Online Date [Catnipz]

Chapter 5: The user name: Jake

Minji POV:

"Hey, are you here to hang out or here to play with your phone like we're invisible?" I looked up from my phone.

"Well, kinda both"

"You're so annoying" Eunchae rolled her eyes.

"Minji, you have been staring at your phone a lot these days. Why?" Ryujin asked and crossed her arms.

"It's just this girl in FDL, I think I see something in us. She's interesting"

"Laugh my ass out, 'see something in us' is too strong for your 2 days of talking to each other online and haven't even met in person" -Ryujin

"Shut up"

"Didn't you just break up with Rachel? Wow, you seemed too okay with that" -Hyein said, both Ryujin and Eunchae nodding their head, agreeing with her.

"Talking about Rachel, she hasn't reached out to me. This is kind of weird since she usually be the one to talk first even though I was in the wrong. I think we are officially broken up"

"No surprises, you're such an ass. She must be tired, poor Rachel" -Ryujin

"Ehh? Don't talk like you're not doing the same shit, Ryujin. Last week you slept with two girls in just one day."

"Damn, that's disgusting, Ryujin." -Eunchae

"Minji, you mother fucker" -Ryujin

"Stop!! I had enough" -Hyein, she was so annoyed by her two unnies who don't act like their age. "And what the hell is FDL, unnie? Is it something like FBI? You guys go on dates and arrest someone together or something?" -Hyein started laughing following by Eunchae and Ryujin.

"Hyein, aren't you a gen z? Why you didn't know about FDL?" I raised my brows at her.

"Just answer my question unnie, don't ask me back. I'm too tired of that question" -Hyein

I'm kinda shocked 'Just answer my question'? Wow 'Don't ask me back'? Wow, she sounds like my mom. As I was about to answer, Ryujin started explaining.

"FDL is an abbreviation of 'Finding Love' and it's a dating app where you can exchange messages and calls. It's similar to Instagram, but it focuses more on dating. You understand what I'm saying?" Ryujin said.

"It's also similar to Roblox. You can create an avatar and date your partner in the app. There are so many dating options for you to do there." I continued from Ryujin.

"Something like that exists? It sounds fun. Eunchae, do you have it in your phone too?" -Hyein

"No, I don't. Why would you go on dates by using avater? It doesn't make sense, this is weird as hell, unnie" -Eunchae

"It's weird but fun. If you have a long distance relationship, you can also date. There's an announcement that they are going to make it more realistic by using a VR but it's in development in the moment"

"Still, I prefer dating in person" -Eunchae

"Why don't you try it first before judging?"

"Nah, I won't waste my time" -Eunchae

"Alright then, I won't force you"

...
Third person's POV:

Haerin is an introvert person and working as a registered nurse is sometimes difficult for her. She should be able to work closely with her coworkers, maintain an excellent communication and collaborate with other healthcare team members to provide holistic care. But it's okay since she gets to help people and especially, her Mother.

4 years ago, her father left them for some side chick that he met at a strip club. Her mom was so stressed about the situation it caused her to had a stroke that leads to this condition called locked-in syndrome.

Locked-in syndrome (LIS), also known as pseudocoma is a condition in which a patient is conscious and awake but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for vertical eye movements and blinking. There is completely locked-in state (CLIS), is a version of locked-in syndrome wherein the eyes are paralyzed as well, but for Haerin's mom, she only has a (LIS) and thanks to that Haerin can communicate with her mother by using blinking and eyes movements.

Haerin blames her father for everything that happened to them since he chose a stripper over a family that he and her mom had built. If he was being a little bit more considerate, all of this would not happen to them. She never saw him again after the day he chose to walk away and left everything behind.

There's another thing about her mother that haunts her, the thing she has been trying to accept. Her mother is going to left her soon. After 4 years of learning to accept it, she can't. She still can't do it till this day, she doesn't want her mother to left her, she counts every second, every minutes, and everyday of how much time she has left to be with her mother. Because of the truth that people who have (LIS) only have 6 years of living and her mother is already in her fourth year. She prays to god everyday hoping one day, a miracle will happen and make her mom come back to how she used to be. She can't imagine the person she's going to become when she left her.

Suddenly a notification popped up on her phone screen. It's a message from a specific person "I miss you🥺" user named [Jake]. She smiled and started typing back.

"Me too".