A millionaire decided to choose his wife by looking only at her hands, without even seeing her face. But when he finally made his choice among 20 women and the white sheet was removed from the chosen woman’s head, he froze in shock 馃槰
Alexander was thirty-eight years old. He owned several large companies, lived in an enormous mansion, and could afford almost anything he wanted.
For the past few years, beautiful women had constantly surrounded him. Models, actresses, and daughters of wealthy businessmen dreamed of being with the millionaire. They smiled at him, said sweet things, and assured him that they weren’t interested in his money at all.
But Alexander had stopped believing them long ago.
Whenever he hid his wealth and status while meeting someone new or mentioned that his business was having financial problems, the woman’s attitude toward him quickly changed.
One evening, after yet another boring dinner, Alexander returned home and said to his assistant, Michael:
“I want to get married.”
Michael looked at him in surprise.
“To whom?”
“I don’t know.”
Alexander was silent for a moment, then suddenly added:
“And I don’t want to know. Let fate decide for me.”
The next day, the millionaire explained his unusual plan.
His assistants were to find twenty completely different unmarried women. Alexander forbade them from choosing the women based on appearance, wealth, or social status. Furthermore, no one was allowed to tell him who these women were, where they worked, or what kind of families they came from.
And when the women arrived at the mansion, their faces and bodies had to be completely covered with identical white sheets. Only their hands were to remain visible.
“I’ll choose one of them,” Alexander declared. “And she will become my wife.”
Michael tried to convince his employer to abandon this crazy idea, but Alexander refused to listen.
A few days later, everything was ready.
A long table had been placed in the mansion’s grand hall. Twenty women sat along it, completely covered with identical white sheets. Only their hands stretched out from beneath the fabric.
Alexander entered the hall. Behind him stood his assistants and several security guards.
The man slowly approached the first woman. Her fingers were slender, her manicure was perfect, and an expensive ring decorated her hand.
He gently touched her palm and moved on.
The second woman’s hands were just as well-groomed. The third wore an expensive bracelet on her wrist. The fourth had long fingernails.
Alexander took his time. He carefully examined each palm, sometimes gently touching the fingers, but said nothing.
He had almost reached the end of the table when he suddenly stopped.
One woman’s hands were very different from all the others.
There were no rings or bracelets. Her nails were short and unpainted. The skin on her palms was dry and slightly rough, and a small old scar was visible near her thumb.
Unexpectedly, Alexander took one of her hands in his own.
The woman flinched slightly.
The millionaire ran his finger over the small scar and remained silent for several seconds.
“This one.”
The room fell completely silent.
Michael suddenly looked at the security guards. Several men exchanged nervous glances.
“Sir,” his assistant said cautiously. “There’s something you should know first.”
“No.”
“But this woman…”
“I said I didn’t want to know anything before making my choice,” Alexander interrupted him. “I’ve chosen her.”
He turned toward the woman.
“Remove the sheet.”
Nobody moved.
“I said, remove it.”
One of the security guards slowly approached the woman and pulled the white sheet away from her head.
Alexander froze in shock when he saw the woman he had chosen. 馃槺馃 You can find the rest of the story in the first comment 馃憞馃憞
Standing before him was Sarah.
He knew this young woman very well. She had been working as a cleaner in his own mansion for almost two years.
Every morning, Sarah arrived earlier than most of the other employees. She washed the floors, cleaned the rooms, took out the trash, and tried her best to stay out of her employer’s sight.
“You…?” was all Alexander managed to say.
Sarah lowered her eyes.
Michael finally explained what had happened.
At the last moment, one of the twenty invited women had gotten scared and refused to participate. There were only a few minutes left before the event began, and Alexander had insisted that there must be exactly twenty women.
That was when the security guards noticed Sarah, who happened to be cleaning the neighboring room.
They persuaded her to take the empty seat. No one could have imagined that the millionaire would choose her.
On the contrary, the men were certain that Alexander would immediately pass her by as soon as he saw the rough hands of an ordinary cleaning lady.
Sarah was sure of it, too.
“So that’s why you tried to stop me?” Alexander asked.
Michael nodded.
The millionaire looked at the young woman’s hands again. Now he understood why they were so rough.
She worked with those hands every single day.
And suddenly, Alexander remembered the small scar as well.
A few months earlier, an expensive glass vase had shattered in the living room. Sarah had been picking up the broken pieces when she cut her hand. Alexander happened to be passing by at the time and even asked if she was all right.
He had forgotten about it five minutes later.
But the scar remained.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Sarah said quietly. “I didn’t mean to deceive you. They just told me to sit here for a few minutes.”
Alexander stared at her for a long moment.
For the first time, he was standing before a woman who had never tried to get into that hall, had never dreamed of becoming his wife, and was completely convinced that he would never choose her.
And yet, out of twenty unfamiliar pairs of hands, she was the one he had chosen himself.
Michael cautiously asked:
“Shall I tell her to return to work?”
Alexander turned to his assistant.
“No.”
Then he looked at Sarah again and held out his hand.
“I promised that I wouldn’t change my decision after seeing the face of the woman I chose.”
Sarah stared at him in confusion.
And for the first time in a long while, Alexander smiled.
“It seems fate really has made the decision for me.”
