Paid To Pretend, Destined To Love

The world was a strange balance of ruin and routine, just like the Yin and Yang, of hospital lights and office doors, of whispered prayers and million-dollar signatures.

In Madrid, wealth and desperation walked the same streets, spoke the same language, breathed the same air.

She believed in survival. He believed in power. Neither believed in fate.

Yet somewhere between desperation and dominance, their stories were written—quietly, inevitably.

Rachel had learned early that life isn't always a bed of roses. It has thorns, the ones that prick you as soon as you get a hold of a rose.

Their parents were gone. Their father had left behind nothing but unpaid loans and a trail of collectors who knocked harder than grief ever could.

Every month, Rachel's salary disappeared before she could even blink. Hospital bills. Debt repayments. Medication. Rent. There was no luxury. No savings. They lived hand to mouth, surviving, not living.

Rachel always believed that problems are inevitable, can't be avoided.

One day, at the office, her phone rang. She didn't remember grabbing her bag. She didn't remember asking for permission to leave work.

All she remembered was the word hospital and the way her heart skipped and dropped into her stomach.

"Your brother has been rushed in."

The world didn't end. It twisted and turned.

And somewhere across the city, in a glass building that reached the sky, a man typed on his laptop and adjusted his cufflinks, unaware that soon, her chaos would knock at his door.

~~~~~~~~ HOSPITAL UNIVERSITARIO LA PAZ ~~~~~~

Rachel burst through the doors of Hospital Universitario La Paz, frantically searching for a nurse or doctor. As she resumed her sprint, she ran into a nurse carrying a tray of medical instruments.

"Please! Please! My brother was rushed in just n—"

"Ow! You bumped into me. That's not the proper thing to say," the nurse interrupted.

"I'm sorry, I... I... my brother was rushed in," her voice cracking with panic and tears.

The nurse's eyes softened, and without a word, she pointed to the door at the far left.

Rachel burst into the room. The doctor, Dr. Álvarez, was writing on his clipboard, his expression grave.

"The medication I prescribed," Dr. Álvarez said carefully, "it's only slowing the progression now. We need to perform the surgery within two weeks, máximo."

He paused, the kind of pause that meant bad news.

"The public system has a six-month waiting list. To do it privately..." He named a figure that made Rachel's stomach drop. "Forty thousand euros. Half up front."

"But the public healthcare—"

"Will get to him eventually," the doctor interrupted gently. "But his heart won't wait six months, Rachel."

Spain's public healthcare was supposed to be free. Supposed to cover everything. But Benjamín's heart condition required a specialist procedure not covered under the standard system. Private surgery. Private costs.

Rachel felt her chest tighten, the world spinning around her. What would she do? She wasn't eligible for health insurance because her salary wasn't up to the approved minimum wage. She had just paid off one of her father's debtors and used the remaining money for her brother's medication—the same brother lying helplessly on the bed.

She pulled her phone from her pocket, her hands shaking nervously. There was no time to wait. With little to no hesitation, she dialed the accountant at the company.

As the seconds passed, the hum of the phone made her anxious. When the phone beeped, indicating he had answered, she forced her voice to sound steadier than it felt.

"I... I need an advance," she said. "It's an emergency. Please."

The pause on the other end was long enough to make her palms sweaty and her stomach churn.

"Rachel... we can't. You've already requested more than two years' worth of salary advances. Company policy won't allow it."

Her fingers clenched around the phone, heart pounding, mind racing, hope shattered. Panic mixed with frustration, a lump forming in her throat, but she swallowed it down.

She had no choice. If the company wouldn't help, she'd find another way. She had to.

She looked at her brother, walked toward him, and kissed his head.

"Mum and Dad are gone. You're the only one I have. I can't lose you too," she muttered, her eyes filling with tears.

~~~~~~~~ STERLING TECH OFFICE ~~~~~

Back at the office, the tension Rachel left behind seemed to linger in the air.

The Madrid office of Sterling Tech had been buzzing all week. Their American parent company had just been bought out, and the new owner—some mysterious Spanish billionaire who'd made his fortune abroad—was coming to take over today.

The accountant huffed and muttered under her breath, leaning over her desk.

"Dios mío, this girl... always asking for money. Does she think we run a charity here? And now with the new boss arriving—a Spaniard, they say, but raised abroad—who knows what will happen to us. And she's calling to ask for an advance on this day? I never asked them to be poor, so she shouldn't involve me. I'm just here to work."

A few coworkers chattered along, others unsure whether to join or just keep quiet.

The gossiping grew louder... until click, click—his polished shoes echoed across the floor.

His gaze fixed on the elevator, not even sparing a glance at anyone. The secretary immediately grabbed some files from her desk and walked briskly by his side. He strode into the private elevator like he owned the air itself.

Every head turned instinctively, and the whispers died mid-sentence.

The new boss had just arrived. Everyone knew that a billionaire from outside the country had bought the company—a very mysterious man who made heads turn but didn't ever talk. No one had ever heard his voice.

Joseph Delgado had left Spain at eighteen, running from a family name that demanded perfection and a voice that refused to cooperate. He'd built his empire in Silicon Valley. 

Now, at thirty-two, he'd bought his way back home. Not to reconcile. To prove something.

His grandmother was the only one who'd never made him feel broken. And now she was dying.

As he entered the elevator, the ding echoed across the hall. The tension in the air suddenly reduced, and everyone returned to work, temporarily forgetting about Rachel's predicament.

--------- MINUTES LATER ----------

A voice crackled through the speakerphone in his office as he unbuttoned his cufflinks.

"José, mi nieto, you cannot miss my birthday again."

His grandmother's voice, warm but firm, filled the minimalist space.

"You missed last year, and the year before that. Now you're finally back in Madrid and you want to miss this one too? It's my eightieth, for the love of God!"

She switched to rapid Spanish, the way she always did when emotional.

"¿Ya no me quieres? ¿O has encontrado otra abuela? ¿O tal vez una novia que te tiene tan ocupado que yano tienes tiempo para mí?"

Do you not love me anymore? Or have you found another grandmother? Or perhaps a girlfriend who has you so busy you don't have time for me?

Joseph sighed, his fingers pausing on his tie.

"Abuela," he said quietly. "Para. You know why I left. You know why I couldn't come back before."

His voice—low, steady, controlled. It didn't rise. It didn't strain. It simply existed. Speaking to her was easier than speaking to anyone else. It always had been.

"Sí, sí, lo sé," she replied, softening. "But you're here now. And I want to see you happy before I..."

She didn't finish.

"I'll come," he said.

"Con una chica," she added quickly. With a girl. "Your cousin Javier is bringing his fiancée. I don't want you sitting there alone while everyone else—"

"Abuela—"

"Find someone, José. Anyone. I just want to see you with someone who makes you smile."

The line went quiet for a moment.

"Te quiero, abuela," he said finally. I love you, grandmother.

"Y yo a ti, mi niño." And I you, my boy.

He ended the call and stared at the phone, his throat tight—not from the speaking, but from everything unsaid. His throat had become parched from all the talking. He signaled to his secretary immediately and typed on his phone.

"Finish up the paperwork. Ensure it is ready by tomorrow morning. I will read through and sign tomorrow. I'm leaving now."

She nodded in response, and he raised an eyebrow.

"I... I..." She cleared her throat. "I mean, yes sir."

He tilted his head, stood up, grabbed his jacket, and walked out.