The Blue-Eyed Couple
A Monday morning busier than usual.
“Ugh...!”
“Yeah, uncomfortable, huh.”
I soothed the fussy baby once and busily prepared to head out.
I had no intention of boarding the workbound bus with the baby in my arms, so I called my senior, explained the whole situation over the phone, and only left the house after ten to catch the bus.
...Actually, a newborn like Luka had such weak immunity that I really shouldn’t have been carting him around like this.
I felt sorry that he had to be dragged all over the place on such a cold winter day.
Fortunately the child fell into a soft, even sleep inside the swaying bus without a single cry.
I stepped into the office a little past eleven.
The manager looked as if he had been waiting to deliver a sharp remark the moment he laid eyes on me, yet when I appeared with the baby carrier strapped on and Luka right there with me, he seemed unable to say a word.
“...So, how long do you plan to take off?”
“For now I’d like to apply for the maximum three months. Is that possible? If the child is adopted quickly, I’ll return right away.”
Leaving behind a manager who finally looked satisfied, I quickly tidied my desk and handed off the work I’d been handling to the rest of the team.
Even though their load had suddenly increased, my grateful colleagues didn’t complain. They simply showed enormous interest in Luka.
“Oh my, how adorable.”
Employees gathered in twos and threes. Luka, now awake, blinked his large eyes at the people and then repeatedly yawned.
“He seems even prettier after just a few days.”
Maria said with a smile.
I couldn’t stay long, so I thanked Maria once more and left the office. Then I went looking for the app development team, a place I had never set foot in before.
The development team was on a different floor from our department. We were on the fifth; they were on the third.
Arriving on the third floor, I hovered near the office door until I managed to stop a passing employee and ask about the shopping app.
It was awkward to explain, so I settled for a safe question.
“Has the beta-test app that was distributed last time gone into official service yet?”
“Huh? No, the official launch is set for spring.”
The employee answered while glancing back and forth between me and the baby.
Not wanting to be treated like a weirdo at work the way I had been by the delivery person, I carefully chose my words and explained the situation as unsuspiciously as possible.
Even as I spoke, the claim that “over the weekend I paid for items through the app, points equal to the amount were credited, and I enjoyed a feast with those points” sounded thoroughly dubious and hard to believe.
Fortunately or not, the employee listening simply waved a hand and laughed.
“You must be exhausted from childcare and mixed it up with another app. Getting an app to official launch is more complicated than people think, and orders can’t just go through by mistake.”
...Judging by his tone and expression, he had clearly decided I was a tech illiterate, or at least hopeless with machines.
“Then could you take a look at this for a moment? I’m not very good with this sort of thing...”
I said urgently and pulled out my smartphone to show him the app.
But the app that had been sitting on the home screen had vanished without a trace.
“Uh, just a second. This is...”
What was going on? Had I really imagined it? Had I been seeing things because I couldn’t sleep properly, waking every two hours?
As I muttered in bewilderment, another developer who had been listening chuckled and tossed in a remark.
“Hey, if that were true, how great would that be? Points equal to what you spend means everything’s buy-one-get-one-free! If it were me I’d use it forever without telling a soul.”
With that, the employee made a peek-a-boo sound toward Luka nestled in the carrier. Luka’s expression as he looked at the man was not pleased.
“Waaaaah!”
Luka suddenly started crying.
“Hey, you shoved your face at him so the baby cried!”
“What? What’s wrong with my face?!”
And so the situation fizzled out. With the child crying I couldn’t remain in the office, so I apologized and left the development-team floor.
I was so flustered that even I got confused for a moment. Had I really imagined it? That couldn’t be.
But the people who built it said no, and the app had disappeared from the home screen.
For now I took the crying child outside and hailed a taxi. I would have preferred the bus again, but it would have been a problem if the baby kept crying...
Yet the moment we got into the taxi, Luka stopped crying at once.
“...Didn’t want to take the bus?”
Luka blinked as if answering. Then he blinked a few more times and drifted off to sleep.
When I returned home it was three in the afternoon.
Being home at this hour on a weekday was a first for me, but it wasn’t bad. For a late lunch I took out a simple sandwich from the food I’d put in the fridge the day before and ate it.
Then I looked at my phone screen again. I still couldn’t believe it, so I had checked the phone now and then on the way back, yet the app had never reappeared.
However, when I visited the bank in person to confirm, the amount withdrawn yesterday was exactly what I had ordered from the shopping mall.
And the items were already out for delivery.
“...”
Then where on earth had this sandwich come from?
As I sat deep in thought while eating the sandwich, my phone—set to vibrate—buzzed. Unknown number.
Afraid the child might wake, I dashed into an unused empty room and answered.
“Hello?”
“Yes, is this Mr. Jun? The guardian of Luka Angelus.”
It was a call from the agency that handled foster care and adoption.
Probably the same people who had forged my documents...
I felt oddly tense, as though I were somehow contacting Mother Superior’s cartel, but the conversation that followed left me blank for a moment.
“We’ve received a call from a young couple who would like to meet Luka once. They say the sooner the better—would tomorrow work for you by any chance?”
I gave my agreement, confirmed the time and place, and hung up.
“...”
I had thought it would be fortunate if even one adoption inquiry came by the time the orphanage construction finished, yet I never expected contact this soon.
And I had already taken three months of parental leave!
Well, I could always go back and talk to the office again about that...
But even though we had only been together a few days, a hollow feeling punched a hole straight through my chest.
Just thinking of parting with the baby already left my heart empty.
After hanging up and stepping out of the room, the living room and kitchen already overflowing with baby supplies made the ache even sharper.
I pushed the half-eaten sandwich aside on the table and laid one of my fingers against the sleeping child’s small hand; even in sleep the baby tightly curled his fingers around mine.
“...Leaving already.”
Still, I had thought we would have a little more time together.
In the cold, clear air the Christmas lights sparkled even more brightly.
Snowflakes weren’t falling yet, but a rather sharp and biting wind blew, so I held the child in my arms more tightly as I walked.
Had I tensed up without realizing it? My heart felt strangely uneasy.
“...”
No. Let’s not. It was a good thing that the baby could meet parents he could be with.
I knew the adoption process itself was far from easy.
That was probably why so many children never found homes. Abandoning was too simple; adopting was hard.
Anyway.
Those people would be good people. They would be waiting with the ample funds needed for growth, a stable environment, and love already prepared.
Sending him off with a joyful heart was the best I could do.
Steeling myself, I arrived at the center, where a sharp-looking employee with angular glasses greeted us.
After confirming our identities and explaining the procedures before meeting the prospective parents, the employee’s businesslike, efficient manner put me at ease.
After waiting about ten minutes, a stylishly and expensively dressed couple entered. Following a brief greeting, I handed Luka over so they could hold him.
“...”
But their behavior was strange.
Normally people made eye contact with a baby and gazed at them as if they were precious, didn’t they?
Instead, after receiving the child they did not cradle him; they set him down on the table and examined him this way and that.
As if conducting a quality inspection. And then they truly began appraising him.
“I like the hair color. It’s a suitable shade. But he doesn’t have blue eyes...”
The woman muttered.
“Excuse me?”
When I asked back in disbelief, the man answered.
“Since both of us have blue eyes, we thought it would be good if the child had blue eyes too. Preferably we hope he never finds out later that he was adopted.”
“Ah...”
Not knowing what to say, I stayed quiet, and the woman added another remark.
“And I think a daughter would be better after all...”
“...What?”
I asked again. What on earth were they doing with the child right there? This time my displeasure must have shown clearly, because the man hurriedly added,
“Actually we wanted a newborn girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, but surprisingly few babies meet those conditions. Still, since it was a newborn we came to look, but strangely they said they wouldn’t tell us the child’s appearance...”
I was so flabbergasted that I rose from my seat without thinking.
“Is the child a product? Picking by shape and color? How can you choose a child the way you pick a puppy—no, these days they even say don’t buy dogs, adopt them!”
When I couldn’t hold back any longer, the woman retorted as if the whole thing were absurd.
“A bit presumptuous, aren’t you. You’re only temporarily protecting him for money.”
“What did you say?”
When I flared up, the man held out one hand and stepped between me and his wife. Then he turned to the employee.
“That’s enough. Unfortunately this child and we don’t seem to be a good match.”
With those words they left the room without a backward glance.
The employee who had accompanied them sighed and followed the blonde couple out. Luka, I, and the employee with the glasses sat for a moment wrapped in silence.
It was absurd. I was angry, and I felt sorry for the child.
Logically there was no reason for me to feel sorry, yet I felt so terribly sorry for him.
I carefully lifted the child who had been left on the table like an object back into my arms and tried hard to calm my anger.
Luka blinked his gentle eyes and looked at me.
“Are you all right?”
“Are most of them like that?”
I asked a little too quickly while cradling him.
I hated treating babies like merchandise.
Shouldn’t you choose a child the way you choose furniture that matches your taste?
“When you’re bringing a child into your life whom you’ll be responsible for forever, of course you choose. Naturally they’d want a child who matches their preferences.”
The employee answered in a businesslike tone. It wasn’t wrong, but it left a bitter taste.
I couldn’t trust people who started by scrutinizing appearance like that. Even if they adopted Luka, what if the child didn’t grow up to match their tastes?
Not often, but there were children who went to adoptive homes only to be returned to the orphanage after the adoption was dissolved.
...I knew there was no point discussing these fundamental questions with this employee.
As I stood frozen in place, the employee added,
“But I also think that kind of attitude was quite out of line—toward the guardian and toward the child.”
“...Yes.”
“If they keep coming on like that, it will be hard for us to connect them with a child either. Difficult couple.”
After saying that, the employee wrote something on the chart, then began the words that would close the meeting.
“Anyway, this time since it was the first we called you, but from next time when other people contact us a text will come. If you follow the link in the text and set a time you can visit, after confirmation another confirmation text will be sent, so...”
I listened quietly, then couldn’t hold back and asked. My heart opened my mouth before logic could.
“By any chance, can I receive an explanation of the adoption process here?”
“Pardon?”
“I know there are cases where foster families adopt the child.”
