"...He has changed. He's not the same Jason that we knew last time," the boy with shoulder length hair and tanned skin mumbled.
"...Kunda, he has been your best friend since senior high, am I right?" The host asked. The member with brownish blond hair hung his head and nodded. As the camera pulled in closer to his face, a tear was seen rolling down his cheek....
"Eh pause pause! I go toilet!" Kunda called out. He hurriedly got up from the sofa and half-ran to the bathroom.
Shuwei grunted in annoyance and pressed the 'pause' button on the remote control. The screen froze on Kunda's face.
"So talented." Ah Di said in between mouthfuls of potato chips with his eyes glued to the television. He was lying on the living room floor with his right leg propped up on his left knee. His Nokia 3660 lay beside him quietly.
Milk, who was sitting on the sofa directly behind Ah Di, nudged him with his toes and replied, "You were as good as him and you know it."
There was silence for a moment, except for the sound of the ceiling fan whirring and the crunching of potato chips from Ah Di.
Then someone spoke.
"You know, I wonder what made the public believe this crap so willingly," Toro said aloud. Then he finished his last gulp of bubble tea and burped contentedly. "Hey, pass me that magazine," he pointed at a dog-eared magazine on the coffee table and looked at Milk.
The sound of the toilet bowl flushing was heard and Kunda emerged from the bathroom.
"I heard you Toro, and I know why," he said, as he walked to his beanbag sofa.
Then he pointed at the frozen television screen image with his crying face on it and grinned widely.
"Me. 'Cos I was convincing enough. They pitied Hsieh Kunda, the helpless man who lost his friendship with his best friend of three years," he continued, winking at Toro.
His declaration was immediately met by jeering and a handful of chips flying towards him.
"Hey it's true!" he insisted.
Toro stood up and faced the gang.
"We only can credit everything to the five of us. Great minds think alike, huh?" He went around giving high-fives to the rest.
"Yeah," Milk said, "as long as the media doesn't find out that the contract dispute was actually a scam...." he drifted off.
"Don't call that the contract dispute. It's the Energy Gold Rush," Shuwei corrected him.
"Whatever."
"We got the money, and that's the only important thing."
"Yep."
"Hmm-mm."
"Please press play," a meek voice sounded.