Blue Rabbits

Entry No. 6: Rewind

"Charm, I'm gonna show you something." said Ms. Anya as she got her phone from her pocket and scrolled down through her photos. She found the photo she was searching for and showed it to me. The image was a creamy ivory ball gown wedding dress.

"Do you think it's too plain? I'm planning to put a touch of gold. Or is royal blue better?"

Confused with what she was saying, I clarified, "What's with the wedding dress, Ms. Anya?"

"I'm getting married! Peter proposed to me. All of you girls are invited, okay? You can't say no."

I was dumbfounded when I heard that she was getting married. I was struck with guilt of thinking badly of her but at the same time, I felt a sense of relief - relief that the park and backstage happenings were just all in my imagination and that Lily was far from harm. Lily returned and Ms. Anya showed the wedding dress to her. We congratulated her and asked the details about the wedding. She said that they were planning on doing a beach wedding at Bali, and if that were to happen, they would shoulder our transportation and accommodation expenses so we could all attend her wedding. We were so excited for the wedding as that would also be the first time we would be going to Bali.

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If I were to choose one member for best glow-up, it would be Jas. Jas had improved so much since day one. Before, she was like a turtle in her own shell - very timid and reserved. If all girls were together, you would find her in the corner, isolated from other girls in her own world. But winds of change had swept her and the girl inside her shell was able to come out. In one of her interviews, she admitted that she had low self-esteem and leaving the group crossed her mind because she felt like she did not belong. She had an inferiority complex, constantly comparing herself with other girls. Her family was not well-off and she had to stop schooling because of their financial circumstances. She worked multiple jobs so she could help her parents feed their family of six. Her mother once watched the commercial about MINT's talent search on TV and encouraged Jas to join, hoping that her joining would alleviate them from poverty. With her family's dream in mind, she gave it a try and the rest was history. She said in the interview that her turning point was the reinvention lesson in our PD class and Sir Dambi was a big part of her change.

During that reinvention session, we had an activity wherein we learned about introspection and redirection. In our introspection activity, we were able to examine our inner self - who we were, what our capabilities were and what we needed to improve on. The session aided us to process our thoughts and emotions, and see our experiences as just plain experiences, that our status and circumstances in life do not define who we are. Once we gained insights of ourselves, we visualized our goals and set milestones to achieve them. Finally, in our final reinvention activity, Sir Dambi let us present our reinvention plan wherein we would present our goals and milestones while wearing the look we envisioned once we achieved our goals. It was a fun and insightful activity. I remembered Jas dressing up like Kim Kardashian during Met Gala 2018 wherein Kim was wearing a gold tight dress flattering her curves, and gold high heels sandals. Everyone was awestruck with Jas' reinvention look and she received many compliments, one of which was Sir Dambi's remark, "You slay, girl! I'm proud of you."

When Jas found herself, we found her. Her positive energy radiated to us and we found ourselves laughing together because of her comical remarks. She became our happy pill. Her glow-up opened a lot of opportunities for her as she was starting to gain more fans thereby giving her more exposure in our shows and promotions.

If Jas' story casted light, Jea's story was marked by the absence of it. Jea also came from a poor family of five and at an early age, was forced to work in order to provide for her family. One night, weeks after the Christmas Concert, Jea received a call anyone would not want to get. Her mom called bearing the bad news that her father just passed away due to cardiac arrest. Jea was gone for days and when she came back, it seemed like the effervescence of youth escaped her. The heavy burden of becoming the breadwinner of her family was now on her shoulders. This further put a pressure on her to not be eliminated in the Second Cherry Pick because it was not only her dream that was on the line but of her family's future as well.