YouTuber friend

It was the mid of 2022. The COVID restrictions where lifted. All businesses and corporates were eager to return to normal. I was seeking normalcy too. I had started going to the office but there would not be a lot of people. It was a rainy Wednesday when I met my friend Krish (pseudonym) in the office cafeteria.

" Hi. Good to see you. How are you?" I greeted him with a smile. It was great to see a familiar face in the office. It was indeed good to see him fit and fine after the pandemic.

"Hi. I am good. How are you? Great to see you in the office," he said in a calm and suspiciously sad manner. I understood something was wrong but I did not want to bring that up.

"Good too. So have you started coming to the office or today is just an exception?" I asked him pretending as if I have noticed the hint of sadness in his voice.

" Well today is my first day. But I am thinking I would come regularly. At least 2 days in a week I would like to come to the office. I was so bored sitting at home. Away from the family and away from the friends. It was so boring to sit in front of the laptop and pretend as if it is great to meet people virtually in meetings," he was venting out. But still I felt it was good because while venting out he could have told me the reason why he was sad.

" Yes of course it was really boring. I am not much of the people person, but I like to see people around me. I like to feel that I am a part of team or for that matter a community. It is good to have people around who know your situation. On the floor we can quickly solve a problem but virtually it would take hours. And don't even get me started on 'the casual meet up with your managers over a cup of coffee'. That was the most fake thing I had seen in my professional career. But at least your YouTube videos kept me entertained. Why did you stop?," I was deliberately keeping the topics light so that Krrish gets comfortable and maybe then he starts speaking.

Krish laughed and said, "completely agree. This two years taught me how fake people can be. How the fakeness can only last for a couple of hours. In these two yours I was able to see the real face of a lot of people," his smile disappeared. I was sure that he wanted to speak further. I kept quite so that he can go on. After the haunting silence between us he finally spoke, "do you want to know why I stopped making the YouTube videos? Because I got divorced. You were talking about the fake professionals I saw my own relationship being completely fake. She never loved me. All these 5 years that we had spend together were fake. She was in love with someone before the marriage and she was still in love with him. During the pandemic when I was home I got to know that she was still in touch with him and she was still planning to return to him. When I saw the text exchange between them I freed her of everything. But after that the time was tough. She never loved me but I loved her a lot. It was difficult to navigate through the betrayal. It was difficult to hold on to the past and carry on with the present. I was barely able to work but I continued to work even in that state. I had no motivation or inspiration to continue with my YouTube channel. I was not depressed but also was very demotivated. I continued to work because that was the only thing that was keeping me sane and distracted. This is why I do not want to spend anytime at home. I want to spend more time outside so that I can get over my past," I saw tears in his eyes while he was speaking. He was shaking and he looked completely hurt. Obviously that is what would happen if the person you love the most betrays you.

" I am so sorry. Idea what you were going through," I had no idea what else to say.

" No I am sorry for venting out like that. I had not spoken me to anyone about this. Just my family nose but not even my close friends no about my divorce. I don't know what came over me and I told you about all my troubles. I am really sorry," saying that he just stormed out of the cafeteria.

I was still sitting at the table thinking how difficult his life was. I silently prayed that it would get better and went back to my office.