Chapter - 50

He thought about what he could do until an amazing idea suddenly struck his mind! He drove to the nearby car repair workshop, then spent twenty bucks to replace the BMW 760 logo with a 520. The main differences between these models were their engines and interior layouts. The exterior of a BMW 5 series looked so similar to the 7 Series that it was quite difficult to distinguish between them other than through the rear tail label.

The 520 was the lowest spec model in the 5 Series-with an average engine and average technology, it was an all around average car. On the other hand, the 760 was the highest spec model in the 7 Series with a top-notch engine, awesome maneuver control. It was a very powerful car. Charlie grinned triumphantly as he drove the 760 with the 520 logo at its back. Claire didn’t know much about cars and wasn’t enthusiastic about them. She would buy it without a doubt if he told her this was a BMW 520.

The owner of the workshop smacked his lips in amusement as he watched the BMW leave his shop. He didn’t expect the young man to be so mischievous despite his honest look. He must have a cunning plan playing in his mind that he deliberately changed the 760 logo to a 520!

***

Charlie remembered his second mission, to buy a gift for the opening of Douglas’s restaurant at noon today. As Douglas was the one and only classmate who was nice to him during college, he wanted to give a generous gift to him. He drove to a large consignment shop gallery and spent two hundred thousand dollars for an early painting by Rachel Ruysch, the painter from the Dutch Golden Age. Rachel Ruysch’s fame was lost to much of the art history world nowadays, so most people wouldn’t recognize her paintings. He selected an ancient painting as his gift to Douglas for two reasons; he wanted to give Douglas a meaningful and expensive gift but he didn’t want the others to know how much the painting was worth. If someone were to ask about it, he would simply say that it had only cost a few thousand dollars.

After shopping, it was almost noon. He called Claire and told her that he would pick her and Loreen up from the Emgrand Group headquarters.

Claire gaped in surprise when Charlie drove a BMW 5 series! She stared at him, dumbfounded and asked in shock, “Where did the car come from?”