“Well, no one saw that coming,” Rohan said with more than a hint of irony, as he slapped down the newspaper on Eric’s desk.
“I put it in your brief weeks ago that Cyprus is a potential black swan event.”
“I know. I guess the Performance Excellence award that the Bank of Cyprus won a few months ago didn’t convince you, huh?”
“Who doesn’t trust an award-winning bank?” Eric replied, sarcastically.
“You, obviously.”
“It’s why you pay me the big bucks. Listen, Rohan, is there a point to this? You know I’ve got a lot on my plate. If you’re curious, I put a report in the usual folder, though I know you’ll never look at it. Our exposure to Greece and Cyprus, and Europe in general, was limited to begin with and I closed our positions out well before the bail-in vote. We’re good.”
Rohan sensed his agitation, but instead of leaving he closed the door to the office and sat down.
“What’s goin’ on, bud? You seem a little down lately. Things alright with Aliyah?”
“Can you think about anything besides women? Rohan, grow up, there’s more to life than your latest conquest.”
“So… things are good then?”
“Yes, for cryin’ out loud, things are great. She’s a lovely girl and I think she might move out of the girl’s place soon.”
Rohan was surprised, but concealed it, “Well that saves us some rent. I’ll move Li and Isa into a smaller pad. Free up some cash.”
“Actually, Jason was going to talk to you about that. Since his girl left, I guess he started getting a little serious with Li. She’s planning to move out as well.”
The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men.
“Well, as long as they all keep hitting their numbers…” Rohan trailed off, sinking into his own thoughts.
“You could just move Isabella into your place, you know?” Eric said, stating the obvious.
“Too small, and no, I’m not ready for it, hell, I don’t even know if she’d be ready for it.”
“Bro, you’ve drunkenly told me on like ten different occasions how much you love that girl, just sack the fuck up and move her in. Or better yet, move into the girl’s apartment. That studio you’re living in is atrocious.”
Rohan thought about it. The warm, comforting glow of adulthood beckoned. Move in with a beautiful woman, trade the motorcycle in for a wagon. It was appealing on many levels. The Siren’s song was difficult to resist, despite his misgivings about what conjugal life represented. There had to be a way to reconcile his desire for a relationship with Isabella and his cherished personal sovereignty, but he wasn’t about to solve that problem right here in Eric’s office.
“Yeah, don’t get your hopes up. I’ll figure out what to do about Isabella’s living situation. Thanks to you both for the timely notice.”
“You’re more than welcome.”
“Alright smart ass, if it’s not the girl, what’s been eating you lately?”
“Well, if we must have this conversation, I’ve been thinking about trust a lot lately. Just doesn’t seem to be much of it left in the world, and it’s a little depressing.”
It was probably the most spontaneously heartfelt thing Rohan had ever heard out of Eric.
“Well you know you can trust Aliyah man, she’s a great girl.”
Eric shook his head in disbelief. “Rohan, fucking hell man, I just told you. Everything is not always about women. What happened to all that Buddhist non-attachment bullshit? You seem plenty attached to the fairer sex.”
“They make life worth living, what can I say?” Rohan tried to conceal his displeasure with Eric’s critique of his Zen.
“Anyway, what I meant was that you can’t trust in things like you used to. Almost up until the point of Lehman’s collapse the shepherds of the economy said everything was fine. They said the same just weeks before Cypriot depositors got a haircut. The whole fractional reserve system is dependent on faith that what you put in the bank will be there on the other side of a long weekend. It’s what allows the banks to create loans. Without faith, that liquidity dries up and the whole world comes to a screeching halt. It just leaves me thinking, what’s the endgame?”
Rohan could sense Eric was awakening to the reality that this was only the beginning. A systemic collapse was inevitable and the ringleaders, whoever they were, knew it. Sensing the opportunity, Rohan decided to delve deeper.
“You know Cyprus was just a test. A trial balloon to see how a population would react to having their deposits confiscated. It’s been done for so long with inflation, but now they’re trying it directly. Who knows, we might even live long enough to see negative interest rates. Their creativity for theft knows no bounds.”
Eric caught his rueful glance and replied, “It’s a shame. We never got a chance to see markets work. Our whole adult lives they’ve been manipulated or broken.”
“Well that’s what this is all about, isn’t it?”
“That’s just it, I think it’s far too little, too late.”
Rohan considered his words. Maybe true, but it was pointless to worry. The most they could do at this stage was continue to rake in money and increase the amount of assets under their management. It was futile to focus on any point too far in the future. That was a lesson he felt like he was being taught over and over. Focus on what’s under your control now, he thought, as he rushed off to a weekly sales briefing.