COLOUR OF LOVE

In the century after the Covid pandemic died down, things had not yet returned to normal. Everyone was in the state that was called The Eternal lockdown and no government had an idea when things would go back to how they were before.

In this state, no one left his or her house and working was primarily from home. New business ideas and ways of doing things had flourished in that condition. Dating sites had been revolutionised after this state. Everyone now had to use the internet to find a girlfriend or a living partner or wife.

The algorithms were so advanced now that you could build into the parameters what you were looking for; what colour of eyes, what colour of hair, what body type and what colour of skin to be able to get the perfect woman or man. It had the unexpected effect of bringing about the rise of racism again. With people weeding out partners according to the Skin colour, eye colour and genetics that they deemed to be of inferior races, this led to mass segregation again.

Added to this, one could select the background preferred, IQ level and other factors, which facilitated classicism. The apps were available worldwide, which propagated racism and classism at levels previously unforeseen.

Walter was one of the classists and racists bred from a failing system. He did not even know there was anything wrong with how he saw women and his idea of what was attractive. His views had been warped by societal constraints and his upbringing. Since childhood, he had little or no exposure to people of another colour of skin other than his white one. To Walter, anyone with exotic skin was viewed as unattractive and strange. Something other than the norm.

He signed up on to Dreamgirl to find a partner, and he was inputting his preferences. He took this very seriously because he imagined that he knew the kind of girl he wanted to be with. He had been hurt a lot in the past and he was a nerd who was very intelligent.

Therefore, he knew exactly what he wanted, or so he thought. He selected blue or green eyes. Blonde hair. He even added in elements like voice. She should have a feminine voice. He selected hobbies that were delicate and what would mesh with his lifestyle. It never occurred to him that he had preconceived biases about the kind of woman whom he wanted to be with.

One of the things Dream Girl prided itself on was the accuracy of the matching algorithm. They didn't give you quantity, they gave you quality. So when he got two matches, one was a 75% match. She was Caucasian and had some of the characteristics he wanted. He thought this was someone who he could talk to and who could engage him intellectually. She seemed like she would make him a good companion.

The other match didn't disclose her ethnicity on the site, but she matched him to a closer degree in terms of what he was looking for in a woman. The match was 98 per cent and guaranteed to last. The website had a sample two-match option where you got to know both for one month and selected whom you wanted to settle with.

So Walter decided that he wanted to know this person who was everything that he had wanted.

He assumed it was a Caucasian who is just really particular about Privacy.  So he had both women sent to his house for a month trial period. When Amelia arrived, she was everything that he had not liked before. She was dark-skinned. In addition, she had thick curly hair which was black. She was well-read and an intellectual but he could not get past the colour of her skin. He told her that he had never been attracted to that kind of woman before and he thought he was not about to start now.

He told her,’ I am sorry, but you don't suit me. You are not what I was looking for. You know, I'm not into dark-skinned women.’

She asked him if he knew that no two people are the same.

She asked, ‘So are you saying all of the dark-skinned people are the same?’

 He said, ‘ I don't know, but it's just not for me, you know. I am not attracted to that type.’

She was hurt. His opinion and preconceptions based on her skin colour and not personality hurt her. Here was someone who did not care what was in her head or hurt, just on her skin colour. Her voice and way of speaking masculine and unattractive. She was so humiliated and embarrassed but couldn’t leave until the one month period was up. She could not believe that someone could be so thoughtless, and it cut her to be rejected this way.

She walked away with her head held high and went to her room. She was determined to avoid him for the duration of her stay, he was obviously a bigot and narrow-minded. Besides, it was his loss if he didn’t want to get to know her.

Walter went to meet the other Woman, Stacey. On the outside, she was stunning and everything he wanted. He took her for a walk in his garden and started getting to know her. During the day, he could not think of anything else but Amelia.

She was an enigma. He wondered what her story was and why the algorithm thought they would be a good match. He wondered what others saw when they looked at her. What made her unique and what did one fall for. Was it the soul or was love skin deep? For the first time, he asked himself these deep questions.

Something within him began to stir for the first time. Amelia stimulated his intellectual curiosity more than Others had in a long time and he thought maybe it was time to see if something different would bring him happiness. He had been craving for his partner for 37 years. Maybe he needed to change. So he asked Amelia to dinner that night.