ArmaniTalks 3-in-1 Novel Bundle: Become More Social, Improve Writing Skills, and Master Public Speaking

By Armani Talks

OOK 1 - Cobra: A Story on Social Anxiety, People Skills, Leadership & Greatness

Life is hitting Cobra hard. His mom left him, dad committed suicide, and girlfriend cheated on him. Social awkwardness & depression plagues Cobra's life. He begins resent

• Language: English
• Publisher: Armani Talks
• Release date: Feb 9, 2024
• ISBN: 9798869032317

Book preview

Cobra

A story on social anxiety, people

skills, leadership & greatness

Copyright © 2022 Arman N. Chowdhury

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Printed in the United States of America¬

First Printing, 2022

https://www.armanitalks.com

1

The pulse went flat. Dead.

The doctor looked at the family to express that the life was no more.

Johnathan Crane was officially dead.

Cobra looked at his dead grandfather’s body in acceptance. He knew it was only a matter of time.

Cobra’s grandpa was the man who helped raise him once trauma hit his life.

His grandpa was a lovable fellow. One of those guys who was optimistic & seemed young for his age.

Cobra was surprised that he wasn’t crying.

Then again, he wasn’t the type of guy to cry in front of others. He knew that his emotions normally hit him when he was alone.

The last person who made Cobra’s past self cry made his present-day self embarrassed. That’s why he associates a negative feeling with the act of shedding a tear.

Cobra knew that he had to be strong. With his grandpa’s passing, he was now the man of the house. He looked at the other 2 women who were in the hospital with him.

His sister and his grandma.

Cobra’s sister’s name was Minnie. She was 12 months older than Cobra and always shared a close bond with him.

Minnie hated it whenever someone would badmouth Cobra & his awkwardness. It would infuriate her.

Normally, she was soft spoken. But if anyone attacked her brother, then she would get vocal very quickly.

Cobra loved her for that.

He always did his best to protect her. Especially because Minnie was gorgeous and always catching the eyes of men. Good and bad men.

Minnie had tan skin, long black hair, a curvy body & blue eyes. No eye contacts either. The eyes were real. Something about Minnie was always unique.

The other woman in the hospital was Cobra & Minnie’s grandma.

Where the grandpa was an optimist & joyous, the grandma was a skeptic & cold.

But even today, she was breaking down in tears.

Her husband paid the bills.

Her husband kept the social circle intact.

And her husband made sure to cuddle her so she could fall asleep first and he could fall asleep second.

With his passing, she would be lonely.

Cobra’s mind was racing. It was killing him seeing everyone cry like this while he had no clue what to do.

‘Hey guys, look….’

Minnie & grandma looked up at him, thinking he had something worth saying. They were looking to Cobra for guidance.

‘Grandpa lived a great life. No need to cry anymore. Let’s go eat, meal is on me.’

Minnie and grandma looked back at Cobra, surprised.

This fool really wants to go eat right after his grandpa died?

This was Cobra’s problem. He wanted to be the person who empowered others, but his way with words often held him back. He was still figuring out what it meant to be a leader.

Some days, he’d be charming and warm.

Other days, he’d be socially awkward and cold.

Despite his grandpa’s body lying 2 feet away from him…Cobra realized all his thoughts were about him.

How can I be the man?

How can I be less awkward?

How can I say the right thing to take the fucking tension out of this room?

I, I, I.

Cobra hated that about himself. His nerves made him so egocentric. The more he wanted to destroy the nerves, the worse it became.

He was now the man of the family…

Something had to be done.

2

*Flashback 8 years*

‘Hey, Cobra.’

Minnie opened the door to wake her little brother up.

‘Minnie, it’s 4 in the morning. What’s the matter?’ replied Cobra in a groggy tone.

‘Dad shot himself in the head.’

6 words pierced Cobra’s heart.

‘What…what??’ he responded back in a stammering voice.

‘Dad shot himself in the head.’

It’s as if Minnie heard the news a while back & she was looking for the perfect way to tell Cobra. But the 6 words were all she could string together at this point.

Cobra wanted to cry. His skin felt like there were ants crawling on it. His breath was getting shallow. His heart was pounding through the roof.

This was similar to how he felt a few months back when he found out his girlfriend cheated on him. He thought that was the worst he’d ever feel.

No, this was worse.

Suddenly, Minnie collapsed on Cobra’s bed.

‘What are we going to do, Cobra?? We don’t have anyone now! Mom disappeared. Dad shot himself. We’re alone, Cobra. We are alone!! I’m shaking right now.’

Cobra wanted to comfort his sister but didn’t know what to say. He’d always mess up these moments.

‘Are you sure he’s dead?’ Cobra asked in a tense voice.

‘The cops are downstairs. They said that they found him with a bullet in his head at the Walmart parking lot. They also said they want us to identify him once we think we are ready. But…but…I don’t think I’ll ever be ready!’

Cobra was silent.

His dad was depressed for the past 6 months.

One weekend when Minnie & Cobra had gone out to hang out with some friends… their dad had gone to a work trip.

The dad was always traveling for work. A busy consultant who was taking up project after project.

These consultation projects would often last 3 months in different parts of the world. Tokyo, Hawaii, Texas, etc.

Cobra’s mom was starting to feel lonely. She was the housewife.

In the beginning of her relationship with her husband, it was amazing. They met in college and dated for a decade plus. She would dream of becoming an actress. One of those actresses who made movies but wasn’t A list status. She wanted to be successful, but not too successful to prevent her from spending time with her future kids.

By the time her and her husband began dating, he encouraged her to pursue her dreams.

But after an accidental pregnancy, plans changed. She needed to be on bed rest & take a break from acting. Her husband had to bring in the money for the new baby.

Luckily, his consulting practice grew over time. Eventually, he was making well over 6 figures.

Unfortunately, she never got back to acting again. She was now a mom with a husband who was rarely home.

Cobra’s dad was providing well.

Cobra’s mom was battling loneliness.

One day, Cobra & Minnie were out of the house for a trip…. Cobra’s dad decided to surprise his wife. He wanted to take her out and remind her of the man that she married.

By the time he came home early, he saw shoes that weren’t his on the floor.

He went upstairs and opened his bedroom door….to find his wife having sex with another man.

The dad looked at the scene in shock.

The man she was having sex with looked back at him in shock. It’s as though he had no clue the woman he was having sex with was married.

Cobra’s dad looked at his wife.

She looked back at him with the face that implied she was happy that she got caught.

She gave that face of:

‘You know all the loneliness and depression you gave me? You know how you eased me out of chasing my acting career? Well, this is payback. I’m happy I got caught and I wouldn’t change a thing.’

Cobra’s dad stood there in shock. There was so much information to process.

This woman was the love of his life. He had to be having some sort of nightmare. This can’t be real.

But it was…

Cobra’s dad was open to forgiving his cheating wife and keeping the family intact. He convinced himself that he was the one to blame.

Despite his willingness to make it work, his wife decided to leave him.

Cobra & Minnie heard the news that their mom left when they returned from their trip. Their dad was vague with his explanations.

You know how a lot of parents have a favorite from their kids? They won’t openly admit, but secretly, they know it.

Cobra and his dad were close.

Minnie and her mom were close.

When the mom decided to leave the family, Cobra was crushed. But he was even more crushed because he saw his dad becoming an alcoholic.

His dad never touched alcohol before. He was always a clean-cut man that preached discipline, going to the gym & pursuing purpose.

Nowadays, he would drink himself to sleep. He smelled awful and looked worse.

When the mom left, Minnie showed all the stages of grief. From denial, depression, to anger.

Her emotions stayed at anger for the longest.

When her best friend walked out on her without so much as a goodbye, Minnie couldn’t forgive her for that.

‘Fuck her,’ she thought.

It killed Minnie to see her dad becoming an alcoholic. He was supposed to be the man of the house. Although he wasn’t always around, he made sure his family was taken care of.

With the news of his death, things were about to change. Cobra held his sister tightly.

‘Minnie, we are alone now. But you and I will always be there for each other.’

‘Promise you won’t ever walk out on me, Cobra?’

‘I promise, Minnie. I promise.’

3

After the suicide, Cobra and Minnie moved in with their grandparents, John and Hope.

John and Hope hadn’t stayed in contact with their daughter since she left. They were still shocked that she suddenly left Cobra and Minnie.

The grandparents welcomed Cobra and Minnie into their house. Both were looking to give the kids all the love they needed.

Cobra immediately noticed the difference between the 2 personalities.

John, his grandpa, was a jovial, excited man. While Hope, was a quiet, stern & calculative woman. It really was a Yin and Yang dynamic.

Cobra always found himself being paired up with charismatic people, while Minnie always found herself being paired up with cold people.

Cobra’s dad was a charismatic fellow. He was someone who had a powerful spirit to him, could make others laugh, would put the waitresses at ease & tell compelling stories on autopilot.

You’d figure he’d be the one having the affair with all the pussy that was thrown his way.

Cobra was the exact opposite of his father. Skinny, poor body language, questionable fashion. His main saving grace was his supreme intellect.

Cobra and his charismatic dad were close.

Cobra and his charismatic grandpa were close.

Why was Cobra magnetized to people who were so different from him? Was it a subconscious thing?

You’d think that their charisma would rub off on Cobra. But that wasn’t remotely the case.

Cobra was 17 years old. At this point, he had only been with one girl. His ex, Alison.

Cobra felt his ex-girlfriend cheated on him because he wasn’t aggressive enough. She never outright said this, but it was a hunch that he felt.

It was surprising that Cobra was so timid.

He had such a handsome face.

Cobra’s face was a model’s face. If he would comb his hair every now and then, lift some weights, and get a better fashion sense, then he’d pick up way more girls.

Minnie would always tell Cobra how handsome he was. She would even hype him up by saying:

‘Hey Cobra, a few of my friends think you’re cute.’

She would do anything to build up Cobra’s confidence. However, her efforts were often futile.

Unlike Cobra, Minnie was warm & charming. Some people say woman naturally have better social skills than men because they are programmed to interact with people & use their body language more.

However, Minnie was different.

She had natural talent, yes.

But she’d also read a lot.

She read books by Dale Carnegie, would watch CNN and MSNBC to study the anchor’s facial expressions & would often let people lie so she could observe their body language as they were lying.

Minnie had street smarts. She would ooze enthusiasm anywhere she went.

Which made it strange that she was so close with her mom & grandma. 2 women who lacked warmth.

Minnie’s mom was just like her mom.

Cold, calculative & over thinkers.

Minnie was surprised that her mom was so passionate about acting. Especially considering how the field required emotion.

Minnie bought joy to her mom back in the days. Now, Minnie would bring joy to her grandma.

4

Adjusting didn’t take long. The house was small, but everyone was open to making it work.

2 bedrooms & 2 bathrooms. Grandma and grandpa had the master bedroom while Minnie and Cobra had the guest room.

The home had a wholesome family vibe to it. Something that Cobra wasn’t used to.

When he was living with his parents, he’d rarely eat at the family table. Each person would do their own thing.

The family would rarely talk about their day at a centralized spot. While at his grandparents’ house, things ran more like a nuclear family.

His grandpa would leave in the morning to work on his shoe business. His grandma would spend the day cooking and cleaning. Minnie & Cobra would attend high school.

By the time everyone came back, grandma had a meal ready. Then they would all gather around the table & talk about their day.

Grandpa said, ‘Alright everyone, we are going to go around the table. Say something unique that happened in your day. I’ll get started.’

Then he’d enthusiastically tell a tale about all the unique problems he had to solve in his business.

Business is an arena where you get paid to solve problems. He’d always tell Cobra to never whine about having problems.

Once grandpa was done with his tale, he’d look at his stern wife with a warm smile and say, ‘your turn!’

Even though his wife looked back at him with a mocking face, she loved it when he would bring fresh ideas and activities to the table. She loved how he always seemed to be getting younger despite getting older.

The family meal was the center piece of their nuclear family.

Although Cobra & Minnie were coming out of losing their dad & mom, they were in good hands thanks to their grandparents.

Cobra felt grateful despite the dark circumstances.

He’d have nightmares about his dad a lot. In his nightmares, his father would talk to him.

‘I had to go early, son. One day… you’ll understand, I promise.’

Cobra wanted to be an engineer in the future, he loved technology. However, as of late, he hated it.

He felt that his love for technology was the reason he was such a socially anxious person.

He’d see different people posting content of their wins online.

Those wins would remind Cobra of his failures. He was an awkward guy who was heartbroken from losing the love of his life. He was a depressed guy from losing his dad.

Cobra would often think:

How is it that I’m so connected with technology, yet feel so lonely?

It’s because, nowadays, the families were atomized. Cobra felt technology & media played a large role in this fragmentation process.

The average person spends 5 hours consuming media every day. 5 hours!! That’s almost more than how much the average person sleeps.

Cobra used to be a very liberal guy. As of late, he was silently becoming more conservative.

He’d think:

What kind of media are these people consuming? Do they know that a lot of propaganda is disguised as facts? Do they know that algorithms are geared towards keeping them ingrained in echo chambers? Do they know that there is a targeted effort to destroy families??

Was Cobra crazy?

Maybe it was depression hitting him.

Cobra’s life was technology.

Every field has the good and the bad. Sure, there were some dangers that technology had on mankind. But for Cobra, the good outweighed the bad.

5

‘Hey grandpa, what are you doing?’ Cobra asked.

‘Hey there! Your grandpa is just journaling. Do you journal?’

‘Is it like tweeting?’

‘What’s tweeting?’ grandpa asked.

‘Never mind. What’s journaling? I think I’ve heard of it before, but I thought it was for girls?’

‘Haha no, sit down, Cobra.’

Whenever there was a ‘sit down’ involved, there was a lesson coming. Cobra’s grandpa was not a boring teacher who just lectured. He was an interactive teacher who made you think.

‘Words are a man’s best friend, Cobra. I hear a lot of talk about a dog being a man’s best friend. That may be true for some. But for me, it has always been words. Any idea why you think that is?’ grandpa asked.

‘Uh… not really.’

‘It’s because words are perception programmers, Cobra. You become the thoughts you put faith in. And the thoughts you put faith influence your behaviors. Look around you… Most people are always trying to control their external world, but very few people try to control their internal world.’

‘I can control my internal world? I thought I just existed,’ Cobra responded.

‘No, Cobra. That’s where the perception programmers come in. I hired this new girl in my shoe shop who has been installing computers in my building. She’s been teaching me how computers work. Your grandpa’s been listening intently.’

Cobra looked at his grandpa, confused. Computers? He never heard his grandpa talk about computers before. He was an old-fashioned kind of guy. Computers were Cobra’s thing.

‘She has been teaching me about the different components. The more she explained it, the more it blew my mind.’

‘Why?’

‘It’s because humans are making computers as a mirror image of themselves.’

‘Huh???’

‘Yes. A computer has many parts. A few of the most important parts are the software, hardware, data, and telecommunications. Software manipulates the data & speaks the hardware’s language. Telecommunications allows different computers to communicate. You with me so far?’

‘Yep.’

This was basic knowledge to Cobra.

‘Well, humans have many parts. But a few of the most important parts are the mind, body, experiences & communication skills.‘

Cobra’s mind was slowly expanding.

‘This is what I call a process fractal, grandson. It’s when a similar pattern is emerging in different domains to help us learn more about ourselves. Software is the mind, hardware is the body, data are the human experiences, and telecommunications are communication skills.’

COBRA’S MIND WAS BLOWN.

He was feeling strong sensations in his chest. His heart was beating fast. He wanted to hear MORE. What other patterns did his grandpa notice?

Cobra nodded his head showing he was still paying attention.

‘I’m a big fan of failing, Cobra. I never viewed it to be failing. I call it, gathering data. Because the software manipulates data to lead to practical outputs. Likewise, you can keep reading all the books out there… But if you have no data, then the books will fall flat. The books serve as software and it needs to manipulate your data to lead to changes. Changes that you physically feel, Cobra.’

Suddenly, Grandpa stopped talking.

He felt like he was rambling. His social intelligence ran so deep that he knew rambling was a social sin.

Whenever he rambled, he’d immediately give the other person the spotlight.

‘This making sense, Cobra? What do you think?’

‘Grandpa, my mind is literally blown right now. I didn’t know you knew about computers like that. I study computers a lot. Why do you think they are resembling humans so much, grandpa?’

His grandpa smiled.

‘It’s because all knowledge is connected. Everything is connected. The minute you understand this, the minute you will become a winner.’

‘I believe you, grandpa.’

‘No. It’s not about believing me. You need to REALIZE this.‘

‘Okay, I realize it.’

‘No, Cobra. It’s not about you just saying that you realize it. It’s about you altering yourself on a BEING level. This is when your software, hardware and experiences take the interconnectedness of life as a fact. This is when your nervous system does not sway away from this knowledge. The entire world is connected. The minute you learn this, the minute you’ll start seeing why a human and a computer have so much in common.’

‘What’s the purpose of life, grandpa?’

‘To learn. There are 2 things I am certain of, grandson. That I’m conscious & that evolution exists. My goal is to constantly keep expanding my awareness for life. Keep learning by building more experiences & gaining more insights. Then I teach it to kids like you.’

‘Grandpa, we were talking about journaling. How did we end up talking about computers and the theory of life?’

Grandpa smirked.

He said, ‘Haha, good point. As I was saying... I am journaling because I am writing my thoughts down. Then I write more words to tell my mind how to think. Just like we speak to the computer through Java, Python and C++, we speak to the mind through words. These words turn into images and feelings for my body to process. Those images and feelings control my action organs and behaviors. Therefore, words are perception programmers.’

Cobra couldn’t believe the profound intelligence of his grandpa. The man was in his late 70s, however, he learned the computer in such depth that he was able to spot a connection with humans.

‘Listen, Cobra. I want you to know something.’

‘Yea?’

‘Minnie tells me that she’s worried about you. That you normally eat alone at school & don’t have many friends. I just want you to know that you will be fine as long as you remember you are not fine.’

‘Huh?’

‘Are you shy?’

‘Yes, grandpa.’

‘So was I.’

‘You were???’

‘Yea, I used to be terribly shy. It held me back from a lot of opportunities. I didn’t kiss a girl till I was 25.’

‘Grandpa, you are the most charismatic person I know. I can’t believe you were shy. What did you do to overcome it?

‘I admitted that I was shy. That’s the most important lesson I can give you in terms of being socially awkward. Use the perception programmers of words to say: I was shy & now I am confident.’

‘What does that do?’

‘The first half of that statement allows you to acknowledge the defect. Trust me, shyness is not a good thing. I’m speaking from experience. Plenty of people never acknowledge they are shy, therefore, they never improve. That’s like me trying to fix a laptop when I insist there is nothing wrong with it.’

Cobra nodded his head.

‘The second part of the statement says where you will be. You will rise. Just like a circuit needs to be grounded for the electricity to flow… You need to be grounded by admitting your defects, so your desire for confidence can truly amplify.’

‘Grandpa, first you drew an analogy from humans to computers. Now you’re drawing parallels from humans to electrical engineering?’

‘Hey, I told you everything is connected.’

Grandpa stopped talking & went back to journaling.

6

Cobra heard of depression before, but never took it seriously.

He heard about depression in detail from his social studies teacher, Ms. Shepherd.

She was a new hire by the school. A lady in her mid-40s, with an athletic body & brown hair. She had an athletic body for a reason. Growing up, Ms. Shepherd was an athlete. Her parents wanted her to be an Olympian.

However, a torn Achilles put an end to that dream real quick.

Ms. Shepherd was a woman who took risks.

One time, she had each of her students bring an item that they considered impactful.

Then the students all got in a circle. Each student had to give a short talk on why that item was impactful to them.

Students began crying once they started explaining the meaning of the item.

Even some of the most stoic people.

The class bully held a comb in his hand. As he was sharing why the comb was meaningful to him, his voice began quivering showing that he was about to cry.

The class bully told the story of the comb. He wrapped up his story with:

‘This was the comb my kid brother would use before he passed away from cancer. I loved my little brother so much. I can’t stop thinking about him.’

He began crying.

The 2 girls who sat next to him comforted him.

Ms. Shepherd was a strategic risk taker who wanted to make her students think and feel.

It was no different when she began telling her students about her bout with depression.

She grew up in a religious family and got married young in an arranged marriage. The man was a great provider but had a rotten character. He would consistently cheat on her and verbally abuse her. 

She stayed in the relationship for 4 years, but by year 5, she decided it was time for a change.

Despite a lot of familial pressure, she filed for divorce.

Her parents disowned her. No one in her family lineage had gotten a divorce before, the act was seen as abysmal.

Ms. Shepherd outlined her depression process.

It began with anger.

It morphed into self-doubt.

The self-doubt turned into loneliness.

And the loneliness turned into despair for many years.

This was before the age of the internet. Therefore, educating yourself on complex topics like emotional intelligence & psychology was not easy.

However, Ms. Shepherd told the students where there was a will, there was a way. She had a way of bringing cliches to life with a relatable story.

She said she found the time to do more research in the library. Plus, she’d go from having surface level conversations to deep level conversations with people.

A lot of times, others would share personal information with her. That personal information dealt with how they faced depression at one point in their life.

They all had a different fix for it.

-You just gotta’ get active.

-If I were you, I’d go see a therapist.

-Start writing more. Life kicks you in the ass many times, but the pencil & paper never leave your side.

-Get a puppy.

Ms. Shepherd took in the information, applied the information, saw what worked & what didn’t.

As she talked about her rock bottom moment, rebuilding her life after divorce & being disowned, a lot of the girls in the class started crying. A few of the guys who normally didn’t pay attention were glued to the story.

And then there was Cobra.

The aloof guy who others knew little about.

He never cried.

Barely laughed.

Barely said a word.

But even on this day, he paid attention to each word from Ms. Shepherd.

That was the first time he heard about depression in detail.

Now, Cobra was lying in bed at 3 am, unable to sleep. He wondered if he was depressed after his recent string of losses.

-His girlfriend cheated on him.

-His girlfriend cheated on him with his best friend, Ivan.

-His mom left the family.

-His dad shot himself.

He wanted to give this positive thinking stuff a chance, but now it was becoming too much to bear.

Cobra didn’t want to tell Minnie how he felt though. She was so innocent.

Cobra loved Minnie more than anything and didn’t want to make her sad.

‘Am I depressed?’ he thought.

He couldn’t sleep because he would routinely have nightmares.

Ms. Shepherd ended her story with:

‘If any of you kids ever need to talk, I will be here for you, okay?’

Then she scanned the classroom to make eye contact with each student. She wanted to ensure they were giving her a gentle head nod showing they understood.

Cobra thought:

‘Should I talk to Ms. Shepherd?’

Nah…

The mere idea of venting his feelings to someone made his body shudder.

Especially, a teacher.

Especially, a woman.

For some things, Cobra was new school on.

For other things, Cobra was old school on.

In Cobra’s world, men don’t cry.

Let alone talk about their feelings.

Cobra had an idea.

Unlike Ms. Shepherd, he had a thing called the internet.

He would educate himself on his feelings.

He would determine whether he was depressed or not.

7

Minnie looked at Cobra.

‘Hey Cobra, can I ask you something?’

‘Sure,’ Cobra said.

‘I’ve been meaning to tell you this. I’ve been talking to a new guy that I like a lot. Just wanted you to know.’

‘Oh yea? What’s his name?’

‘Raphael.’

‘How’d you guys meet?’

‘Drama club.’

‘Are you guys dating?’ Cobra asked.

‘Not yet, but I can tell he likes me. His sister said that he plans to ask me out. You okay with that?’

‘Yea, I’m okay with that. Why wouldn’t I be?’

‘I don’t know, just wanted to ask.’

Deep inside, Cobra wasn’t okay with it.

He was very overprotective of his sister. But there were too many things on his mind to question her right now.

‘Hey Cobra, can I ask you something else?’

‘Sure.’

‘How are you dealing with your breakup?’

‘I’m over it.’

‘You sure?’

‘Yea, I am. You don’t think so?’

‘No, I don’t think so. I know it takes guys a bit longer to get over breakups. Especially when it ended the way that it ended with you.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, Cobra…You were blindsided by Alison. What she did to you was wrong. It’s easy to not believe in love again after that. You just need to know all women aren’t like that. At least you saw her true colors early on.’

‘I think you’re right. I keep saying that I’m over her, but I still love her. I know we’re young, but we were talking about getting married and having kids.’

‘Yea?’

‘Yea. And what pisses me off even more was that I was the one who introduced her to Ivan. He was my friend. I still can’t believe that he went behind my back to get with her.’

‘I’m sorry.’

They were both silent.

‘I want you to know something, Cobra. Women check out in their mind before the physical act of cheating happens. She will eventually want to come back to you.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Hey, I’m a girl! I’m give you some game lil bro. Listen… When she tries coming back to you, what are you going to say?’

‘I’m going to say, hell no. I’d never get with her again.’

‘That’s what a lot of guys say. But when they see their ex coming back, they are taken down memory lane. Then they decide to give it another shot. I’m not telling you what to do. I just want you to know what will eventually happen.’

Cobra took in Minnie’s words.

At this point, Cobra was very untrusting of women & female nature.

His mom betrayed his dad.

Alison betrayed him.

The only woman he could trust was Minnie. Other than that, he didn’t know if he was ever going to open up again.

8

‘Hey grandpa, can I ask you something?’ Cobra asked.

‘Sure grandson, shoot.’

For the past few weeks, Cobra had been on a lot of forums learning more about psychology & emotional intelligence.

He found this one forum where men talked about body building. Most of the people didn’t show their face, only their bodies. This forum was a very tight knit community.

The members bounced ideas off one another, gave tips for lifting & how to live a healthy lifestyle.

There was a section in the forum called, ‘miscellaneous.’

In this section, the different members talked about topics outside of body building. One of the topics was relationships.

In that section, the different members talked about what made a relationship work, how to cold approach, and…infidelity.

In the infidelity section, Cobra learned so much about human nature.

He found out why men cheated.

He found out why women cheated.

Some of the male members talked about how it was not natural for men to be with one person. Therefore, they talked about how they could cheat while still loving their partner.

You’d expect these guys to be meat heads who talked about a bunch of bro science, but that wasn’t the case. These guys were highly logical, citing evolutionary biology & intersexual dynamics concepts.

Other members would poke holes in their ideas.

‘With your logic, marriage wouldn’t even be a thing.’

That’s when the male members who were making a case for infidelity would say, ‘correct, marriage is a scam.’

The debates would be civil. If anyone would start name calling, then the moderator would put those members on a time out.

Plenty of the women members talked about why they cheated.  Often, it was because of the following 2 reasons:

-Lack of attention.

-Their partner lost ambition.

Once again, debates would ensue.

Cobra never participated. He was a sponge. Stalking & learning.

He was learning a ton about psychology and human nature. But he felt he was learning about it through disgusting methods. Cheating, betrayal & scams.

The more he learned about people, the more he was repulsed by them.

Was this normal?

He didn’t want to become a hateful kind of guy.

So, he wanted to ask his grandpa for some advice.

‘Grandpa, I’ve been a technical guy for most of my life. I’ve been learning about machines and computers. But after what happened with dad, I really want to learn about people. How did you get to know people so well?’

‘What makes you think I know people well, Cobra?’ grandpa asked.

Grandpa often knew the answers beforehand, but he’d ask a question to engage the other person.

Grandpa understood that whenever you ask a question, someone else’s mind immediately starts running. He strategically asked questions to make sure his conversation partner was engaged.

‘Well, number 1, you have a lightness to you. This house runs so smoothly because you have presence. Does that make sense?’

‘I think you can be a bit more detailed, Cobra.’

‘Well, you are...are…um...enthusiastic.’

‘And you think my enthusiasm makes me good with people?’ asked grandpa with a smile on his face.

‘I think it has a part to do with it. Not only do you have energy, but you also run a business. A business is pretty much 3 things. Value creation, value communication and value capture. Those 3 things all require people in mind. And you’ve been stellar in business.’

‘Want to know something, Cobra?’

Cobra nodded his head.

‘You learn about people through darkness.’

‘Huh?’

Grandpa looked away from him and said, ‘human norms are learned in the good times & human nature is learned in the bad times.’

Cobra could feel a BIG lesson coming.

‘Look around you, Cobra. Today’s people are so soft. Sitting on their butt, getting food delivered to them, not using their hands to build anything, and asking for trigger warnings. When people become soft, mother nature doesn’t like that, Cobra. She doesn’t like it at all.’

Grandpa continued to look away.

‘Mother nature is wired to keep us humble. A human becomes humble when they understand their role in terms of the universe. You can’t possibly understand your role when you are trying to be shielded from the world.’

‘Shielded how, grandpa?’

‘These safe spaces, my grandson. They are no good. At one point or another, mother nature’s problems come knocking on our doors. Mother nature forces us to learn the dark parts of human nature. Betrayal, losing loved ones, unexpected setbacks.’

It was like grandpa was describing Cobra’s situation.

‘The arrow is pulled back before it is propelled forward, kiddo. I am good with people because I was once bad with people. I grew up shy, socially anxious, and awkward. This allowed me to be warm, charismatic & no longer awkward. I was angry, miserable & judgmental. This allowed me to be calm, grateful & accepting. Do you see? You need to find ways to allow your dark moments to fuel you to become a better version of yourself.’

‘What’s the worst thing you have ever done to someone, grandpa?’

‘One of the worst things I did was not love your mom enough growing up. I wanted a son, not a daughter. And my subconscious resentment came across visibly to your mom.’

Cobra shuddered thinking about his mom.

He didn’t know which part of his mom he despised more. The fact that she left him and Minnie. Or the fact that her actions caused his dad to put a bullet through his head.

Cobra was so busy being close to his dad growing up, that he didn’t know much about his mom. They had a surface level relationship.

She’d ask about his homework. Other than that, they’d be silent in the car rides while he listened to his iPod.

He never knew his mom as a person.

Was grandpa’s behavior towards his mom the reason she had a surface level relationship with Cobra?

‘I was not the best dad, Cobra. I always wanted a son to take care of my business. It’s because I thought men worked with their hands and women were soft creatures. My behavior towards your mom was not right.’

‘What was your behavior towards her like?’

‘Neglect. One of the cruelest things you can do to someone is not give them your attention, especially when they seek it. The human brain feels pain when being ignored by someone they love. Your mom did a lot of things to get my attention and I ignored her.’

Cobra squinted his eyes & gently nodded his head to signal to his grandpa, go on.

‘There were times when she asked to help me with the business. She wanted to contribute somehow. But I would often wave her away. Your grandma made more of an effort to show affection. I was too busy growing my business. I was bootstrapping the whole thing. I was building everything on my own, Cobra….’

You could tell his voice was shaking as if the regret was resurfacing again.

‘I wanted to have some relationship with her later in her years. By the time she was 16, I was becoming successful in my business. I found out your mom was an amazing actress. She had articles written about her by local newspapers. I was one of the last people to find out about the articles.’

Cobra often heard a lot of creative people were born from pain.

They were unable to express themselves in their external world, so, they wanted to express themselves in their internal world.

Cobra heard that Jerry Seinfeld is pretty awkward in social interactions. But when he’s on stage, the awkwardness melts off.

Is that why his mom was such an amazing actress? The emotional pain of not being loved by her dad caused her to channel her emotions on a craft…?

Is this why she cheated on his dad? Him traveling so much for work reminded her of how she was neglected by her dad?

‘Cobra, I wish I could turn back time. I wish I involved your mom more as I was building my business. Nowadays, we don’t have a relationship. My poor behavior had cascading effects. My relationship with her, or lack thereof, is why you don’t have a relationship with her today. You may think I’m good with people… But my lack of being good with people is what made me great.’

‘So, you’re telling me your setbacks made you who you are today?’

Grandpa smirked after a long duration of having a shaky voice.

‘The arrow is pulled back before it is propelled forward. The experiences that you are going through now are not making sense. But one day, they will. Till then, keep showing up, kiddo.’

9

There were so many social skills lessons that Cobra had yet to learn. He was in the awkward stage of his life right now and few things made sense.

Occasionally, things would feel like it was on the verge of clicking. Then he’d feel more lost than ever. At this stage, Cobra was tall, skinny, awkward, and a techy.

He was on the verge of graduating from high school. His goal was to attend the college of engineering, get his degree in information technology & work in a fortune 500 company.

Maybe, if he was lucky, he’d even start his own business. But the idea of having to deal with people without some form of safety net terrified him.

How do people get good with people?

He wanted to learn social skills.

Luckily, Cobra had a vision for his life. Even though it was blurry, there was a vision nonetheless:

‘Progress in the field of technology.’

His goal was to keep making this vision more specific as time went by.

There was this quote by Earl Nightingale he once heard that shifted his worldview.

The quote said:

‘Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.’

He had a worthy ideal. His desire was geared towards becoming wealthy, technology would simply be the vehicle.

Cobra read so many books.

Fantasy, self-development, philosophy, and much more.

His goal was to see how he could benefit lives, then benefit himself.

Wealth symbolized power.

Wealth meant control over one’s life.

Cobra loved to be in control. Although some parts of his life weren’t in his control.

Even though Cobra wanted to improve his social skills, he despised learning this field.

In the world of technology & machines, he could always debug & troubleshoot what was wrong.

But with people? People were a different beast. People were so unpredictable. That unpredictability infuriated Cobra.

Even though he loved his dead dad, he also hated him.

Cobra couldn’t fathom why his best friend would kill himself.

What a coward’s way out, he thought.

The thought of viewing his dead dad as a coward made Cobra feel embarrassed. He would immediately try to stop thinking the thought.

Cobra was learning a tough lesson.

He learned that when you try to stop thinking a thought or feeling an emotion, that’s when that thought & emotion goes to the gym & comes back 10x stronger.

The more he tried to stop viewing his dad as a coward, the more rage he felt towards his dad for leaving him & the family so quick.

Cobra was learning that you don’t kill thoughts & emotions, you accept thoughts & emotions. That’s how you build control over it. That’s when awareness becomes stronger than the mind, body, intellect.

Cobra’s rage didn’t end with his dad. It often started with his dad & then went to his ex-girlfriend.

He met his ex-girlfriend in the school bus. She was the aggressive one. She had her friend deliver a message to Cobra which wrote:

‘Alison thinks your cute.’

Cobra turned towards Alison to see her smiling at him. Then she did a finger motion to imply, ‘come her.’ That’s how their relationship started.

Cobra was attractive.

He just lacked confidence.

The relationship with Alison was perfect. They had this dynamic which balanced each other out like peanut butter and jelly.

Dating Alison gave Cobra some clout in school. Before dating her, he would sit by himself in the bus listening to his iPod.

Cobra had one friend.

That was Ivan.

Ivan didn’t go to his school though. Ivan went to another school but lived in the same community as Cobra. They were childhood friends.

Which made Cobra even angrier about how the breakup with Alison happened.

Cobra was the one who introduced Alison to Ivan.

It would come as a shock when he found out the 2 began an affair. He couldn’t believe it. He felt like he was living through a nightmare.

Cobra hated how people were so unpredictable. That’s why he didn’t like opening up to people.

What if he opened up again to only be let down again?

Cobra’s disdain towards people ironically made him want to know people. More importantly, he wanted to get to know himself more.

He was starting to understand what grandpa meant when he said that a lot of lessons are learned in the darkness.

Cobra wondered if he’d have read over 200 plus books in his life if he was not awkward.

Cobra wondered if he’d be gifted in coding, building applications & websites if he was not awkward.

Cobra wondered if he’d have scored a perfect score on the SATs if he didn’t have so much time to become a modern-day polymath.

Cobra’s awkwardness was his biggest gift and his biggest curse. He wanted the curse to end already.

Where plenty of kids his age were going to homecoming, football games & parades…Cobra was often by himself thinking a lot.

His goal was to build immense wealth so he could take care of the many facets of life.

Cobra loved reading.

His favorite book was, Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles. He’d read it every day.

One of the lines that stood out to him in the book was:

‘It is perfectly right that you should give your best attention to the science of getting rich, for it is the noblest and most necessary of all studies.’

In the book, Wallace Wattles talks about the 2 methods of getting rich:

Competitive and creative method.

Competitive is when you are trying to beat other people. Creative method is when all parties win.

At first, Cobra thought this was some spiritual, new age book. He despised all these astrology and woo-woo stuff.

However, the more he read the book, the more the book became alive in him.

He realized that Wallace wasn’t just talking about becoming some guy who sits & visualizes all day. Instead, he was talking about systems theory.

Cobra was intelligent, especially, in the hard sciences. One of the newest fields growing like wildfire was systems engineering.

A system is when multiple different parts work together to create something new.

Sort of like a steering wheel, brake, accelerator, mirrors, and wheels coming together to form a car. Individually, the parts mean little. But together, the parts form something new.

Or like buttons, wires, a plastic screen and numbers. Individually, they mean little. Together, they form a calculator.

Cobra thought of the next example and was about to cry.

Another example of a system is a family….

A boy, girl, mom, dad. Individually, they mean little. But together, they are a family.

This was the closest Cobra felt to crying. His heart tightened & his face scrunched up. The body motions happened as if they were beyond his control.

His eyes watered up.

A family is a system.

A family is a system..

A family is a system…

But the tear didn’t drop.

Cobra considered that as, ‘not crying.’

Another day he didn’t cry.

The streak continued.

The reason why getting rich the creative method fascinated Cobra was because of the systems thinking that was involved.

In that era, system thinking wasn’t that popular.

So how did Wallace Wattles know about the concept?

Another phenomenon of systems thinking is emergence. When different properties lead to the creation of something brand new, that’s a win-win deal.

One example of emergence was Cobra’s relationship with the Science of Getting Rich book.

Wallace Wattles created the book.

Cobra gave money for the book.

Dead Wallace Wattles got paid.

Cobra got knowledge.

Win on Cobra’s end.

Win on Wallace’s end.

Win in terms of the entire interaction.

Emergence.

That’s what intrigued Cobra about the book.

He wanted to get rich the creative method.

He knew if he wanted to get rich the creative method, he’d have to understand people. And he’d have to know people better than they knew themselves.

10

Cobra’s perfect SAT score made him a contender to get accepted to any school that he chose. Although his grades took someone what of a hit due to his recent setbacks… the perfect SAT scores made up for it.

What was he going to do?

He knew that Minnie was going to stay in town.

He loved Minnie and didn’t want to separate from her. However, there were few schools for technology in his town. Cobra knew that he had to leave.

He also knew that