Taming the Alpha Billionaire

He’s going to kill his sister. In his mind, anyway. She insisted on meeting today to catch-up, and some random reasons she threw out, like asking for advice on a new venture she’s going for. He usually indulges her. He only has one sister. Though they used to dream about killing each other when they were kids, they grew up to really treasure each other. They support each other. Though given their current status and situations, it was more of him supporting her.

But for her to actually ditch this schedule, while his month is already filled with business meetings… he can only try to calm down.

He walked to the nearby park while his assistant, Ryan, settles the reservation made on the restaurant.

Josh, or Joshua Harrison, is a highly successful businessman. Yes, he’s a billionaire, built over years of hard work and ruthless decision-making. One of the things he learned early on is saying “no” to proposals and suggestions that simply wouldn’t work despite their potential. He has that knack for assessing ventures and seeing the red flags, allowing him to make immediate decisions. He only works on the ones with high success rate, it was almost impossible to fail. Did he lose “friends” over it? Yes. Did he make enemies out of all the people he rejected? Absolutely. He’s known to be ruthless, cold, and unfeeling.

He sat on an empty bench. He looked out of place, wearing his expensive black suit. He looked around and there were very few people. He took his phone out, contemplating what kind of message to send to Jenny, his sister. He’ll have to make sure her next appointment with him is next month. He’s too busy to even make time for her anytime she wants. She has to respect his schedule, too.

In a while, a petite woman trudged over with her luggage. She set the largest one on the ground, while putting a large bag on the other side of the bench. She looked extremely exhausted, with sweat beading her forehead and droplets running down her face to her neck. She has fair complexion. Her exhaustion didn’t take away her beauty, though. Well, at least, to Joshua’s eyes.

Her gaze is a bit distracted. He initially thought she must be on some kind of drug. A pity. Then, her eyes zeroed in on the watch on his wrist.

“What time is it?” She narrowed her eyes on the watch, but maybe she still couldn’t see the hands and numbers. Josh lifted his arm to see.

“It’s ten minutes after two o’clock.”

There was a short pause in which the woman seemed to process it.

“In the afternoon?” She asked, and Josh is reconsidering if she’s really on something.

It’s obviously an afternoon. He sighed before saying “yes.”.

The woman nodded. “Okay, I can work on that.” She noticed his gaze on her. She must look like someone crazy. It’s her longest travel time and she was sick of it.

“Where I came from, it’s still two o’clock in the early morning.” She stated with a smile while holding up her phone. She did something on it before slumping over her bags. He heard her take a deep breath and then she stopped moving. Is she sleeping? From her stance, her arms around her baggage… she might have thought that she would wake if someone were to take them. Leaning forward, he frowned as he noticed her feet were on either side of her largest bag. He shook his head. It told him some things, though. She must be a tourist, or something like that. He can’t tell from which country she’s from, but she looked a bit Asian.

Every now and then, she would take deep breaths and Josh would look over, checking if she’s still alive. Her position can’t be comfortable. Didn’t she book a hotel or some place where she could sleep peacefully? No one came to get her? Relatives or friends. He shook his head. Why does he keep thinking about her situation? Well, you don’t usually find a woman sleeping on the park, beside a complete stranger. He can tell she’s wary of robbers, though, by the way she protects her belongings. He shook his head. It won’t do much if someone comes, takes them, and runs. She’ll probably be still disoriented from sleep to run after such person. Well, given his lack of meetings for the remainder of the day, he decided to watch over her. It has been a long time since he did something good for a random person. Ryan came to tell him that everything has been settled.

“Wait in the car. I’ll be staying at the hotel later.”

“Yes, sir.” Ryan replied. He isn’t that much younger than him. Only two years. He’s efficient in his job. Some people do tease him that he’s gay, considering how much time he spends with his assistant. He doesn’t bother with such remarks.

He took this time of inactivity to relax. It has been a while. Maybe he won’t kill his sister, after all.

When the clock struck four, a song played out near him. There was a buzzing sound as well, a phone vibrating. From the woman next to him. He listened to it and figured it was a Korean song. Is she Korean? She doesn’t look like one. Well, there’s some similarities. Maybe she is. Her English earlier is admirable, though. As if she’d been speaking the language for a long time. There was no accent of any kind.

About five minutes later, the same song blasted out. This time, she did wake up with a groan. When she sat up and leaned against the bench, he caught a whiff of something fragrant. He stared at her.

She took out her vibrating phone and stopped the alarm.

“I still feel tired.” She muttered as she repositioned her feet, directly planting them on her luggage. She stretched them out before sighing again.

He’s not sure if he should engage her in a conversation.

“How long was your flight?” He figured she did come from an airplane.

“Twelve hours.” She replied without looking at him, still spacing out.

“Didn’t anyone come to get you?” He’s now throwing the questions he had earlier.

“Nah. I’m going solo on this.” Her reply made him frown. A woman going solo traveling?

“Are you having a vacation?”

“Something like that.”

“Didn’t you book an inn or a hotel?”

“An inn would be nice.” She turned her head to look at him. “Do you know any?”

“Don’t tell me you came here without knowing where to go?”

She pulled her phone out of her pocket again. “I’ve never figured out how to use the damn data on this phone. I can’t do a search and the damn apps won’t work either.”

He’s starting to think she’s stupid. He pulled out his phone to help her do a search. There is one two blocks away. He told her.

“Is it cheap?” Her question made him pause. He didn’t check the pricing. He usually doesn't need to.

“Probably.” He replied.

“Can you help me check?” She requested.

He exhaled as he pulled his phone again. He told her the price range and she was shaking her head.

“Nope. How about shelters? They’re free, aren’t they? I’ve read there are some around here.”

Is she serious?

“You came here as a tourist yet you’re looking for shelters? Are you an illegal immigrant?” He can’t help asking.

“My strategy is to scrimp during the first few months and then spend the rest on the last few weeks. Lavishly.”

He paused as he absorbed that information.

“Delayed gratification.” He muttered and he found her nodding her head.

“Exactly. I did my research but I still have to check if they’re accurate. Otherwise, I might find myself lacking money before my flight back home.”

“You can take jobs, then. If you lack money.”

“Nah. It would go against my purpose in coming here. I doubt the embassy would appreciate that given I have no work permit. I’m a tourist. I’m a stickler for rules.”

He appreciated that. He didn’t want to get connected with people doing illegal things.

“I’m staying at a hotel. If you’re so set on spending no money, are you interested in coming with me?” Okay, that came out even before he thought things through. And the last sentence made him think of something else. Damn. He couldn’t be attracted to this woman.