Back at the staff lounge, Hashwini took Jingxuan hostage and poured out a diatribe of grievances. There was no justice in a world where a monster like the Beast could trample on people just because he was filthy rich. Who did he think he was?

Hashwini halted when she realised Jingxuan wasn’t paying her much attention. The latter was scrolling through some website on an iPad. Although croupiers were not allowed to bring their gadgets to the gaming area, the pit managers were not overly strict with the croupiers at the VIP staff lounge.

“What are you reading?”

“Just a local blogger,” Jingxuan shrugged.

Hashwini felt her heart skip a beat. “Which one?”

“Daxue. Do you know her?”

Had anyone mentioned Daxue before the Little India riot, Hashwini would have drawn a blank. But at this moment, Hashwini knew everything there was to know about this local blogger. She knew because she had engaged Daxue in a belligerent blog war over the past two months.

Prior to the launch of Hashwini’s new blog, Confessions of a Teenage Rape Victim, Euu Ki had drawn up a marketing plan in his capacity as creative director. He made a list of local bloggers in descending order of popularity, studied their blog themes and content, and shortlisted five of them.

“These five are bold and controversial bloggers who have been posting about the Little India riot. They have adopted a sympathetic stance towards the migrant workers. So we are going to challenge them by taking up the opposite viewpoint,” Euu Ki had strategised.

“Doesn’t that make me the xenophobic bitch?” Hashwini became alarmed.

“We can always clean up our image down the road. The focus here is to jumpstart reader interest in Teen RV.” Euu Ki waved off her concern. “By the way, this is our blog, not yours alone, so please be reminded to drop the term ‘me’ before I bitch slap you.”

“Bitch!” Hashwini retaliated, but she had to admit she liked the way “Teen RV” rolled off his tongue like it was already a popular online reference.