Chapter Text
Katara stands in front of the first door of many, her breath stuck in her throat and a tingling in her chest. The corridor she’s standing in is long and seemingly endless, blue walls like the ocean around her. The other participants stand in front of the other doors that she will get to eventually, one by one. The cameras are everywhere; in their faces, the ceilings and inside the rooms they are about to enter. Despite the amount of people and cameras around them, the silence is loud as everyone waits on their cue. Katara knows that the producers will add some upbeat music to the montage later, but right now she feels everything but calm. She’s about to meet the first man who might be her future husband.
There’s a turquoise couch in the middle of the room along with a small side-table with a glass of water and a few snacks. The walls are a striking white color and she feels as if she’s inside some kind of interior design magazine instead of on a date. One of the walls is different from the others, filled with some sort of holes to let sound in from the other side.
She must be crazy to have signed up for this program. Crazy single, more like it. But seriously, what is she even doing here? The thought of finding the love of her life without judging or being judged for such things as shallow as outer appearance is nice, but it’s also a daydream, not reality.
Katara has a type. Appearance matters to her, whether she likes it or not. She’s not going to marry some man she doesn’t find attractive even if he has the most attractive voice in the universe. Even if he checks all the right boxes on personality and they seem like a perfect match, she won’t settle for marrying a guy she’s not physically attracted to.
Her friends and brother had called her insane when she told them she’s applied to the program. The only thing keeping them from signing her up for a serious therapy session was the fact that the chances of her getting accepted was slim to zero. For months, Katara pushed all thoughts of Love is Blind out of her head and shook her head at her own ridiculousness. What had she been thinking? God, was she really that desperate to find a man?
But here she was, despite everyone else’s opinion, looking for love without her eyes.
“Hey, is anyone there?” A dark, low voice asks. Katara finds herself drawn to it, likes the way it sounds seductive and manly.
“Hi, I’m Katara,” she begins, clearing her throat and trying to make her voice appear calm and equally attractive. “Tell me about yourself.”
The man on the other side tells Katara that his name is Jet. He’s thirty, matching her twenty-eight perfectly. She likes an older man. It’s even written as a firm requirement on her ‘What I want in a man’ - list. He tells her that he’s adventurous and never turns down a challenge. He’s worked in the military, sailed the world all alone just for fun, and occasionally spends his time bartending at a friend’s bar to pass the time and earn a little extra cash.
Jet says that he’s ready to settle down, that he’s looking for a lady to sweep off her feet. He makes her giggle when he starts quoting romantic one-liners from famous romcoms. She thinks that this man might be the one for her.
They part ways after a long, meaningful conversation. Jet ends their first date with a loud kissing sound that makes Katara lift her eyebrow and smirk, because that’s hot. “Don’t let anyone steal you from me, Kat,” he says as the door closes behind her.
She goes on what feels like a hundred dates that first day, but not many of the men stand out from the rest. There’s a few whose names she remembers; Jet, Haru and Zuko. Jet is at the top of her list, being both romantic, adventurous and having an attractive voice. Haru seems like a really sweet guy and they’re able to talk about deeper things than she did with Jet. They spend two hours discussing politics, and their shared passion to stand up for what’s right places him second on her list. She didn’t get the chance to talk a lot with Zuko, but she liked that he felt like a mystery for her to figure out. He seemed like the type with a hard exterior and a soft heart, and what kind of girl doesn't find that at least a little bit intriguing?
She’s exhausted by the time she’s finished with the dates for the first day and is finally allowed to head to the common area to chat with the other female participants. She quickly takes a liking to three of the other girls; Mai, Ty Lee and Jin. They make an odd group, but they somehow fit together just right.
Mai is cold and calculating, mostly quiet and only occasionally offering some comment that the other girls take a bit too harshly because of her tone. Katara is a good people-reader and understands the meaning behind the monotonousness, making her and Mai fast friends. Mai tells her that she’s never had a real boyfriend before, that there’s never been anyone matching her dark humour and sarcasm. She’s not hard on the eyes, but she definitely has a certain emo-goth thing going on style-wise that attracts a certain type of guy.
Ty Lee is a bundle of joy, full of sparkly energy and constant chatter, spending her time making cartwheels across the room when she can’t sit still. She is most men’s type appearance-wise; short and cute with big eyes and large breasts that bounces when she moves. She tells them all about her endless string of temporary boyfriends, hookups and all the dates that never turn into anything serious. She gets a sad look in her big doe-eyes as she says that all men seem to want her until she finally gets comfortable enough to show all parts of herself. No one wants the deeper side that’s not filled with flowers and bubblegum. Katara understands her issue and empathies with her.
Jin complains about her looks, finding herself way too ‘ordinary-looking’ for any man to want her. She’s spent way too much time chasing after guys who weren’t interested in her, and she’s ready to find a man inside the capsules who won’t judge her based on her appearance. Katara thinks that Jin seems like a kind and interesting woman, and wishes her luck, making sure to reassure her that she’s more than pretty and that any man should be happy to get to know her.
One thing they all bond over is that they’re interested in some of the same men, which both brings them closer together but also creates an unfortunate tension. Both Mai and Jin are interested in Zuko, and Ty Lee has expressed interest in Haru.
Katara can’t stop thinking about Jet’s dreamy voice as she tosses and turns in an unfamiliar bed that night. Her mind tries to paint a mental image of him, imagining dark hair and seductive eyes, imagining him leaning over her with his tall body with abs peeking out from under his shirt.
She spends the next five days going on several dates a day with different men, but ultimately she starts to cut down on the numbers and sticks mostly to Jet. Haru’s still on her list, but she doesn’t feel any romantic attraction other than a small surge of excitement whenever they talk about a shared passion, and she decides that they’re probably better off as friends. Ty Lee has gotten closer with Haru as well, and Katara’s happy to let them find happiness with each other.
Mai has really taken a liking to Zuko, spending almost all day talking with him and ignoring everyone else. Although Katara originally found Zuko interesting, the excitement had cooled down after a few dates. He’s quiet and introverted in a way that doesn’t interest her. She finds herself bored more than once when she is the one having to push their conversations forward. He also talks a lot about his depressing childhood, and even though Katara is happy to listen and share her own traumas, she doesn’t feel closer to him after they talk.
Her indifference towards Zuko as a romantic interest only makes it even more obvious that Jet is the right man for her. He’s all the things she wants; extroverted, fun and probably insanely attractive. He makes her laugh and believe in true love, and she finds herself smiling like a fool whenever she thinks about him. She can’t wait to see him in person without the wall separating them.
<3
Jet confesses his love to her on the sixth day.
“Kat, can you come closer? There’s something I want to tell you.”
Katara’s heart jumps in her chest, and she struggles to keep herself from jumping up and down and giggling uncontrollably as she sits down on the floor closest to the wall separating them.
“I’m here,” she says with a gentle voice full of expectation. Butterflies dance around in her stomach, and her head feels light and dizzy.
Jet takes a deep breath. “Kat. My sweet, beautiful, wonderful Kat. We still have a few days left, but I want you to know that you’re my number one. I have come closer to you than anyone else during my time here. You’re the only one for me, baby.”
“Oh, Jet…” Katara swoons, dreamy eyes trying to get a glance of her future husband from behind the wall. “You’re the only one for me, too.”
“I want you to be prepared for the last day, because I’m not leaving this place without you. And I hope that you’re not seeing someone other than me, babe.” Jet sounds a bit distressed. Katara feels a weight settle in her stomach as she imagines Jet thinking that she would say yes to another man’s proposal.
“Of course not! It’s you or no one, Jet.” Katara assures him, making sure to keep a stubbornness to her voice implying that she means business. She can’t wait for Jet to propose to her in a few days. She can’t wait to feel his arms around her and his lips on hers.
She should have known it was too good to be true.
She basically trips on her own feet in her eagerness to talk to the other girls about Jet’s confession. “Oh my god, you won’t believe what just happened!” She lets out a high-pitched squeal as she puts her hands over her mouth and runs over to Ty Lee, Mai and Jin.
The big smile on her lips falls as she sees Ty Lee’s serious frown as she gives the other girls worried looks.
“What?” Katara asks as she looks between them, uncertainty starting to grow in her chest.
“Soo, we talked with Jinora and Yue.” Ty Lee gestures for Katara to sit down before offering her a cup of tea that smells like the color pink. The awkward grimace on her face feels foreboding. She wishes they would just tell her already.
“So what?” Katara asks, sipping her tea and leaning her back against the armrest.
"Apparently, Jet confessed his love to both of them yesterday.”
Katara feels her throat grow thick with tears and she blinks to try and keep them at bay. This can’t be happening. Jet wouldn’t do that to her.
“No, that can’t be true,” she whispers, disbelief apparent in her soft argument.
Ty Lee gives her a tight hug and pats her back. “I’m so sorry, Katara.”
Mai looks bored when Katara wipes tears from her eyes, but she notices bitterness behind it.
“Do you want me to kill him in his sleep?” Mai exclaims, serious as ever. If Katara had only just met her, she might have been a bit scared of the seriousness of the offer, but she smiles and lets out a hollow laugh.
“Thanks, but I can handle this on my own. No one fucks with me and gets away with it.”
She smoothes the wrinkles in her dark blue dress before demanding to talk with one of the people in charge. They’re fairly accommodating and only makes her wait ten minutes before they bring her to a capsule with the cameras ready to capture this piece of cinematic history.
She hears Jet’s steps as he enters, having grown used to them greeting her. “Kat, what’s going on? I didn’t know we were scheduled for another date until tomorrow?”
“Were you ever going to tell me?” Her voice breaks in the middle of her accusation.
“Tell you what?” Jet is trying so hard to sound innocent that she has to let out a loud huff of disbelief. She considers tearing down the wall to slap Jet’s face. Hard.
“That you’ve told me the same things that you told Jinora and Yue yesterday.”
Jet continues his failed mission to appear innocent. “Who told you that?”
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is what you have to say for yourself?” She pushes, ready for this to be over so she can move on.
“I swear, babe, I never said that-”
She interrupts him, voice burning with anger and betrayal.
“Don’t you dare ‘babe’ me, you asshole!”
How could she have ever thought that this was the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with?
“Kat, please… just listen, okay?”
She stays silent, giving him one last chance to explain himself.
“I promise you that I never talked with the other girls. It’s always been you, only you.”
“You can’t even admit it.” She shakes her head, eyes rolling as he keeps talking. She doesn’t bother listening. She walks out of the pod, door slamming shut behind her as she walks straight into her temporary bedroom and sobs into the pillow.
Fuck Jet for giving her hope only to break her heart.