I Swear You Will Be Fine

Previously, I wrote about IO W’s “professionalism” and “intelligence”. Today, I’ll be doing the same. From the time IO W came into our lives, we were as cooperative as we could have been – answering his questions, allowing him more time than necessary to investigate, remaining polite to his face, et cetera. As mentioned by Joshua’s mum, IO W was in possession of Joshua’s phone from the beginning. Even though the force was told multiple times that there was not much to investigate, they still took a long while to return his phone back to its rightful owner. Now, while we understand that protocols might have restricted the return of his phone, a lot of unnecessary minor inconveniences occurred.

For one, we were told that we could have his phone back six months after. But, at the six-month mark, IO W said that we could collect the phone the next day, then went back on his word on the actual day and casually said, “oh, miscommunication, it’s end of the month.” First, we had to wait six months. Now, after patiently waiting for six long months, you agreed to giving us the phone back, then went back on your word on the day that we were supposed to retrieve the phone. And, you couldn’t even properly apologize or reply in full sentences for the alleged miscommunication. In the end, we got the phone back a few weeks after six months.

Whilst Joshua’s phone was with IO W, I texted Joshua daily and tried my best to ensure that his social media accounts wouldn’t deactivate. All of them remained except for WhatsApp – at the third or fourth month, Joshua’s contact was suddenly removed from all of our group chats, his profile picture was taken down, and status blanked out. When that happened, I panicked. It’s silly because I know his WhatsApp is not him, but I felt like I was losing him again. I frantically googled for help. “How long before WhatsApp deactivates an account?” “Can a deactivated WhatsApp account be reactivated?” “How to reactivate account from WhatsApp desktop?” After multiple failed attempts, it was evident that his phone was needed to restore his account. Unfortunately, this was a while before the six-month mark where we were supposed to get his phone back. So, we had no choice but to reach out to our “friendly neighborhood” IO W for help.

After some back and forth, I was in contact with IO W via WhatsApp, trying to explain that I’m in fact attempting to restore his account, not delete anything off his phone. IO W called me one afternoon to clarify my intention behind trying to reactivate Joshua’s account. Here’s how the conversation between us went, through texts and calls:

*texts*
Sha: Hi IO W, are you able to assist with Joshua’s WhatsApp now? I would like to link it to my desktop so that his account remains activated and we won’t have to trouble you to log into his account every now and then.
IO W: I’m at what app.
Sha: Go to his settings, link device, and enter this code “xxxx-xxxx”
IO W: What is that
Sha: Enter the code into his phone

*calls me*
Sha: Hello? I just need you to go to settings on his WhatsApp, click link device, and enter the code I just gave you.
IO W: No, why you want to do that?
Sha: As I’ve said before, I want to link his WhatsApp to my computer so that it doesn’t get deleted. We don’t want his account to be deleted.
IO W: Why you must link to your computer?
Sha: So that his account does not get deleted. It can deactivate after several months of inactivity, and we don’t want to lose his WhatsApp account.
IO W: Oh. But you cannot delete anything ah!
Sha: I KNOW. Our point is to keep everything.
IO W: Okay okay. How to do?
Sha: Click settings, link device, and enter this new code.
*he miraculously does it after two tries*
IO W: Okay, then what?
Sha: Nothing on your part. Just close his app.
IO W: Please don’t delete anything okay! Cannot delete ah!
Sha: I said already, we want to keep everything. YOU don’t delete anything.

*back to texts*
Sha: Thank you
IO W: Do not delete it. His what app.
Sha: Yes. Again, I’m trying to preserve it.

Thankfully, we managed to reactivate Joshua’s account and add him back in to all our group chats. Even when new group chats are created, Joshua is always added in.

And finally, this concludes my interactions with IO W. Even though he could have handled himself a thousand times better, a huge part of me is glad that this is over. We no longer have to wonder when we’ll get his phone back, because it’s sitting nicely in his room. We have most of Joshua back where it belongs. It’d be nice if we had him back too.

Joshua, it’s been a while since I called you by your full name. I can’t wait to see you soon. I love you more, always, and forever.

Love always,
Sha