Page 19 of Fake It 'til You Make It

I wonder what exactly I’m supposed to be learning from my fiancée doing the business with my best friend.

For the next twenty minutes or so, Kirsten covers most of the questions I’ve heard before (albeit by telephone or through email, my preferred interview method). She covers business start-up, business growth and goals, what Silicon Valley is really like, and if it is still the Silicon Valley it was in the days of teenage Zuckerberg. I can respond to these things on autopilot, having been asked similar iterations of every question over the last decade.

She doesn’t grab my attention until she asks, ‘What is it like to be working so closely with your best friend? Can friendships really survive business?’

I wonder if she knows. Whether the word is getting out on the grapevine. I don’t think so. I don’t think Fleur or Roman would have disclosed it. It hardly portrays them in a good light. It’s not exactly Instagrammable. And I’m sure my brother wouldn’t have said a thing. I trust Mike with my life, let alone my secrets.

But evidentially, I can’t trust Roman.

‘Not in every case,’ I reply. ‘Though in ours, it has been successful. Roman and I are exact opposites. Our skillsets complement each other.’

Kirsten smiles, much softer now than in the foyer. ‘I guess it’s true what they say, sometimes opposites attract.’

Sometimes, I think. Roman and I are opposites. Fleur and I are opposites. She uses her beauty, her self-confidence, her effervescent presence in company, to be adored by many, not least her hundreds of thousands of social media followers.

Yet, Fleur and Roman aren’t opposites; they’re alike in many ways. They’re both chameleons, for a start. I guess I just haven’t been on the receiving end of their changing colors until now.

‘Have you and Roman ever had crossed words?’ Kirsten asks.

She has no idea how hilarious her question is.

‘Crossed words,’ I repeat.

‘Business disagreements?Lifedisagreements?’

She emphasizes the wordlife, and again, I’m left considering whether my life has become gossip. I hope not. I’m not ready and this interview has proved it.

‘No. Not disagreements. We hone and temper each other’s ideas sometimes, but disagreements? Not really.’

As I speak, I stare across to the cityscape. The tall, protruding buildings against the calm, cloudless sky. Huge banks, massive companies, reside in those buildings.

Roman and I have disagreed of late, even in a business context. We agree that we may have reached our potential with our current growth structure and it’s time for a new wave of financing.

He says it’s time for us to take a back seat, enjoy what we’ve built, claw back some time for ourselves in our lives.

I’ve told him that it would take something catastrophic for me to want to take a backseat.

Catastrophic, like the breakdown of our relationship. An untenable working partnership. A complete and irrevocable lack of trust.

I come to stand and move to the window, lost in my thoughts.

He hasn’t, surely? He couldn’t. Wouldn’t.

I’m aware Kirsten has asked me something.

‘Sorry, I missed that. Could you repeat the question?’ I ask, turning to face her.

She asks again but my mind is too busy with its own questions.

What would be worse? If Roman were to tell me he is in love with Fleur? Or if the whole reason behind all of this, him stealing the woman who I should have spent the rest of my life with, was just to force me into agreeing to an IPO?

‘You seem like a reserved, private man, and I was just wondering how you came to be engaged to Fleur Dumont, who seems to live her life very much in the public eye?’

I stare at her, almost laughing at my idiocy…

‘We met at my brother’s birthday bash. Roman introduced us.’ It occurs to me how much more likely a relationship between Roman and Fleur had been right from the start. Shrugging, I tell her, ‘Like you say, sometimes opposites attract.’

But most of the time, like-minded people screw like-minded people.

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