32-year old Dutchman Andreas Pfeiffer

"Welcome to Ananas Airlines, Sir."

You could tell it was a Luranian flight crew by the uniforms - slightly shorter and tighter skirts for the invariably shapely female flight attendants, and short sleeves for the male flight attendants, showcasing their biceps. You could also tell it was Luranian because of the gender parity in the number of male and female flight attendants, their olive to dark brown tans (although occasionally you would get a light-haired gal covered in freckles), as well as their radiating smiles.

It was almost enough to induce some kind of joie de vivre in Andreas - but not quite enough.

As soon as he was installed in his seat, he absent-mindedly pulled out his phone, as he always did.

"This is your captain speaking, we are headed for the lovely Santamaranarapivo, capital of the God-Fearing People's Republic of Luran -"

Andreas logged in on BlabApp and opened the conversation with Mariken. "Last seen online today at 08:47". She'd changed her profile picture. A bikini photo. This one he hadn't seen yet. She looked so pretty and happy. She wore red lipstick, which she usually never did.

Andreas wondered if it would be weird if he'd make a comment about it after 4 months of silence. It couldn't hurt, right? Surely it would make her feel good and validated, and it would be a nice thing of him to do? Just checking in and giving a compliment.

He scrolled through the conversation with his ex-girlfriend. He had to scroll for a while, skipping the long, pleading messages he had sent her, before he got to the cutesy stuff. The pictures she'd sent to him. Nothing saucy, of course. She wasn't that kind of gal. They'd had sex a few times at the start of their 4-year relationship, but it had never gone the way Andreas hoped. And in the later years, his slightest touch would be immediately be received by a "no" or "what are you doing?", and not the playful kind.

4 years. 4 months. Soon it would be her 31st birthday. 3+1 = 4.

He scrolled through his pictures of them together. He missed her. Even though there was no physical intimacy whatsoever for the most part, and his attempts to figure out what was wrong (vaginismus? Some kind of psychological trauma? Something wrong with what he was doing?) were always met by indifference on her part - he missed talking to her, laughing with her, spending time with her.

She was like a sister to him. Feels weird to say that about an ex-girlfriend - in fact it kinda feels like plunging the knife deeper into the torso. But it was true.

"Everything all right, Sir?"

He looked up at the flight attendant. A redhead - one of those rare ones. She was almost one walking freckle. Piercing blue eyes. And she was leaning in to him.

"Uh... yes, thank you," Andreas said.

"Would you like something to drink? Cola, water, pineapple juice, tea..."

"Cola, yes," you say. She smiled slightly mischievously.

"Coming right along, Sir." She turned towards the cart in front of her. Andreas couldn't help but glance at her behind as she bent over to grab a Cola from it. A mixture of arousal and sadness washed over him.

As he thanked her for the Cola and paid her, she glanced back and forth from his face to his phone.

"That is a lovely photo, Sir. Is she... special to you?"

Wow, did the flight attendant just pry into your personal life? How unprofessional. Those Luranians were a strange bunch. And yet... it felt right to Andreas. Human.

"You could say she was special, yes. Ex." Her facial expression dropped.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sir. Are you... just making a stop-over, or are you staying in Luran?"

"The latter," Andreas said. She smiled, making wrinkles appeared next to her eyes.

"Oh, lovely, Sir. I recommend you go to one of our 'Open-Air Ballrooms', Sir. They offer a tasteful fusion between traditional Luranian dancing and... 'modern' Luranian dancing." The corners of her mouth had gone up in a slightly devilish fashion as she emphasized 'modern'. "You might even find me there on a day off.

Andreas wasn't sure how to react to her flirty behavior. Again, those Luranians were weird, and this wasn't what he was used to back in Holland. "I'll... think of it," he finally said. The flight attendant (now he was wondering what her name was) laughed.

"I appreciate your stoicism," she said. "Anyway Sir, enjoy your Cola and your smartphone, because as you know, you'll have to miss both while in Luran."

Andreas was well-aware. He'd done his research... well, not to the extent he would have usually done. A lot of his time had been spent looking for important papers between all the empty pizza boxes and crying himself to sleep lately.

As she was about to move on to the next passenger, Andreas did something unusual.

"I'm sorry Miss, I didn't catch your name?"

His heart raced. This kind of thing could get one labelled with sexual harassment back at home. Holland wasn't the liberal paradise it used to be anymore.

The freckles on her cheek moved as she smiled again. "Desireska." They did have funky names over there.

"Nice to meet you." She winked and moved on.

Andreas kept looking at her for a while. She skipped a woman to go to the next male customer. This seemed to be standard policy for Luranian flights - female passengers were usually helped by male flight attendants. Andreas watched as Desireska flirted with a bald, overweight, middle-aged man, flipping her hair at one point.

He sighed. Seems like it didn't mean much of anything.

He looked at his phone and made a decision. He went on a photo deleting spree. He wouldn't be able to use his smartphone for the coming weeks or months anyway, so it was best to cut the umbilical cord now.

Bye, Mariken. And hi to the Desireska's of this world.