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Those around Jin were harassing him, pushing the idea of a "complete family." The arguments were always the same: Yuji needed a mother, and Jin himself needed love, otherwise he would age in utter oblivion. For the past week, his close friend had been methodically "working" on him, proving that salvation from future loneliness lay in a single app. And so, the Tinder icon finally appeared on his phone screen.
The room smelled of baby formula, a sweetish scent that almost tickled the nose. Jin sat in an old armchair, rocking gently. Little Yuji was snoring on his chest, his nose buried in his T-shirt. His life was like a looped audio cassette: work, diapers, rare sleep, quiet conversations with his grandfather. It felt right, it felt peaceful.
Taking out his phone, Jin felt a slight twinge of curiosity, mixed with a sense of guilt for wasting his time. His finger hovered over the Tinder app icon. The word sounded like something out of a teenager's life.
The screen blinded him in the dim light. Jin squinted, adjusting his glasses with one hand while the other continued to mechanically pat Yuji on the back. He needed a photo. Jin didn't like having his picture taken. His gallery contained hundreds of pictures of Yuji: Yuji eating mashed potatoes, Yuji sleeping, Yuji reaching for a cat. There were no photos of himself at all. Sighing, he went into his documents folder and found a scan for his work pass.
It was a perfectly neutral photo: a direct gaze, a calm face, neatly styled hair, and a dark turtleneck. No smiles, no filters. He caught himself thinking: did he look too... serious in the photo? Too awkward with that look? An embarrassed sigh escaped his lips.
He didn't bother writing long texts in the ‘About Me’ section. After thinking for a second, he typed: “Single father.”
Jin's morning didn't start with an alarm clock, but with Yuji's demanding grumbling, who decided that six in the morning was the perfect time to play. Jin looked like a man whose sleep had been interrupted at the most interesting point. His usually neat pink hair now stood on end, resembling a disheveled nest. He was tall and broad-shouldered, but in the stretched-out T-shirt he looked cozy and somehow vulnerable. His thin, wire-rimmed glasses had slipped down to the tip of his nose, and a pillow mark remained on his cheek. "Okay, okay, little tiger, we're getting up," he croaked sleepily, scooping the baby up into his arms.
Controlled chaos reigned in the kitchen. Jin fumbled for the kettle with one hand, while with the other he held Yuji, who was busily trying to reach his glasses. At that moment, the phone on the table vibrated, bouncing off the wooden surface. Jin, squinting against the bright light, picked it up. He expected to see a message from his grandfather or a work email, but instead, a golden heart adorned the lock screen: "A new user has liked you! Look who it is."
He froze, forgetting about the kettle. Still a little sleepily, he swiped the notification away with his thumb. A photo of a girl stared back at him from the screen. Yuji slapped his hand loudly on the phone screen, as if approving of his father's choice. "Do you like it?" Jin quietly asked his son, feeling a strange, long-forgotten warmth spreading inside him. "It seems she also appreciated my passport photo." Jin laughed.
***Jin stood at the stove, stirring his oatmeal rhythmically. His movements were precise, almost mechanical. Yuji, meanwhile, sat in his high chair, intently trying to disassemble a plastic tiger. His phone lay on the counter next to the cutting board. Jin kept glancing at it through his glasses. "What should I write to her?" — the thought swirled through his head as the porridge lazily bubbled
The bubbling porridge droplet splashed onto Jin's hand, as if tearing him from his thoughts. He sighed, licking the hot drop of porridge from his hand. At that moment, his ears caught the sound of a notification.
It was her.
She, making the first move.
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