It was impossible to miss the fact that Elodie spent that entire day crying hysterically in an advanced state of emotional breakdown while Kailey and Quiara desperately tried to put her back together.
Greg was completely excluded from that discussion, but he did overhear Quiara advise Elodie to “come clean” and later he heard Kailey suggest, “what happens in Vancouver stays in Vancouver.” It wasn’t difficult to infer what was going on.
At the time, Greg wrestled with whether he should tell Elodie’s husband, Emile. If it had been a friend, Greg would have spilled the beans immediately. The problem in this case was that Greg and Emile hated each other.
Emile had never been friendly to Greg, and had always treated him as if he were a servant. The dislike had turned into active enmity during the Faculty Ball the previous spring. Quiana sent Greg to the bar to get fresh drinks. When he retuned to the table, Quiara wasn’t there. He found her out on the dance floor with Emile. Emile’s hands were all over Quiara– breasts, back, and ass. Quiara looked embarassed, but did not protest. Greg waited until the couple circulated on the dance floor next to the Chancellor. That’s when then stepped in and deliberately made a scene with the Chancellor as his audience. This forced Emile to publicly apologize to him and withdraw from the dance floor in shame.
Greg expected Quiara to be furious over what he’d done. Instead, she was embarrassed and meek, making Greg wonder if she was complicit. On the way home that evening, Quiara told him that she was quietly trying to get Emile to behave, but he wouldn’t. Quiara said she was afraid of making a scene and was secretly delighted Greg intervened. For weeks afterwards, Quiara called Greg, “my hero” whenever she greeted him.
Ever since that incident, Emile refused to acknowledge Greg’s presence and had not said one word to him. When Greg found out Emie’s wife was had cheated on him, Greg decided not to tell him. Judging by her distress, Elodie was certainly remorseful for her actions. He let it slide.
At the table, after the vote for Greg to answer the question unexpectedly became unanimous, Greg resigned himself to his fate. “Ok, then Radu, state the question concisely and I will try to answer it.”
“Is it equivalent offense when a husband cheats on his wife as when a wife cheats on a husband?” Radu asked with a smirk.
Greg smiled. “You posed that as a yes/no question. Letting the biological chips fall where they may, there is a clear answer, but no one at the table is going to like the answer. We’ll have to get into a technical discussion of why that answer is clear and then everyone is going to lose their shit and disagree. It isn’t worth it.”
Quiara frowned when Greg used profanity, but no one in the group seemed fazed by it. Quiara had a flash of inspiration and suddenly spoke up. “Alright, new rule: if this starts descend into an argument, then we change topics. Does anyone disagree?”
Quiara was well-respected in her department and had a keen mind. There was silence at the table as everyone consented or her proposal. Quiara made eye contact with Kailey. Greg saw Kailey give Quiara a slight nod.