Spotted Isaac

"Hi!!!! Everyone joined the video chat!! How about you, Bryan?" Celinda could be seen turning around when she asked that question. On the other hand, Bryan was still waiting for his buddies to accept his video call request. Apparently, none of them answered his call until he typed an SOS message in the group chat. Within seconds, everyone picked up his second call request.

Seeing the handsome faces appear all at once rendered Bryan speechless. He wondered whether he should be celebrating for having such life-saving buddies or should he be wailing from their daily cold-hearted determination in rejecting his video calls.

Michael and Aaron were the first ones to break Bryan out of his thoughts. Michael furrowed his brows as he questioned the motive behind this call. He asked, "It looks like you have your limbs intact, so what kind of emergency is it? For a second, I thought you were having too much fun with Celinda that you pressed the wrong button. Ya know, some things are best to be kept private since it might not stay pg-13."

Aaron nodded, agreeing with Michael's remark about the sudden video call. "I agree. Plus, I was playing PUBG on my phone. I was having fun chasing my enemies while deflecting bullets to piss them off. But your calls made my game pause. At least I think it is paused and hopefully didn't get me killed. So? You look quite fine. You're standing with your hands on your phone. What's the emergency? Please don't ask us about condom brands because I would whack your head for stopping my game if it's about these questions!"

Jason was the calmest amongst all. He rested his back on his office chair and leaned on his palm. "Brother-in-law, every second is money for me. Actually, money can't make up for my wife's hunger, so this better be good. Aren't you on vacation? I see my sister in the background and obviously, she's also on a call with my wife. What's the emergency? I'll give you the quickest consultation, so my wife won't starve."

Alfred, on the other hand, kept quiet because Jessica was speaking to her girls. He didn't want to disturb her in any way. However, he did want to find out what kind of emergency Bryan had. The couple was waiting for an empty table at an Italian restaurant. While waiting in line, the couple's phone vibrated from the incoming call request.

On one phone, Jessica, Kyla, Selina, Yi Wei, and Celinda were having fun talking about their day. On the other phone, Bryan was facing his buddies with a guilty conscience. When Celinda asked Bryan again if everyone joined his call, he shook his head. "Isaac didn't pick up. I think he is working or something. He hasn't been active on his social media account."

Hearing Isaac's name made Kyla's smile stiffen on the spot. Even she didn't know what was going on with Isaac and she was his fiancée.

Celinda faced the camera again, catching the stiffened smile on Kyla's face. She decided to not mention Isaac any further and continued with the main point of the call. Bryan and Celinda arranged their cellphones to fit both of them on both screens. Once everyone settled down and stopped talking, the couple announced their engagement news to them with wide smiles on their faces.

Flashing her shiny diamond engagement ring into the phone cameras, everyone seemed rather emotionless. The guys were the first ones to congratulate Bryan in a dull, unamused tone. Although the guys squinted their eyes at him because they felt scammed answering the video call, they were undeniably happy for the engaged couple.

Meanwhile, Celinda was waiting for her girls to give some type of reaction. When none of them said anything, Celinda realized they were all spamming the group chat instead. Half the group already expected the proposal, so they weren't surprised by the event. However, the other half of the group spammed emoji, stickers and gifs to express their feelings. Finally, after twenty minutes of full blast spam, the girls decided on doing a countdown from three and congratulate the engaged couple altogether. Their cheering screams were equivalent to exploding fireworks to the guys on the other phone.

The girls were busy chatting in their own world about playing the groom and his buddies the night of their wedding. On the other hand, the guys were splitting the upcoming responsibilities for Bryan's wedding. Compared to the girls, the men were quick in deciding who is helping with which part of the wedding.

"Oh right, I forgot to ask you earlier. Are you and Bryan outside right now? I noticed the setting in the background, and it doesn't look like your hotel suite pictures." Selina pointed out the changes in the background from Celinda's side.

"Ahh, we called you right after we ate breakfast at the cafeteria. Right now, we are on our way to visit some dessert places around the area. Since we need to wait a while before we could taste some dessert, we decided to call all of you as we walk to save some time." Celinda explained.

"Oh my! Look how pretty the Christmas decorations look! Though, it is a little bit early, this place already decorated the hallway!" Celinda flipped the camera view for the girls to see the huge crowd in front of her. A tall Christmas tree with ornaments and a wishing star on the top was placed in the center of the lobby.

As Celinda continued rotating her phone to give the girls a clearer look at the decorated walls, Kyla's eyes followed a familiar figure on the screen. She stopped Celinda from moving around and asked her for a favor. "Celinda, hold on for a moment. Do you see the man in a beige jacket with a black scarf? He is right there from your current angle next to Santa Claus." Kyla was absolutely positive she saw Isaac's face.