My Dad's Best Friend

Chapter 1: Nick

It took me a while to get to a place like this. One would appreciate the serendipity of life or make oneself be a part of someone's life in order to seek happiness. Only he gets to decide in which part he wants to be in.

As I was wondering, I realized I hadn't eaten anything since morning. Well, I just shifted to a new flat in BTM Layout, after deciding to have a fresh start. To begin with, I am an engineer but business is something I always wanted to do. I started from scratch by building web-sites for different companies. After the first year of three different projects which were successful I got a place in the market. After three years now, I am a successful entrepreneur.

My work always kept me moving to different places. I loved my work. So much that I dedicated all the time to it to achieve everything I have now. But in that process, I lost myself. Now all I have is mental and emotional exhaustion. I travelled, kept myself busy with various activities, been in meaningless relationships, but nothing gave me the inspiration I seek. It felt like I had everything I ever wanted but I cannot enjoy it. Somewhere down the lane I lost my happiness and inspiration to live.

I spoke to different people, took therapy as well. Nothing worked out in my favor. My best-friend Reyansh (Ray)suggested I should settle down. His idea was for me to have a place to call it a home and take a break, relax for a while and then get back to business when I am ready. He even got himself ready to take care of the business while I was away. Deep down he knew I wouldn't agree, given our history I never agreed with him but, to his surprise I did.

I don't have any other friends. It's just Ray. For generations, our families were entitled to be best-friends. It started with my grand-father and Ray's grand-father being best-friends, followed by my mother and Ray's father and now us. Time and experience made me realize that he's the only one I can be friends with.

However, I kind of met someone online who helped me through thick and thin. His name is Prakash Chabra. He is a 65 year old widower, living with his kids in Bangalore. He went into a state of depression after his wife's death. Ever since I started my business we've been chatting online helping each other with crazy ideas in solving each other's problems. I am indeed looking forward to meeting him. No... It is not that. He is just my other best-friend. He is the reason I actually agreed with Ray. Ray does not know anything about him. I did not tell him because at times he would get really jealous. Even though I am the only friend he's got. When I told this to Prakash, he laughed but he understood.

I love Ray. Ray is more like a younger brother to me. No matter how old we get he'll always remain a kid to me. Which is the reason I always had to be an adult and advise him whenever it required. But I never got that considering my only best-friend is who I treat like a kid. So when I met Prakash, I calmed down. He too became a best-friend and gave me expert advice whenever I needed it. When I was struggling with a lost taste in life, he suggested to move and relax and just wait for that inspiration to happen. He also arranged this flat for me to rent as I was exhausted searching online/brokers which didn't meet my expectations. He said he understands my taste for a living and he's happy to help.

It was a tad weird in the beginning being friends with someone way too older like Prakash. But he was not the kind of an old man who would judge my generation over petty things. Instead, he was curious to know more as he wanted to understand his kids better. There was this time, when he suspected his daughter was seeing someone. He didn't directly ask her anything for some time. After a certain period, he observed the changes in her behavior and he told me.

"Dude, I think my daughter is dating a guy (Yeah! He calls me dude)."

"So?"

"So? I think I should do something about it."