THE MILLIONARE'S FAKE WIFE

1. WEDDING.

She had never liked weddings, in fact, the only reason Amelia had agreed to go to that mouth was because it was one of her friend who was getting married, otherwise, she would find herself lying in bed lamenting that the short vacation her boss had given her was about to end.

The reason Amelia hated weddings was because they reminded her of how lonely she was. Twenty-eight years and each of her love affairs had failed so horribly that one tearful day, the woman had thought of going to a quack doctor. At the time she thought about it, it made her laugh, but at the time, it seemed like a meaningful option: she had told herself that her poor luck in love could only be due to some kind of curse. Any date, any partner, any husband... each one worse than the other, ripped away her faith in love, had ripped it away from her to the degree that it barely existed.

Amelia sighed when she saw her friend Maribel approaching her, she knew what she was going to tell her, it was as if she could read her lips before they even opened.

"Amelia, my dear, why are you so lonely here?" She knew, she knew exactly what she was going to ask her. "Join us, maybe you will find someone you like among my group of friends".

Amelia gave Maribel a bitter smile, she loved her, but she was so predictable that talking to her was meaningless, she was the typical person who believed that loneliness was a curse, but Amelia had gone through so many love rejections that she was beginning to see loneliness, not only attractive, but as the only alternative she had, whether she liked it or not, she chose that over being with men who always hurt her.

"You know that love is not for me," she continued, and, seeing her friend's intentions to start giving her those romantic talks that Amelia knew by heart, she decided to continue: "Besides, all your guests look too elegant to notice me".

"Don't talk nonsense, Amelia! You look beautiful today, my dear, more beautiful than ever, I'm sure you'll charm at least one of them if you go with us".

Amelia thought about it, to her mind came the image of when she had seen herself in the mirror, she believed that Maribel was only exaggerating to make Amelia cheer up, but not many things could bring Amelia's spirits back, she had made it clear to her friend that she was only going for pure commitment.

"I don't think so, Maribel, besides, I'm not even good at socializing, those people only talk about expensive cars and money".

"But at least give it a try, okay?"

Amelia sighed, caressing her temple with her hands and looking at her friend in an exhausted way, it was easy for her to tell her to try, she had never failed in love, she had been dating that guy for ten years, and that day she got married, the idea of lasting ten years with someone was completely implausible to her, she could barely, with too much luck, maintain a relationship for ten weeks.

"It's easy for you to say, Maribel".

"Your problem is pessimism, Amelia. Nothing will happen if you try, come on, just this once try, okay?"

Amelia sighed, playing with her fingers in a rapid fashion. Using her left hand she threw her dark head back, her green eyes fixed once again on Maribel, who it seemed would not stop insisting until she agreed to join the group of rich people talking about subjects she surely wouldn't even understand.

"All right," she finally agreed, then stood up, "But it will only take a few moments," she told her, raising her hand to look at the time, "I have to leave in about thirty minutes".

"Why do you have to leave?" She knew Amelia was lying, she lived alone and was single, the only one who could be waiting for her at home was her dying cat, the one who disappeared most of the week. "Who's waiting for you?"

"I have to go visit mom" Maribel gave her an incredulous look. "I'm serious, she's been very sick".

"Okay, but first, come with me".

The woman, dressed in a stunning white dress that caressed the floor, grabbed Amelia by the right arm, almost dragging her in an overexcited way towards the group of people who, as Amelia had said and supposed, were talking about subjects she didn't even understand.

Both women approached the group of people, Maribel introduced Amelia, who shyly greeted most of the men and women in the group, for a few minutes, all attention remained fixed on Amelia, the urge to run away, came stronger than ever, she promised herself never to go to a social event again, although those thoughts and promises were moving away from her When, as the minutes passed, the looks returned to their places and she could breathe much easier when she stopped being the focus of attention of those women and those wealthy men, she felt that everyone judged her, that everyone had something to say about her, the way she dressed, even the way she stood, which was different from the people of higher social classes, she was a simple woman who worked in a cafeteria, she could never behave like them, and in fact, she did not want to. With these thoughts in mind and with her friend Maribel distracted, Amelia allowed herself to walk to the wine area and pour herself a glass, which she drank quickly.

The wine would quench her urge to run out of there. She felt so different from everyone else, she couldn't even come up with an answer as to how it was possible for Maribel to have such rich friends, and others as poor, as she did.

"I guess she takes a little bit of everything," she thought, laughing inwardly as she brought the wine glass to her lips.

"It's uncomfortable, isn't it?".

The woman stirred tremulously as she suddenly heard a male voice speak to her.

Her eyes, startled by the sudden way in which that voice had made its presence known, turned towards the place where it came from, looking at her from head to toe: it was a burly man, who was also holding a bottle of wine while looking at her in a way that made Amelia grimace.

"What's awkward?"

Her voice sounded rougher than she had planned, still not turning fully toward him.

The man took a sip of wine. The thin beard covering his perfect-looking face gave him a touch of mystery that was the only thing that kept Amelia from cursing him for scaring her.

"Coming to a wedding alone".

Amelia nodded heavily. She guessed, she guessed someone else would make an unnecessary comment about going to a wedding alone, they had already made a thousand in the group of people she had stupidly agreed to join, she didn't need one more stupid guy who had approached her for no reason to tell her something she already knew.

"It's uncomfortable, but bearable," she mumbled, covering her face with a mask of heaviness, she didn't want to talk to that guy, and she proved it to him when she left the glass of wine there and prepared to walk away from that place, until his voice stopped her.

"I know it's bearable, more than anyone else".

Amelia's gaze fell on him, curiosity was in her eyes, was a man like that single? She couldn't say he was the most attractive man she had ever seen, she would be lying to herself, however, he was quite attractive and had an elegant appearance, Amelia supposed it was too easy to find a partner for a man like that, so, hearing that he was also hinting at being alone there, captured her attention.

"Are you alone here?"

He took another sip of his wine, then looked the woman over from head to toe. She was a rather stout woman, not too tall, with a lot of small dark spots on her cheeks, but, to his delight, they looked like freckles, which added a precious and captivating touch to her face as white as snow itself.

"Yes," he replied, looking away from her.

"Your wife chose to stay home, I suppose," Amelia said, letting out a nervous laugh that the man did not reciprocate.

"I don't have a wife," he muttered.

Amelia nodded, not quite understanding how such an attractive man could be single. Although that was the least of her doubts, she couldn't help but wonder why he had approached her. Amelia had noticed him a couple of times at the wedding, he was walking around, he seemed to be looking for someone, their gazes had connected a couple of times, actually, more than she would have liked.

"I see," she answered him, after analyzing him with her eyes, it wasn't like she cared too much about that information.

"I guess you don't either".

"Does the loneliness show on my face that much?"

The man laughed softly.

"No, but actually, I think that coming alone to a wedding is the most obvious sign that one is single, isn't it, miss?"

She laughed, she was almost thirty, she had stopped being a "miss" a long time ago.

"Maybe, maybe".

"I guess I was right".

"Right about what?"

"About you being single".

She raised an eyebrow, why would a wealthy-looking man like him care if she was single? She wasn't even slightly attractive, or at least that was the self-concept he had.

"Maybe".

"That's a yes".

"Why do you care?"

"I don't care. I was just trying to find out something," he admitted to her, then put down his wine glass, "Tell me, what's your name?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I won't do any harm with that information if that's what you think," he laughed.

"I didn't say it would do any harm, I just don't see the point of giving my name to a stranger".

He smiled.

"I guess you were one of those girls who obeyed too strictly the don't talk to strangers rule." Amelia could not contain a small laugh, but then she returned to her normal state, something told her that he was just an egocentric millionaire looking to boost his ego. "Am I wrong?"

"Yes, you're wrong", she answered him, looking to withdraw, but feeling his grip on her hand, she restrained herself from letting go with a strong slap.

"I need to know your name".

"You need? Why do you need? You and I don't even know each other," she spat at him, tugging at his arm, but something told her he wouldn't let go until she gave him her name, the question was, why was a complete stranger so interested in her name?

"I just want to know, that's all".

"I won't give you my name, let go of me this instant or I'll start screaming".

He started laughing, still not letting go.

"Do it, scream," he challenged her, thinking she wouldn't dare, but when the woman opened her lips, the man quickly ran towards them, placing his hand on her face.

"Don't touch my face!"

"Was you really going to scream?!"

"You told me to do it!"

"What makes you think I was serious?! Who the hell yells at a wedding?!"

"Me, if you don't let go of my hand right now! I don't even know who you are, just let me go!"

"My name is Maximiliano, it's a pleasure" He suddenly calmed down and held out his hand, without letting go of the other one, she didn't return the greeting, she just looked at him without understanding why the hell he wouldn't let go of her hand.

"I Amelia," she spat at him with an effort, maybe this way he would let go once and for all, "Can you let me go now?"

He loosened his grip just enough for her to jerk free and look askance at him. In truth, she wasn't surprised that a complete stranger was treating her like this, she felt she had a kind of magnet for attracting the most particular men, men who only wanted to play with her, of course, who promised her all the stars in the sky, and couldn't even provide her with the light of a healthy relationship.

"It is a pleasure for me to meet you, Amelia".

She looked at him from head to toe, denied in an annoyed way and abruptly moved away from that guy, heading towards Maribel, who seemed to have observed the whole scene, the smile on her face revealed it.

"Who is that crazy man you invited? He grabbed me by the hand and told me he wouldn't let me go until I gave him my name, what kind of crazy guy does that? I don't even know him!"

"His name is Maximiliano, I think... and he asked me about you a while ago".

"What? He asked you about me? Why would that man ask you about me?"

Maribel shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know, I really don't know, he's a friend of my husband's... he's a very... particular, mysterious man, I don't know, I'm actually glad you at least talked to someone else today, but I wouldn't recommend you to put yourself in a relationship with him".

Amelia looked at Maribel with a dumbfounded grimace.

"But who told you I'm going to get into a relationship with that guy? I've known him less than five minutes!"

Maribel smiled.

"I'm just saying," she muttered, shrugging her thin shoulders.

The rest of the wedding passed normally, until it was time to leave, at least for Amelia, who, as she headed for the exit, couldn't help but take one last look around the place, meeting again the familiar eyes of Maximiliano, who had been watching her all night.

She felt a chill that made her tremble, what was that guy looking at her for? Why did all his attention seem to be fixed on her? What did he want?

"What does he want from me?" she asked herself in a whisper, she was beginning to feel a little afraid, and it was that feeling that forced her to almost run out of the place, she had barely said goodbye to her friend, she supposed she would have to do it by phone, because she could hardly stand to be observed by him in that particular way.

And that was how Amelia left the place, quickly taking a cab and getting into it, without leaving a second of thinking about the eyes of that stranger named Maximiliano.