Here is the translation of the full story.
Everyone in the boardroom fell silent as Ethan Kade, the billionaire CEO of KadeTech, leaned back in his leather chair, smirked, and announced: “I’m going to marry the first girl who walks through that door.”
The words hung in the air like a challenge, a provocation… or perhaps a confession masked by arrogance.
The men and women around the table stared at him, unsure if he was joking. Ethan Kade wasn’t known for his sense of romance. He was known for numbers, ruthless takeovers, and being the youngest tech billionaire in New York. Love, relationships, feelings: none of that seemed to have a place in his polished, titanium-plated life.
But he had said it. And no one dared to laugh.
Ethan hated weddings. He had just returned from a ridiculously lavish ceremony in Tuscany—his younger brother’s—where love was paraded like a trophy and guests toasted to “forever” as if it were a brand of champagne.
He hated the looks people gave him: “When’s it your turn?” As if marriage were a rite of passage he had missed. As if getting married made someone complete.
He had rolled his eyes through the entire event and returned home with a renewed disgust for anything even remotely resembling commitment.
So, when his executive assistant, Travis, teased him, claiming he would never settle down because he was “afraid of a real connection,” Ethan snapped.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll prove that it’s all just hot air.” “How, exactly?” Travis asked. “I’m going to marry the first girl who walks through that door,” he declared, pointing to the glass entrance of the conference room.
A murmur of disbelief rippled through the room. “Are you serious?” asked Lauren, his marketing director. “Dead serious,” Ethan replied. “She walks in, we talk, I propose. It’s that simple. Love is a business transaction. Nothing more. I’ll sign the papers, I’ll wear the ring, I’ll smile for the cameras. We’ll see how long it lasts.”
They all stared at him, torn between unease and shock. But Ethan didn’t flinch. He meant it—or at least, he thought he did.
On the other side of the door, footsteps echoed in the hallway. Someone was approaching. The team turned in their chairs, ready to see who fate—or madness—would choose.
The door opened. And Ethan froze. She wasn’t what he expected. In fact, she had no business being there.
No power suit, no designer logo. She was wearing jeans, a gray t-shirt with the faded logo of a bookstore, and holding a stack of misdelivered mail. Her hair was tied back in a loose ponytail, mussed by the summer heat, and her eyes widened as she saw all the attention focused on her.
“I… I think this was delivered to the wrong floor,” she said, holding up the mail. “I’m from the…” “Who are you?” Ethan cut in, standing up. She blinked. “I’m… Olivia. Olivia Lane. I work at the café on the 5th floor.”
A stifled laugh went around the room, but Ethan didn’t laugh. He didn’t even blink. His heart, usually so steady and utilitarian, skipped a beat. Because there was something about her. Something totally out of place in his calibrated world of quarterly reports and annual projections.
He should have brushed it off with a laugh, said it was a joke. But the words he had just thrown out—“I’m going to marry the first girl who walks through that door”—echoed inside him like a challenge from the universe. And for the first time in a long while, he didn’t know what to say.
Olivia, increasingly perplexed, raised an eyebrow. “Is this… some kind of meeting?” “Yes,” said Ethan, recovering. “Yes. And you are now part of it.”
Back in his office, Ethan replayed the scene on a loop. He couldn’t get her out of his head—the way she tilted her head, her directness, her total ignorance of who he was.
“I can’t believe you’re going to do this,” Travis said, following him. “I said I would,” Ethan replied. “She’s a barista, Ethan.” “She’s a woman. That’s all that mattered, remember?” “But you froze. You hesitated.” “I wasn’t expecting her, that’s all.” “So you’re really going to ask her to marry you?” Ethan gazed out at the Manhattan skyline, his expression unreadable. “Yes. I’m going to do it.”
And with those words, the man who thought love was a joke began planning a marriage proposal—to a stranger who had come to deliver mail by mistake.
What he didn’t know was that Olivia Lane wasn’t just a barista. And he was far from imagining what she was hiding.
Ethan Kade, tech billionaire, had announced in a burst of bravado that he would marry the first woman to walk through the boardroom door. When that woman turned out to be Olivia Lane—an unassuming barista returning lost mail—he faltered. But he had made a promise, and he intended to keep it. What he didn’t know was… that Olivia Lane wasn’t who she claimed to be.
Two days later, Ethan stood in front of the café on the 5th floor of the building he owned—a place he had never set foot in until now. A dozen interns and employees glanced his way as he entered, some feigning indifference, others whispering openly, phones in hand.
Behind the counter, Olivia was wiping down the espresso machine, hair tied back, humming. He cleared his throat. She looked up, surprised. “Oh. You again.” “Me again,” he replied with a smile. “Are you still trying to turn that meeting into a soap opera?” “Actually,” he said, pulling a small velvet box from his pocket, “I came to ask if you would marry me.”
Olivia stared at him. Then she burst out laughing. “Are you serious?” “As serious as when I said it.” “That’s… completely crazy.” “I know,” he replied. “But it’s a beautiful kind of crazy.” She leaned over the counter, her face suddenly softer. “Look, I don’t know what game you’re playing, Mr. CEO. Maybe you’re bored, or you want to prove something. But I’m not a prop in a bet.” “It’s not a bet,” Ethan said. “It’s… a statement. A leap. And I want you to take it with me.” She paused. “You don’t know anything about me.” “Then let me learn.”
Three weeks later, Ethan and Olivia were legally married in a small ceremony on the roof of KadeTech headquarters. It was sudden. The headlines exploded: “Tech Tycoon Marries Mystery Barista.” Columnists mocked. Analysts speculated. And Ethan Kade? He smiled for the cameras, held her hand, and acted as if it had all been written in the stars.
But behind the scenes, something was cracking. Because Olivia wasn’t who she seemed.
Her real name wasn’t Olivia Lane. It was Anna Whitmore—a former investigative journalist who had vanished from the scene after publishing an article that nearly brought down a biotechnology giant… a company linked, distantly, to KadeTech.
Her last piece had triggered legal chaos. Threats. A firebombed apartment. She had disappeared, changed her identity, and found refuge under the pseudonym “Olivia” behind a coffee counter. And then—by pure chance—she had opened that door. And now, she was married to Ethan Kade.
At first, she promised herself she’d get out fast. A few appearances, a quiet divorce, maybe even a financial settlement. But the more time passed, the more complicated everything became.
Ethan wasn’t the cold, arrogant man she had imagined. Yes, he was intense. But also thoughtful. Fragile, sometimes. He slept little. He talked to her about books. He let her speak—really speak—and sometimes she caught him watching her as if trying to understand how someone like her had landed in his life. And what scared her most was that she was starting to love him.
But her past wasn’t done with her.
One evening, Ethan found a large manila envelope on the marble countertop of their kitchen. No return address. Inside: a photo of Olivia—well, Anna—outside a courthouse, a copy of the article she had written under her real name, and a note: “Does your new wife still believe in the truth of secrets? Ask her about Halvex Biotech.”
Ethan read the contents twice. Then a third time. A storm brewed in his eyes. She had lied to him. Her name, her history, her “accidentally delivered mail.” Was it fate? Or had she been planted there?
When she came home that evening, he was waiting for her. “Who are you?” he asked, holding up the photo. Olivia—no, Anna—froze. He threw the envelope on the table. “Tell me the truth. The whole truth.” She looked down, her breathing ragged. “I didn’t plan this. I swear. I didn’t know who you were at first.” “You expect me to believe that?” “No,” she said softly. “But I didn’t lie to hurt you. I was hiding. To stay alive. I never thought I’d walk into that room. I never thought you’d choose me.”
A thick silence fell between them. Finally, she whispered: “I was trying to disappear. And then I walked into your world and realized… I didn’t want to anymore.”
He stared at her. The woman he had married on a whim—the one who now knew his secrets—held much more dangerous ones of her own. And yet, a part of him twisted at the thought of losing her. “I don’t know if I can trust you,” he said. “I don’t blame you,” she replied. “But I didn’t come to destroy you. I came to survive.” He looked away, his jaw clenched. Then, in a low voice, she added: “But maybe the two of us… maybe we can stop hiding. Both you and me.”
Epilogue — Six Months Later
They didn’t divorce. It wasn’t a fairy tale either. But Ethan made a phone call that ended the partnership between KadeTech and Halvex Biotech. Anna published one last article—under her real name this time—revealing the truth about Halvex, and finally stepped out of the shadows.
As for Ethan? He stopped believing that love was just a transaction. Because the girl who walked through that door hadn’t just turned his life upside down. She had saved it.
