Miles (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 2

When I get to my apartment, I slip off my jacket and set it on the back of the leather chair before grabbing my laptop and getting comfortable on my couch. I immediately search up the Stigma website and wait for it to load to show that picture of Julian holding the sign. I glance over it again, noticing that he looked a bit younger than what he looked like in person, so I just assumed it was an old picture. I look around all the tabs to see if there was anything written about just him on the website and when I come up empty, I let out a sigh.

An idea pops into my head, but I feel doubtful as I go to Google to search just his name. My eyes widen when I see that Julian has a whole Wikipedia page dedicated to just him. I run a hand through my hair before reluctantly pressing the keypad to take me to the webpage. I expect for a small little paragraph to load, but when a whole page that I can actually scroll through pops up, I swipe my laptop off my lap and shoot up to my feet and run a hand through my messy hair.

"What the hell?" I whisper to myself, extremely confused because who is this guy? I mean, he did say that he did lots of things, but so much that he deserved a whole Wiki page?

I pace around a bit before settling back on my couch to look at my laptop and go through the web page. The picture on the right side was of him at some event, holding some award in his hands. I read over some of the words to learn a bit about him since I only knew his name and that he was the creator of Stigma. I read that his middle name is Martin, he's 26-years-old, and he was born in Virginia before moving here with his family when he was 12. I let out a sigh, finding the courage to look past the first paragraph to actually read about him and his accomplishments.

Julian Martin Caldwell is an American humanitarian, philanthropist, and businessman. He is the co-founder of Stigma Educational Programs (est. 2011) along with three of his best friends that no longer work for the company. He is the CEO and founder of Well Sessions (est. 2012) that focuses on bringing counseling to children, adolescents, and adults in seven states. It was created close to Stigma and is now considered a "sister company" to one another. He is the creator of Home Our Community (est. 2014), a non-profit organization that focuses on providing shelters for adolescents that were kicked out of their homes for their sexuality or gender identity.

Caldwell co-founded Paradise Turn (est. 2016) with fellow businesswoman, Nina Turner. In 2017, they were named the "#1 traveling agency" by multiple sources. He then funded Light Impression in 2018 when he saw that they were going under due to a lawsuit from an employee that stated he was "wrongfully terminated". Since then, he became the CEO of the company and helped create the camera called Pres that is now a close competitor with Canon and Sony due to the better ISO controls that help take pictures in lower lighting than ever before.

I tear my eyes away from my computer to place my head in my hands because I just met someone that seems pretty fucking awesome and I probably made a complete fool out of myself in front of him. I take out my phone and immediately text Mia to ask her if she had looked up Julian because he wasn't just a creator of one company, but a creator of two, creator of a non-profit, in a partnership with a traveling agency, and CEO of a company he brought back to life. I sit there for a few minutes and almost facepalm when I realize why I thought I had heard of Stigma before.

I've been to Well Sessions before with my baby sister, Ivy. She actually goes there because she was diagnosed with anxiety about a year ago and she sees a counselor three times a month. I've taken her most of the time and I must've seen a sign that talked about Stigma while I was waiting for her, but I was curious why I hadn't seen Julian before. I mean, maybe he's not there often, but I've been there quite a bit.

My phone vibrates on the couch next to me and I pick it up, noticing that Mia was FaceTiming me. I accept it and wait while we connect until I see her face along with her husband, Ned, who was sitting next to her. "Um, this guy is, like, crazy. He told us that he was involved in other stuff, but all of that? I would've never guessed."