What if we are emotionally disconnected for a day?

Pushing my blanket off my face, I slowly opened my eyes. The first thing I continue to see every day is my off-white coloured clock with a block red coloured frame. It was almost 8 AM. I was allowed to go late to the office these days due to the pandemic. My dreams were filled with delusions the previous night that I woke up tired. Freshening up, I went downstairs. Yeah, my flatmate was already awake. She was busy in the kitchen when I went. She didn't care to notice me at all. 

"All good?" I asked

"Yeah. Kind of." She replied. 

"What does that kind of mean?" 

"It means what it is."

She wasn't angry, still, she wasn't looking at me. I chose to ignore and proceeded my day. 

I reached office at around 11:30. The attendant, who usually greeted me when I entered did not care about my presence. The weirdness of my flatmate followed by the behaviour of this guy disturbed me. Ignoring all this shit, I texted my boss to discuss the day's agenda. He saw my messages. But there was no reply. I waited for an hour. Finally, during the lunch hour, I called him. 

"Hello, sir? "

"Yes?"

"What is our agenda for the day?"

"Do what you are expected to do"

"Now what does that mean?"

"I mean what I said"

And he cut the call. He wasn't angry, but he wasn't busy either as I noticed him online on social media. I realised that he had ignored me as well. 

My phone barely rang. Most of my 'frequent chats' were either offline or they just didn't text me now. My stable mind was slowly losing its cool. I went to grab a chai. The 'chechi' at the canteen never cared to care me as well. I slowly started feeling non-existent. I was aware that I wasn't invisible, but I felt lost. Leaving my chai cup aside I rushed to the loo. On the mirror, I tried observing myself. I saw my reflection, but I did not see me. I could not see what emotion was running through my mind then. I slowly realised what was actually wrong. I was physically present in all my places where I was expected to be present. But the emotions I shared with others was not. The mutual connectivity was not present.  I rushed to meet my friend to his office nearby. Panting, I reached his cabin. He was confused. 

Struggling to breathe I asked, "How do I look?"

"Did you come all this way to ask this?"

"How do I look when I look at you?"

"You could have used your selfie camera for this purpose, right?"

"No. I don't mean that. Like, what feelings or emotion do I emit when I look into your eyes? No camera can show me that, right?"

"Well, you are obsessed with some thoughts and your eyes are in search of a conclusion for the same. And, externally your dark circles have occupied more area! That's it. But I still don't understand what you said."

"Ooo. Ok, nevermind. And thanks. I got to go."

He stood there confused. But I got my answer.

PS: Not a true story. Inspired from a scene from the Malayalam short film 'Humans of Someone' directed by Sumesh Lal