Dara was startled from her somber mood when a commotion occurred from the table to their left. Apparently some guy tripped on something and grabbed on to the nearest thing he could hold on to which appeared to be a tablecloth. The table’s whole spread went tumbling down along with the tablecloth. The lady screeched on the poor guy who fell. “This is a Hermes, you idiot! You’re going to pay for this!” 

The fallen guy straightened up, calmly flicked off the food on his clothes. “If that’s an original then I’m the president of the United States.” His tone was imperious. His face mask fell off because of his fall. The screaming lady shut her trap after internalizing the beautiful male specimen in front of her. “If I’m at fault then you’re at fault, too. Your Hermes replica was lying on the floor.” True enough a “Birkin” was seen lying on the floor with its strap snapped off.

“I’m so sorry, sir. It was entirely my fault. I’d gladly pay you with my whole being to make amends. My heart and my body is all yours to take.” The now docile lady grabbed onto the man’s hands. The man gingerly removed his hands from her cloying grip. “I’d rather you don’t. It’d be more of a punishment for me than a compensation. He swiped a pristine handkerchief from his pocket and wiped traces of the girl’s essence from his hands. 

“That’s my woman you’re manhandling, you !” The girl’s date erupted from his seat.

“Your woman?” The man scoffed at the man. “Looks like she’s forgotten you already,” gesturing at the girl who was staring up at him with adoring eyes.

“Yah! Sohee, what are you looking at?” He yelled at his date. The girl recovered from her trance and glared daggers at him. “You told me you gave me the real thing, you jerk!” She grabbed at the broken “Hermes” bag and used it to hit her soon to be ex-boyfriend.

The tall hunk grimaced at the quarreling couple and walked away, turning towards a sniggering group seated on the adjacent table. Dara narrowed her eyes at the group who appears to be waiting for their orders to arrive as well. As the guy approached a red-haired virago kicked him in the shin with her dagger heels. The guy instead of going all frosty like he did towards the fake Hermes girl melted like a popsicle in the face of the angry girl’s wrath. He sat obediently on a chair as he listened to the girl’s tirade. The rest of the group didn’t bother giving them the attention as if it was just a common occurrence for them and went on studying their menus, trying really hard to act inconspicuous. They were all either wearing masks or hoodies or hiding behind the restaurant’s menu. They were trying too hard to blend but by doing so they only stuck out like a sore thumb. Dara raised an eyebrow at the group’s table.

She then turned towards a suddenly preoccupied Joross. He was busy browsing through his phone, muttering about critical appraisals and research proposals. Dara was not to be deceived. She grabbed onto Joross’s ear and twisted. “Ow! Ow! Ow! Let go! I didn’t do anything.” He went on protesting, giving Dara his most convincing puppy dog eyes, I’m innocent don’t kill me look. Dara twisted his ear even further. She held up her hand, palm up. “Give it to me.”

Joross finally gave up, valuing his ear more than his phone and gave the gadget to his friend. “I know your other weak points. If you value your dignity you know what to do.”

Joross reluctantly scanned his fingerprint and opened their friends’ Betting Pool for The Date group chat. “Sorry.”

Dara read through the thread. “Research. Huh.” She sneered at h