Billionaire Visits His Old University, Never Expecting The Woman There Would Capture His Heart
A Return to Palo Alto
Nalan North didn’t expect to be annoyed before his private jet even touched down. But the email from Stanford’s alumni committee had “urgent” in the subject line. It was filled with words like “keynote speech” and “legacy donation.”
He exhaled hard, staring out the window as the private jet descended over Palo Alto. It had been twelve years since he last walked across campus. Twelve years since he launched North Tech out of a dorm room with two friends and a dream.
Now he was thirty-four, a billionaire, and being begged to give a speech. It was to be in the exact lecture hall where he once failed calculus.
“Remind me why I agreed to this?” he muttered to his assistant. She wasn’t there because he told her to stay in New York. He didn’t want anyone fussing over him this weekend. He just wanted to be in, out, and back to the city.
He stepped off the jet and slid on his sunglasses. He was driven straight to Stanford’s campus in a sleek black Mercedes. There was no press and no security.
He wanted to be seen as Nalan, the guy who used to live off ramen and free pizza from club meetings. He did not want to be seen as the man who just bought a tech startup for two hundred million in cash.
The campus hadn’t changed much. There were the same red-tiled roofs and the same towering palm trees. It had the same smell of coffee and ambition.
He wandered toward the lecture hall where he was scheduled to speak. A few students glanced at him, probably recognizing the face from Forbes or Fortune. However, no one said anything.
The second he stepped into the main building of the computer science department, he stopped cold. There she was, bent over a pile of papers. She was arguing with an older professor.
In a sharp blazer and jeans was a woman with caramel brown curls tied in a messy bun. She had a kind of fiery energy that made her stand out in a room full of gray.
“No, Doctor Beckman, you can’t just cut funding from the Women in Tech initiative,” she said. “We’ve already submitted proposals and you promised—”
“Tessa,” the professor said with a sigh, “we’ll talk later.”
The woman, Tessa Zayn if he heard right, turned clearly frustrated. She nearly crashed into Nalan.
“Oh, sorry,” she said.
Nalan saw her eyes, hazel, wide, and surprised. Something twisted low in his chest.
“Wait,” she said. “Are you—?”
“Yeah,” he said, offering a small smile. “Nalan North.”
She blinked. “The Nalan North?”
He laughed. “I hope so. Otherwise, I just crashed a campus I don’t belong on.”
Tessa shook her head slowly. “You’re the keynote speaker, apparently.”
They just stared at each other for a second. She looked nothing like the women he dated back in New York. There were no designer clothes or perfect blowouts.
But there was something about her that pulled at him. Maybe it was the passion in her voice. Perhaps it was how unimpressed she seemed, even now.
“I’m Tessa Zayn,” she finally said. “I teach programming and run the Women in Tech mentorship here.”
“You’re a professor?”
“Adjunct,” she said with a shrug. “Pays less, but I get to shape young minds and argue with department heads.”
“Sounds fun.”
“It’s exhausting.”
He laughed again. “You always like this?”
“Only when someone threatens to slash my funding.”
“I meant the fire. It’s impressive.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Are you trying to charm me?”
“Is it working?”
“No.”
He grinned. “Liar.”
She rolled her eyes, but he saw the ghost of a smile tug at her lips.
“Come on, I’ll walk you to the hall,” she said. “You’ll get lost otherwise.”
They walked in silence for a moment. He noticed how she didn’t ask him about his money or his business. She didn’t even seem interested in him as a billionaire, which honestly was rare.
“You graduated from here, right?” she asked.
“Yeah, class of ’12.”
“North Tech started in Greer Hall, didn’t it?”
“You did your homework.”
“I teach here. Your name’s all over the place. You’re kind of a legend.”
“And yet, you don’t seem very impressed.”
“I’m not easily impressed.”
God, he liked her. Once they reached the lecture hall, a few staff members swarmed him. They talked about last-minute schedule changes and media questions.
Tessa stepped back like she didn’t belong in that circle. But Nalan wasn’t having it.
He turned to her. “You staying for the speech?”
She hesitated. “I wasn’t planning on it.”
“Stay.”
She studied him. “Why?”
“Because I want you to.”
To his surprise, she nodded. “All right, North. I’ll stay.”
The speech went fine. People clapped and a few cried. He made a joke about flunking calculus that landed well.
But the entire time, his eyes kept finding her in the back row. Tessa had her arms crossed and her eyes sharp. She looked like she was trying to figure him out.
Afterward, he found her outside. “You hungry?” he asked.
She gave him a look. “Are you asking me out?”
“I’m asking if you want food. That’s not illegal, is it?”
“I don’t do pity dinners.”
“Oh, I don’t pity you, Tessa. I’m intrigued. That’s different.”
She studied him again, like she was still deciding. Finally, she said, “Fine. But I pick the place.”
“Deal.”
Ten minutes later, they were sitting at a tiny taco truck near campus. He was in a tailored suit, and she was in jeans and sneakers. Both were eating carnitas tacos off paper plates.
“This is the fanciest meal I’ve had all year,” he said.
She snorted. “You probably eat caviar off gold spoons.”
“I hate caviar.”
“Of course you do.”
He looked at her, really looked. “You’re not like anyone I know back in New York.”
“That’s because I’m not trying to impress you.”
“That’s what’s impressive.”
She looked down at her food, then back at him. “Why are you really here, Nalan? Besides the speech?”
He hesitated. “I guess I felt disconnected. Like I built this empire but forgot why I started.”
“And you thought visiting your old school would fix that?”
“I didn’t think I’d meet someone like you.”
Her eyes flickered. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make it sound like I’m some magical solution to your billionaire problems.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Good, because I’m not.”
He leaned in slightly. “But I still want to see you again.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“I want to.”
She didn’t answer right away. Finally, she said, “One dinner doesn’t mean anything.”
“No,” he said softly. “But it could be the start of something.”
For the first time, she gave him a real smile. It was the kind that made his chest feel too tight.
“All right, North,” she said. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
