The board meeting had taken a lot of Jonas’ energy and he was noticeably tired after the long meeting in which, his father made it a point to discuss Key Performance Indicators and the Quality Assurance Process ad infinitum until Jonas was bored to tears. He took a sip of water from a glass next to him and heard one of the maids shuffling about. Her parents always kept housemaids of young girls from Sweden in Jonas’ wing of the house. Their hope was that he would have his fun with one of them as opposed to accidentally getting an American pregnant. After all, American’s did not share the same values as they did and would pollute the bloodline that the Akerlund’s had preserved intact for hundreds of years. It was a shameful fact that the family kept well hidden that one of the dynastic founders of the Akerlund family was not Swedish but Norwegian. They justified it with the idea that Finland, Sweden, and Norway were once all part of the same kingdom. This was why they made sure their heir was surrounded by beautiful Swede’s.<br/><br/>Indeed, in his youth, Jonas did have his fun. He bedded a housemaid every night. His sexual needs were met and then some. But as he grew older, this felt more like a chore and even bored him to a slight degree. So, while he still bedded one now and then it was not nearly as frequent. He was more interested in the local culture and people, which at first scared his parents, but then subsided as they realized this was likely some sort of social experiment. He was rubbing his temples during an explanation of quality steel. He was bored, but he was still taking the information in. He was sure he would need it someday. The bustling became louder when a topless woman appeared in the doorway to Jonas’ office. “Jonas’ you need to go to bed it is way past your bedtime and you need your rest” He looked up irritated by the disturbance. When he saw the half-naked woman, he felt rage build up inside of him. He threw the carafe full of water at the door “do you not see I am in a meeting with the board?!?” he raged loudly. “Firstly, you come in here half expecting me to fuck you, but then you have the indecency to show yourself to the board members?” “Clean it up and get out you are fired” he barked not realizing his microphone was on.<br/><br/>Looking at the screen in a state of embarrassment, he began to apologize profusely to the men on the other side of his screen. He wasn’t aware of it, but the board had sent the young lady to Jonas as a sort of test for the young man to see where his priorities were, and this display of rage had passed the test and then some. “My apologies gentleman, this will be taken care of and will not happen again. Father you were saying something about the entwinement of different steel compounds for Project Konungsariket?” Jonas’ father smiled and chuckled to himself. “Don’t worry son, I’m sure this has happened to each one of us at some point. I am incredibly happy to see that you are at least paying attention” After about another hour, the meeting ended with Jonas’ being advised he was expected in Stockholm in a month to open a new factory in Malmo. Jonas obliged and thanked each board member in turn and turned off the computer.<br/><br/>He hadn’t noticed the housemaid still cleaning and went over to apologize to the girl, sending her energy that would calm her. He assured her that her job was safe and kissed her on the cheek. He went to his safe and pulled out $1000 American Dollars. “Here take some time off and enjoy yourself” he said handing her the money. I have been stressed out lately and I did not mean to take it out on you” He said. He wasn’t sure why he was so stressed out, but the fact that the memory of a chance encounter with a woman at a coffee shop kept coming back to his mind surprised him. He tapped the screen on his phone and saw the time. He had notifications from different people, but not from Cat. The one notification he really wanted. He couldn’t really expect her to reply when he wanted. He did not want to control her and wanted this friendship if that is what he could refer to it as to blossom naturally. He attached his phone to the charger near his bed and collapsed into the crisp sheets awaiting him. He took a final sip of water and decided he would read a little before bed. He started reading the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson and found that he was engrossed in the novel, quite enjoying himself.<br/><br/>Though he knew the author was Swedish, he was still amazed at the vivid and accurate descriptions of Sweden and was very appreciative at his skill with words. He thought he would visit this mans grave on his next trip home as Mr. Larsson had committed suicide. It was a sad thought and he had tried to put it out of his mind. He started feeling drowsy and sat up in bed one last time to see if Cat had reached out to him. When he saw that she had not he went to sleep.<br/><br/>A few hours later, he awoke to the sound of his phone buzzing. The bright screen illuminating the dark room. He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and felt his feet hit the floor. The floor was warm thanks to Jonas’ insistence of heated floors. He picked up the phone to see an unknown number was calling him He picked up the phone and let it ring a few times. “Hello, this is Jonas.” He said still half asleep.<br/><br/>