Page 21 of Return on Love

“Great. Want to join me at the Prudential Center? It’s a nice place, I promise. Say yes. Please.”

I cannot help but laugh at her antics and her puppy-like eyes. “Of course. I’d love to.”

True to her word, she comes to my apartment early the next morning and we’re at the Prudential Center in time to be one of the first to go to the observation deck. As I look out, I’m spellbound by the breathtaking views of the city skyline. There are interactive screens with information with anything related to Boston. I wish they had information about the residents here too. How I’d love to get some dirt on Ryan.

We finally descend. Nora needs to buy a dress for a wedding. Steve’s. He’s a coder at MooreGames and his wedding is scheduled for the coming weekend. We’re practically exhausted by the time she finds something she likes. It’s a lovely peach dress that fits her perfectly. I’m sure she’s going to be the envy of most girls in the wedding.

I’m famished as we make a beeline for a restaurant. As we wait for our order, I hear a familiar voice calling out for his cheque. I turn around and find my worst fear come alive. The one way to spoil an otherwise great day. Ryan Moore. Nora follows my gaze and waves happily to him.

He’s with a young girl. I can’t see her face, but with the pig-tails, I can guess she’s Jen. Ryan sees us and I quickly turn back to face Nora, who’s still smiling and gesturing for Ryan to come over.

“It’s okay,” I tell her. I want to stop there but I’m somewhat pissed at the man and Nora seems nice, almost Lily like nice. “He’s probably busy. Too busy to meet me, at least.” I snort and shiver as I say it, as if it’s the worst thing ever.

Nora’s eyes grow large, and she raises her eyebrows. “What?” I ask, but I already know. Ryan is standing right behind me. He probably heard my unflattering statement about him to his employee. I shut my eyes, hoping to disappear. Could there be a chance he didn’t hear it? Given my luck, there probably isn’t.

“Hey Nora,” he says. “Shopping for Steve’s wedding, is it?”

“Yeah,” Nora says, a little embarrassed. Shit. I’ve made this weird for her as well.

I open my eyes and turn my head to look at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it,” I mumble.

“Well, I’ll see you Monday. We need to work on the YouTube campaigns,” he says to Nora, completely ignoring me, my presence, my aura, my words. It’s as if the chair on which I’m sitting is empty. As if I indeed became invisible. “You enjoy your meal.”

“Yeah,” Nora gushes. “I thought I’ll ask Eva to accompany me. She helped me find this pretty dress for Steve’s wedding.”

Ryan smiles at her, but her comment ensures that he can’t ignore me anymore. He turns to give me a quick look. “I hope you’re settling well.”

“Yeah. Quite well. In fact, I think I’m settling as well as a brick in Tetris that snuggles between the towers around and completes the line.”

“But doesn’t that line disappear?” Nora asks innocently. “I’ve played Tetris a few times, and that’s what happens.”

She doesn’t get that this is exactly how I feel. Invisible. Lily would’ve been proud of me for having the courage to call out Ryan’s behavior.

Ryan gets it because he gawks at me for a moment, then bites his lips and continues to ignore me. He nods at Nora and bids her goodbye and returns to where Jen has been patiently waiting for him.

The realization dawns on Nora as well by now. “Oh. I get it. You really don’t like him. Do you?”

I shrug. “I guess the feeling is mutual.”

“Um. Perhaps not. I don’t think Ryan wants anyone in his life to be a tetris brick.”

Yeah. Guess I’m beyond the ‘anyone’. I’m that someone whom he hates. Thankfully, the waiter comes with our food and I’m spared further awkwardness.

On Monday, as I walk to the office, I call up Weber. Thankfully, he’s awake. He asks me for an update. There’s really nothing much to give, but I tell him my opinion on various games. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it’s not too good. He doesn’t mention the meeting with Ryan last week. Let him hide it.

“What are your plans for the week?” he asks.

“I’ll meet the founder and discuss the future strategy. I might do some competitor analysis as well. There are a few other companies in and around Boston that I plan to meet up with.”

“Good. You’re doing what you can,” he replies before disconnecting, giving not even a hint about their secret meetings and calls. I don’t like his tone as well. It’s as if he’s intentionally handed me a loser. Did he? Would he? But Bernard likes MooreGames, so it can’t be all bad.

Back in the office, Ryan is busy with his team of coders. I meet Gabriel for a short time. The rest of the day, I set up meetings with three gaming companies — one in Boston, the other in San Mateo, and one in New York for the coming days. I also email Ryan to set up a meeting to discuss, but get no response. At least I want to put it on record that it’s not because of lack of trying on my part.

The next day, I come to the office for a short time and then leave for my meeting. Ryan is still nowhere to be seen, probably locked up with his coding team. Gabriel tells me they want to get this new game up and running before the partners’ meeting at my firm. I just shrug. I’m sure the founder can spare an hour to discuss his strategy, but I guess he doesn’t think my opinions are worth anything. My meeting with the gaming company goes fine. I wonder if these other companies are looking at funding. Their teams seem much more open to talking than MooreGames.

On Wednesday, I have a long video call with the CTO and then the CMO of the company in San Mateo. They have an amazing platform where people can actually code their own games and play games made by others along with the ones made by the official team. It’s a vibrant platform with very high daily active users. I spend the evening checking out the platform and playing their games. They’re simple games, crude graphics, almost no storylines in most of them, but I see the user metrics are astounding.

I go around the office in the evening, hoping to meet Ryan. I have to meet him at least once to make sure I tell him my opinion. I am here as a consultant, after all. I see him and wave at him. He looks at his watch and rolls his eyes at me. Before I can understand what he means by the eye-roll, he looks away and continues his discussion with Nora and Gabriel. Yeah, you heard that right. He has time to meet everyone; I mean, Everyone, except me.

---