DPSM: Marks of Destiny, Matches of Fate

FOUR

Dara's back hit the couch's backrest, soothing the day's stress off. To add to the effect, Marley bounded to the apartment's living room, dropping the slobbered-on plastic ball to leap into the couch and rest his head on Dara's lap. Absent-minded fingers scratched Marley behind the ears, the dog's eyes closing in pleasure. After a full year of health scares and anxious trips to the vet, just having Marley with him like this was enough. While the dog was healthy, Dara was still on the watch on diet, activities, and other health risks.

His trusty backpack, which contained most of his work essentials, lay beside him on the other side of the couch. He glanced at the clock ticking on the wall. 5:30? That afforded him a few minutes before taking a shower in time for dinner. Time to doomscroll his stress to death.

The icons and widgets greeted him when he unlocked his phone. His thumb tapped the habitual sequence of notifications to check. First, his work email. None too urgent, so he didn't need to work overnight for the fifth day in a row nor pull weekends off. Great. Next, social media. Nothing too interesting going around. Finally, dating apps. He picked those up again due to work acquaintances egging him on. There was an ongoing bet about him getting a partner at the end of the year. If he won, he'd have gained more than half of his monthly salary as a bonus.

So, he played around the dating apps, swiping left at every potential match whom the app recommended. At this point, the algorithm would run out of humans to put up on his screen. Most of them use AI-enhanced profile pictures anyway. No way those faces were real. After half an hour of rejecting matches, a picture of a guy came up. The words on the bio made his thumb pause from swiping.

I found someone who matches my mark, but we don't want to be together. So, I'm here.

Huh. It was vaguely the same thing Dara was going through. Did he ghostwrite this or something? Before he knew what he was doing, he swiped right, accepting the match. The app brought him to the chat room with the guy, and they were both online. He sent a quick Hi!, never really hoping for anything. But his phone dinged on his way to the shower, and he leaned against the corner of the wall to send a quick reply.

When he looked up at the clock, a full hour had passed. A curse flew out of his mouth. Has it been that long? He turned back to the screen. Their conversation could have run miles. He never had talked to someone like this before. Not even Sam. That was...strange.

His phone vibrated, making him flinch. What the f—

Oh, it was an incoming call request. Chewie, the push notification read. What now? They just face-timed last week. With her on the other side of the world, she shouldn't even be calling him at this hour. He accepted the call, and Page's face flashed to life. Due to the distance, her features were blurry, but the room's details behind her told him she was doing better than him. Her company paid for all her relocation expenses, and she milked that shit like crazy.

"What's up?" Dara said, holding the phone up to show a view of his face apart from his double chin. "Shouldn't you be asleep?"

Page scratched her eye. "I remembered I have to call you right as I got up to pee," she said. "So, here I am."

He rolled his eyes. This woman said the most unfiltered things as if she wasn't one. "Spit it out, then,"

"Are you free this time next month?" she said. "I can't think of anyone to add as my plus one, and a casual acquaintance at work is getting married. I've brought everyone I knew to everyone's weddings, and I'm running out of people."

Dara blinked. "You do realize I'm in another country, right?"

"Yeah, and you have the money to afford a ticket," Page replied. Her connection lagged a bit so her face pixelated for a moment. "So, get your ass right here. I'll pay for everything as soon as we meet up in the airport, and you can crash here for a few days until the wedding. Bring Marley. Chewie misses him."

"There's no getting out of this, is there?"

Page snorted. "Good that you know," she said. "Pack up well. I'll see you."

His finger moved to hang up when Page added, "I owe you one, okay?"

Dara chuckled. "Fine, whatever," he said. "See you."

"Yeah," Page said. "See you."

As soon as her face disappeared from his screen, Eugene's name popped in the notification, having answered his last message. Oh, Dara wouldn't get to shower any time soon. He shot off a quick reply before moving to filling Marley's bowl of food and water. Long after dinner, Dara collapsed into his bed, phone glued to his face.

The next thing he knew, he woke up with sunlight shining on his face. His phone rested on his chest, with Eugene's last text being, How about we meet up? I'd love to get to know you better.

Dara tamped down the giddy waves rolling in his gut as he sent, Sure. Give me a date and a place.

It looked like he would be losing the bet. But for the first time, maybe losing wasn't going to be so bad. Maybe.