Flashback [2:00 a.m., your condo, San Francisco]

Hmm... I wonder when he's gonna get here? He promised me he would come visit after he finished handling things at home and at the parties. 

Oh well, if he doesn't arrive, it won't make any difference, I've become used to this, my solace.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

Well, speak of the devil...

As I open the door, I see him, my dearest friend and someone I consider my brother really, Nick.

"Hey, took you a while, didn't it?", I greeted as he entered my apartment. 

"Sorry bro, I was busy taking my wife and kids home after the party.", he replied.

I gave him a blank stare and said," What party?"

Giving me a cold look he stated, "The one with all our childhood friends, parents, and everyone else? How come you never attend those parties anymore? We're all family and you should never forget that."

Oh yeah, that party. In all honesty, I just didn't feel like going and would rather prefer to stay in my condo on New Years, or any day really. However, I can't say that to him, that would just ruin everything.

Instead, I lied and said," Oh, I was busy working at the law firm and I wasn't sure if I could make it"

"You never change do you?"

"What're you talking about?"

"You're always working at that damned firm of yours. Don't they ever give you a break?"

"They do, but honestly, with my lifestyle, I need to work a lot to maintain it"

"How much are you making this year?"

"Six figures"

"Come on, we've been friends since elementary school, be more specific."

"Eight"

"Eighty grand? Are you sure you went to Harvard Law? That's not six figures..."

"Eight... hundred... thousand...", I whispered underneath my breath but I guess he heard me.

"WOW! That's amazing, no wonder you've been able to afford so much luxury items... How about your annual bonus? I bet it must be miniscule since your salary is so high."

"Two"

"$2,000? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense"

"No. $200,000."

"You're making a million dollars this year!? Well, at least I know you're taken care of in terms of your finances..."

"Enough about me, how have you been man?"

"Oh you know, the wife's nagging me everyday ,my daughter just got her report card from school, and my son just sad his first words two weeks ago"

It's so hard to remember that even though we're only 27, Nick already has a wife and kids, seeing as he had his daughter while he was in med school. 

I smiled at his enthusiasm and said, "That must be fun, you're a lucky man"

"Thanks. How about you? Have you ever thought about settling down and starting your own family?" 

"I don't know man, I haven't been looking or anything, I figure it'll happen when it happens"

"You're too cold to people that you meet, maybe that's why you haven't found someone. Even to our friends and family back home, they say that you're always so lonely because you always have a glare and at times you can be so hearless..."

Back to present time [4:00 a.m., your condo, San Francisco]

And now here I am again, standing looking outside my window looking for something to cure this feeling I got from his comment earlier. I didn't show it earlier because I didn't want him to see how much that comment impacted me, but ,as soon as he left, I got myself a glass and poured some ice and cognac in a glass to think about how true his comment was. 

Was I truly that cold?

Did I really try to push people away from me?

Did people truly think that I didn't have a heart?

That I was incapable of caring for people?

In my pursuit of the "good life", did I sacrifice something far more important than all the money in the world?

It seemed so simple in high school...

Get good grades. 

Go to a prestiguous college.

Go to Harvard Law.

Make a lot of money.

There, you're happy.

But in reality, was I truly happy with my life right now?

I could afford anything in the world, but how come it felt like I was missing something money couldn't buy?

What did Nick have that made him so happy? What was I missing?

I have the cars, the condo, the job, the money. What else could a man want?

It feels like fate loved Nick more. But why?

I followed all the rules.

He followed none of them.

And yet, his life was more complete than my own?

Then it hit me.

Maybe he's right, I'm miserable and pushing those who care about me away because I'm alone. 

No, that's proposterous. I'm making a million dollars a year, I can buy everything to make me happy.

But, can you buy love? Can you buy happiness in the form of companionship?

No, I'm being stupid again. I should just get away from all this nonsense, or actually, it must be the alchohol talking.

Yeah, I didn't buy a $70,000 bottle of cognac just to get a light buzz from it. 

As I head off to bed, I keeping trying to tell myself...

It's only the alchohol talking, you have everything in the world, why would you need anything else?

But everytime I repeated that in my head, another thought kept running through my head...

I've chased the good life my whole life long, but when I look back at my life it feels like it has all gone to waste.

Where did I go wrong?

Two weeks later [3:00 p.m., law firm, San Francisco]

As I pulled into my office parking spot in my new SLS, I spotted a familiar figure walking towards me. 

"Hey! Can I talk to you for minute?", my boss exclaimed as he ran across the parking lot to confront me.

Giving him a questioning look,  I replied," Yes sir, what is it?"

"Would you mind moving to an office overseas for a few months?"

Well, since New Years, I had been feeling this urge to just get away from everything around here, but I just kept fighting it. Who knows, this may be my chance to get a new start?

However, I gave him a condescending look and said,"For what?"

Looking flustered by my stare, he replied,"A client of our firm overseas wants one of our best lawyers to help in the re-negotiation of contracts for their company."

Still with my glare, I said,"And why would you need me to take on this task?"

"Because you're the best lawyer this firm has to offer, and they specifically requested that we send the BEST lawyer we could to aide them"

I gave him an arrogant smirk and said,"I already know I'm the best." 

However, I wasn't quite finished, and returned to my glare and said,"If I take on this job, I want all of my living accomodations taken care of and I also want a $100,000 bonus to be transferred to my account that moment I step foot on the airplane. Is that a reasonable offer?"

Once again, he looked bothered by my stare and stuttered as he said,"Yeah, that sounds good, I can make all of that happen."

Smirking once again, I said,"Good. Now tell me all of the details of the job."

Even though he was the boss, I knew he was afraid of me. No one dared cross my path in this firm, they knew that one wrong move could mean starting a war they could not win. I liked it that way, people feared me and they didn't dare do anything to impede my progress. Maybe I was truly heartless? But right now, I could live with that. 

Anyways, this oppurtunity overseas may be the escape I so desperately yearned for since that conversation with Nick two weeks ago....