Having literature as her major, the girl always carried a notebook and a pen. Her father gifted her that pen when she passed high school and got into the university. It was a gold-colored fountain pen, and she used it every day. Another thing that she used every day was her delicate, fragile heart.
The boy stood in line for his coffee at Starbucks. He fancied an expensive smooth cup of Mocha once in a while – thought of it as splurging on himself – something he rarely did. He worked in a bank as a financial advisor – something he always wanted to be. He had a goal in his life, and he focused on it.
The girl opened her notebook, pulled her pen from the bag and started writing. “The human evolution brought us closer technologically, but at the same time, we have never been so far away from each other in the history of humanity. We rely more on technology than our gut and intuition. We trust the AI to think for us, predict for us, and let AI substitute another human being. Why? Because machines never argue, AI agrees with everything you say, and as far as our egos go, we only want enslaved people. We order food from the phone and select Contactless Delivery; we bend our necks on our screens every time we are alone in public, and we have started pulling out that piece of aluminum even when we are with friends and family. The dependence on it has gone to such an extent that we choose our life partners on that mindless piece of technology.
The boy pulled out his phone and checked his emails. It was a Saturday, and he had several unread emails from his clients. He liked being busy – standing in the line for his coffee AND getting things cleared from his to-do list. One tiny step closer to being a finance Moghul. His ultimate goal was to be as respected as Warren Buffet. He didn’t have Buffet’s habits like having the same breakfast every day, living in the same house for over twenty years, or driving the same car for decades – no, but he got the idea. Save money if you cannot earn more. His uncle had a thrift store, and when he grew up hanging out at that dingy old thrift store. He witnessed with his uncle the many miseries of people and how they were brought down to their knees because they didn’t have money. They sold family heirlooms, precious rings, and even their self-esteem to get their hands on little money. Maybe for drugs, gambling or whoring – but they all wanted money. Having seen the harsh reality of life in the early days, his uncle imparted a lifetime of financial wisdom to his little self.
The girl paused and looked out of the window. She saw a happy couple walking. She returned to her writing: “Everyone knows we are slaves to these machines and internet and social media, yet everyone continues to use it – so much that they develop an addiction. Our dependency on the internet has gone from letting it make us lazy by ordering every imaginable thing online to letting it make decisions for our romantic life. Scrolling through the endless feed of social media or swiping through the thousands of profiles on dating apps, we rely heavily on technology to do the work for us. Like yesterday evening, when I went to a restaurant to meet this guy, I swiped on a dating app. All my friends would call him terrible and laugh at his ‘dad bod’ or look at me with pity for my desperation. It is not desperation, though. I spent the past two years of my college immersed in the gentle and sophisticated words of Jane Austen and Bronte sisters and those headstrong lines of Hemingway, and the classy and elegant stories of Twain and Dickens. While I stuffed my brain and drenched my heart in those medieval classics, I abandoned my social life in college. Not getting laid wouldn’t bother me but what would bother me is never to have found the other half of my life. In my defense, I was never a social person anyway, but when my neighbor Anita scored a date too good for her AND retained him, I opened my eyes, and by then, two years had already passed. I was way beyond the attachment phase – when you first make friends in college. People had formed groups while I navigated Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea. I shook it off by taking refuge on the internet to find my love life. The guy I was with yesterday was one of those 49 guys I had swiped right.”
Having realized the importance of finances early on, the guy grew up careful with his money. Being careful with money also meant being responsible, which meant the guy did not have any vices. He was not addicted to smoking or drinking like his father or wouldn’t spend money on impulsive shopping like his mother but, whenever possible, tried to save it. He wasn’t thrifty or cheap. He always looked for an option that very delicately bordered on “Cheap and good quality”, and he did this by looking for as many alternatives as possible. He realized two things very early in life: first, limit your needs and stick to basics. Don’t be lazy, and you’d save a tonne of money. Second, there is always a cheaper alternative for everything. The only question is, will it match your needs – which is why he kept his needs in check. For example, he never used a monthly billing phone plan but used prepaid. His primary need was communication – phone calls to his father and minimal internet. Instead of spending every month after usage, a recharge every month before using would make him more conscious of using his phone. Pleasure and comfort are usually costly. Self-discipline is never an advertisement anywhere because it’s bad for business. Imagine if all of us would be patient and go to the store and mall to buy anything and everything we want. Amazon would probably run out of business. He was in his mid-twenties, focused and street smart – in other words, on the way to success. In his first year working at the bank, he was already promoted once. His suggestions at meetings had turned many necks and raised many eyebrows – in a good way, of course. He could see himself becoming a textbook definition of success by the next decade. Being careful and responsible with money had also made him trustworthy and mature in general. His ruffled hair and smooth, shaved face made him look younger than he was, but anyone who spent about ten minutes with him realized he was way more mature.
“I walked into the restaurant and saw the guy sitting at a table – I knew him from his pictures. He seemed busy on his phone. I kept walking toward him, and then he looked up. I happened to see his phone while he hastily tucked in and saw him swiping right in the same app we had used to connect. I sighed mentally and sat down. He wasn’t Brad Pitt when it came to looks, but deep down, I believed in giving chances to everyone – equally. But deeper down, I knew he was probably an idiot. His lemon-yellow T-shirt with the words COOL written over it made him everything but cool. We talked, or rather he talked, and I listened, and I kept thinking about all the other 48 guys and this one that everyone just wanted to get in bed with me. The evolution of romance from Jane Austen’s boardroom dramas or Margaret Mitchell’s library encounters with beaus to a bedroom with intense and wet and sticky orgasms over each other can only be called devolution of the human mindset. Love is a feeling that can be associated with your other half being happy or seeing that your other half does something for you. Modern love only associates it with scary large dicks and pleasuring women – in other words, a grotesque form of sex. That is what every guy wants from me, but am I only my moderately large breasts and butt? I never made a checklist for my guy and believed that I would know him when I saw him, but after 48 encounters and 49th failing as I sat with that guy, I think I should make a list. The easiest way to make that is by pointing out what is obvious, what was missing in every guy I met – a lack of self-discipline. None of the guys I met knew what they wanted to be or do in their lives. There was that guy number 18, I think, who said he wanted to be a gamer, but I wouldn’t want to live with a guy wearing an Iron-man T-shirt in his late 30s with greying hair. I want a guy who is focused and knows exactly what he wants, and even though hasn’t sorted his shit, he is in the process of doing it. I want him to have sex at the very bottom of the things he would want from me. It’s not that I am anti-sex, but sex shouldn’t be the only reason to be with someone because, eventually, our life and body wither out. I would want a guy who is responsible and mature for his age. Maturity is an underrated charm in men. There are always those wise guys who want to make you laugh, but I don’t want a guy who would make me laugh when my mortgage payment is overdue. I would want a guy who would be responsible and says has got a plan.”
‘Let’s meet up on Monday. I might have something for you, he typed as the line moved ahead. He always had a plan for everything – especially success. This particular client had a lot of underused funds, and he knew where to put them to use – somewhere that will ensure his promotion next year! He never played chess, but he always thought multiple moves ahead. The only area of his life he did not think much about was his love life. Late 20s and single – that was all he had. He had a girl who was after him back in high school, and she self-invited herself to the prom, but she was a threat to his savings. She made him pay for every date – or as he liked to call it – every time they hung out. She had no sense of money, did not think about the future or plan for it and always talked about sex. Never agreed to have sex, though. He believed that understanding each other was the only reason to be with someone. The porn sites were filled with a variety of intense sex, and seeing sex being sold as a product for which you had to put effort and be better and last longer and be bigger was so disappointing. Since he could never find a girl who was emotionally mature, loved and respected equally rather than spending money on scented candles, he decided he would not look for her. When and if the time is right, the girl will show up. Suppose she doesn’t show up, then it’s just his loss. But he would build a strong future by then.
“The guy interrupted my thoughts with his annoyingly open-ended questions, to which I replied with all honesty and sincerity. She didn’t like soccer because she was more of an indoor person, and she liked reading more. No, she wouldn’t have a problem with her other half being into soccer. Yes, she has travelled few countries. Yes, she wanted kids. Maybe two or more. No, she didn’t think cars were cool. She only saw them as a mode of transportation and not a status symbol. She doesn’t have a car because she would rather be reading on public transport. No, she didn’t care if he had a car or not. Now I asked him an open-ended question about childhood and his dreams, and after giving a fair amount of attention to the initial part of his answer, I returned to my thoughts. My dad raised me emotionally strong, but there were times when I wished I had that strong shoulder supporting me, a shoulder I could rely on, and in return, I would provide all the understanding and maturity the other person would want. The problem was that none of the guys wanted it. All they had was a list of things they ‘wanted’ and not a list of things they needed. Nobody with a clear vision of the future.”
He moved closer to get his coffee – A latte with two espresso shots, one sugar and two cream. Yesterday, he successfully closed another significant transaction getting a new client for the bank – 8th this quarter. He was incentive eligible at 3rd client, and yet he got 8! That called for an expensive coffee as a treat to start the day. He replied to a few more emails and waited before the person in front of him could finish ordering. He thought about all these people in the café spending so much money on such expensive coffee every day. It would cost significantly low if they got rid of laziness a little and made it themselves. But he wasn’t here to judge – he was here to be successful.
The girl stopped writing in her book and got up. She had a thermos full of self-made coffee. She liked to make a steaming hot cup of coffee smooth with milk every morning. Today’s coffee was even better because of the new coffee she got last week. But now she was hungry. She got up from her table and stood in line behind a tall, handsomely dressed guy who was busy with his phone. They all looked nice – she thought. The problem was when they opened their mouth. She heard him order coffee – a large latte with double espresso shots and one sugar and two cream.
The guy ordered his coffee and made way for the girl behind him. He was standing in line alone for a while and had noticed the girl writing when he walked in. He glanced at her. She was elegantly dressed in an off-white jacket and dark blue jeans, with neatly made blonde hair and large square-shaped glasses over her eyes. She saw him looking at her, and for a brief second, they looked into each other’s eyes and left. She left with her large oatmeal looking cookie, and he with his coffee.