The Boyfriend App 3.0: Touch

Prologue: The Blackout Nestled in the rolling foothills of Laurel, Batangas is a picturesque resort-subdivision called Woodland Vista. Spanning 300 hectares, it’s made up of townhouses, condominiums, condotels, pools, private estates, a golf course, a country club and a hotel. Tonight though, it’s just a fathomless pool of inky blackness because there’s an unscheduled power interruption from its energy provider, BATELEC II. Approximately twelve hours ago and 45 kilometers away, a kite got entangled on a power line in Barangay Biga, Sto. Tomas. The anonymous kite-flyer was unharmed but their kite caused a chain reaction of misery that started in the controlling breaker and reached hundreds of thousands of households across one city and four towns along the northeastern rim of Taal Lake. The power has been so erratic that parents were forced to turn off appliances and grudgingly took out candles and hand fans. Kids had to content themselves with just listening to tunes to conserve the battery of their smartphones. But the rich retirees scattered inside gated and exclusive Woodland Vista have backup generators. To the solitary night jogger running along the dark streets of the subdivision, the townhouses of those rich folks look as resplendent as the entrance of theme parks. The night jogger feels a stab of self-pity because the only light he’s carrying is a cellphone – and a brick phone at that. To be precise, he’s holding up a Nokia 3310 to light his way. The phone model is probably as old as him. The light from the phone’s screen floats like a lonely firefly in the endless expanse of darkness. Because Woodland Vista is in the hills, when it goes dark, it goes pitch-black. To make matters worse, the moon is a no-show tonight. The night jogger sees in powerless Woodland Vista the visual equivalent of the local idiom “ engulfed by heaven and earth ”. In the 53 days that Nathaniel “Nate” Policarpio has stayed (against his will) in Camp Unplugged, which is based in Woodland Vista, he experienced over ten power outages; a clear insight into the frequency of such interruptions in that backwater. Nate knows too well because he scritched a tally mark on the wall of his room for every single outage. Camp Unplugged is certainly living up to its name, over and beyond its mission of being an Internet addiction rehabilitation center. Nate twists his hand to glance at the battery meter of the 3310. In the few seconds that the glow of the screen touches his face, it reveals his big, hazel eyes with the long eyelashes. Around them, his complexion is dark olive with warm undertones. His eyes are restless and popping as they register the last two bars of the meter. Don’t die on me, buddy , Nate thinks to himself. Even though the 3310 is as indestructible as Mjölnir, this particular gadget didn’t come in a box with a charger that he could’ve used behind Miss Perfect’s back. Miss Perfect. Trini Blanca. Vice-President and prefect of Camp Unplugged. Warden and psycho psychologist. She wouldn’t be too happy tomorrow to discover that Nate had left behind the oldest trick in the book: pillows mimicking the contours of a human body and covered with his blanket. Unfortunately, he still had to take his QD dose of Vortioxetine at the 9-pm flashlight check because Miss Perfect always checks in case he just tucked the tablet under his tongue. End result: he’s now feeling a bit woozy. What if Miss Perfect is somehow already clued up on my escape plan, Nate thinks darkly. Maybe right this moment she’s waiting at the rendezvous point with a couple rottweilers. He shivers at the thought. Of course Camp Unplugged doesn’t keep any guard dogs but he wouldn’t put it past Miss Perfect to be so vindictive. He tries to steady his breathing and sees clouds of vapor in front of his face. He shivers again because the air is a crisp 19ºC and he’s only wearing a shirt, shorts and flip-flops. All his hoodies and jackets are in the ROTC camo backpack that he has hastily packed. Nate arrives at the rotary at the top of the sloping street of Phase 2, a couple of blocks from the chapel. The rendezvous point looks dark upon his approach and there’s no sign of a living soul anywhere. Did his big bro miss the Welcome to Nasugbu arch and, next to it, the turn to Diokno Highway? Being a foreigner, it would be easy for hyung (big bro) to keep driving straight into the wrong town. Just as Nate is about to have a panic attack, he hears a distinct click and the sound of a motorcycle starting. The Cyclopean glare of the headlight dazzles him.