Chapter 8

Joshua walked inside Roberto's as cautiously as he can. There were quite a handful of customers in the said restaurant. Of course, he's still a popular actor and a lot of people recognize him. He actually felt some eyes rest on him as he walked towards the person he's meeting that morning. Ria smiled when she saw him. Joshua immediately sat opposite her. "You look… alarmed," Ria said based on his demeanor. "Is it really okay for us to meet here?" Joshua asked as he cautiously looked around. "This is not the first time you've been to Roberto's, right?" asked Ria. "Yes, but… this is different." He was actually whispering. Ria moved closer to him. She whispered as well, "And, why is it different?" "Because…" He looked around once again. "You know…" "Because it's about you being a Cupid?" Ria said on her normal voice. Joshua said "Shh!" as he looked around to see if someone heard what she said. Ria just giggled. "Relax… I understand you're new to this thing, but this is not as hard as you think it is." "People are already looking at us." Joshua noticed some customers looking at them and whispering. "What do you expect? You're Joshua Socorro. People will definitely look at you." Yeah right. Joshua realized that as he also remembered who he is with right now. "And you're Ria Fojas, or rather, Ria Nelmida." She's using her mother's maiden name as a pen name. Ria just shrugged. "You see, even though people might talk about you, I guarantee you there will be no scandalous news about you. You will not be linked romantically to anyone." "Huh?" Joshua got confused at what she said. "What I mean is, when it comes to love, no issue or scandal will be thrown against you. A Cupid will not experience being matched to anyone. You will not be suspected of liking someone… Those things. Anything that has something to do with love life, no issue will be used against you. One of the perks of being a Cupid." "So even if they see me with another woman, even if everyone knows that I'm dating Caitlyn, I won't be put in a blind item?" "Nope, but don't tell me that's what you're worried about? You're not thinking of dating someone, are you?" "No! Of course, I won't! I was just worried that someone might hear what we're talking about." "Don't worry about that," Ria said. "Like what you've said last night, no one will believe you anyway. And besides, you're an actor, and you're talking to a romance novelist. Don't you think people might think that us talking about love and cupid stuff is just but normal?" Joshua contemplated on that. "I don't think so…" Ria pondered as well. "Maybe you're right… Oh well, don't worry. In all these years I've been a Cupid, no one ever suspected me… Let's just move on because my prospect is about to come." "Right. So, what are we going to do?" Ria took out her Cupid Phone and showed a picture of a guy to Joshua. "Mark Peter Millo, a friend of mine from college. He's now a systems administrator on an accounting firm in Makati. Recurring." "What's the story?" Joshua suddenly became curious about Ria's mission on this certain Mark Peter Millo. "He tried online dating." Joshua's jaw dropped. "Yeah, I know. An IT guy doing online dating. Too much tech, right? But, you know. Having that kind of job does not give Miles the time to date like his peers. So Miles installed Sparksfly. You know what that app is, right?" Joshua nodded. It's the newest dating app, and he knows a bunch of people who has an account. "Truth is, the developer of that app is my friend. And, you probably know what kind of a person that friend of mine is." Joshua's jaw dropped again. Ria giggled at his reaction. "You know, Cupids are everywhere, you're just not aware. Well, not yet, but soon. It's not easy to make seven billion people fall in love… One hundred million in the Philippines, that is." "So… he's a Cupid and he… he manipulates the app?" "More like the algorithm of the app," Ria answered. "But, only for those who are red thread… Well, sometimes a person needs to meet a certain someone even though he or she is not his or her destiny." "How is that? All that he matches on Sparksfly are his missions?" "Nope," Ria answered. "Destiny also gives him his missions. Now, if you're not his mission and you happened to have an account on Sparksfly and you matched with someone, then it's probably just a coincidence, or maybe it's destiny as well. A lot of reasons. Anyway, the app is managed not just by my friend but by a lot of people. He's the creator, but it doesn't mean he's the only one who controls or runs it." Joshua thought of Mark Zuckerberg as the founder of Facebook, who later became the CEO of a multinational company. Maybe Ria's friend is also like him. He started as an app developer, and then he became the businessman behind the company. Wait… could it be that Mark Zuckerberg… "Going back to Miles," Ria said, bringing Joshua's mind back to Roberto's. "I told him to install that app on his phone. It's part of the plan, you know. I told him I have this friend who developed a dating app. That I ask all my friends who are not in a relationship to install that app just to show support to my friend." "Then, you should also have it installed on your phone," Joshua said. "Yup, but I never used it." Joshua smirked. "But why? Who knows, you might end up matching with your red thread." "Joshua, we just discussed about my friend manipulating the algorithm of the app. If I matched with my red thread, then I would know he is my red thread. That is against the rules, right?" "How about random coincidence?" "And you forgot that Cupids will never be linked romantically to anyone." Joshua felt being caught in his own trap. He should never forget that he could not argue with a Cupid who has more experience than he has. "Okay, so, what happened to Miles?" Joshua asked. "His red thread did not subscribe?" "She did, and they matched. But, he won't meet with her." Joshua frowned. "Why?" Ria was not able to answer as Mark Peter Millo approached them. The guy is actually good-looking, more than average in height with the right built to match. Joshua wondered why a guy like him is having a hard time looking for love. Probably career, just like what Ria said. "Ri!" the guy said as he went closer to Ria. "Oh! Hi!" Ria reached out her hand and the guy took it. "By the way, this is Joshua, my high school classmate." "Joshua Socorro, the actor! But of course!" The guy extended his hand to him. Joshua shook hands with him. "Hi!" he said with a smile. "Josh, this is my college friend, Miles," Ria said. "I hope you don't mind me joining you," Miles told Joshua. "I just need to get something from Ria." "No, of course," Joshua said. Miles sat down on an empty seat. "Here you go," Ria said as she gave Miles a white paper bag. "Wow! Thank you so much," Miles said as he took the package. He reached inside the bag and took out a stack of books tied together with a teal ribbon. There were five books, with a card on top of the stack. "Oh, they're tied together!" "No, it's okay." Ria took back the books and removed the ribbon. Then he handed them back to Miles. Miles opened one book and looked at the first page. "Wow! Personally signed by you. Thank you so much, Ri. My sister would really love this." Ria smiled. "Did I get her name right?" "Yeah. It's perfect," Miles said with a smile. "I hope next time, when you ask a copy of my novels, it's to impress a girl you're pursuing, okay?" Miles chuckled. "Whoa! Too much pressure." Ria giggled. "So, how's Sparksfly?" "Still on my phone." Miles opened the other books. Ria looked at Joshua. "You know Sparksfly, right?" "I think I know that," Joshua said, pretending that they didn't have a conversation beforehand about Sparksfly, and Miles as well. Ria went back to Miles. "You still haven't matched to anyone?" "I did, but nothing happened. We didn't jive," Miles answered. "Then try another one. Who knows, you might match to someone again," Ria said. "There is actually this girl," Miles said. "Actually, she was the first to send a message." "That's good!" Ria said. "What did she say?" "That she liked my name," Miles answered. "Dude, you have to thank me for that," Ria said. "Yeah..." Miles said nonchalantly. He looked at Joshua. "She was the one who gave me that name." "His name is Mark Peter Millo. I just thought that Mark and Peter are very usual, so I called him Miles. From Millo," Ria explained. "She has a thing for making names," Miles said. "Well, at least, you matched with someone on Sparksfly because of that," Ria said. "Did you reply to her?" "I didn't," Miles answered. "Why?" Ria took back the books and tied them with the ribbon once again. "Look at her pictures." Miles took out his cellphone and opened Sparksfly. He then showed the profile of the girl he matched with. "She's pretty!" Ria commented. "Notice something on the pictures?" asked Miles. "No, I don't. What should I notice?" Ria said. Miles showed the pictures to Joshua. "They looked very professional," Joshua commented. "Exactly," Miles confirmed. "Can't you see? These pictures look perfect. What if it's a catfish or a fake profile? She might just have grabbed the photo somewhere on the web." "That's it? I thought it's something serious," Ria said. "Why don't you try talking to her? Then ask her to do a video call. If it's a catfish or fake, then don't continue." Miles looked at the profile on his phone, seemingly considering what Ria said. "So? You also like her, don't you?" Ria teased Miles. Miles' smiled. "She's cute." "Then do it!" Ria said. "Just try it. You wouldn't know if you won't, right?" Miles looked at his cellphone again. "Maybe," he said before closing the app. Ria gave the books back to Miles. He put them back inside the paper bag. "I'll go ahead now. I need to go to my sister's birthday party," Miles told them. "You really don't want to come?" he asked Ria. "You can take Joshua with you so that my sister would be over the moon." "I need to go somewhere after this," Ria said. "Okay." Miles said his goodbyes then left. "The girl is a vlogger." Joshua looked at Ria. "That is why her photos were professionally done. Yes, they were touched up, but not that much because she's really pretty. She's from Laguna. Their Cupid is her friend." "So, how's that? She lives quite far from him,' Joshua said. "Miles works in Makati. He comes home to Tarlac twice a month only to see his family. If ever they decide to live in Laguna after the wedding, it's possible for him to travel to work since he has his own car. If they decide to live in Makati, the girl would also be okay because she can still do her vlogs wherever she lives." "Point taken… You're already thinking about their life after marriage, huh?" "Well, it's part of their destiny. It's all planned from the beginning." "So, do you think Miles will chat with her after this?" "He will," Ria answered. "Especially after he saw the girl's vlog on his timeline." Joshua frowned. To answer his questioning gaze, Ria took out her personal phone and opened her Youtube app. "See this?" Ria showed him some videos, one of which is a vlog of the girl that matched with Miles. "She's quite popular, but her videos are all DIYs and lifestyle vlogs, so Miles really don't watch those stuff." "You're going to share her video?" "Yeah, part of the plan and also, it's a fun vlog. It's a truth or dare vlog with her sister, and it really showed her quirky personality. It's something that Miles would like. Aside from the fact that she kind of mentioned in that video that she did online dating." It seems so easy and random, but it's something that affects a person's destiny. Or make that two person's destinies. Joshua wondered when he will have that kind of confidence as a Cupid. "Are you ready for the next mission?" Joshua stared at Ria. He doesn't know why, but that cocky smile of hers suddenly made him feel excited.