"Oh great, you're back!" Jaeyn looked up from her electron microscope. Her coauthor had just entered the lab. "Can you get me some more of the blood slides from the cooling- what's the matter?"
"Have you seen outside?!" Shelby, her "assistant", was gobsmacked.
"Do I look like I've seen sunlight in days?" Jaeyn had recently made a major breakthrough in her Alzheimer's research, albeit a somber one.
"It's a circus out there! You'd think Leonardo DiCaprio was here!"
"So, some stupid celebrity is here?"
"I guess! It's not like we've found the cure for cancer."
Jaeyn winced at the words. The last week it was as if all of her hopes and dreams and even her own father had been stolen from her.
"We'll whatever it is, we've got to get back to work. We need to retest this blood to make sure that our results are accurate and..."
"You can test and retest all you want, it's not going to change the result we've already gotten a dozen times." Shelby sighed, "I get that this is an obsession for you or something but just admit it- we blew through that grant funding and we don't have a damn thing to show for it."
"We do! But we do!! Because of this little 'failure' if you could even call it that- I know now with CERTAINTY what the correct course of action is to discover a cure."
"Yeah? And how much is that going to cost, we've already blown through a hundred million dollars- we're not getting any more."
"True, the equipment I do need is expensive... but we'll just raise the money! When people know that the solution to Alzheimer's is at hand I'm sure they'll..."
"And how much is that going to cost??"
"For what I need to cover all possibilities... nearly a billion dollars."
"Oh, it that all??? Jaeyn, I'm gonna level with you woman to woman: it doesn't matter. It wouldn't matter if we could buy the formula for the cure at Amazon-Walmart for $1,000! WE HAVE NO MONEY and no one is going to give us any more!"
"Yes they will, I'm renowned they'll..."
"Not a billion dollars Jaeyn. I'm sorry."
Jaeyn slammed her fist agains the counter so hard the beakers shook and then plopped down in her chair like a sack of potatoes.
"Just leave." Jaeyn fought hard to hold back tears, for the first time in her life she felt defeated.
Shelby left and not five minutes later she heard the door open once more, at first she thought it was Shelby returned to apologize but to her surprise it was a man in a suit.
"Hey sir you can't be in here. This area is-"
"Oh sorry, my apologies. I didn't mean to intrude."
"Well its against procedure you see-"
"Let me explain first, my name is Jesse Levinson. Perhaps you've heard of me?"
Oh shit! That is Jesse Levinson! Jaeyn thought. He was so unexpected she hadn't even recognized him. This was the asshole behind the merger of Apple, Google and Sony! G.A.S they called the new company. This was... a rich asshole.
"Oh yeah Mr. Levinson, I guess I have heard of you... somewhere."
"That's great, let me tell you why I'm here." Jesse had a great big smile on his stupid face. "You see I did some Googling, you're welcome by the way, and it turns out that you are the woman in the world with the highest IQ!"
"Wow I didn't know that? I hope they don't take off a point for that."
"And what a great sense of humor too!" Jesse leaned up against one of the counters. "And what a delight that you happen to be Asian too."
"Oh?" Jaeyn's brow raised.
"Tell me, where is your family from?"
"My grandparents are from Japan. I don't see-"
"Japan? Wonderful! You're just the woman I've been looking for. I'll cut to the chase, I have a proposal for you. Think of it as a business deal."
"Ok, now this is getting weird. You're not some kind of weeaboo, are you?"
"As you may know, I have a lot of children. What you probably didn't know, however, is that each of my children is of a different race! I have white children that are blond, redheaded and brunette, an Arabic daughter, a Hispanic son and a Native American son. I have a Black boy the age of 5 who's going to be the greatest basketball player of all time and I even have a daughter with a Pacific Islander. I have children of every color but not one that is Asian, not yet anyway!"
"Oh, so you're crazy and a racist."
"That couldn't be further from the truth. I love all cultures, all peoples."
"Then perhaps you're just an idiot."
"I'm sure to you the rest of us all seem like idiots. How could a star outshine a supernova! But I would love for my Asian child to be the next smartest person on Earth."
"If this is your weird way of asking for a date, I'm not interested. My ex-husband is enough to deal with."
"Oh no, no our relationship would merely be transactional. You would be impregnated with my child, the natural way of course, and in exchange I can make your wildest dreams come true!!"
"I'm too old and too busy to have a kid. I'm not just sitting on my ass, I have world changing research to do."
"These days 35 is not too old to have a kid, I mean look at me I'm 49. As for your research, I read that you're the world's leading researcher in Alzheimer's. I'm sure a little extra money would go a far way..." Jesse gently placed his hand on Jaeyn's butt and slid two fingers in her waistband.
"More money would be nice." God, why am I even considering this? Jaeyn thought to herself.
"You could have anything you like." Jesse placed a hand on her chest, lightly brushing the side of her breast.
She could feel him unfastening her belt, she was too unsure of what to do to say anything.
"Fuck... I don't know what to say. I would need a billion dollars for my research."