Chapter 5 : Appearance
Julia was notified by the TechBiz Consortium that she must be present in a meeting of the consortium. They threatened that her membership of the consortium would be revoked, if she dared to skip the meeting. Julia had no clue what could have occurred that made the consortium hostile towards her. She contacted Roman, “Coppola, do you have any idea what on earth had made them so angry with me?”
Julia picked her brain for a while. She could come up with just one action, “I’ve sued a member for gender discrimination and harassment. Harassment in general, not sexual harassment.”
Roman suggested, “If I were you, then I would have gone prepared.”
Julia rolled her eyes in anxiousness, “Should I take my lawyer along?”
Julia talked to her lawyer, Arti Vrar. The lawyer agreed to accompany her to a resort in Vermont, the venue of the meeting of TechBiz Consortium. Julia was happy to see the famous fall colors in and around the resort. She thought that even if the business would fail, the visit would not fail. She found visiting Vermont during the fall was quite a life experience.
The consortium investigation team asked, “Why did you record your conversation with the general manager of Capital Technologies?”
Julia was ready with the help of her lawyer, “As part of company policy of LeanTech, the company I run and preside over, we record every meeting - internal meetings of the company as well as the meeting with people from other companies. Before the meeting we look for written consent from the participants of the meetings for video recording the meetings with them. If anyone disagrees to give us written permission for recording their meeting with LeanTech, we don’t do business with them, to stick to the company policy.”
The investigative team of the consortium asked, “Why do you have such a policy in place?”
Julia felt annoyed. She was criticizing the leadership of the consortium with all her mind, “Why do these fellows need to pick on my company policies? What rights do they have? Will they gouge out every single detail of my company management policies? Aren’t they after my business secrets?”
A tiny part of her brain was paying attention to the business in hand though. Because of that tiny part of her brain, she uttered with sheer composure, “So that we don’t skip any detail of the requirements of the customers. If we take note, writing everything hinders the pace of the meeting. Besides, all these meetings are with the people who had already succeeded in their businesses. Therefore, many things they say in these meetings often help us improve our products, services and business processes. Recording of the meetings gives us what we need to keep in mind about a client’s requirements and many more things about the client.”
Their question was, “Why did you accuse Capital Technologies of gender discrimination in business practices and harassment?”
Julia felt pissed. She tried to put up with the torment of that evening as little as possible, “If I would not have been a straight female, the general manager of Capital technologies would not have asked for a marriage alliance with me for securing their investments. That’s gender discrimination.”
They pushed a little harder, “Can you hand over the evidence of the event?”
Julia was ready to answer that question a long time ago, “The matter is subjudice and I am, the plaintiff of the case, prohibited by the law to share any evidence with anyone other than the investigators appointed by the judiciary.”
The investigators of the consortium tried to play difficult, “How dare you seek the authorities to intervene before you pass the matter through the consortium?”
Julia held the consortium policies - simple dos and don’ts printed on the either sides of a page - in her hand and said, “There’s no guidance about the discriminations and harassment in the rules of consortium. Besides, the consortium can never bring justice to any of its members if that member was mistreated by other members to the point of breaking laws of the land. The consortium does not have the legal authority. There’s no point in bringing the matter of gender discrimination against LeanTech’s executives and their harassment by the executives of Capital Technologies to this consortium.”
The old geezers of the consortium lost their ground to argue. They sought votes to expel Julia and her company from the consortium. Before voting started Roman stood up and said, “I’ll abstain from the voting. Not because I am an opportunist and would like to keep an ambiguous relationship with all the businesses in the consortium to seek future business cooperation with them, but because it is illogical to expel a law-abiding business from the consortium and keep the violators of the law in the consortium. If this voting takes place, then I would go through the formalities of removing FinanceAI from the consortium.”
Julia was surprised by the uprightness of Roman. He did not just support Julia but he questioned the integrity of the consortium. Other than the investigators and the representatives of Capital Technologies, all others members denounced the motion to vote if LeanTech would remain in the consortium. The situation went to the point where the consortium was about to break up and another group was about to be formed.
In the end, everyone agreed to abide by the court proceedings and left the matter of staying in the consortium to the companies themselves. After the emergency meeting of TechBiz Consortium was over, Julia expressed her gratitude to Roman, “Coppola, can I buy you a drink tonight?”
Roman agreed. Then he asked, “What would you have done if the consortium would have proceeded with your expulsion?”
Julia smirked, “My lawyers told me that the membership was on sale. I bought it. So I would have sued the consortium for malpractice and deficient customer service.”
Roman smiled. Julia yelled, “All of a sudden, I am feeling quite high and mighty.”
Roman stroked her head in agreement, “You are.”
Then he asked, “You call me by my first name all the time. Why have you started calling me by my last name?”
Julia answered in a straight face, “This is business. I don’t mix Roman with Coppola.”
On the eve of Thanksgiving, Julia called Roman, “Will you eat the turkey alone?”
Roman crushed the festive mood, “I don’t have a turkey. For one day of the festival, I don’t like to eat a turkey over the whole week that follows.”
Julia asked, “What’s the plan?”
Roman mocked, “I’m a married man. And you’ve refused to be my mistress. I’ve to spend time with my family.”
Julia felt a little pain in her heart, “Will your parents join you in the celebration?”
Roman clarified, “I’m going to see my parents at their place. They’re farmers and harvest is a big festival for them. Also, I’ve an appointment with a friend. I have arranged to save myself from family clamors.”
Julia sighed. She could have gone home and could have worked from her parent’s place during the holidays. But her parents would visit her in-laws during Thanksgiving Day and the weekend that follows. They would go there with their best pumpkins and wheats and homemade whiskeys, Julia’s father’s specialty.
Julia’s grandfather once said, “I never thought my Wall Street hopper son would someday be so dedicated to farming.”
She asked Roman, “Is it an ancestral farm, passed on from generation to generation?”
Roman laughed, “The farm was my father’s idea. He and my mother used to work for a Wall Street farm after they graduated from college. The farm was big on investments in the agricultural sector. My parents used to work in their software services department. When they were developing some apps for the farm, they met several farmers in New York State. They travelled even to Buffalo in the Northwest. They learnt a lot about farming and after saving enough they bought a ranch and became ranchers. I’ve heard so did my in-laws.”
Julia was wondering why she thought that her parents and in-laws were weird. They all left Wall Street jobs and a vibrant city life to embrace the quiet life of farmers. After Roman talked about his parents, Julia thought her elders in the family were not that much of an outlier.
She loved the first snow of Thanksgiving covering up the dried leaves that covered the ground almost everywhere. In the city, that scene was quite rare. She had to travel to the center of the city to get to see something similar.
Yet, Julia’s Thanksgiving turned out to be a vibrant one. Her online companion for years sent her a lot of code and mathematics challenges. She spent a lot of time solving those puzzles and building on new puzzles with the hypothesis that her companion sent for her.
After dinner on Thanksgiving Day, Roman’s mother knocked on Roman’s bedroom. She said, “Manny, it’s been six years you are married. You never got along with your wife. She’s invited you this year to visit her parent’s place this Christmas. You must see her this time.”
Roman snorted, “What’s special this time?”
His mother explained, “Even two months earlier, when I tried to give her your phone number, she refused to hear me out, once again. You, too, are not willing to contact her. You refuse to have her phone number. She does the same, although you two are now in the same city, working.”
Roman was annoyed, “I run my own company. I’m not someone else’s employee. The whole burden of the work for all the clients is on my shoulder. I don’t have time to talk to her in the city.”
His mother lamented, “She might speak the same. She owns her own company.”
Then she went back to her arguments, “My point is that she refused to talk to you for whatever reasons she had earlier. Now she was asking you to meet her at her parent’s place during the Christmas holidays. You might find an end to all these torments and may get a chance to start afresh.”
Roman retorted, “Would you let me start afresh? With your money in my business?”
His mother left as soon as Roman brought money in the conversation. Roman thought, “She escapes her own guilt for forcing me to marry for money.”
He was happy though. Whatever his parents or in-laws said or did, could not affect him much. After a long time, Zeta00 was online and promised to play with him all weekend. As long as he could be with Zeta00, he would not even think of Julia and would not feel alone.
Among other things, he asked Zeta00, “Someone wants me to meet her during the Christmas holidays. What should I do?”
Zeta00 wrote back, “How would I say? Are you two very close? Is it a business relationship or a personal relationship?”
Roman typed in, “Personal. But there’s no exchange of words yet between us. Could it be a trap to take control over my company?”
Zeta00 replied, “Don’t know. If I would have had the same invitation, I would have gone with an open mind. I would have given the situation a fifty-fifty chance for being a blast to being drab. If there’s a conspiracy against you and your company, then you might not know what those conspiracies are, unless you meet that person and try to find out what was about to happen.”
Roman asked back, “What’s your plan for the holidays?”
Zeta00 typed in, “I’ll be busy. Dealing with someone.”
Roman was curious, “Personal or professional?”
Zeta00’s reply was short, “Personal.”
Roman wanted to know, “Will you be, too, occupied to come online and be with me?”
Zeta00 sent an emoticon of sighing. Then she wrote, “I would love to be with you. Online. But I’m not sure how long it will take me to enervate the guy and make him give me what I want.”
Roman smirked, “You’re tough.”
Zeta00 smirked back, “I know.”
Zeta00 went away for some time. Roman was lost in thoughts, “If I was not married six years ago, I could have asked Zeta00 to meet me. If Zeta00 was a girl, I could have started dating her. This marriage ruined my chances with Zeta00. Now that I’ve met Julia, I can be at peace with her. But before that, in a year, I must buy back my parents’ shares in my company, giving them an impossible amount of profit. Without their money in my company, they would be unable to meddle with my personal life again, as they did all those years ago. In this way I will be able to divorce the bitch and start afresh with Julia.”
Then he wondered if Julia would be offended because of his strong longing for Zeta00. He thought further, “I can always explain that my relationship with Zeta00 is a virtual one. I don’t even know if Zeta00 is a female or a male or a machine. Would Julia be still mad about me and Zeta00?”
Julia was happy that nobody had pestered her about the loser, though their families - her parents and the loser’s parents were spending the Thanksgiving holidays together. She was happy that there was no attempt to make her talk with the loser over a video call. She was not ready yet. She hoped that she would be ready in another month. She told herself numerous times, “I don’t have to give a speech. I just have to ask for the divorce - annulment of our marriage. Not a big deal. A few words - a line will be sufficient, ‘Let’s get divorced’ -”
Then what Arti, the lawyer, told her earlier came to her mind. Her marriage was never consummated over the past six years. The marriage was never a real marriage. The divorce would be a cake walk. The lawyer also mentioned, “My husband is a therapist. I’ve heard from him that sex makes things complicated. Since no sex is involved, your divorce is simple.”
Julia tried to reach a conviction, “I would never tell anyone - my parents, my cousins - about Roman. The loser must not know about Roman. Then he might try to harm me and Roman, even Roman’s wife.”
She got a call, “Yes, Mrs. Coppola? I hope that my parents are eating up your patience at your ranch?”
Mrs. Coppola answered, “They’re. But I have someone worse than them. My son. Your husband.”
Julia’s spirit sank. She dreaded, “What’s coming next? That must not be good …”
Each year these calls brought her pain. Pain for her inability to stand for herself six years ago. Pain for being unable to support herself for admission to college. Pain of swallowing her parents’ decision and marrying the loser. All these people together, had brought her pain from the summer six years ago.
This time Mrs. Coppola brought some unprecedented good vibes, “My son has agreed to meet you.”
Julia thanked Mrs. Coppola and her son for the loser had accepted her invitation to visit her parents’ home during Christmas.
Following weekend Roman bought Julia a piece of a pumpkin pie and said, “My father-in-law made this one.”
Julia took a bite from the piece, “It’s good. Too good.”
She remembered her father’s pies during Thanksgiving holidays. She thought, “Maybe, the cinnamon and caramel in the kernel and ground peanuts, cashews, almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds in the dough of the pie crust always brings this taste.”
Roman bragged, “The sesame seeds in the crust and ground sesame in the kernel made this one a killer. Each year I asked him what he had put in the pie. I know how he makes it smell so different and taste so much better than traditional pumpkin pies. Last year he put some apricot kernels in the crust. The year before the killer was cardamom.”
Julia thought, “Maybe, his father-in-law follows the same online recipe as my father.”
Then she frowned, “How come? Daddy does these experiments to put them on his food blog. Each year he posts the recipe of the previous year. His recipe’s are original. How would Roman’s father-in-law know the recipe before my father even posted it online?”
She never told Roman anything good about her parents. She said too little about her parents. If at this point she would start bragging about her father’s unique recipes and food blog then that might sound too phony. Besides, Roman might think that Julia was jealous of his wife.
To bring her wild thoughts down Julia asked, “Did your wife pack you up this piece?”
Roman sighed, “The most peaceful part of the holiday is that I did not have to see the bitch. She might have flown away to some island with wild men.”
Julia found the pie in her mouth quite sour. She was thinking. “All these while, till I met Roman, I’ve never gone out with any man. I’ve kept all the men away from me by showing off my ring. I’ve put quite some effort trying not to be adulterous. Yet the loser might have cursed me the way Roman is cursing his wife, in front of another woman because Roman is pursuing the woman.”
Following weeks Julia was overloaded with new clients, new team members, training and orientation and support plan for the clients over the holidays. So was Roman. Yet Roman wanted to see Julia before he was going to meet his wife. He asked one evening, “Can we have a drink tonight?”
Julia refused, “I’m not much of a drinker. The wintry weather brings lots of people to the bar. I’m allergic to unknown people. I cannot control booze. I’d be mad at myself for bringing unknown men home from the bar. I've been living alone for such a long time and I’ve never suffered from burglary and other mishaps. I think my distance from the bars has kept me safe so far. I don’t like accidents and those are never happy ones. Please, forgive me.”
Among all these words, Roman picked up, “All these years, you’ve been living alone! If I ever get to meet your husband, I’ll beat the scumbag into a pulp. How could he avoid his responsibilities …”
Julia sighed, “You’re such a male chauvinistic pig. I can defend myself against physical attacks. I learned those tactics in college. I own a gun. I earn a lot of money, I can hire professional security services. You know all these. Even then you tried to prove that you think ill of the loser. Is this because you think you’re better than him? Or, is it because of your inflated self righteousness? Or, is it in general, you think women are frail?”
As Julia went silent, Roman realized that he jumped up as soon as he heard that Julia had been living alone and her husband was not taking care of her. His joy was out of bounds that the loser had already lost because of his carelessness. After Julia finished talking, Roman realized that he jumped off on his own feet.
Julia’s silence lasted till the day before Christmas eve. Roman texted, “Off to see family?”
Julia’s sarcastic reply was, “Family is America’s favorite pastime during the holidays. Merry Christmas.”
As soon as Julia arrived home, she found her father’s sister and her mother's brother had arrived with their families. Julia’s cousins had already turned the attic into a gameroom. She promised, “I’ll join you guys tomorrow morning. I still have to take care of work.”
Judith’s and Jeremy's nephews got their beds in the attic. The nieces of Judith and Jeremy shared bed with Julia. The teenagers were ripe with curiosity, “Julia, will you sleep with your husband tomorrow for the first time? Do you remember your wedding night? How was the feeling of consummating your wedding night?”
Julia took a long moment before quenching the curiosity of her cousins. She was not sure why she had never dated before. In school she was too nerdy, even to be a duffy. In college, she was married. Even if dating could have been counted as adultery and could have given her a divorce, she was too reluctant to find time to think over dating and divorce. She was busy with learning the ways of computers, mathematics and a lot about business.
Her simple reply was, “Your experience will be very different from mine. Experience varies from person to person. For other details, you can watch soft porns. There’s plenty on the internet. But my laptop is password protected and I use it for business. So don’t think of watching them tonight, in this room, on my computer.”
The next morning Roman woke up early. Previous night, he arrived at his parents’ place a bit too late. Almost around midnight. He did not unpack. As soon as his alarm rang, he freshened up and went downstairs to put his things into his mother’s SUV. He took the passenger’s seat, as always, while riding the same car with both his parents.
Arriving at his in-law’s place, Roman Coppola got out of his parent’s car like a bored teenager with headphones on his ears, wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and a navy blue hoodie. He stepped into his in-laws house with one word in his mind, “Divorce.”
Judith called Jarvis, Jeremy’s nephew. Jarvis, seventeen, smiled at Roman and said, “Julie is playing with us in the attic. Please come along. I’ll take up the game for her so that you two can talk.”
Roman asked, “Who’s Julie?”
Jarvis laughed out loud, “My cousin.”
Roman asked again, “Why do I have to talk to your cousin?’
Jarvis had already stepped in the attic. He almost threw himself to the floor in laughter. Roman entered the attic and found three more teenagers and a woman in the beginning of her twenties were playing with their phones, as a team. He grumbled, “Boring. Stereotypical.”
Jarvis stroked on the shoulder of the woman in her twenties and said, “Your long lost husband is here. How are you going to greet him?”
The woman started reciting in an animated tone, “I’ll rush downstairs, then I’ll pin him on the couch. I’ll sit on his lap and throw my arms around his neck and with teary eyes I’d shriek, ‘Husband, I missed you.’ Then I’ll plant a kiss on his cheek. Because you guys will be watching and not all of you’ve reached the age to view an adult show yet …”
A girl pulled the woman by her pullover and uttered in a hushed tone, though everyone can hear, “Jules, your husband is here.”
The woman agreed in enthusiasm, “I know.”
The girl repeated, “I mean, here. In the attic. He heard your drama.”
The woman jumped up, turned to Roman, and shrieked in a witch -like voice, “Husband.”
Roman saw Julia standing in front of him. He frowned.
Julia lost her enthusiasm too. She stretched her hand and introduced herself, “Mr. Roman Coppola, I am Julia Ybarra, your wife, for the past six years.”
Roman grumbled, “You called me a loser.”
Julia showed no remorse and snapped, “You called me a bitch.”
Then she dramatized, “Husband, you left me for so long to fend for myself. I’m so disappointed in you.”
Roman complained, “You could have contacted me. You were reluctant.”
Julia suggested, “Let’s have a bonding session while these devils play by themselves.”
Roman chuckled, “Let’s do that. I can’t wait.”
Julia did not miss the sarcasm and annoyance in his voice. She retorted, “So do I.”
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