you can be a good influence for Chloe. Like a proper Influencer."

"Why don't you find a way to volunteer instead of volunteering someone else?" Amy asked. Luna looked down to hide a smile. "My department always needs more help with animal care."

Auntie glared at Amy. "Once your work commitments die down, I will find you an area of service too."

"Sure, when we get a vaccine."

"Eat!"

LunaSenshi: [Picture: Luna with her mother and her sister. A cute emoji is stuck over her sister's face] Don't you love family night? Honestly, I don't go out too much nowadays because I just want to spend time with my mummy and sis! If you didn't know, my sis works in research and she is one of our hidden essential workers – she is working for our future. If you are or you have a family member like that, thank you for all the work that you do! #supportouressentialworkers

(posted: 24 min ago. 6500 likes and 300 comments)

Pinned Comment – ThatGirlChloe: You guys are such a cute family! Thanks for letting me have dinner with you guys!!