CHAPTER 13

It was a hot and sunny day. The funeral hall was filled with flowers sent by friends and relatives, expressing their sympathies on this gloomy day of Emile and Rhonda. The fragrance of roses, carnations, lilies and many other flowers would have pleased Rhonda under normal circumstances, but not today. She was sitting with Emile on the first row of chairs, closest to the opened casket. Inside the casket laid a man's body of which it did not resembled much the great man it once was. Nonetheless, her eyes did not leave the casket, only when she was interrupted by the visitors who came forward to express their condolences. They hugged her and spoke to her in kind words, hoping to soothe her pain which was so evident in her lifeless gaze. But she could only nod and murmur a quiet "thank you". The invisible link, bonded by her endless love in Mark, was pulling her gaze and thoughts towards the casket. The time she had with him was coming to an absolute end. The casket would soon be closed and she would then only see his face in her dream.

Emile avoided looking at the body inside the casket as much as he could. That was not his father. It was just a dead body about to be buried. His father was a lively man with great humour and wisdom. He did not want to remember Mark the way he was in the casket. He kept himself busy as he played the "head of the house" role that inevitably became his. He swallowed his sorrow and received all visitors in a solemn manner, accepting their condolences with a firm hand shake. He was always within arm's reach to Rhonda. He might sometimes be a few steps away from her, his eyes were always looking out for her. When her tissue was much too soiled with tears, he would offer her another piece from the box nearby. When she sighed heavily, he would wrap his arm around her shoulder.

He also tended Candy when Alena and Julia were busy with Lily or other guests. Candy became very agitated the moment she walked into the funeral home and saw Mark's body lying in the casket. Though Alena had read with her a picture book about death and funeral for a few days now, she was still too young to handle the shock. Yes, there were many flowers in the funeral home, just like how it was like in the picture book. There were a lot of visitors who dressed in black too, just like how it was in the picture book. But the picture book did not describe how odd Mark would look lying in the big wooden box. She remembered how Alena explained that Mark would lie so still, very much liked when her favourite puppy doll was out of batteries. But he looked just very strange.

"Papa, let's go home." Candy wrapped her little arms around Emile's neck and whispered into his ear.

"Later, sweetie. Later." Emile picked her up while another visitor came forward and offered his condolences. Candy buried her face on Emile neck, hiding it from all visitors. She could not bear their sad and yet tender looks anymore. She could not tell whether they were pleased to meet her or not. The whole situation was just too confusing.

Alena purposely stayed at the far corner of the funeral home with Lily and Julia. One of the reasons was that Lily was neither properly introduced to the extended family members nor friends of Mark and Rhonda when she was born. Mark became quite ill at the time and it was improper to hold a party of celebration. Now would be inappropriate to introduce Lily to the crowd right next to Mark's casket. However, in the sea of people who dressed in black, a baby dressed in a white romper was like a twinkling star up in the dark sky. As soon as they paid their respect to Mark, most visitors came by the far corner to see the baby. Though they lowered their voice and avoided cooing with the baby, Lily's presence did some magic in lightening up the mood of everyone.

In between conversations with the guests, Alena was paying close attention to Candy and Emile. She worried about them. The way Candy clinging so tightly to Emile was not right. She looked as if she wanted to squirm inside Emile's torso. Alena could see the tension on Emile's shoulders and his clenched jaws.

"Julia. Can you please hold Lily? Please excuse me. I will be right back." Alena handed Lily to Julia and excused herself from the few visitors who were spending a few moments with Lily.

She walked briskly towards Emile and patted gently on Candy's back.

"Sweetie, let mama hold you." Candy quickly turned away from Emile and wrapped her arms around Alena's neck.

"Mama, go home now." Candy whined.

"We will soon. We have to take care of grandpa's body first. When we get home, we will go play in the park?" Alena kissed her cheeks. Candy nodded and sighed a little. Now she had something to look forward to.

Alena glanced at Emile and Rhonda. They were now greeting another visitor. Emile's hand was on Rhonda's waist. She looked so fragile. Both of them were wearing, without a doubt. She quietly walked back to Julia and Lily in the far corner. Alena knew well enough that Emile and Rhonda would want to brace the crowd together as wife and son of Mark.

The ceremony was not long. At the end, surrounded by the immediately family, the casket was finally closed. Rhonda broke out a heart wrenching sob as she ran her hands lovingly on the casket. Emile's aunt wrapped her arms around Rhonda and helped her to part from the casket. She had to let go.

Emile walked slowly behind the pall bearers, following the casket to the funeral car. When the casket was loaded into the funeral car, he turned to Rhonda and gently put his hand under her elbow. She tried hard to regain her composure and climbed into the passenger seat in the funeral car. Emile then hopped onto the seat next to her. Rhonda did not say a word. She looked straight ahead and her eyes focused on nothing in particular. She needed a few moments to clear her mind. There was the burial to face.

"Mom, this way." Emile gently guided Rhonda towards the open grave as the funeral car stopped by the curb in the cemetery. The big hole on the ground was waiting to be filled. A green lawn-like carpet was laid around it and the removed soil was piled up like a little hill on the side.

Alena drove to the cemetery with the kids in her own car. Lily and Candy became very cranky during the drive. They were crying all the way there for some unknown reasons. As Alena parked her car by the curb, she decided it was best to leave the girls with Julia under a tree where it was shaded and away from the crowd. At least let them play with Julia for a few minutes and that could perhaps calm them down.

"Candy, you stay with Julia and Lily, okay? I will be just over there with Grandma and Papa." Alena hugged Candy and kissed her forehead.

"Mama stay! Don't go." Candy stomped her foot on the lawn.

"Just a few minutes, okay? We are going to the park, remember? We are going home soon." Alena tried to be patient but the fact was she needed to be at the burial real quick. Everyone was waiting for her. It was improper to be absent as she was the only daughter-in-law.

She kissed Candy one more time and then half-ran towards the crowd. She ignored the whimpering from Lily and the pout on Candy's face. She would deal with them later, after the burial.

She laced her fingers with Emile as she stood by his side. His hand was cold despite the hot weather. His other hand was on Rhonda's shoulder. With a nod, he signalled the priest to begin the ceremony.

Alena did not hear a word from the priest. She could only hear her children crying from afar. Emile gave her hand a little squeeze and their eyes met. His eyes were asking her to ignore the cries and be there for him, for Rhonda and for the crowd. Perhaps the kids were mourning for their grandpa? She did not know. She closed her eyes and tried to convince herself that they were entitled to cry on this day, just like everyone else.

As priest said the closing prayer, the casket was about to lower into the hole. With a trembling hand, Rhonda placed a red rose on the casket. Emile and Alena did the same thing. The workers then carefully lower the casket into the hole while everyone else also threw in their flowers, as the last tribute to Mark. Mark's body would lie under the ground from then on. Alena looked at Emile and caught him looking up to the sky. With a relief, she looked up to the sky too. They knew where Mark was.

As soon as the burial was over, Alena excused herself from the crowd and ran to her kids. She hugged and kissed them, and finally managed to calm them down. She decided to take the kids home first, while Emile and Rhonda went to the courtesy lunch offered to all visitors in a nearby restaurant. It had been a very long morning for the kids. They had experienced enough strangeness for today.

Later that evening, having spent the late afternoon in the playground just minutes away from the house, Candy appeared to have restored her cheerfulness. Lily, after her naps and feedings, became the calm baby she always was.

"Mama, where is grandpa?" Candy picked the picture book from her bookshelf just before her bedtime routine. It was the same one that Alena had been reading to her in the last few days.

"Grandpa is in a better place now." Alena picked out the pyjamas from the drawer and knelt in front of Candy.

"But I saw him in the box and they put him in the ground." Candy asked in a low voice, very unsure what happened in the morning.

"You remembered how God made Adam?" Alena took Candy's house clothes off as she reminded her.

"He made him with dirt, like making a sand castle?" She vaguely recalled the bible stories about God's creation.

"Yes, like how we made sand castle. But you remember how he gave Adam life?" Alena then help Candy with her pyjama top.

"He blew air into his nose?" Candy was not sure why Alena was asking her about Adam when she was asking her about Grandpa.

"You are right. God blew life into Adam and life is also called spirit. We all have a spirit inside us. When we die, our spirits will leave the bodies and meet God in heaven." Alena began changing Candy into her pyjama pants.

"So Grandpa is like air now?" Candy seemed to grasp the idea though still quite confused.

"Kind of. But I know for sure that his spirit is with God now." Alena gave her a hug, hoping to reinforce a sense of security to Candy.

"But his body is like Doggie with no batteries?" Doggie was her favourite battery-powered puppy doll.

"Yes, and without the spirit, Grandpa's body will not move, just like how Doggie ran out of batteries. So the men have to put his body away in the ground today. Now sweetie, can you go to bed?"

Candy obediently climbed into bed and pulled the blanket up to her chest.

"Can you buy some batteries for his body? I want to see him again." So yes, Candy missed Mark already.

"Sorry sweetie, no batteries will work because only grandpa's spirit can make his body work again. But now that he is with God, I think he is having such a great time there. We will see him again when Jesus comes back, or when it's our turn to go to God." Alena tried to answer in a casual manner, hoping to explain the concept to Candy in the simplest terms.

"Okay." Candy's lips finally curved up. The answer sure gave her hope, hope to see Mark again someday.

*

August 2006

It had been two months since the funeral. Everyone eventually went back to their lives, except for Emile and Rhonda. He spent most of his free time in the last two month helping Rhonda to organize her life. He thought about having her move in with him. She did not want to. There were so many loving memories in her house where she and Mark had shared. She'd rather live by herself than letting go. But to be independent, one of the biggest hurdles would be learning to drive again. She had the driver license years ago, but she never really drove. It was always Mark or Emile who drove her around. Now that Mark was gone, she could neither count on Emile, nor the public transit as it was not very well developed in the suburb she lived.

"I can drive her around." Alena volunteered one night when she was resting in bed with Emile. She snuggled close to Emile and pulled the summer blanket over her body.

"Occasionally, you can. But we can't be there for her all the times." Emile pulled her closer. This was the first time since the funeral that they could spend some quiet time together. For the past while, if he was not helping Rhonda to sort out Mark's old belongings, he would be working on things that he brought from the office.

"Well, I can do my grocery with her. That shouldn't be too difficult. I do grocery on Saturday mornings anyway." Alena offered.

"I don't think so. Without helping my mom, you are already rushing between grocery and Candy's Ballet lessons every week. If you have to take my mom along, there won't be enough time to drop her off and unload our grocery without being late for Ballet." Emile held her hand and sighed.

It would be wonderful if they could stop talking about Rhonda right now, Emile thought. Transportation was not the only problem he would have to sort out for her, but also tiny things liked the lawn mower failed to start, the neighbour's fence was built too close to her liking and her computer was infected with a virus. He wanted so badly to leave these things outside of his bedroom, such that he would spend a quiet and relaxing evening with his wife.

"Well, how about you drive your mom and Julia to do grocery, and I can take Candy to Ballet?" Alena, however, continued to solve this grocery shopping problem.

"And you'll take Lily along? What about her morning nap? She won't nap in the ballet studio with all the kids and noise." Emile knew that Alena would not stop until she knew her options were exhausted.

"True. What about we do our grocery in the afternoon then?" Yup, Alena was trying hard to sort this out. Emile sighed again.

"We keep Saturday afternoon open because we want to take the kids out, remember?" Emile already saw there was no solution. He only hoped that Alena could see the same thing really soon, so that they could drop this topic.

"Sunday morning we have church. How about Sunday afternoon?" Alena began to see the juggling would not be easy. She bit her lips.

"Julia is off on Sunday, unless you want to do her job after grocery shopping?"

Alena glanced up at Emile and saw his amused look.

"Wipe that smirk off you face." She shoved him away and only being held tighter against his chest. "I am trying to be helpful." She protested.

"I know you are. But I don't see how we can be her chauffeur all the times." Emile was glad that she was finally seeing what he knew all along.

"Perhaps I can do grocery on weekdays." She knew it wouldn't work as she should be in the office then, but she didn't really mind this option at all.

"When Candy is at school? Don't you need to go to the office?" Emile was a bit surprised she would suggest that. He thought she was enjoying the marketing research business that she was supposedly building. He looked at her with slightly wider eyes.

"Yea, you are right. I should be in the office." Alena rolled back to her side of the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

So she surprised Emile with the suggestion. She should have figured that he would be. After all, he was hoping she could make a career out of it eventually. But the more she worked in the business, the more she was feeling that it would be a dead end street, at least for her.

For weeks since Dr. Armstrong went to Florida for his summer, she had been cold calling companies after companies, making calls to her previous contacts, as suggested by Dr. Armstrong, hoping to garner some leads in the next research projects. Perhaps there just wasn't a drop of salesperson's blood running in her veins, out of the several hundred calls she made, there might be at most two or three companies which wouldn't mind her calling them again in a few months to follow up. All the others were flat out not interested. She had no idea how to propel from there on.

"What's the matter? Not working out with John?" Now that Emile thought about it, he recalled a few remarks she made about how John was not happy with her schedule. If he had the time and energy to look in the last few months, he would have noticed sooner that her eagerness in going to work was obviously tampered.

"Well, we are still in good terms." Alena answered evasively.

"Still in good terms?" Emile wasn't sure how to interpret such answer.

"He hasn't made any complaints on my work. I think he is actually quite happy with my research and stuff. And he is finally accepting my work schedule, I supposed. But I just feel that this is a dead end. I tried cold calling and even calling some of my personal contacts in the tech world, but no one is interested in doing a market research project. I just feel that I am such a disappointment." She lowered her eyes, trying not to meet Emile's gaze. The truth was she felt that she was a disappointment to Emile.

Though it was Emile who suggested her to stay home and take care of Lily, she knew that Emile had high hopes in this opportunity with Dr. Armstrong. His eagerness was apparent in his proud look whenever he mentioned her side business to their friends. He encouraged her whenever she stumbled on the research projects. He was nudging her forward in pursuing this opportunity. It was obvious that he was hoping some day, when the kids grew a little older, she could even build her career upon this partnership.

"Well, building a business takes time. But I know once you figure what works, you will just go pounding on it until you win. You always do and you always will." Emile lifted up her hand and kissed it.

Ugh, another encouragement. Alena groaned. Couldn't he say something like, if you don't like it, don't do it? Yes, that would be her wishful thinking.

And she was right. Emile hoped that this business opportunity would help her in a long run. He never imagined this would be easy, however. For the first time in her career, she was a salesperson and she never hid her dislike in such role. He also saw how she enjoyed working on the research, though she might not realize. He remembered how proud she looked when she came home from her first ever client presentation. Her joyous look was so refreshing than her tender motherly look. She appeared to be beaming when she talked about how her research results provided answers to the questions that the client was asking for months.

"You are an achiever, Alena. Remember those late nights we spent in the office with the team. Everyone was so tired. Who was it? Was it David?" Emile looked at Alena, hoping she could supply him the answer.

"What are you talking about? David who?" Alena wasn't sure who he was referring to.

"David. Yes, it was David, the one who shared the office with Mason. The guy was so tired after debugging his code for nights and ended up sleeping under his desk." Emile chuckled as he recalled what happened years ago. "What I am saying is, even when the guys passed out, you kept going because you always have the urge to get things done." Emile caressed her hand lovingly.

This "showering her with encouragement" way of comfort had a totally opposite effect on Alena. The ball of guilt was rolling up and down her stomach and the feeling was incredibly uncomfortable. She moved closer and hugged Emile tightly so that he could not see her face. She did not want to add any more line items to Emile's long list of worries. He had enough to deal with, in the office and with Rhonda. She could not become his liability.

"I hope you are right this time." She whispered, knowing that he would be wrong this time.

"I have faith in you." Emile kissed her hair as he held her, hoping to give some more support.

"I supposed I should say 'thank you for your encouragement?'" Alena lifted her face and looked at Emile.

"Yes. And you can thank me with a kiss." Emile lowered his head and kissed on her lips.

What he didn't know was that the loving kiss was like a tiny dagger, quietly slicing up her heart. She could not help but wonder if Emile was just in love with the woman she once was.

Without breaking from the kiss, she cupped his face with both hands. This was her man. He was hers as much as she was his. Couldn't he love her now? Loving this non-business savvy woman? Was she really that unlovable as a housewife? She dared not to find out the answer. She could not afford to find out otherwise.

She gingerly ran her fingers over his cheeks as if she was savouring his love for the last time. But her heart aches far more as she felt the sharp cheekbones under his skin. He lost weight. This knowledge bothered her so much more than the ball of guilt resting in the pit of her stomach. He had been through too much and had yet to recover. The desire to love him just soared like a tidal wave. If Emile had such high hope in her, for him, she would do it. Alena kissed him back passionately and prayed that she could meet his expectation. For him, she would continue her partnership with Dr. Armstrong.

She pulled back a little as their lips parted.

"So you didn't bring home any work tonight? How's everything in the office?" Alena decided to be a business savvy wife that he enjoyed better, beginning at that very moment.

"Things are coming along. Pierre just closed a deal with Venus." Emile answered casually. He should be excited with this deal. It was worth two million dollars and he worked hard on it with Pierre. But for some odd reasons, he did not feel the same excitement as he used to. Perhaps he was still recovering from his father's death? He did not know.

"Venus? They finally signed the deal? Wow. That's a big deal, isn't it? You guys worked on it for months!" Alena straightened herself and knelt on the mattress. Her bitterness was instantly wiped out by such news. This deal was big and she was baffled by Emile's very casual mention.

"Looks like you are more excited than I am." Emile teased and pinched her nose.

"Aw! That hurts." Alena rubbed her nose gently. "So why aren't you excited about it?"

"I am excited about it. Just not jumping up and down like you." Emile tried to match her excitement with a smile.

"Jumping up and down? I did not. But I am so happy for you." Alena giggled. "You guys are finally out of the woods. So when's the party?" She was indeed very excited. At least one was off Emile's list of worries. The company was finally out of the storm. With Venus adopting their technology, it would help them so much in closing other deals in the pipeline.

"Party? Well, I guess in a couple of weeks, Ryan and Marcus will definitely be partying." Emile chuckled. He liked seeing her face radiating with excitement and hearing her giggles.

"What do you mean? Why will they be partying in a few weeks?"

"Ryan was telling me that the Cohen's has committed to be the lead investor and the smaller ones are very likely to follow. So, in a few weeks, they may be putting another ten million in the company." Emile smiled a little more as Alena's eyes widened.

"Closing the fund? Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Alena hit him on his chest and pouted a little even though she was thoroughly excited. "I was so worried about the company for Pete's sake!"

"Hey. It's supposed to be confidential." Emile grabbed her wrists and held them captive on his chest.

"Let go of my hands." She struggled and giggled at the same time.

"Promise you won't hit me and I will let go of your hands." Emile offered.

"Promise you'll tell me everything and I will promise not to hit you." Alena countered.

"What's more to tell? I already told you all I know." He tightened the grip as she continued to free her hands. But instead of putting strength in her struggle, she could only laugh.

He had always enjoyed her laughter, but he did not know that her happiness was like fuel to get him going, even during difficult times. Whenever she was happy, a sense of achievement just rose up inside him. He knew it was very odd for him not to be excited with the deal and the fund being closed. He quietly admitted that he lost his passion in the company. When it happened and how it happened, he did not quite know. Perhaps it was the trip to Las Vegas? Or was it when he found out that Ryan and Marcus was talking to the Cohen's without involving him? Maybe it was the mobile reading app that had been crowding his thought lately?

It did not matter anymore. If the company doing well meant so much to Alena, he would make sure it remained that way. What other options were available anyway? Since he cofounded the company, he could not imagine working for a big bureaucratic corporation where he would face red tapes everywhere. So looking for another job would not be something he'd enjoy. Starting a new company would be, however. But he must have gone mad to even imagine that. No money, no partner and no new idea. Well, that was not true. He had a brilliant idea, but he had neither money nor partner to get it off the ground. It would be too risky for his family anyway. He was the only source of income and Alena was just getting started. Not until she re-established her career and brought home a stable income, he could not afford to do anything else but his current job.

Now that she was squirming to free her hands from his grip with twinkle in her eyes, perhaps he could live with that. His job was secured and it was properly funded. He could take care of everyone as long as he continued to deliver what the company needed to move forward.

His lips curved further upwards as Alena gave up and laid her head on his chest. Her body was trembling with laughter. He released her hands and gathered her tightly in his embrace. Every night should be like this, she in his arms, and being completely content. For months, he finally made peace with himself.

Tonight, it was like they shared a piece of chocolate truffle together. Coated with dark chocolate powder outside, it was bitter. Simply licking it wouldn't be tasty. But they knew how soft and sweet it would be underneath. So though they may not like the bitter taste in their career, with the knowledge that sweetness would come from their partners, they could lick pass the bitterness.

*

October 2006

He thought he made peace with himself. Did he really? Why was he dreading his feet into the office every morning then? He knew why, but he did not want to admit it. For nights, he had been secretly prototyping his reading app for his java phone. He finally developed a program to download a few chapters of the bible from the internet to his java phone. The reading experience was really crappy, however. The screen on the phone was too small and the paging control was very clunky. But he was already very excited with this prototype. He was sure that there was more to this prototype. It was just a proof of concept but it was quite promising already. The excitement that he had with this prototype was something he hadn't experienced in the company for a long time. Yes, he had a few innovations in the last few years and they received recognitions in the industry too. But those technologies were not consumer facing. They were tools designed for other corporations and software engineers to use. He missed the satisfaction of seeing consumers playing and touching his inventions.

He walked into his office and sat on the chair. The weather was a bit cool but it was very sunny outside. The color of the valley outside the window was once again his favourite fall colors. The once thick green foliage of the valley was now patches of green, red, yellow and brown. Fall was already here and he should move on. Move onto what? He sighed. The desire to move on had been building up inside him, bit by bit, day by day. He tried to find the passion he once had in the company so as to combat this very consuming desire, but it just wasn't there.

He should tell Alena about his feeling. Perhaps she would understand. No, he couldn't tell her. She would be worried sick about it. He had been teetering on this thought for a couple of weeks now. He wanted to tell her so badly. Perhaps he could just show her the prototype? He buried his face in his hands. Why couldn't he talk to her like the old days? Why was there such a thin glass wall between them? And he didn't even know who put it there.

He could tell something was bothering her too. On one hand, she had been a very attentive wife. She took good care of the children and spent time with him in the evening. Yes, she might be busy with her research projects from time to time, but the workload was not overwhelming. It had been a while since she was last burning the night oil to get the projects done. So it would not be fatigue or anything of that sort. But on the other hand, he couldn't seem to reach into her inner thoughts. Her emotions had always been sitting on the surface, apparent enough for others to read. But lately, she was just so quiet, but yet cheerful. Something was off and he was so confused. Or maybe it was him who was being distance and reading too much into her. Perhaps she was perfectly fine and he was the one who put up the glass wall between them. He should tell her about his pet project. He really should. She would understand. Maybe she could help him with the idea? But he couldn't tell her. He wouldn't dare.

He stood up and sighed heavily. Not being able to tell her his thoughts bothered him so much. He grabbed his coffee mug from the desk and decided to have a coffee. He should put this thought aside, at least for the moment. The Cohen's and the other board of directors were here for their first Board Meeting since the fund closed. He had to be there in a few minutes.

"Emile." Mason walked into his office as Emile turned around. "Are you ready for the meeting?"

Did it matter if he was not ready? He almost chuckled at the thought of that. This meeting was more about the Cohen's establishing their authority, rather than the team talking about strategies. It really did not matter whether Emile was ready or not. The Cohen's would be talking mostly anyway.

"Morning Mason! I am heading there now. Just need to grab a coffee and I'm all set." He gently patted on Mason's back and guided him out of his office.

Inside the boardroom, most of the executives were there, Ryan, Marcus, Pierre and Tom. They were casually chit-chatting with a few new faces in the room. They must be the new board members representing the Cohen's and the other investors. But Emile was very surprise to see Jeremy there. He was the guy who seed funded the company prior Marcus invested in the company. Why was he there? He had taken a back seat since two years ago, leaving everything to Ryan and Marcus. He never showed his face since then. To most people, he was out of the picture long ago.

"Emile, Mason. Let me introduce you to Brian." Ryan came to Emile and Mason as soon as he saw them walking into the boardroom, each with a cup of coffee in their hands.

"Brian, this is Emile, our CTO and this is Mason, VP of Engineering." Ryan led them to the guy who was wearing a navy blue dress shirt and a pair of jeans. He was about fifty years old and looked very sharp in his athletic built. He carried a certain charisma that people could easily be drawn to him. But his eyes reminded Emile those of a wolf. Just by looking into his eyes, people would know best not to mess with him.

"And this is Brian, managing director in the Cohen's." Ryan continued the introduction.

"How are you Brian? Nice to meet you." Emile held out his free hand and was clasped by a rather big one. The hand shake was firm.

"So you are Emile. I have heard so much about you. I am so excited to be here. Ho ho ho." So, he laughed like Santa Claus. Emile raised his eye brows. This man would not be easy to handle, too complex a charisma, he concluded. It would be interesting to hear what Alena would say if she ever met him. He smiled a little.

"We are so excited to have you here too." Emile politely answered and put down his coffee on the conference table. "You know that we will be showing a demo of the LEAP engine today? This version is still in the works, but it's already running three times faster than the version that Venus is using right now."

"Marvellous! I always invest in great product and great people. Looks like I got it right again this time. Ho ho ho."

"Ha ha ha, we couldn't agree more." Ryan chimed in.

"Oh look who's here. Jeremey, how's it going? How've you been?" Mason interrupted the conversation. He spotted Jeremy just feet away from Brian and was so surprised to find him in the meeting.

Ryan's lips curved down a tiny bit for a fraction of second and then it was replaced by his signature smile. Having worked with Ryan so closely for the last few years, Emile wouldn't miss this gesture. Something was going to happen in this meeting and he could almost smell it.

Jeremy politely smiled and walked towards them.

"Hey Mason, Emile. How've you been?" Jeremy always had this friendly and genuine disposition that people could easily befriend with him. The moment he held out his hand, Mason walked away from Brian and Emile easily, and clasped hands with Jeremy.

"It's great to be here again." Jeremy then shook hand with Emile.

"It's great to see you here." Emile held his hand for a little longer and their eyes locked for a second. A very strange feeling ran up Emile's spine as they released the grip. He could not explain what was wrong. His instinct was just telling him that whatever was about to happen, Jeremy was part of it.

Emile turned around and smiled politely to Brian, who was watching this whole reunion. His look said he was amused and yet a cunning smile was forming around his lips.

"I supposed you've met Brian already?" Emile asked Jeremy.

"Oh yes, we have." And Jeremy just left it at that.

Ryan then introduced Emile and Mason to the other two new faces, Ian and Simon. They were the other two smaller investors in this round of funding.

"So who else are we waiting for, Ryan? Shall we start now?" Emile asked after a few polite exchange of greetings with Ian and Simon.

"Ah, your timing is just right, Lucas. Come on in. We are about to start." Ryan waved at Lucas who just stepped inside the boardroom.

The meeting went well. Nothing was out of the ordinary. They discussed about strategies and shared project status. Though the demo was not very smooth, but it got the point across. The executives were very impressed with the improvements made in the upcoming release of the product. Of course, Brian spent about twenty minutes talking about his experience and previous successes in propelling companies to the next level. His track records were quite impressive. He also made some suggestions on how the products should be positioned moving forward.

"Brian, I really like your idea to make a free version of the LEAP engine and make it available to mass developers' market. I think that one has potential. What do you think Emile?" Marcus looked at Emile, hoping he would agree with him.

"Ho ho ho. I know it's a great idea. But we will need to look at the landscape of the developer market first, right Emile?" Brian cut in before Emile answered.

"Yes, Brian. We'll have to look at the market's need first. Technically, we can easily strip out some features from the LEAP engine and offer a bare bone version. But we will need to understand the risk of cannibalising our corporate market, or some other risks that we may not know now." Emile carefully answered the question while he tried to mentally map out the product positioning if this idea were to be executed.

"We can always count on you Emile. So you are taking this as an action item?" Marcus smiled proudly. Siding with Brian would be a wise thing to do in the near future.

The meeting continued for a few more minutes until all the outstanding discussion items were covered.

"It was a great meeting." Ryan stood up as he adjourned the meeting. "I think it's a good idea to gather the team here and meet Brian, Ian and Simon, what do you think?" He glanced at all the executives in the room with a broad smile.

"I think that's a good idea." It was Jeremy who answered. Emile looked at him curiously. Jeremy had not spoken much in the meeting. He still could not figure out why he was here today.

"Great. Jeremy, why don't you and I go gather the team here? Marcus, can you show Brian, Ian and Simon around while we do that? You guys want to look at our office?" Ryan gathered up his notepad and ready to walk out of the boardroom.

"Sure I will show you around." Marcus happily stood up, ready to show his new bosses around the office. Then the six of them walked out of the boardroom one after then other.

"Oh yes. Can you guys stay here and wait for us? We will be back soon." Ryan added just before he closed the boardroom door.

That was odd. Why did Ryan ask the executive team to stay in the boardroom and then closed the door? Emile had a feeling of being held captive. He looked around the conference table. Mason, Lucas, Pierre and Tom were looking around at each other too.

"What was that? Does that mean we are not allowed to leave this room?" Pierre asked and he sure looked confused.

"Looks like it. What's going on?" Tom shifted into his alert gear immediately.

"Are they getting rid of us?" Mason timidly asked.

Everyone just turned their heads and looked at Mason with fierce eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Lucas replied coldly. "What happened before I came in this morning?" Since he came in last to the meeting, he wondered if he had missed anything important.

"I was just wild guessing. Don't listen to me. You know I am always wrong, right Emile?" Mason tried to lighten up the mood by teasing himself. But the air in the room all in a sudden became too thick.

"I think you are dead wrong this time Mason. Perhaps getting rid of one of us, but all of us? I don't think so." Emile smiled a little bit. Though he was speaking his thought, he was nervous too.

They sat in the boardroom fidgeting. For the first ten minutes, they could act as if nothing was wrong. They talked briefly about the Venus account. They exchanged thoughts on what would happen to the market if they were to make a free version of the LEAP engine available.

Then the ten minute wait became twenty. It then stretched to a thirty minute wait.

"Should we go check?" Mason could not stand it any longer. His anxiety was licking his belly like a fire tongue.

"I would have checked fifteen minutes ago, but I wouldn't do it now." Tom was still in his alert gear but he replied in a calm tone.

"Why not?" Pierre turned and looked at him.

"Well, it is obvious that something is going on out there and they said to wait for them here. I wouldn't mess with them now." Emile added.

Just then, the boardroom door opened and all the executives sat up straight. The rest of the company began filing into the room. Some of them were chit-chatting and some of them just walked in casually. Behind them, it was Ryan. As soon as the whole company was inside the boardroom, Ryan stood at the door, one hand on the door frame and the other on the door knob.

"Please give us a few minutes. We will be right back." He announced and then shut the door once again.

"So you've met the directors?" Mason asked one of the software engineers who just walked in.

"No. Should I?" The engineer replied.

"Weren't they out there checking out the office?" Lucas asked.

"I don't know. I was debugging with him and then Ryan just gathered us here." The software engineer flicked his thumb towards the other engineer standing next to him.

The executive team turned pale white. This was beyond odd.

Minutes later, Ryan opened the boardroom door and walked inside the boardroom, followed by Jeremy, Brian, Ian and Simon.

"Sorry for interrupting everyone. Before we introduce you to the new board members, I have an important announcement to make. Marcus is no longer with the company. Effective immediately, I am now the President of the company." Jeremy announced calmly while everyone else was speechless.

Emile took a deep breath. So this was why Jeremy was here today. He could not believe they just walked Marcus out of his job, thirty minutes after sitting in the board meeting. Why? What did he do? And he was one of the major shareholders in the company! They still fired him like this, so ungracefully?

If there were a drop of passion left in him for this company, they sure had wiped it out of his system completely just now.

The meeting lasted another fifteen minutes and the company was dismissed for the lunch hour.

Emile walked back to his office and shut the door behind him.

There were so many things crowding his thought now. What happened? Whose decision was it? Obviously Marcus was in the dark up until after the Board Meeting. Did Jeremy know? Was it one of the conditions to close the funds with the Cohen's? If it was not Jeremy, nor Ryan, it had to be Brian's idea then. But why? He couldn't figure out.

He sat in front of his computer and just stared at the screen. He needed to get away from here, even for a short while. He then shut down his computer and packed it up. He walked out of the office and told his secretary that he would be working from home that afternoon.

On his way home, he thought about himself. Now that he witnessed what happened to Marcus, how should he play this game? Did he want to continue his career in this company? His gut answer was no, he didn't want to. But what should he do then? That just circled back to what he was thinking before the board meeting this morning. Should he tell Alena his pet project? Would what happened to Marcus help in convincing her? But the pet project was just too risky. He weren't sure if he wanted to pursue it either.

He walked into the house and Alena was not back from work yet. She would be back in a couple of hours, after she picked up Candy from school. This would give him a bit of time to organize his thoughts.

He turned on his computer in the study. He opened the browser and did some surfing. He was not looking at anything in particular. He just wanted to get his mind off the office politics for a few moments.

He then opened up his personal email. He had not checked it for a couple of days now. No one would email him there. It was usually filled with electronic flyers from different developer conferences or online gadget stores.

But then, he saw there was an email from Conrad. Conrad left the company almost two years ago to Seattle. He was now in Vancouver where his wife was practicing her studies in a hospital.

"Hey Emile. I have something really cool to show you. Let me know what you think." Conrad said in the email. Included in the email, it was a link.

Emile clicked on that link and it led to a website. It was probably hosted at Conrad's computer in Vancouver. On the webpage, there was a text box. Another link there said, "Download this to your phone." There were other instructions written on the webpage.

Emile's heart was pounding faster and faster. He followed the instructions on the webpage and downloaded something on to his java phone.

He typed a test paragraph in the text box and clicked submit.

He then opened the app on his phone as instructed.

For the first time in months, he genuinely smiled. The test paragraph he just typed on the webpage, showed perfectly on his phone.

If this was not fate, he did not know what it was.