Chloe lay in bed, squinting at her phone. She had just sent LunaSenshi some mood-board photos to prove she was proactive and understood her style and now she had time to dig into things. What was going on with Amy? She was so rude and Chloe knew she should get over it – everyone had to deal with trolls – but it was just so weird. She was LunaSenshi's sister. She could easily get a few thousand followers by association with Singapore's best Influencer and she had absolutely no social media presence.

"I wouldn't be so stupid if I were her," Chloe murmured to herself as she scrolled through the list of people Luna was following. Nothing, although Chloe's heart skipped a beat when she saw, again, that she was one of the two thousand people Luna was following. Right above the account that posted about community cats!

Perhaps she had a finsta account. Fake accounts, where people claimed that they could be their 'real selves' were so popular nowadays. All the celebrities had one, or ten, and it was a great day for tea whenever a finsta was exposed and the celebrity's true thoughts revealed. Personally, Chloe didn't go for such nonsense. Her life was already so starved for content that she wasn't going to split it into two accounts.

Chloe tapped back to Luna's profile and opened up the family picture, trying to see if there were any new comments that might be from Amy.

Why you hide your sister's face? Got deformity?

I love you so much, Luna, I'm going to get a tattoo of you as soon as the shops are open again!!

I SEE PHOTOSHOP EVIDENCE

My daughter wants to be called by her username too! Please consider using your real name!

It's so nice that your family can eat together! My mom is an essential worker too and we never see her ): It would be so great if you could shoutout my username she would be so proud of me!

Unable to resist it, Chloe closed the app and made her way over to SingSnark, the premier gossip site for all the SG influencers. They were almost as obsessed with Luna as she was, and she was pretty sure that one of the users there was Chermandy, even though she'd never admit it.

The commentary there was the same too. The only new, and happy, thing was that she finally had a thread dedicated to her. She had definitely taken a step towards becoming a full time influencer and now, all she had to do was to keep the attention on her and continue growing her audience. Just as she was catching up on her thread, her alarm rang, reminding Chloe that she had to start charging her phone now if she wanted to make it to last till lunch. She should probably get some sleep as well, Chloe decided. She'd be going over to Luna's house after work anyway, she could keep her eyes open for more about what was going on.

******

LunaSenshi: I know it's expensive but it's so worth it and until travel with Japan resumes, this is the best way to experience some zen. My campaign with Ochaen ended two months ago but I just bought another packet of their sencha because I love it that much! Remember, you can steep it multiple times, which means that the cost per cup isn't as high as you think! Check out my stories to see more tea brewing tips and remember, I've got a giveaway coming for our essential workers – stay tuned!

(Posted: 45 minutes ago. 4505 likes, 89 comments)

AYip: I love their tea too! I bought it after my ungrateful niece refused to help me buy. So mafan but worth it!

ChuChu: Is this another ad? Why never declare?

TeaTol: I'm saving up for this!!

"Um, thanks for the photos, Chloe," Luna said as Chloe walked into her room. She was on the coffee table, a fragrant pot of tea in front of her. Chloe had seen that pot in Luna's latest post on the bus. Second time it appeared this month! "I'm just a bit confused as to why you sent them to me?"

Chloe peeled her eyes away from that gorgeous, handcrafted pot and looked at the photos lying on the coffee table (sponsored by a major furniture retailer. That video got two million views and reportedly brought in 3 million dollars worth of sales).

"I just wanted to show you I could be helpful," Chloe said, beaming. "They're for your moodboard. So what can I help with today?"

Luna sighed and patted the space next to her. "Thanks, Chloe, but I really don't need you to do this."

"I'm your PA, this should be part of my job scope."

"You're not my PA, Chloe."

"But your mum said—"

Luna sighed again. "Please don't take what my mum said seriously. I know it must be tough, with your parents like this and everything so precarious, but I am not looking for help."

Chloe bit her lip. "But we could at least be friends?" Friends who helped each other out and boosted each other's posts would be good too.

"I really, really don't want to hurt you, Chloe, but I've said before that I don't have Influencer friends."

"Is it because of the chat group?"

"Chloe, I'm not even in that chat group! I consider you a colleague and of course, I want your mental health to be okay, but I don't have the emotional bandwidth to mentor you right now or have the type of friendship you want. I really can't have too many people close to me now."

She wanted to so much to appear like a strong, confident influencer in front of Luna, but Chloe couldn't help the tea that rolled down her cheek.

"I'll get more tea," Luna said, jumping to her feet. "I have some really nice sencha from the ochaen campaign."

"It must be nice to be able to get stuff like that and still have money leftover."

Luna winced. "Sorry," she said again. "I'll make some tea now."

The minute Luna walked out of the door, Chloe unlocked her phone and turned the camera to the front-facing mode. Her eyes were a bit red, maybe she could use it to stay in touch? She couldn't just wait until Luna's sister had news about a cure, what if she ran out of money before that? And what a waste of an influencer connection. She rubbed her eyes hard, the mascara smudging even more. By the time Luna came back with a fresh pot of tea, the grassy and marine notes wafting through the room, Chloe had pulled herself together.

"This smells incredible," Chloe said, "I haven't had sencha since before the Infection. It must be very expensive by now."

"Well, tea was originally for those with money," Luna said. "It was basically for— well, I won't bore you with the details of the history of tea. Are you feeling better?"

Chloe nodded. "Yes, I understand where you're coming from. But we could still keep in touch?"

Luna gave her a tight smile. "Don't worry, we'll let you know as soon as there's good news about your parents."

"Thanks," Chloe said and put the cup down. On her way out, she dropped by the kitchen.

"Thanks so much for letting me come, Auntie."

"Oh ThatGirlChloe!" Auntie beamed. "Did you have a good time?"

"Yes." Chloe forced a tea down her cheek. "I'm really going to miss being here, it's so hard to go back and see my parents Infected."

"They're Infected?" It was a huge gamble, but Chloe was counting on this to bring her sympathy.

Auntie knocked her forehead with her palm. "No wonder the girls didn't want me talking about your parents. You poor thing."

"It's very nice of Luna and Amy to offer to help."

"Of course! And you must come over to eat, it must be hard to cook for yourself. I know what young people like you are like, all don't know how to cook."

"I'd love to but Luna won't let me be her PA."

Auntie tsked. "Well, you come over tomorrow night and I'll talk to her again. Poor girl, you really need to be among people who understand you. I don't know why LunaSenshi would be like that, especially since you two have so much in common."

"Thank you, Auntie," Chloe said joyfully. "I'll see you tomorrow."

It worked! She had another in and another chance to persuade Luna to help her. Chloe was so caught up in a manifesting success for her online life that she didn't notice the front door open as she leaned forward to open the door.

"Are you okay?" Amy quickly shut the door and guided Chloe to sit on the corridor. "The door made such a loud sound when it hit you."

"I'm fine," Chloe said, smiling dreamily. "My parents always said I had a hard head."

Amy pursed her lips. "Are you okay? You look dazed, maybe I gave you a concussion."

"Oh no," Chloe said, shaking her head. "I was thinking of other things, I need to go back and feed my parents."

"I see...Is their condition very bad?"

"It's not so bad a cure wouldn't work," she assured Amy. "They still have their faculties. Mostly."

"I see," Amy said again. She didn't say anything else, and Chloe realised that Amy, the rude person she was, was waiting to make sure she left.

"Well, I've got to go, my bus is coming."

"Bye," Amy said and slammed the door in her face. 

A/N:  I wish I could make Luna geek out a bit more about the history of tea but then you guys would be bored. I love tea so much!!