“I love you Grandma. Bye.”

***

It was 3:00 p.m., and Margareta was preparing some coffee in the kitchen, when someone knocked at the door. She wasn't expecting anyone.

When she opened the door, a beautiful young woman, with short black hair and sunglasses was standing in front of her.

“May I help you?” asked Margareta.

The stranger laughed.

“It's me, Grandma. Jennifer!”

“My goodness, what have you done to your hair? Come in.”

“You don't like it?” Jennifer said, kicking off her shoes and walking towards the sofa.

“I like it, but I didn't recognize you at all! It really makes you look different... why did you change?”

“Well, I wanted to change my hairstyle for a long time already. And our conversation last night made me think. I want to teach a lesson to Bruce, to make him understand that his money cannot buy everything. Yes, he wants someone serious, but there are other ways to find someone. So I'm not going to send anyone from East Europe to trade their freedom for a green card. Instead, I'm going to meet him and pretend I'm the bride he ordered...”

Margareta joined her hands against her chest.

“Honey, this is not what I meant! I told you not to think too much! Have you lost your mind? I was talking about getting married for real, about something serious. Not to play games and role playing. This is a very dangerous plan that you have; you cannot fool your employer like that. You'll probably get fired you know?”

“Mr. Wilson is a tough businessman, but he does have a sense of humor. I'm pretty sure he will enjoy the joke... He will probably recognize me anyway. Don't worry. And I don’t think he can fire me that easily,” replied Jennifer, imitating her grandmother's accent to make her laugh.

Margareta didn’t laugh, though. Her face was wrinkled by concern and anxiety. “You always like to tease me with my accent, huh?” Then, she sighed and shook her head. “Well, you're a grown up. There’s nothing I can do to stop you, but don’t be too confident. You seem to know what you're doing. I hope...”

Chapter Three

The next morning, Jennifer called Bruce Wilson, calculating that by now, she was supposed to have landed in Thailand.

“Hello Mr. Wilson, I have selected the perfect candidate for your major acquisition, and she should be in New York tomorrow morning. Benny will take care of the details. Your chauffeur will pick her up at the airport and send her to your mansion.”

“Excellent,” he said. “How is Thailand by the way?”

“Oh, it's very... hot!”

“Great. What's her name?”

“Her name is Aleksandra Andrei, short black hair and blue eyes. The company told me she's very excited to see you.”

“Perfect. Enjoy your trip over there...”

***

Jennifer arrived at the airport forty minutes before the plane from Budapest was supposed to land. She wanted to be there before Bruce's chauffeur and waited for a crowd of travelers to rush out of the terminal gates to pretend she was looking for her name.

As she expected, a man in uniform was waiting for her. She walked confidently towards him, to let him know a certain Bruce Wilson was waiting for her. The chauffeur grabbed her luggage and took her to a huge black car, with a grey hood. Jennifer recognized Bruce's luxurious Rolls Royce Ghost. She had seen the car many times before, but it was the first time she was about to see it from the inside. She was definitely impressed, even though she was kind of “used to it” and couldn't imagine how a complete stranger to Bruce's life would have reacted.

Finally, after a forty-five-minute drive from the airport, Jennifer arrived at Bruce's mansion. She couldn't help but feel nervous. Not just a little bit. She was on the verge of panicking, but managed to control herself, knowing it was too late to have second thoughts. Her palms were wet and her heart started beating like a drum. For the first time, she realized what she was really doing: she was about to mess with her employer's private life.

What the hell am I doing here? Grandma was right, it's ridiculous! I should apologize and tell Bruce that...  

A noise on her right suddenly interrupted her thoughts. The chauffeur opened the door. They had arrived and the huge car was parked at the front steps of the mansion. Bruce was standing there, in a tailored blue suit, with an unbuttoned white shirt, showing the definition of his muscular upper chest, hands in his pockets. He was definitely more relaxed than her. At least, he seemed to be.

There we are. Jennifer took a deep breath and went out of the car, with the best smile she had. Before she could say anything, she felt a warm and sensual touch on her right hand. Confused, she saw Bruce taking her hand and kissing it gently, giving her butterflies in her gut. She couldn't help, but look at his beautiful lips. As he was kissing her hand, he was looking at her with his steel, grey eyes. Her heart skipped a beat.

“Welcome to my home, Ms. Andrei. Nice to meet you, I'm Bruce Wilson. I hope you had a nice trip?”

Jennifer kept silent for a few seconds. What should I do?

“Are you okay?” Bruce asked, raising an eyebrow.

Finally, she decided to go with the flow and replied what seemed to be the most natural answer in this situation.

“Oh sorry, nice to meet you, Sir,” Jennifer said in heavily accented English, with a big smile. “I'm really excited to meet you in person.”

“Please, call me Bruce. I'll do my best to make you feel as comfortable as possible,” Bruce said with a smile, staring intently at her eyes.

There was a moment of silence. Bruce was still looking at her, and Jennifer was expecting to be recognized at any moment.

“Please, follow me inside, I'll show you your room. I guess you need to rest a little after this long trip. Gerard!”

A man who looked like his butler clapped his hands and two men rushed to carry Jennifer’s bags.

They walked inside an impressive hall with paintings on the walls, his staff waiting in line to greet her - probably more than a dozen people.

Then, they marched off in the direction of a huge spiral glass staircase. Jennifer was breathless: the staircase was wrapping around a large floor to ceiling aquarium that was impossible to miss.

As Bruce walked in front of her to guide her, Jennifer sighed with relief. Her plan was working at the end. He didn't seem to recognize his own assistant! Even though she was relieved that Bruce didn't recognize her and fire her right away, she was also pretty upset.

Come on, boss. It's me, Jennifer, your assistant. I've been working for you and with you for five years. Please... Am I that insignificant? Or are you just a selfish billionaire who lost connection with the real world, where normal people live, to the point you don't even recognize your own staff?

At that moment, Bruce turned to look at her, as if he’d heard what she was thinking. Jennifer gasped. With a mysterious smile, he just chuckled for no apparent reason and continued to walk with confidence, like the powerful man he was.

As they arrived to her room, Bruce turned to her.

“I'll send someone to pick you up in two hours. I don't want to waste the whole day, and I want to show you around a little. Is that fine with you?”

“Sure. See you in two hours then...”

***

For the whole day, Jennifer was treated like a princess. Bruce took her to lunch in a famous French restaurant, where she discovered how sophisticated he was with food and cuisine. He talked with passion about all the places in the world he’d visited, and all the different dishes he’d tried, or even cooked himself.

Jennifer realized how smart and charming he really was. She learned more about art, music, economics, and finance in a few hours with him than she ever did in her entire life. He really excelled at conversation and knew how to make things interesting. He was so different from the strong and bossy man she used to know at the office.