Don't say Stockholm Syndrome

Stockholm syndrome?

"Mr. Milles, about eight years ago, your father forced me to keep the crimes you committed secret."

Now Jacob was alert and nervous.

"He made me ashamed of myself at the police station and even threatened to report me to the faculty board. As a scholarship holder, that would be the end of me."

Jacob listened intently to Josh. All of this was new to him. He knew that his father had taken precautions, but he didn't know that he had found and spoken to Josh.

"I apologize for my father's attitude. I didn't know."

"Well, that doesn't matter at all now", says Josh, in a tone of disbelief. "What matters is that your father wrote a check for $5 million, landed in front of me and walked away before I could refuse. It took me a while to decide what to do with the check, but, justice was something I wasn't going to get, so I made a different call. I applied that money. Now it's time to return the 5 million. As I think that your father, to keep silent, will not accept the return of the money, I will use the 5 million to carry out the advertising campaign. It will be a campaign improved, in the amount of one million a year. This way, your company wins, I don't have to put money in Publicart, and I succeed in returning the money. Do you accept the proposal?"

"Josh, I didn't know any of that."

"Mr. Milles, I have already asked you to maintain an extremely professional contact. We are both CEOs of multinational companies."

Jacob, frowned.

"Okay, I accept your conditions. When you have the new contract ready, I'd appreciate it if you could send it to me to sign. Good afternoon, and I hope to do business with HOPE again."

"I don't think that will happen. This will be the first and last contract between us."

Jacob spreads his hands on the table and leans toward Josh.

"I only ask one thing in return. Come have dinner with me this Saturday, to celebrate the new contract."

"I don't think that's possible."

"Josh, please. I only ask for one dinner. Afterwards, if that's what you want, you can go on hating me."

Hate, Josh thinks, how he wishes that were possible.

Josh looks at Jacob's hands, wondering what to answer, and sees that he doesn't have a wedding ring. Is he still not married after so many years? Will it be because of him?

Josh shakes his head, trying not to go down those paths, and looks at Jacob.

"Okay, just one dinner. That being said, I'll personally hand you the contract over dinner."

Jacob straightens up.

"See you Saturday then, Mr. Cole. My secretary will contact you later with the name of the restaurant and the time."

"Good afternoon, Mister Milles"

Oliver sits behind the wheel, and looks at his boss in the rearview mirror. The personal assistant looked busy, digging through her business card folder for whatever Jacob had ordered. When she finds it, she picks up his cell phone, and makes a call.

"Buonasera, sei del ristorante Acquerello? This is Jacob Malles's personal assistant. May I speak to the owner? Yes, I'll wait. Hello, yes, Buonasera. I would like to reserve a table for two, in the best space in the restaurant, for Saturday 7 pm, no time limit to stay. Is it possible? Is it booked? Thank you very much, Mr. Milles would be very grateful. He is having dinner with a very important business partner. A full description is expected. The type of description we can only get from the best establishments. Thank you very much. arrivederci."

The assistant turns to Jacob and says:

"The restaurant is booked for Saturday 7 pm. Do you want me to let Mr. Cole know?"

"Not yet. When we get to the office."

"As you wish, sir."

Jacob looks at Oliver who is still watching him through the rearview mirror and signals him to start the car.

All the way he was in silence, but when he arrives at the office, Jacob tells the assistant to inform Josh of the place and time of dinner and tells Oliver to enter the office.

"Would you like anything, sir?"

"Yes Oliver, sit down please."

"Sir?"

"Come on Oliver, you've worked at this firm for years. Sit."

"Thank you sir", he says, sitting up very straight with his eyes on the boss.

"Oliver, do you remember a visit my father paid me when I was a senior in college? The day he sent you to buy me an apartment?"

"I remember perfectly, sir."

"Did my dad contact another college student by any chance?"

"I don't know, sir. I remember contacting the police commissioner, looking for an apartment for you, but I wasn't present at any contact."

"Thanks Oliver."

"Sir", says Oliver, getting up and leaving.

Jacob looked at his watch. It was almost 6 pm.

knock knock knock

"May I come in sir?", asks the assistant.

Jacob nodded.

"I've already informed Mr. Cole's assistant at your request, sir. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, thank you. Wait, yes I do, you can have a bunch of roses delivered to the CEO of HOPE, with a card saying, Thanks for the business opportunity. Jacob Milles."

The assistant takes a note and goes away.

At Hope, David walks into Josh's office without knocking, sits cross-legs and arms and looks at Josh.

"Glad to see you've learned how to knock on my door," says Josh with a grimace.

"Right now, I am not your assistant, but your best friend."

Josh leans back in his chair and prepares for the interrogation.

"What the hell was that? That was the floor leader, in the dorm. The one who left the dorm without explanation. Why the hell did you guys behave so strangely?"

"David, he was the man who kidnapped me."

"Don't f**k with me, really? You never told me who it was. Wait, is he the guy you love/hate like stuccom syndrome?"

"I'm tired of telling you that I don't suffer from any syndrome. Stop pissing me off and go to work."

"Calm down, calm down. But he showed up. Does that mean you two can be together now?"

"David, stop talking s**t and go to work."

With his hands in surrender, David gets up and, with an ironic smile, leaves the room saying:

"And the time you finally cease to belong to the virgin club, it arrived."

Josh throws a stapler, which hits the door, when David closes it just in time.

Josh took a deep breath. Yes, he was almost 26 and a virgin. He went to LGBT+ places, often ended up making out with some guy, but it never went beyond that.

David used to say that he suffered from Stockholm syndrome, that's why he couldn't have s*x with anyone, because the other person wasn't the one who had kidnapped him.

David was his best friend, but when he was kidnapped, he thought he was his kidnapper. David constantly harassed him, but when Josh confronted him that Sunday that Jacob released him, David stopped teasing him, and between the two a good friendship was born. It was David who also helped him understand that being gay was not the end of the world, and that what he felt for Jacob, if not Stockholm syndrome, was love.

knock knock knock

"come in"

"Sir, your schedule for tomorrow is updated in the program, you can consult it if you need to. Do you need anything else for today?"

asks Josh's assistant.

"No, you can go home. See you tomorrow"

"Sir, these roses have arrived for you."

"Roses? For me? How strange. Leave them there on the couch. See you tomorrow"

"Until tomorrow sir."

When the assistant leaves, Josh gets up and sits on the couch next to the red roses. He had a feeling and wanted to check it out. He took the card and read it. Take the roses and smell them, closing his eyes. The soft touch of the roses, the smell, took him back to the cellar, where, by the hand of Jacob, he made love to a rose. Josh shudders and feels his c**k swell. He immediately puts the roses down and gets up, calls David to say he's going home, takes his coat and... goes back, takes the roses and leaves the office, towards the car where David was waiting for him.

"Are these flowers for?" asks the friend.

"They are mine."

"And may I know who gave it to you? Wait, I know, Jacob?"

"Yes, it was Jacob. It's a thank you gift for fixing the problem with the contract."

"Don't f**k with me. It was to thank you for the contract... and my mother is a parrot."

"You look like you hatched from an egg and you talk like one, so I believe your mother is a parrot."

"Thank you," replied David with a pout. "Changing the subject, Jacob's personal assistant called to say that

Saturday at seven in the afternoon, you have an appointment with Jacob at Acquerello. The boy is investing well, it's just the best and most expensive restaurant in San Francisco."

Josh sighs, says goodbye to David, gets into his Tesla Roadster and goes home.