Chapter 8
After washing the dishes in the kitchen sink, Ersel immediately went up to his room, turned on his laptop, and logged into his Facebook account. At the search bar, he typed 'Lino Bryan Marciano'. Several profiles with the same name appeared, and Ersel had to check them one by one.
Finally, Ersel found one Facebook profile with a profile picture that looked like his schoolmate. He right-clicked on it and chose the “Open Link in New Tab” option.
Then Ersel checked the available information on Lino's Facebook profile. These are what he found:
[Studies Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Communications Engineering at St. Gabriel University
Lives in Manila, Philippines
From Bacoor, Cavite, Philippines
In a relationship with Pia Bernadette Samaniego]
[So this guy has a girlfriend?] Ersel thought while feeling jealousy.
Ersel then right-clicked on the name of the girl and chose the “Open Link in New Tab” option.
Ersel checked Pia’s profile and found her to be a pretty and demure girl.
[He’s got a nice taste in girls.] Ersel thought while looking at the pictures of Lino’s girlfriend. [But still...I feel so jealous. I wish...I’m the one in a relationship with him instead.]
At that moment, Ersel suddenly realized that he had thought of something that would never happen.
[No...What the hell am I thinking?!] Ersel thought with his hands on the sides of his head. [There’s no way that would happen! Wake up, Ersel!]
Then Ersel sighed and proceeded to check Lino’s profile. He decided to check the photos next, and to his disappointment, he only found a few pictures. There were no pictures of Lino showing how he looked when he was younger.
[Looks like this guy has set most of his photos into Private mode.] Ersel thought while looking at Lino’s pictures. [Either that or he has uploaded only a few pictures. I won’t be able to find out if he really is my childhood friend like this. And it’s not like I can add him on Facebook since he seems to dislike me.]
Ersel then went back to the main profile page of Lino and scrolled down the latter’s Facebook timeline. Just as he expected, Ersel saw only a few updates, meaning that Lino had set his profile in a Private mode.
[Looks like he doesn’t want too many people to see his posts either.] Ersel thought while looking at Lino’s Facebook timeline. [That means…this part of Operation ULI failed. I’ll have to think of other ways to find out who he really is. Hmmm...]
At that moment, Ersel tried to think of a way while his arms were crossed and his eyes were closed. While he was trying to figure things out, Ersel remembered that he should tell Van whatever the former found out via Lino’s Facebook profile.
[Oh, yeah!] Ersel thought with his eyes opened again. [I have to tell Van everything that I found out about Lino!]
Ersel took a screenshot of Lino’s Facebook profile and sent it to Van via Messenger.
[Van, here’s what I know about Lino so far.] Ersel sent to Van via Messenger.
After Ersel’s message was seen by Van, the latter replied with this message together with a smiling emoji: Great! Anything else?
[I can only see a few pictures and updates on his Facebook profile and timeline. Looks like he had set his profile in Private mode.] Ersel replied with a sad emoji.
Van replied: [Then let’s try this: for now, we’ll follow him around at school whenever we have the chance to do so. How about that?]
Ersel became astonished with Van’s plan and the former replied: [That’s a good plan, Van. But isn’t that plan kind of creepy? Other people and Lino himself might notice what we’re doing.]
[We won’t get caught if we’re careful, of course.] Van replied with a winking emoji. [Unless you have another plan in mind. Is there?]
Ersel thought for a moment and found himself unable to come up with another plan, making him feel very frustrated.
[Van’s right.] Ersel thought after a few moments of thinking of another plan. [That might be the only way of discovering Lino’s identity, so I’ll go with his plan for now.]
Ersel replied: [I can’t think of any other plan right now, so we’ll go with your suggestion for now.]
[Okay. That’s a deal then! Let’s start with it by tomorrow!] Van responded with a smiling and blushing emoji
Ersel sent a Like sticker then replied: [Yeah! Thanks, Van! See you tomorrow!]
[No problem, man! See you tomorrow too!] Van responded with a smiling emoji.
Ersel just responded with a huge Like sticker before both he and Van went offline to do other things.
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[I’m quite sure that Ersel had checked my Facebook profile by now.] Lino thought while lying down on his bed. [It’s a good thing that I had set my profile in Private mode. If I hadn’t, he would have seen my pictures when I was younger and discovered who I really am.]
At that moment, Lino opened the Facebook app on his mobile phone and thought of checking Ersel’s Facebook profile and timeline.
[His full name...what was that again?] Lino thought as he tried to remember Ersel’s full name that the former heard when the latter’s name was called during the auditions for the Soul Chorale.
[That’s it! It’s ‘Ersel John Delgado’!] Lino thought after thinking hard of Ersel’s full name.
Lino quickly typed Ersel’s full name at the search bar and found the latter’s Facebook profile after scrolling down past several other profiles with the same name.
On Ersel’s Facebook profile, these are what Lino found:
[Studies Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics major in Actuarial Mathematics at St. Gabriel University
Lives in Manila, Philippines
Single]
[So he doesn’t have a girlfriend, huh.] Lino thought while looking at Ersel’s Facebook profile. [I wonder if he ever had one before.]
At that moment, Lino proceeded to check Ersel’s pictures. Although he would occasionally see some pictures of Ersel together with a girl, the former would find out that each girl was either the latter’s friend or cousin based on the captions of each picture.
Lino also found one picture of Ersel together with a cute girl. Upon checking, Lino saw that the name of the girl who was tagged in the photo was Mina Jane Delgado. Lino then remembered that the name of Ersel’s sister was Mina.
[Mina, right...she’s Ersel’s younger sister.] Lino thought while looking at Mina’s picture together with Ersel. [She’s grown up now too. Man, how time flies so fast!]
After checking the pictures, Lino proceeded to check some of Ersel’s posts. He had seen that Ersel liked to not only post pictures but also to share various things on the latter’s own timeline such as funny and educational photos and videos.
[He shares a lot of things on his timeline, huh.] Lino thought while scrolling down Ersel’s Facebook timeline. [My girlfriend is like that too. I’d rather not share various things on my timeline though. They’re annoying.]
Then a message notification from Messenger popped up. Pia had sent a message to him.
Lino opened the chat box with Pia and the message from her went like this: [Hi, babe! Are you going to sleep now?]
[I will in a few minutes, babe.] Lino replied with a smiling emoji.
[That’s too bad. I wanted to chat with you, but it looks like you have to rest now, babe.] Pia replied with a sad emoji.
[Is there something that you want to tell me?] Lino asked without any emoji.
[Not really. I just missed you, so I wanted to chat with you.] Pia replied with a kissing emoticon.
Lino felt so happy that Pia was thinking of him and he replied: [I missed you too, babe. Don’t worry. We’ll meet up this weekend.]
[Yeah! I’m looking forward to that! How I wish it’s the weekend now!] Pia replied with a sad emoji.
[It’s okay. I love you, babe!] Lino replied with a heart emoticon.
[I love you too, babe!] Pia replied with a kissing emoticon.
Lino blushed with romantic excitement and replied: [Anyway, I’ll sleep now, babe. Good night!]
[Good night, babe! Sweet dreams!] Pia replied with a kissing emoji.
After reading Pia’s last message, Lino just responded by sending a kissing emoji sticker before proceeding to turn off the lights and go to a deep slumber.