Over the next few days, the online furore gained momentum. The keyboard warriors gathered an army united in an enmeshment of xenophobia and patriotism, and demanded that Anton Cassidy apologise. The expatriate eventually did, but he made the mistake of emphasising that his family suffered extreme distress from the online harassment and thinly veiled death threats. The netizens rejected his apology over its perceived insincerity. SmartInvest Asia bowed to pressure and issued a statement to the effect that it did not condone the Senior Wealth Manager’s behaviour, and that the company and Cassidy had “parted ways with immediate effect”. But the keyboard warriors were not placated. In the end, five weeks into the ruckus, Anton Cassidy fled the country in disgrace.

Jessica was delighted when the army of keyboard warriors dispatched scouts to ferret out the identity of the technician who was verbally abused in the video clip. She figured that once Adhha had been identified, the breadcrumbs would surely lead them to her. But she was mistaken. In the interview, Adhha professed that he did not know the identity of the young lady who had stood up for him and guessed that she might be a commuter from the platform who stayed behind to offer help.

What do you mean by that? You don’t know me?! Jessica screamed over WhatsApp.

I can’t tell them the truth. Adhha pleaded.

Why?!

Because you were not supposed to be there. If my company found out I smuggled you into the restricted area, I will lose my job.

As much as the explanation made sense, Jessica could not bear the burn of Adhha’s betrayal. She broke off her relationship with him and cried her heart out on Andreae’s shoulder.

“But why? Adhha is such a sweet boy. Did he do something wrong?” Andreae wanted to know.

Jessica did not believe Andreae could comprehend the complexity of the situation nor her emotions, so she simply stated, “He wasn’t honest. He betrayed me.”

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry, Jess.” Andreae imagined the worst and hugged her broken friend fiercely. “You have to be strong. You’ll survive this. You will.”

Once Andreae started to cry, Jessica’s tears stopped. She was pretty certain Andreae was crying about a totally misconstrued scenario and it would be dishonest to accept her sympathy.

Andreae was a sweet girl and a good friend, but Jessica would have difficulty defending her if anyone were to cast doubt on her intelligence or sensibility. Above all else, the girl was a poor judge of character and tended to accept people at face value.

Take Jessica’s current boyfriend, for instance. Andreae concluded, after several dinner meet-ups, that the man was kind, tender, generous and, of course, exceptionally handsome. On the other hand, she noticed that he always ordered the same food and guessed that he was probably not very exciting.

Andreae was right on one count. The boyfriend was an exceptionally handsome man.