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Maybe EJ Caswell had partied a little too hard.
"Pictures of your ass are making front page news!" his senior exec, Marcus Mayfield, had the most to say about it. It was times like these that EJ regretted picking such a stubborn ass as his second in command. "We're trying to convince people this app is real, and you're having sex on the roof?"
EJ Caswell looked his board of directors in the eye, smiling confidently in the faces of every one of them. They had nothing on him. Sure, there were the occasional parties in the last few months, the pregnancy scandal, and the, admittedly tricky, butt-on-a-balcony situation.
But EJ kept his cool, threw his feet up on the table, and reached a hand across the table to pick up his glass of scotch.
"How am I supposed to get everyone to believe this technology works by lying to them?" EJ asked. He downed his drink as soon as he caught sight of Mayfield about to speak again, dragging his feet off the table.
"You wouldn't be lying to them," Marcus argued. "Just telling everyone your thoughts on the whole situation, and letting everyone believe you're on the way to finding that special someone. It's called leading by example."
"Telling them that I have a soulmate when I don't is lying. I won't be doing that. That goes against everything I and this company stand for. Everyone gets their soulmate when their soulmate gets the app. When they want to find them and when they want to be found. I went over all this during my TED talk..."
"And we've already tried that pandering bullshit!" Mayfield spoke up again, with a recharged voice. "Explaining it isn't the solution anymore. How do you explain a murder in Germany?"
"I and the Love Byte team are deeply sorry to hear about the loss of Susan Fine during her quest to find her soulmate, but we are not liable to or responsible for any actions taken by her or said soulmate after acquiring the app..."
"We've got a lawsuit from Indiana where a twenty-year-old says she got matched with a geriatric..."
EJ scoffed, taking another sip. "Have they checked his search history?"
"Is this a joke to you? These are problems. And, we've already had enough of 'em without you running around and giving the company a bad reputation..."
"These things will die down." EJ put down his drink, standing up. "I've told you how it works. For all I know, my soulmate could be married, in jail, or dead..."
"Fingers crossed for dead..." Marcus muttered.
"It doesn't change the fact that I don't have one yet...doesn't this breach like every single ethical and legal guideline we have?" EJ turned from his COO, and looked across the table, to his psychological advisor.
His best friend, Val, had been the first person he hired when he started the company. When he needed a specialist in human emotions and relationship dynamics, he helped make her degree in psychology useful for more than disappointing her parents.
