Fight, Flight, or Freeze: The Healer's Story
Chapter 175: Stockholm Syndrome

Chapter 175: Stockholm Syndrome

"Six?" Bai Long Qiang asked, his head spinning around to look at the Reaver.

"Do you really think that I am going to graciously back off after living for her for two years? That I would just hand her over and wipe my hands of everything? I knew you were slow; I didn’t think that you were stupid," continued Rip, the smirk only getting darker and more unhinged as he spoke.

"Or have you forgotten that I am the only one she really feels comfortable with right now? If I walk out of this place right now, do you really think she would stay here? Or follow me?"

"And do you really think that I am going to let you take her from me?" asked a new voice. The men turned around to see Bin An Sha leaning against the entrance of the living room. His arms were folded over his chest, and his feet were crossed at his ankles. He might look like he didn’t have a care in the world, but the feeling he gave off was no longer that of the doctor who spoke so gently to Wang Tian Mu.

"Are you sure you are just a doctor?" asked Rip for the second time as a feeling of danger assaulted him. He wasn’t scared of the human, but if it came down to a fight, the other man would make him work for the win.

But Rip would be the last man standing.

Life or death was never a good enough reason for him, but fighting for Wang Tian Mu?

Well, that was a completely different story.

"As much as this pissing contest isn’t oh so riveting, you all realize that Wang Tian Mu isn’t in a state to be thinking about having multiple suitors or even about anything even remotely romantic," interrupted Ye Yao Zu, shooting a glare at all the other men.

"We need to concentrate on making her feel safe, and us fighting amongst ourselves is not the way to do it."

"Agree," grunted Rip. "Wang Tian Mu must always come first."

"So, to ask my question for the third time," sighed Cheng Bo Jing as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. He could feel the headache coming on. He never thought that he would be spending the rest of his life in close proximity to Bai Long Qiang, but if it meant that he would finally have his dream girl then there were worse things. "What can we do to help her?"

"No fighting," grunted Bin An Sha as he straightened up and walked into the living room with the rest. "We might not consider it that big of a deal, but given her past, she might not see it that way. Fighting would make her feel unstable; she might even wonder if one of us was going to leave and destroy her all over again."

Ye Yao Zu nodded his head in agreement. "We need to let her make decisions as well. She had her freedom completely taken away to the point where she experienced a state of learned helplessness where she felt powerless about all aspects of her life. We need to give her back that control and power."

"But not too many choices," interjected Rip. "If she is given too many options, she tends to freeze, not knowing the correct one to make. Then that makes her upset and angry that she can’t do something so simple as deciding what she wants to eat that she circles."

"Makes sense," agreed Si Dong, the signature smirk on his face long gone. "So we narrow down her options to between two things and let her choose between those."

"That would work," nodded Ye Yao Zu, "But we can’t have a say in the matter. We don’t want to make her think that by choosing one option, the ones who wanted the other would be mad at her."

"Okay, so we have a game plan. Is there anything else you think we should know?" asked Cheng Bo Jing, getting comfortable again.

"Just one. Don’t talk bad about the Camp," answered Ye Yao Zu slowly.

"Excuse me?" asked Fan Teng Fei as he took a step toward the other man before coming to a halt.

"Studies show that people who have been held captive for an extended period of time will develop feelings for their captor, and vice versa. There was an instance where a little girl had been captured and held captive for 11 years before she was freed. When the abductor killed himself shortly after she left, she became upset and mourned his death. She even went as far as to hate the police for saving her. She blamed them for his death," admitted Ye Yao Zu, looking down at his hands.

But that didn’t stop everyone else from turning to look at Rip.

"Not the same," he growled. "I can assure you that neither one of us suffers from Stockholm Syndrome. If Alpha was right in front of her right now, she would cheerfully kill him. She has no emotional attachment to him at all."

"But she does to you," pointed out Ye Yao Zu, finally looking at the other man. "You were the one to feed her, to protect her, to look after her. If she was going to emotionally bond with anyone, it would have been you. Alpha might have been the one keeping her in the compound, but you were the one with the most contact."

"Are you saying that you think I was her captor? That the only reason why she and I have a bond is because I didn’t kill her?" asked Rip, coming to his feet.

He had never once questioned the feeling that the others had for her, even after all these years. He never once rubbed it in that she had forgotten about all of them until they showed up two years later.

And they have the audacity to think that the only reason why she liked him was because he didn’t kill her?

Because at the end of the day, that was how Stockholm Syndrome was created: a bond between captor and prisoner because one was afraid of dying and the other one never went through with it.