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MidReal Story
It’s 9:00 PM, and I am in the office, programming as usual.This environment is my heaven on Earth.We have a strict deadline, and I know that nobody will disturb me until the early morning.I have the whole night ahead of me to work, and it’s my perfect working time.The artificial light of the office, the silence, and my headphones are all creating such a great environment for me to focus on my work.I’m so immersed in my code that I don’t hear someone entering the office.I’m startled when I feel a hand on my shoulder and a voice that whispers my name in my ear.“Hey, John,” the feminine voice says.I remove one of my headphones and turn to see my colleague Dr.Emily Chen.She’s a 30-year-old Chinese woman, and she’s a doctor at the company’s clinic.She is also the one who came up with the idea for this whole software that we’re developing.“Emily, what are you doing here?”“Hey, you look so tired.”“You do too,” I reply with a smile.My eyes are glued to the computer screen as I type furiously, trying to find a bug in my code.My eyes are tired, but I’m determined to find the issue before going home.“I’ve been working in the clinic nonstop for two days now.” Her voice is tired as she says those words, and I can see it in her eyes when she looks at me.“I’m almost finished with this,” I say while pointing to the screen, “and then I’ll go home.”She nods and remains silent while standing next to me.I can feel her looking at me and feel bad that she’s still here because I know her reasons for working overtime are related to the clinic's patients who need help, while mine is only because of my own programming bug.I straighten my back and rotate it until my spine cracks loudly, and then I type more code, hoping it will move this debugging process along faster.A few minutes later, Emily speaks again, “Do you want coffee?”“Thanks, but no.It’s already late, and I don’t want to have trouble sleeping.” She nods and leaves the office.I’m alone again, and I know that it will be a matter of minutes before I forget about everything that has happened and will be focused on debugging my code again.This project we’re working on is a software that we believe will revolutionize medicine.It’s not only a software; it’s a platform for communication, information sharing, diagnostics—everything that doctors need every day to help their patients.It’s like Facebook and Amazon combined, but for medicine.Emily has a vision for this company, and she’s been working for the last year on this project.We’re a small team of five people.Three of us are programmers, one is an AI expert, and Emily is our link to the medical world.We’ve been working together for almost a year now, and there are only a few months left until we have to present this project to our superiors.We’ve made several prototypes so far, but nothing too serious.
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It’s 9:00 PM, and I am in the office, programming as usual.This environment is my heaven on Earth.We have a strict deadline, and I know that nobody will disturb me until the early morning.I have the whole night ahead of me to work, and it’s my perfect working time.The artificial light of the office, the silence, and my headphones are all creating such a great environment for me to focus on my work.I’m so immersed in my code that I don’t hear someone entering the office.I’m startled when I feel a hand on my shoulder and a voice that whispers my name in my ear.“Hey, John,” the feminine voice says.I remove one of my headphones and turn to see my colleague Dr.Emily Chen.She’s a 30-year-old Chinese woman, and she’s a doctor at the company’s clinic.She is also the one who came up with the idea for this whole software that we’re developing.“Emily, what are you doing here?”“Hey, you look so tired.”“You do too,” I reply with a smile.My eyes are glued to the computer screen as I type furiously, trying to find a bug in my code.My eyes are tired, but I’m determined to find the issue before going home.“I’ve been working in the clinic nonstop for two days now.” Her voice is tired as she says those words, and I can see it in her eyes when she looks at me.“I’m almost finished with this,” I say while pointing to the screen, “and then I’ll go home.”She nods and remains silent while standing next to me.I can feel her looking at me and feel bad that she’s still here because I know her reasons for working overtime are related to the clinic's patients who need help, while mine is only because of my own programming bug.I straighten my back and rotate it until my spine cracks loudly, and then I type more code, hoping it will move this debugging process along faster.A few minutes later, Emily speaks again, “Do you want coffee?”“Thanks, but no.It’s already late, and I don’t want to have trouble sleeping.” She nods and leaves the office.I’m alone again, and I know that it will be a matter of minutes before I forget about everything that has happened and will be focused on debugging my code again.This project we’re working on is a software that we believe will revolutionize medicine.It’s not only a software; it’s a platform for communication, information sharing, diagnostics—everything that doctors need every day to help their patients.It’s like Facebook and Amazon combined, but for medicine.Emily has a vision for this company, and she’s been working for the last year on this project.We’re a small team of five people.Three of us are programmers, one is an AI expert, and Emily is our link to the medical world.We’ve been working together for almost a year now, and there are only a few months left until we have to present this project to our superiors.We’ve made several prototypes so far, but nothing too serious.
“Hey, I’m Sarah Johnson,” she says as she extends her hand to me.I shake it and give her a nod, “John Smith,” I say as I introduce myself.She’s a tall and skinny blonde woman, and she looks like she’s in her early thirties.We are at a local pub where we’ve all agreed to meet to discuss our first steps on this project.All three of us are new to this company; Sarah has just moved here from Seattle to join us.We make some small talk before we order our food, and when we do, we start delving into more serious topics related to our work and what we’re planning to do.“So, what’s the first step?”Sarah asks after we finish our meal.“First, we have to understand what our client needs from this software,” Emily says.“We have a few weeks before our first meeting with them… Oh, sorry.” She looks embarrassed after she abruptly stops talking.“It’s not a problem.” I smile at her and look away because I know she stopped talking because of me.My phone is vibrating in my pocket, and I see a message from my girlfriend:Hey, are you coming home tonight?I quickly type my reply: I don’t know; we’re still at the pub.The screen of my phone goes black, and I put it back into my pocket without looking at Emily again.It’s not the first time it has happened, and I know it won’t be the last time either.I try to keep it secret that I have a girlfriend because I don’t want them to think about me being in a relationship when they consider who to work overtime.I get up from my chair and walk out of the pub without saying anything.Of course, they will think I’m an asshole again for leaving without saying goodbye, but I know it’s better this way than having them ask me to stay and work until morning again just because they’re single and don’t care about their personal life anymore.I get into my car and drive away while thinking about how Emily is always talking about how she loves her job and how it’s not a problem for her to be working late hours.I’m driving through the city while thinking about our project when my phone rings.It’s my girlfriend calling me again, and before I can answer it, I see that she has also sent me several messages:Sorry, I didn’t want to be rude because of your coworker’s question…Are you coming home tonight?Or will you be working until morning?If you’re working again, it would be nice if you could tell me so that I can make plans for myself…My hands are sweaty as I read her messages, and I’m trying hard to think of an excuse for why I left the pub suddenly when she suddenly calls me again.“Hey,” I say with a smile on my face.“Hey,” she says in a monotonous voice.“Are you coming home tonight?”“Yeah…”“You don’t sound convinced,” she interjects as she cuts me off mid-sentence with an angry voice.
