Chapter 11 : Detour
The moment Julia logged in on Puzzle Platform, she received notifications that Rho97 sent her messages. She opened the chat and there was an unexpected question, “Have you ever thought of meeting?”
Julia did not hesitate, “All these years I was not sure if you are a human or a machine. I pushed the idea of meeting under the rug. Also, there were other compelling reasons for avoiding a meeting with you. I’ve logged in this time just to ask you if we can meet. Since you’ve already asked, let’s meet at The Pie Cafe …”
Three days later Julia wore a T-shirt printed with a rectangular hyperbola on its chest and on its back. Even her baseball cap had the same curve printed on it. Julia herself made the T-shirt and the cap.
At The Pie Cafe she found Rho97 was sitting with an equation, ‘alpha dot beta equals gamma’, printed on the T-shirt. This was the equation of the curve that Julia donned on her T-shirt and on her hat. Julia found the equation on the chest of the T-shirt that Rho97 donned. Julia could not see the back. He was not wearing any hat.
Julia sat before Rho97. Rho97 looked up. Julia was struck by lightning.
Her face became the exact replica of her mind. She felt upset that she lost her poker face that she made through all the past years as a professional. She tried to appease herself, “It’s personal. It’s about to be the most intimate relationship of life. No poker face is needed here. I’m fine. I’ll do okay without the poker face. I don’t need to be nervous.”
From the other end of the table the question flew, “Disappointed?”
Julia was still very nervous. She was searching for appropriate words. She just shook her head. After a long while she said, “My feelings are not stable. But there is no shred of disappointment.”
Rho97 smiled, “What are those feelings?”
Julia tried to make a list, “Shock. Fear. Joy. Peace. Solace. Confusion. Rests are not clear yet.”
With a smirk Rho97 said, “I never thought that your face could ever become such a report card of your feelings.”
His voice deepened, “I am grateful that I could see your true unadulterated self. I never thought I could ever get there.”
He continued, “Maybe if we would last for another decade, I would be able to know your true self. But I am happy that I saw your true face just now.”
Julia asked, “That’s your feeling? Happy?”
He said, “More than happy. I don’t have to leave my girlfriend behind as I meet you, my first love. I am at peace. I am very satisfied with the turn of events. Thanks for seeking out my companionship. If you would not take the initiative …”
Julia interrupted, “I am the initiator of every necessary task in your life. Funny thing is that every time I try to find a resolution for myself, I become your benefactor. I did never mean any good to you. Yet I ended up fulfilling your wishes while I was fulfilling mine.”
He smirked again, “You’re uncouth at times. And I liked the uncouth straight talker more than the complex sweet talker who manipulates others’ business decisions to her own favor.”
He continued, “It’s good that fulfilling your own wishes always leads to fulfilling my wishes. I think, if things go like this, we will fight less and enjoy our love more.”
Julia smirked, “The fight is another way of expressing love and desire. I enjoy fighting. I’m scared of annoying you.”
He said, “Be yourself. If that annoys me, then I’m not your man. Even if I’m annoyed, just try your best to make up for what ticked me off.”
He stretched his hand and took Julia’s hat off. Then held her head in his palm and said, “You’re so much in love with me …how could you annoy me?”
Julia smirked again, “Don’t be such a smug … how do you know that I’m in love with you?”
He explained, “Your keys. The apartment key is 1797. Rho is the seventeenth Greek letter. Your door key is Rho97.”
Julia quipped, “Sharp eye.”
He reciprocated, “Can’t help being smarter than average.”
Then he said, “My four digit passwords are always 0600, because Zeta is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. My six digit passcodes are 265201 because Z is the twenty-sixth letter of the English alphabet, E is the fifth, T is the twentieth and A is the first. All eight digit passcodes or passwords are 26520100 - the six digit passcodes followed by the last two zeros of Zeta00.”
Julia giggled, “We are like the pieces cut from the same cloth. My six digit passwords are 180815, R being the eighteenth letter, H being the eighth letter and O being the fifteenth letter in the English alphabet. My eight digit passcodes are six digit passcodes followed by 97 from the Rho97.”
He summarized, “So eight digit passcodes are 18081597. It became a lot easier to hack the LeanTech business cloud.”
Julia shook her head, “That’s LeanTech. Bread and butter. No personal quirks are there.”
She winked. Then she asked, “How did you know about LeanTech and me?”
He said, “Once you mentioned a husband. That’s made me think that you’re a human. Then I just hoped you would be a woman as I’m a straight person.”
Julia still had some mischief painted all over her face and her smile. He went on explaining, “I know about LeanTech as a businessman. I did not expect -”
He stopped talking all of a sudden and suggested, “Let’s go.”
Julia followed him as if she was spellbound.
He brought Julia to his place. Julia’s heart shrank thinking about the dark, desolate, gloomy place with some rickety cacti inside. Yet she embraced Rho97’s arms and smiled when he said, “Welcome to my humble abode.”
Julia thought, “Did I expect something extravagant? I didn't think a generous, joyful, funny talkative Roman would live in such darkness just because he brought sunshine to my darkness. He tore down all the walls around me and let me bathe in his light and breeze and made me cut myself loose from my parents’ tether. But I never expected Rho97 - a person thriving on the internet to be a positive, energetic and shining person. This desolate darkness, this gloomy atmosphere suits him well. He is the creature of darkness and confinement.”
She accepted her confusion, “Then why was I disappointed?”
He made Julia sit on his bed and said, “I’ll go take a shower.”
Julia was lost in her thoughts. She was weighing if she was betraying Roman. She was asking in her heart, “Can I go on with Rho97? Roman makes me laugh. Rho97 is intense and makes me think. I feel lighthearted and relaxed with Roman, but my mind runs when I’m with Rho97. Rendezvous with Rho97 has always been exhausting.”
She braced herself and said to herself, “Let’s see what Rho97 has in store for me.”
Rho97 came out of the bathroom wearing a single robe. He handed over a matching robe to Julia and asked, “Take a shower and a bath. Scrub yourself well, don’t use any soap or shower gel. I wanna taste and smell the real you tonight.”
Julia grabbed his waist in her arms and pulled him to herself. Her nose touched his belly button. Julia sniffed, she stood up sniffing along the lines between his abs. He giggled and pushed Julia away, “Go, free yourself from all the synthetic smell.”
Julia’s hair was too wet. Towels were not enough to dry her long thick hair. She did not find any blow dryer in the bathroom. She stepped out and saw Rho97 was standing by his workstation holding a blow dryer.
Julia walked towards him. He made Julia turn her back to him . He turned on the blow dryer. After a while he turned off the dryer and knotted the dried up layer into a bun. Then he turned on the dryer again and dried the next layer of wet hair lying over Julia’s back. The whole endeavor took more than fifteen minutes. Julia’s hair was knotted into a single bun on top of her head.
Rho97 put the dryer down on the workstation and put his hands on Julia’s shoulder. Julia asked in an almost inaudible voice, “Where did you get a hair dryer?”
He answered, “My girlfriend left it here, at my place.”
While answering he smudged Julia’s bare neck with warm wet gooey kisses. Julia sensed shivers on her spine. She retorted, “So you are kissing me behind your girlfriend’s back …”
He scoffed. He gathered himself fast, “Not at all. She went to meet her first love and to see if that works better than our relationship.”
There was no remorse in his voice. He was rather playful. He completed his answer with, “Anyway we are not in a serious relationship. We are in an open relationship.”
Julia was intoxicated with Rho97’s caresses all over her body. She could not help but moan. Her moaning was too loud. She did not care to hush her voice up. She knew his roommates had already left. He was living in the apartment alone.
Nor did he try to silence Julia. He started untying the knots on Julia’s robe. Julia did not turn to him. She, too, started untying his robe pulling the belts of his robe bending her hands backward.
He yanked her robe off her body. Julia turned around and stroked off the robe from his shoulder. They stood naked in front of each other.
They stepped forward to each other at the same time as if their muscles and nerves were following the same rhythm of thoughts. Rho97 lifted Julia up and she wrapped his waist with her knees. He started kissing her, on her neck, on her shoulder blades. He moved to the bed and dropped her on the bed kneeling on the bed so that the drop became very gentle.
He laid her down on the bed. Her knees were still around his waist. His hands, already freed from holding her shoulder, went downward and gentle caresses on her breasts and over his pecs and shoulders, neck and hair translated into soft moans. Moans were soft because they sealed their mouths interlocking their tongues.
Julia was scorching in heat emanated from her body, from his body and changes in his muscles made Julia crave for more. She flipped him over. He was on his back and Julia was squatting over him. They screamed together as they felt the warmth of touches of bare skin on each others’ body. They kept groping on each others’ body till Rho97 dropped all his seed inside Julia.
After that he flipped over and turned Julia on her back. He kissed the nape of Julia’s neck, along her spine and her underarms. Julia felt a calming effect soaking all her desire away. She closed her eyes.
When she opened her eyes, she felt that Rho97’s arms over her shoulder and his legs were over her waist. They were covered in the same comforter. She felt hungry. She lifted his arms and legs and removed them from her body. He woke up and grabbed her again with a very gentle movement. She murmured, “I wanna make myself a bowl of noodles. Do you need anything?”
He brushed his lips over her neck and said, “It’s Saturday. No rush to go to work.”
Then he became curious, “Is there an emergency at your office?”
Julia quenched his curiosity, “Nope. I’m not going out till Monday morning or till you kick me out, whichever happens first.”
He laughed. A soft whisper like laughter. He yanked off the comforter from over their bodies. Julia felt shy and covered her eyes with her palms. He kissed her and confessed, “I’m too hungry now. But if I don’t appease my stomach my muscles might not play their roles and you might be disappointed.”
Julia pushed him aside and sat up. He grabbed Julia’s waist from behind and bit her shoulder. She grabbed him by his neck and bit the side of his neck. Her breasts were in his grip and they locked their lips, engaged their tongues, his body changed. She was about to lie on her back, their phones started ringing. They could not ignore the rings anymore.
Julia found her mother was calling her. She declined. She had to. Judith made a video call. Julia sent a text message to her mother, Judith, “In the bathroom. Call you later.”
Rho97 was answering the call, “Yes, mother.”
After hanging up, he said, “They had some kind of meeting today, I guess.”
Julia agreed, “Otherwise, why are they calling at this hour when the sun can still be called juvenile?”
Then she asked, “Have you told them that you have been dating?”
He shook his head, “Nah. What about you?”
Julia shook her head, too, “Nope. They did not know.”
Then they went to the kitchen, made the noodles and put the marinated chicken breasts on the grill, on a medium temperature, so that those things will be cooked and will be kept warm when the duo will be hungry again.
They sat side by side, naked, and ate from the kitchen counter. They did the dishes together. Then they took their turns in the bathroom. When he was in the bathroom, Julia called her mother back. Judith asked about the general well being of Julia. Then she asked, “Are you in touch with Roman these days? Do you know what he is upto?”
Julia felt a little awkward. She did not hide her feelings, “Nope. I don’t like to talk about him. My ex-husband. A good-for-nothing kind. He never cared if I existed for the whole six years of our marriage. Even the divorce process - he did nothing other than enjoying its fruits. Why should I care about him?”
Judith fumbled, “I’ve heard from his mother, he was dating. He did not date while he was married to you. He committed no adultery. That’s his decency. One must respect him for that.”
Julia took the hint and shared, “I sought the divorce because I met someone and wanted to date that person. There’s no problem dating after divorce.”
Then she asked, “What’s your point?”
Judith fumbled hard, “None. Nothing. Just saying.”
Rho97 called Julia from the bathroom, “Jules!”
Julia hung up in a hurry and Judith got a hint that Julia, too, was not alone.
Rho97 was impatient. He stepped out of the bathroom and dragged Julia back to the bathroom. He scrubbed Julia all over. Julia scrubbed him back. They made out in the shower and they made love in the bathtub. There was no soap, no shower gel, no shampoo, no rose petals, no candle. Just pure cloth scrubber and human skin exuding the most organic aroma.
After the bathroom episode, he dried her hair with the hair dryer again. This time none of them had any robes on them. They kissed here and there and took a nap in each others’ arms. After waking up Julia said, “For a long part of our communication over all these years, I thought you could be a machine. A very smart machine.”
He reciprocated the thoughts, “So did I.”
Then he suggested, “Let’s try building a machine that would learn from our responses to each other and would frame responses for us when either one of us would not be around to keep the other company.”
Julia cautioned, “That’s a daunting task. Besides, sometimes it is unethical and irresponsible too. It could turn to pornography and could be disappointing when we seek stimulus.”
Rho97 laughed out loud, “Are you scared that if you type, ‘I’m in the mood for sausages’ and the machine ends up sending you public images of fuming sausages from the websites of eateries?”
Julia laughed at the analogy too. She was happy and surprised at the same time how Rho97 just translated her thoughts into words without any mistake or misinterpretation. She felt hopeful, “Let's build this machine.”
Rho97 gave her his laptop. Julia logged on to her account and started working on the thought, sitting on Rho97’s bed with a bed table across her body. Rho97 went to his workstation and started working on his desktop computer. They exchanged their ideas every now and then. They pointed out flaws in each others’ logic and they debugged each others’ codes. Time flew by.
They ate again sitting side by side at the kitchen counter from each others’ plate. They fed each other and enjoyed the sport of feeding each other, from mouth to mouth. Then they geared up to finish coding before they feel sleepy.
A little past midnight, Julia said, “I’ve sent you the final block for my id. We’ll see tomorrow morning what we made. I’m a little sleepy now.”
Rho97 said, “Come here. Paste the block in the body of the whole code.”
Julia stood up. But Rho97 did not leave his chair. He widened the gap between his legs and yanked Julia from behind his chair, from the side of the bed. He made her sit on the chair, in front of him. Julia’s back was touching his chest. His legs touched Julia’s legs. Julia ignored the electrifying sensations reeling through her body and kept typing her part of the code in the body of the main code.
Every now and then, Rho97 reached out for the mouse, touching the sides of Julia’s breasts, and sometimes touching the pinnacles of the conch shaped mammary glands. He started typing with Julia in between his arms and his arms were crushing the sides of Julia’s breasts.
Julia grabbed his thighs with her free hands. She could not avoid the temptations any more. He lifted Julia from the chair. He made Julia sit on the table. Their hands were caressing every part of each others’ body. Their tongues were melting inside each others’ mouths. Julia leaned a little backward. Rho97 started going in and coming out till he spilled his seeds on the table.
Then he carried Julia’s satisfied, exhausted body to the bed. He made her sit with pillows on her waist. He went to the kitchen, warmed up milk and brought two cups of milk to the bedroom. They drank from the cups and fell asleep in each others’ arms.
The next day, they spent testing the codes and mending them. The basics of the machine were ready. They needed to feed a lot of data to the machine to get the output that they wanted. They cooked, they ate, they drank and they made love.
Julia felt the deep ingrained pain inside Rho97, from years of seclusion, from years of abstinence, from years of yearning. She knew that the joy of finding her faded away as the Monday morning appeared and his whole being was reeling from the pain that he bore for years.
Monday morning Julia left in silence. He turned his back to Julia facing his desktop at his workstation. Julia gave him the space to cope up with the inevitable separation.
She spent the rest of her day working for her company from her place. She had no meeting in the evening. She finished her day before eight in the evening. She was eating her dinner and was watching a classic noir movie on a streaming service, her phone rang.
Roman asked, “Are you free tonight? Can I come?”
She answered without a thought, “Sure.”
She felt her heart was rushing. She felt panicked if Roman would ask to break up. On the other hand, she felt confused, “Isn’t he had enough over the whole weekend? Why is he asking to see me so soon?”
Before she could gather her thoughts, Roman entered the apartment. She asked, “Did you make the call when you were in the elevator?”
Roman frowned, “Why do you ask obvious questions?”
Julia asked again, “If I would have said that I’m not free tonight …”
Roman stopped her midway, “I would have waited for you to be free … otherwise, your sole companion is me … one persona or the other …”
Julia reciprocated, “Isn’t that true for you too … one version of me or the other …”
Roman plopped on the couch, turned all serious once more, “I would like to know if you could make a choice between Roman and Rho97?”
Julia could not hide her surprise, “Is knowing my choice important to you?”
Roman’s answer was straight, “Yes. Very important.”
Julia sat on the other end of the couch, held a cushion to her chest and answered, “It’s a tough choice. I’ve been so much into Rho97, for so long. We exchanged so many ideas and so many thoughts about mathematics, logic, algorithms, technologies, literature, music, arts and culture. He helped me become the entrepreneur I am today and the survivor that I am and he helped me sustain over the tough conflict with my parents and my weird married life though we never spoke of our respective parents and spouses. He gave the energy that helped me light the fire inside me to burn off all useless emotions and stay focused on the path of knowledge and skill. In the end, he turned to be the dark gloomy cold heartless person with a singular feeling of pain that he prefers to bottle up and cherish and is not at all willing to wash off with the joy of life. I’m scared if his darkness would consume my whole being and our darkness would fuse to swallow us in an infinite dark world.”
Roman’s face did not darken. He was all smiles. Julia continued, “On the other hand, I’ve Roman - urbane, suave, very presentable personality. He brought sunshine to my hopeless life. He helped me get my freedom back from a hopeless marriage. He is my companion in every step in my personal life, sometimes in my professional work. His criticism made me a more efficient professional and a more compassionate human being. I cannot lose him. I can rather let Rho97 go and I would prefer to cling to Roman.”
Then she shared, “Now I realized that you thought I’ve stolen the ideas of Zeta00 to make Assist You and Connect You.”
Roman murmured, “Once or twice.”
Julia concluded, “That suspicion made me check if there are any plagiarised copies of my products in the market and made me work with Arti, my lawyer, to prevent plagiarism.”
Roman got back to the topic, “That’s not important at this moment. I need to know what you think about the seeds that Rho97 left within you?”
Julia looked on her own lap. Her answer was slow, almost inaudible, “I must let it go.”
Roman pulled out a pack of seventy-two hours pills from his pockets. Julia grabbed the pack and pushed them back to his hands, “I’ve already taken them this morning. Thanks.”
Then she slid along the couch and sat almost on the lap of Roman. She cupped his face within her hands, “Are you sad?”
He looked into her eyes, shook his head, and said, “No. Check his message.”
Julia flung open her laptop. On Puzzle Platform Rho97 sent her a message, “I know, you’d choose Roman over Rho97. I wish that you remain Roman’s sunshine for a lifetime. If you stay with Roman then there will be a chance for me to get some shreds of that light from time to time. Those shreds of light and your love may someday take away my pains. Then I’ll be able to have you when Roman would have you.”
Tear drops rolled over Julia’s cheek. Roman wiped them off with the back of his palm.
Julia turned to him and asked, “Will you leave Julia and pursue Zeta00?”
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