Sci-fi Novel - The Love Algorithm - Part 42

Part 1: Our Sweet Home
Part 2: Love In 12 Minutes
Part 3: Machiavellian Berkan's Concerns
Part 4: Bonanza and His Friends
Part 5: Long-lasted Love
Part 6: Pre-design Battle
Part 7: My Dear Father
Part 8: Video Speech of A Public Enemy
Part 9: A Job Interview
Part 10: The Second Great Attack
Part 11: Big Hopes
Part 12: An Unexpected Disaster
Part 13: Sediment of the Days
Part 14: The Goddess Of Matchmaking, Gülizar
Part 15: Saturday Night Fever
Part 16: Red Alert
Part 17: Writing the Codes of Love
Part 18: Bombastic Folk Singer Ayhan
Part 19: The Drama Of An Ordinary Toy Soldier
Part 20: Phone Call In The Morning
Part 21: The Land of Angry Invoices
Part 22: Last Cliff Before The Bridge
Part 23: The Questionnaire
Part 24: The Cursed Prophet Murphy
Part 25: When Love Hits The Door
Part 26: Among Data Stacks
Part 27: Carefree Souls Gallery
Part 28: Lord Of The Conversation Council
Part 29: The Sound Of Silence
Part 30: The Prophecies Of Bonanza
Part 31: Signs of Love
Part 32: The Last Nail That Crashed Into The Coffin
Part 33: Dance With Death
Part 34: Lack Of Money
Part 35: The Lover Lost In The Bend
Part 36: Big Expectations
Part 37: Pride and Anger
Part 38: A Tough Debate
Part 39: A Dark Season
Part 40: My Brother Bonanza
Part 41: Ghosts Of The Past

Part 42: Preparation for Gulizar's Attack

After Berkan started working at Demirkol holding, we were sure that Demirkol Holding would develop a competitor application to Gulizar and try to position its app as the first matching platform on the market through the active marketing campaign. We met with Deniz in Cihangir, Çınaraltı Cafe to develop strategies to prevent these moves. Deniz had said on the phone, "if we change the place where we work, maybe we can get a different perspective to solve our problem." I found Deniz sitting at the cafe waiting for me. With her gray sweatshirt, white blouse, health bracelet on her arm, and hair tied in the form of a ponytail, she was like an athlete rather than a business person.

I said, “You're so sporty today.”

"I see you for the first time without shaving,” she answered.

I did not change my habit of shaving my beard every morning, and the beard was making a fuss as it did not suit my face.

She said,” You're scattered; I've never seen you like this."

“Tuğ is going abroad with his father. I don't have anyone around me.”

“You are a strong man, you will overcome,” said Deniz smiling.

”I got a lot of hits in a row; I'm like a stroke boxer right now." The fact that these words did not seem to amaze Deniz, I was surprised at myself; I did not have the habit of complaining, nor would I have insulted those who complained. I immediately felt the need to change the subject: “What are we going to do to keep Gülizar ahead of the competition?”.

"We need to create a countrywide agenda in some way. For example, a collective wedding ceremony with the accompaniment of the Folk Singer Ayhan would be perfect. There are giant cartoon pictures of Gulizar; the press is invited, gossip spread, more people know the platform,” she said.

“Would you like a collective wedding?” I asked her.

“Of course I wouldn't, but we don't know without asking, do we?”. She opened her four-fold mobile computer and put it on the table, opened Gulizar's administration screen, and entered the reports section. Six couples met each other, started to like each other, and still maintained relationships.

“Would you excuse me for a moment?” I pulled the mobile computer in front of me and ordered Gülizar to show us the pictures of these couples. When I saw the images reflected on the screen in two groups, my heart began to beat rapidly. Just as I predicted at the beginning, their faces were very similar. The similarity of the faces of the three pairs was undeniable, The shape of their noses, jaws, whether their foreheads were protruding or not, and all the elements on their faces, including the colors of the eyes and hair, were very similar. A third person who saw them side by side could have ruled they were brother and sister. The similarity of the remaining three pairs was the kind that a more careful observer would notice. For example, regarding the couple to the far right of the screen, the man was blonde, the girl was brunette, and at first, they didn't look alike; but they were both long-faced and narrow-eyed. When they looked at each other, it was sure that they would be extremely fond of each other as if they were looking in the mirror. It was a high probability that they would live happily together for the rest of their lives. When I share my thoughts, Deniz said, “You are exaggerating this face-similarity thing.”

I said, “I'm not going to argue with you about this right now; that's not the point.”

Deniz clicked somewhere on her pocket computer and folded the device and took it to her ear. After a short wait, Deniz said, “Do I speak to Selin Hanım?”

“Yes, it's mine,” she answered.

“I am Deniz Çobanoğlu, the founder partner of Gülizar application; I called to find out your thoughts on the application?”

I could hear what the other side said because Deniz gave it out. “Yes, you won't believe it, but I found my boyfriend through your application, something like magic, that was so easy. In the meantime, I'm very pleased to meet you”.

"Are you happy with your relationship?”.

“We usually get along well; it's not like my old relationship. He cares a lot about me, and I care about him. Like a fairy tale, thank you very much”.

“How about we share this beautiful experience with others? What if more people heard Gülizar's application and we were instrumental in the happiness of people?”.

”I think it's early for that," said Selin.

“So I'll call in a few months and ask you again.”

“Thank you very much for your interest, as I said, I would love to help, but it is early, my family will oppose, and I do not think that my boyfriend would accept at this stage,” said Selin with an embarrassed tone.

Deniz made a new phone call in no time, it ringed for a long time, and when the phone did not turn on, she moved to the next number. The next user, Melis, jumped on our offer to help us with the introduction of Gulizar. She said it was a great fortune that we called at a time when they needed money. After finding the love she was looking for through Gülizar, she was pleased to solve the problem of money. When Deniz said that we had no budget for promotion, she did not believe us, and she suggested that we had started negotiations at a perfect point. Deniz, which was affected by Melis, stated that we had no chance of making an additional payment, but we could cover expenses such as road costs, food costs, and shooting costs. Melis said she was not willing to share her private life with others unless she did not make a decent income to cover her education costs. Deniz ended the conversation by saying, “I understand your situation, Miss Melis, unfortunately, we do not have a budget in the way you think.”

We did not get the support we expected from other couples. If the relationship evolved into a marriage after a certain period, it would have been possible for Gülizar to sponsor the wedding ceremony. The idea of a collective wedding was also not warmly welcomed. The general view was that it was early to be a reference to the site and to take part in the introductions. First of all, it was necessary to test the endurance of relationships. Gülizar had to become known throughout the country as soon as possible. Since there are thousands of applications competing for publicity in the cyberspace, there would be no use for promotion without having a huge budget. Without the time pressure on us, we could have come to a good point in a few years with organic growth. Savaş Demirkol would not give us such an opportunity.

”We can't compete with them in marketing, let's continue to develop the application, and maybe we can catch a jump in the number of new users."

“What do you think if we repeat the mini-ads?"

“We caught the first jump after the mini-ad distribution, this time let's go to the big cities of Anatolia.”

“Deal, they can't beat us,” said Deniz.