chapter 15: First Selfie

Hearing that Diva unfollowed him on Instagram after he, putting his ego aside, followed her whilst having zero followings before that, Blaze's pride was slightly bruised.
Did she follow me just to unfollow? That girl clearly has no ethics, Blaze scolded her in his mind, coming out fresh from the shower with a grey towel draped around his neck.
He couldn't wrap his head around that incident, so he had been trying to think of every way possible that he might have upset Diva, resulting in her being mad at him.
Just then there was a polite knock on the door. Blaze went to open the door and found Diva standing there, her cheeks puffed up like balloons and a plate of chocolate pastries on her hand.
Blaze wriggled his eyebrows at her.
"I am upset," she mumbled, her nose flaring with anger.
"And��?" Blaze trailed off. He could not comprehend the meaning behind someone knocking at his door and saying they are angry. What did they expect him to do? Persuade them?
"And I ordered these pastries from outside," she let out, digging a small spoon in one of the pastry, and taking a small bite.
"So?"
Diva was too busy relishing the pastry to pay attention to him. Blaze snapped his finger in front of her to which she jumped up, almost dropping the plate from her hand which Blaze rescued.
"Seriously, you are nuts, woman," Blaze muttered.
Diva straightened up, still angry at him, and said, "Anyways, go and pay the bill to the delivery man. He is waiting."
"Why should I?" He raised an eyebrow in annoyance.
"Don't be stingy," she rebuked.
"No one is being stingy." He huffed and went to the front door of the mansion, Diva trailing behind him like a puppy.
Blaze saw the delivery guy waiting impatiently, his eyes lighting up seeing Blaze Hudson. After Blaze gave him a hundred dollar note because he didn't carry small notes in his wallet and cleared the bill, he turned towards Diva, his hand on his hip, glaring at her.
"Don't you have money, lady?" questioned Blaze.
Diva simply shook her head, walking inside the mansion.
"Don't you earn?" he further asked, following behind her.
She nodded.
"Then, where does the money go? You even made me pay for your room's renovation," Blaze retorted. They were in the living room now.
"I made donations to the orphanage last weekend, so I am broke now."
Blaze halted in his steps and gaped at her. "Do you usually do that?" he asked, slightly amused. He was impressed by her kindness.
Diva plopped down on the sofa. "Yes. Every once in a while," she replied, a rare mild smile gracing her lips which might have made his heart skip a beat.
He wondered how she managed her money usually if she kept donating to others.
"How do you manage your money?" he asked, sitting on the sofa next to hers.
"I usually use online payment, but since I made a big donation, my bank balance is practically down to fifty bucks." Diva let out an exasperated sigh. "Thus, I had no choice but to ask you." She shot him a glare.
"Why are you mad at me?" Blaze furrowed his brows, clearly frustrated at her giving him a cold shoulder.
"A certain someone did not follow back their only friend after the friend was generous enough to be the first one to send a follow request on Instagram," she accused indirectly.
"I don't know that certain someone." Diva narrowed her eyes at him. "As far as I know, I do follow my only friend on Instagram," he asserted.
Her eyes lit up as she kept the plate of pastries on the coffee table and stood up on the sofa. Blaze rolled his eyes at her action but did not bother to oppose it.
"Really?" Diva was ecstatic that Blaze was following her. But her excitement died down as she got down from the sofa and mumbled, "You are lying. I didn't receive any notifications."
"Then, your phone must be broken," he said.
"But��"
"Why don't you check my account? I'm sure I have at least one following," he proclaimed, and she hurriedly started checking her Instagram.
Indeed, Blaze Hudson had one following, and that was Diva herself. A triumphed grin formed on her face as she once again stood on the sofa and started jumping on it out of excitement��like a little kid who just found out her crush followed her back.
"But that friend unfollowed that certain someone, and that someone did not like that," Blaze interrupted her celebration.
"Oh, I totally forgot about that." She got down from the sofa and started following him on Instagram again. She flashed him the phone screen with a beaming grin on her face. "Okay now?"
Blaze turned away his face from her, feeling slightly embarrassed for demanding such a childish thing. Since when did he care about who was following or not following him on social media?
"Hey, why don't you check out my account?" Diva suggested, picking up her plate of pastries to start eating again.
"I don't have Instagram in my phone," he reasoned out.
"Then, install it," she commanded.
Nodding, Blaze went to the AppStore and started installing the app on his phone.
In the meantime, Diva chirped, "Hey, if you don't have Instagram on your phone, how did you follow me?"
"Atlas manages my social media accounts. I told him to follow you through my account," he answered.
"That makes sense."
Finally, the app was installed and Blaze signed in. As soon as he entered, the first photo on the feed he noticed was Diva's; she was wearing a beautiful light pink knee-length dress and a million-dollar smile graced her lips like always.
Noticing Blaze's change of expression, Diva scooted closer to him to take a peek to which Blaze scrolled down to see even more photos of Diva. Since Diva was the only person he followed, only her shared photos were available on his feed.
"Ah, I love these shots of me. I look cute, don't I?" Diva happily pointed at a candid of hers which was truly adorable.
"Maybe," Blaze responded.
Diva pouted and continued to show her photos to him and described the events behind them. For a moment, Blaze thought he made a mistake by opening Instagram as she wouldn't stop talking about her account.
"Oh, that reminds me. Blaze, your account is very dull," she commented.
"It's professional," he corrected her.
"Even so, you should have a photo of me, your only friend, in your account. If you don't, it's called being unfaithful towards your friend," she explained.
Blaze had no idea that there was a deal of being faithful and unfaithful in friendship. It probably existed only in Diva's dictionary.
"So what can I do?" he asked.
"Share a photo with me." She flashed him a big smile��a smile that he couldn't resist for some reason.
"Uh, okay."
An instant idea popped in her mind as she snatched his phone from him and took a selfie of her and Blaze, showcasing the plate of pastries in front of them.
Diva grinned at how the selfie turned out. It represented both of them perfectly. She immediately posted it on Instagram without taking his permission and captioned it, 'Pastry Night'.
Posting it, she showed him the post. Blaze's eyes widened as he saw the photo and the ridiculous caption. Although he had to admit that Diva looked like an angel in it, and he had a serious look on his face like always��just the way he liked it.
He could see the general people going crazy over the photo because that was the first time Blaze Hudson had shared something personal on a social media account��that too, with his wife and it looked freaking adorable. But it embarrassed him. He was not used to such things.
Diva's smile widened seeing the positive comments. Just then her phone started chiming with notifications that many people had started following her as well. Of course, she was the wife of Blaze Hudson. It was about time her followers rocketed from 1k to at least 100k. She grinned at the screen, the thought of having more friends overjoyed her. After all, everyone was a friend to Diva.
Being utterly flustered, Blaze stood up and started making his way upstairs. Diva asked, "Do you want some pastry, Blaze?"
"No," he replied and strode upstairs. Even though he liked pastries, he would rather not eat her leftovers. But she was just kind, offering everything she could, no matter how insensitive it might be and how the other person might take it. She was always donating everything she could��her warmth, her love, her kindness.
Until recently, Blaze had only come across selfish, mean people who could not think of others for the sake of heaven. He admitted he was also like that, but Diva was different. It was as if she was illuminating his grey, dull world with brightness and glitter.
Being an introvert, he was not disliking living with Diva as much as he thought he would. At least, he did not hate it��he did not hate her.
As he was about to enter his bedroom again, his cell phone buzzed with two notifications.
The first one was an Instagram notification and another was a text from Vyan. He first checked out what Diva had sent.
It was a meme she had sent. It did not make him laugh, but he surely couldn't say that the gesture did not amuse him.
Later, he checked out Vyan's text.
Vyan: Nice selfie with your wife, bro.
He could feel the mockery in his message that boiled him with rage.
Blaze shoved his phone back in his trouser pocket, letting out a huff, and mumbled, "That guy is having way too much fun for his own good."