"Makary, thanks for waiting. I just had to check one thing. Everything's all right?" an older brother asked him, who had just left one of the shops.

"Yes, I suppose so," the man replied, and lowered his head so that his long hair fell a bit and obscured his face.

"For sure?" Mirek asked, seeing a change in the behavior of his siblings. "If you want, we can go back now."

"No, take it easy. We have to find a gift for Kornelia. You said yourself you didn't have much time left,” said Makary with a smile, focusing all his attention on the target that brought them to this center in the first place.

After shopping, he returned to his little apartment and greeted a parrot named Nemo. The bird chirped happily at the sight of its owner and began to demand that the cage be opened. Makary did it with pleasure, then made coffee, watching the feathered pet spread its wings, and a moment later parrot demanded attention, nibbling on his fingers holding the coffee cup.

The man picked up the phone and began flipping through the dating app with ever faint hope. He flipped through the profiles, wondering if there was someone perfect for him, not looking for an overnight adventure or a casual relationship. He wanted something permanent, even though he was only twenty-one, he already dreamed of settling down, like his two older brothers. He knew that starting a family was not an option in his case, but he dreamed of someone just for himself.

He sighed heavily, and each time he told himself that he would not be so naive with the next date, that he would not be fooled by beautiful words, that he would not be persuaded after the first few minutes of the meeting that it could be this one person. And then there was disappointment when there was no next meeting, the contact was interrupted, or his potential partner did not hide that he only wanted one thing.

"Love is hard to find, isn't it, Nemo?" Makary turned rhetorically to the pet.

The parrot chirped and decided to go back to its cage to eat something. The animal did not want to point out that he had not liked any candidate for Makary's boyfriend so far and did not want to tease the man yet, reminding him that he was also quite picky. The one is too muscular, the other's eyes are too bright, and the other's face is simply just no. Nemo knew all too well the specifics of his master's requirements, and when he liked someone, he fixated on himself and was his naive self again. Oh, there is still my favorite grain on this cob, how could I not notice it?!