A boy and a girl met purely by chance on a dating app: they had been talking until dawn for weeks. Their chats were filled with stickers, several-minute-long voice messages, and late-night confessions that made them increasingly close.
Through their phone screens, Jeremy and Sofía seemed like soulmates, but it was a connection created by an algorithm.
One day, they finally dared to cross the digital barrier. They agreed to meet at a quiet café downtown. Jeremy arrived ten minutes early, so he entertained himself playing with a napkin at the table. When Sofía walked in, he recognized her instantly.
They sat together, ordered coffee, and after greeting each other, silence took over the table. The chemistry from the chat was nonexistent in the real world, perhaps due to nerves. Jeremy turned out to be much more reserved than he seemed. Sofía discovered they didn’t share the same personality when speaking in person.
For an hour, they tried to force the conversation, but the reality was undeniable. In the safety of the virtual world, they understood each other, but in their flesh-and-blood versions, they weren’t compatible.
As they left the café, they looked at each other with a very forced and awkward smile:
“You’re great, but we work better in writing, don’t we?” she said.
Jeremy nodded.
“Totally. It was a real pleasure, Sofi.”
They said goodbye with a brief and sincere hug, ready to meet new people.
Translation by deepl.com
