Why Emotional Connection Feels Impossible Today

Nikki looked out over the collection of men on the chairs with a tired look as she listened with half an ear to what the principal was saying.Oh, how unmotivated she felt.

Shouldn’t she just drop out of the whole thing?

But it had cost her to get here and much of the money had come from her family.

No, it wasn’t enough.

Nikki felt like this morning was just getting worse and worse but then came the final straw.

The projects would be chosen by the students themselves.

Nikki jumped back.

She had hoped for an idea, at least.

Some guidance.

She was completely incapable of creativity when it came to directing commissioned projects.

Her art was in its infancy, and she had just begun to find a style she was comfortable with.

It would take years to develop it, and her idea was to be able to do it in parallel with a job (and not, as she wrote on Dating Line – have an art job in Paris in a year).

But now she and the boys were going to get together and build a project without guidance, direction or any kind of direction.

Damn!

She couldn’t afford this.

“A project of his own,” thought Joachim.

It couldn’t get any better than that.

In the best of worlds, he could involve PlaynDate, but the art department would probably see it as too commercial.

Besides, dating was hardly a subject that the feminists on the other side of the school appreciated.

That much he understood.

And so, the lottery began.

Names were called out and more or less satisfied students heard their names called out along with others.

It wasn’t a particularly cheerful sight to see on the stage that was now filled with more and more students.

Some of the guys looked wide-eyed at the girls they were going to collaborate with because many of them had never been anywhere near anything like it.

But there were also girls who had the same looks when tech broilers with sucking looks of power and dominance were called out along with their names.

That women weren’t attracted to masculinity was a myth, Joachim stated bluntly for the thousandth time.

Then he gathered his attention because there weren’t many names left to call out now.

The principal searched through his papers and said:

“Joachim Andersson.

You will work with…” Joachim held his breath but the principal suddenly lost the papers and took his time to gather them together.

In the meantime, Joachim scanned the stage for the remaining art students and looked rather doubtfully at the collection.

Anna from H3B was a bright girl who would be good to work with.

Vicky and June too.

They had done well in deeper art subjects that stemmed from AI.

Charlotte Tate, Helen Andersson and Julia Benes were also good candidates, although Julia was among the slightly more unambitious.

Then there was the bottom line.

Stacy Sutton was a disaster if she opened her mouth.

Caroline Bottoms wouldn’t get through half of any project.

Paulina Deniz couldn’t open an unlocked door even if she was given a verbal explanation.

But the one he never, ever wanted to be associated with was Nikki van der Hoebooken.

He had never experienced the husband of a post-shot and never wanted to experience it either.

She was pretty, he could give her that, but her damning pursuit of status and boys never ceased to amaze.

She was heard everywhere, seen everywhere, would be everywhere.

She was everything he despised in the hyper-individualistic girl world.

A Kardashian wannabe.

Working with her was like living in the courtyard of hell, that much he knew.

Poor bastard who would get…

“…working with Joachim Andersson.”

Joachim froze.

He had missed something.

He had been lost in thought.

He couldn’t…

“Joachim Andersson is working with Nikki van der Hoebooken.”

Joachim sank into his chair.

His future at Q was in jeopardy and so was his online dating app.

PlaynDate too.

The silence of a thought between two people can sometimes say more than a thousand matches.