章 3: Chapter 3
It was only when his phone alarm went off did Joshua finally put down the book he had been reading. Unexpectedly, he was a rather avid romance reader, in fact he was quite the romantic at heart too, not something his behaviour advertised in the least.
The alarm signified one thing, it was almost time for dinner, this meant it was also time for him to fulfil his elder brother's request. With an exasperated sigh, behaviour he would only dare show in the comfort of his own home with only his family around, Joshua sat up whilst simultaneously turning off the alarm.
He stayed sitting for a second, almost as if he was fortifying his mind for what he could encounter from barging into his brother's room; past experience had taught him to always be prepared for the worst, even if he thinks he has seen the worst of it. Once considering himself prepared enough, he heaved himself off his bed and walked out of his room, towards the door with a childish sign stuck on it with the words 'Archer's room, stay out!!' pasted sloppily on it.
In a sense that could personify Archer Lore, childish and thoughtless. Like the rest of his family, he was well accomplished and very beautiful individual. However, unlike his perfectly refined younger brother and sister, he was a little more, relaxed if there was a word to describe it. He was known as the eccentric heir amongst his family's company, perfectly reliable and well versed but by no means normal. There was a much bigger characteristic he was known for other than his utmost weirdness, one that the media have been trying to out from the day the man now in his late twenties had turned legal.
Archer Lore was perhaps the biggest man whore amongst the high society, including the uncountable hidden scandals from other elites – in itself, that was a ridiculous achievement.
This was why when he brought one of his women home he would ask his younger brother to barge into his room before dinner. He needed a plentiful and forceful warning otherwise he wouldn't have enough time to make himself decent or kick the girl out. Archer wasn't so thick-faced that he would ask the workers or his parents to do so, and as far as he was concerned, his cute little sister does not need any corruption, Joshua was his only real choice.
This is what lead to him to so easily accept his parents' insane proposal when they had brought it up with him shortly after the board meeting that morning. He had never once seen that younger brother of his even show an inkling of interest or desire, no matter what outrageous act the girls would follow with. To him, the fact of Joshua being gay was not too far-fetched, in fact it would explain everything.
What invited Joshua on this encounter was the image of not one, not two, but four women all trying to get a piece of his brother, including his backside. As always, he had greatly underestimated what the worse could be, witnessing his brother's butt-play was far, far, far away from what he could have even expected. To make things worse, hearing the door open, all four turned to him like vultures on an unfortunate rat.
They had all heard the second son's looks put his elder brother to shame but none had expected him to be quite so pretty.
Archer easily noticed the change in interest and held back a sigh, regardless of whether he wanted to continue or not, looks like he wasn't going to get any further tonight.
Joshua looked over the entire image very briefly, unfortunately that being more than enough for his near picture perfect memory, before turning away, eyes as uninterested as ever. This only seemed to increase the desire of the four women. "There are 5 minutes until dinner."
"Thank you. I'll be down then." Unbeknownst to anyone, the first son had sat up straight and used a pillow to hide his indecency. Joshua nodded and shut the door behind him. The women didn't need telling, clearly tonight was over for everyone, secretly not one of them felt like continuing after encountering the cold beauty known as Joshua Lore.
Unknown to the five people in his brother's room, Joshua had actually started to weigh up the women against each other, a terrible habit he had gained from comparing possible romantic partners of the main leads from the books he read. Looks wise, he couldn't deny that his brother had a thing for good-looking partners, regardless of body type or ethnicity unlike most. However the model he had brought home during the recent fashion week had by far been the best looking lady of Archer's recents.
Admittedly he was biased, while his brother went for anyone who looked good, when coming to physical attraction he was more inclined to beauties. In a way it was a bit of a complex, he was well aware of his pretty status, he didn't want to find a girl only to have her argue over how he was prettier than her.
Similar to Henry, the Lore family's second son didn't like to discuss romantics nor attractions with any of his family, even his brother who had shown more than was needed. For him, he just found the entire idea weird, why would he talk to his family about it?
If he had known this very nonchalance combined with his slightly too well-kept behaviour had led to his family being convinced he was into men, he would have most definitely regretted not being open about things form the beginning. Unfortunately for him, that was not something he would know for now.
Punctually, five minutes after the regular occurrence in Archer's room, all five members of the Lore main family were sat at a dining table, one which had a length only to those amongst the richest of the rich.
Dinner was quiet, as it was always in this disciplined family; it was rude to speak while eating unless it was for a social necessity. In fact it wasn't until the dessert dishes were being collected that any of the family members even thought of conversing. Penelope, the youngest of the bunch, excused herself to practice for a Mozart piano competition she was entering in the coming months as the mother's young live-in secretary brought a folder to her boss. After both young ladies were dismissed, it became too apparent to Joshua that his parents wanted to discuss something with him.
His gut instinct told him it was to do with the meeting the family had called with the board of directors this morning. He was not wrong, per se.
Archer decided to stick around even though he would normally be the first to leave the dinner table. He was intrigued, just how would his ever so proper but undeniably closed off brother react to this commercial marriage meeting?
"You are sure to know about the board meeting about we conducted today with the primary shareholders in response to the Q Groups undignified gloating." John waited for Joshua's curt nod before proceeding even though we were well aware that everyone present at the company today knew. "Well, you should know that the agenda of the meeting was to propose a merger with the Reyes corporation." Just from those words, Joshua managed to summarise a lot of the situation.
"So that is what you were discussing with the Reyes at the charity gala earlier this week. Individually the companies have no chance at combatting the Q Group following the announced expansion. However, if the two were to form a union, the combined revenue would not only beat the Q Group but also multiply itself, especially if you and the Reyes' president's co-own the companies. This would also give us the power to properly incarcerate the Q Group for their corruption and oppression throughout the country.
"Individual shares would also mostly likely increase in value in the case of a successful merger which means neither company would have much problem convincing the board of directors and shareholders to approve of the move. It is a bold move but reliable financially when taking the other party into account." He had only been vocalising but all three had been once again shocked at his pure genius, there was a reason Joshua had so quickly risen to a key role within the finances and stocks, his predictions were almost god-like. They saw his skill time and time again but it was amazing every time. Just as the eldest was a business prodigy and their only daughter dubbed the 'Queen of Piano', Joshua was amazing with numbers and trends.
He was also aware of what was lacking. "But what will be the foundation of the merger? Without something plausible, not only will we lose some trust from the public, but the entire decision will look slapdash and desperate in the eyes of the Q Group. That could be the leverage they need to finally do substantial damage to us."
Hanna could only nod in agreement. With both parties, there was a matter of pride; this entire merger is to eventually topple the Q Group and bring their misdoings to light, in the best-case scenario ending with an incarceration. Without a reason behind the admittedly impulsive unison, it will look like a pitiful attempt against the Q Group, their loss in public reputation will be the least of their worries. Neither group wanted to be the laughing stock of the countries infamous, first placing company.
However, it was risky. Marcus Reyes had made it especially clear right from the beginning of preliminary talks that coming off as too much of a threat could make them just as susceptible to the Q Group, in this case their wrath. He hadn't established the point so much for himself, but to remind the Lore's that they were the most succeeding company against the group, it was their safety that was at most risk.
Thankfully, they had both started their conversation that night in regard to each couples' second son and their conclusions on their sexuality. It was perhaps the best foundation for the merger there was seeing as only one side had a daughter and the other families 'only' straight child was not only double her age but also married himself. There was no reason more irrefutable than the companies merging because their sons were thinking of marriage.
That all being said, all four, without so much mentioning a word on it, had already decided that setting the two up would be the best cause of action. The fact that it could be used as the very foundation of the merger was rather secondary in comparison to that.
"That is why we wanted to talk to you so early on about it in such depth. The best foundation of course would be the unison of the families leading to the unison of their companies. So would you go to a marriage meeting with the Reyes?"
Joshua stared at Hanna in disbelief. He had thought they would want to discuss things with him to find a good foundation for the merger. But a marriage meeting? Did the Reyes family even have a daughter? Perhaps a niece? Admittedly it wasn't a bad idea, rather traditional but not something the Q Group could too easily drag through the dirt.
In all honesty, the young man was quite impressed they had come up with the idea at all, his parent's had vision but strategy was not always their fine point. Did he like it? Not at all.
As mentioned earlier, he was quite the romantic at heart. He wanted to find someone who he would truly connect with. Or at least someone who wouldn't feel belittled by his looks. But to go to a marriage meeting for the sake of the family business, he could question what sort of third-rate romance novel was his life becoming.
His family members could see the reluctance in the second son's eyes. Unfortunately, they unanimously concluded it was due to the fact that he had never told them he was gay.
Of course that couldn't be farther from the truth. Even worse for him, they decided not to embarrass him on the fact that they had 'found him out', only worsening the poor communication.
"We were discussing it with Caroline and Marcus. We are not forcing either side but from the sound of things we do think the two of you will get along with each other. Think of it as a business meeting if that makes you feel more at ease but there is no pressure on you to agree." John was coaxing his son, downplaying the situation so that he would feel less impacted by the initial meeting.
It seemed to be working.
Hanna nodded and opened the file, taking out a picture. "Just look at the picture, if you like the looks, there is no harm in just meeting. If you two don't like each other in that way we can find another foundation." She slid the picture over, Joshua somewhat sceptical, although slowly softening.
That was until he saw the picture.
His immediate reaction was the word 'cute' resounding in his head. Joshua's reaction was not one too out of the ordinary, Henry was a very good looking man who almost the entire population would describe as cute, he had that youthful vibe to him, even through a mere photo. One so spectacularly badly taken it was impossible for Joshua to realise the subject of the picture was a fellow man.
The shot was a paparazzi shot from 3 years ago, when Henry was still a rather fresh-faced university student, conveniently taken before his last drastic haircut, meaning his hair was almost down to his shoulders, half-up-half-down to keep it out of his face. The setting was a café in a foreign city and a large part of his body had been covered by the shrubbery entwined with the fence bordering the artisan café. However, unlike the more recent pictures, this was the only one that showed his face clearly with a cheerful smile. Since this point in time, Henry had perfected the art of avoiding the press or having any recognisable photos even get onto his family's radar. He was extremely careful with people trying to slander him after a near experience that had almost ruined his university friend. This picture was also take by a rookie looking for their big break, meaning the photography skills were rather shabby.
Unfortunately for Joshua, who would have never thought his parents would set him up with another man, looked at the photo believing it was a woman, and the combination of bad skills and good looks had stopped anything that could have raised suspicion. As far as he was aware he had been shown a photo of a young woman who's looks could rival his own. He didn't realise that seeing this pretty face had put a lot of insecurities he had at bay. While he couldn't see her body too well, he could see this was someone who he had a possibility of getting along with.
At come point, his pretty complex had stopped him getting close with people in general, not that he had ever noticed.
The young man still found the entire situation ridiculous but after seeing the photo he did not mind so much with just a meeting; like a true romantic, he was getting hopeful, not that he would ever admit it even to himself.
Form across the table, Archer smirked, satisfied. Even if he had a few doubts on whether his brother was actually gay or not, he felt like his reaction to the photo confirmed it. This was because unlike his usual glance, he was looking at the picture, ad he seemed to like what he saw. Joshua had never advertised the true brilliance of his memory to any of his family, they had no idea a glance was the same as a photo to him. In this situation he simply found no reason to look away immediately, unlike his encounter with his brother's partners or someone he didn't really know. Hanna and John had seen this too, all three of them too satisfied to realise the picture itself was not all that great.
No one could be sure why both set of parents had opted to use photos they had quenched before reaching the public, nor why of all the photos they could have chosen they went with the ones that unintentionally brought out the androgyny in both men.
Of course, no one could truly explain why neither first tried to discuss their sons' so-call sexual preferences to men.
Since finding a foundation for a merger was important, Joshua hadn't immediately dismissed the marriage meeting. Along with his parents coaxing him and giving him a photo that could give him a little hope, he had slowly found his answer swayed.
And so he agreed.
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