The Hypocrisy Of Laurie Crisostomo

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"Thank you." She avoided Hideaki's gaze.

Bella and Andrei thanked Hideaki as well before they all went into the lobby of their hotel. Mei Mei looks like she doesn't want to be left alone with her brother, but she doesn't have much choice. She can't stay with them at the hotel, she has a husband that she has to go home to.

"That Hideaki guy, what is he with you?" he asked as they piled up in the elevator to their hotel room.

They booked a suite that could accommodate four people. When the receptionist saw that three people, two girls, and one boy, not sharing the same family name, were sharing a hotel room, she quickly masked up her surprise with her professional look.

But Laurie, who is good at reading people's reactions, saw the receptionist's stunned expression before she could hide it behind her professional smile.

"Hideaki?" She narrowed her eyes on Andrei, "Why do you ask?"

"He's giving me a strange look. He was like trying to get a read of me or something. Is he gay?"

Bella snorted when she heard Andrei's ask about Hideaki being gay.

"Do you perceive him as a member of your ever-growing tribe?" she sarcastically asked.

"No. Just that he does not like me."

"Maybe because he thought you're a rival," Bella commented while she was busy scrolling her smartphone. She was busy posting stories on her IG and replying to comments on her previous post.

"Oh! I see. Hideaki has a crush on you! No wonder he has been seizing me up."

"I have a headache. Let's not have this kind of conversation," she said as she swiped the room key on the keypad of their hotel room.

Once she entered the room, she kicked off her shoes and wore the hotel slippers. Their bags were all put on top of their beds. She grabbed her backpack and headed to the bathroom, beating Bella and Andrei to it.

Andrei took forever to use the bathroom. She was already so tired and had no energy to spare. She doesn't want to wait an hour just to use the bathroom.

She put down her bag on the lavatory counter. Stripped off her clothes and stood under a warm shower. She didn't stay long under the shower, just long enough to wash off the sweat and all the grit on her skin from the places they had been to.

Despite being sleepy and dead tired, she didn't forget to put lotion on her whole body and moisturized her face after brushing her teeth.

She blasted the hairdryer on high to quickly dry her hair. She just switched to cold air when her hair was almost dry.

She cleaned up the mess she made in the bathroom for the next user, put a lip balm on her lips and she was done.

She grabbed her bag and left the bathroom. She found Bella and Andrei browsing their social media accounts when she stepped out of the bathroom.

She couldn't understand their extreme attachment to social media accounts, where they post everything they do.

The room has two queen size beds. She would be sharing a bed with Bella, while Andrei will use the other one.

"Bella, you go first. I spend long hours in the bathroom."

"I also spend long hours in the bathroom," she replied. Still not ready to let go of her phone.

"You better use the bathroom first, Bella. Believe me, you don't want Andrei to use it first." She butted in with their conversation as she got on the bed.

She picked up her phone when she saw that it had been blinking non-stop. When she opened her phone the messages were from Bella and Andrei.

The two send her the photos they took all day. She was surprised by the number of pictures they sent. She wondered where did they get the time to take all of these photos when they were all together, basically doing the same thing.

She spent more time checking Bella's photos since they all looked like they were taken with an SLR camera when she knew she just used her phone.

She won't deny that seeing the photos she also felt the urge to show off those pictures in her social media account, which she did!

After deciding that she will also post some pictures on her social media, she was struck with the dilemma of which photos and how many photos were acceptable to post.

Her question was answered when she opened her Instagram and saw the photos Bella and Andrei already posted. She checked their IG stories too and took a mental note of the photos they shared.

When she was ready to post, she just chose the photos that the two haven't shared yet. She particularly liked the photos Bella took of her on the curbside.

With the light and how she captured the photo playing with the shadows, the photos looked as if they were done professionally.

She posted the pictures she liked before she changed her mind because a part of her brain was telling her how she can be a hypocrite. She was judging Andrei and Bella about their addiction to showing off their private life on social media but she just did the same.

She was using social media as a way of updating her mother about her life when she was still living in London because she hated small talk with her mother.

They tend to fight even with just simple, 'how are you? I'm great, and you?' spiel of conversation.

Instagram was a great way for her to do her filial duty of not killing her mother with worry. She can stage photos to show her beautiful, independent, career-woman life in London.

She grimaced thinking of all those years she would keep photos on her phone for future updates to her mother when she was doing a different thing in reality. She wanted to slap her own face with her hypocrisy.

She used to post photos of her having a coffee or having a great time visiting Buckingham Palace when in reality she was...