Chapter 2: Battlefield

The way she spoke those words, the room temperature dropped to negative. She's worried about him and doesn't want to listen to any nonsense.

Everyone went silent after seeing her scary look.

“We are sorry but you are on your own now. We can't help you.” They probably thought in their mind.

The old man doesn't want to seek medical treatment. But he can't refuse or reject after seeing furious and angry she is. They want to tell her everything was just an act to make her agree to marry Jacob. But now things have gone too far. They can't tell her the truth.

The people from the hospital collected the old man from the bed, put him on a stretcher and then into the ambulance. They took him to the hospital and everyone followed.

Jacob is well aware of Juhee's stubborn and bad ass personality, he knows how daring she can be. After all, he has seen her growing up, he's been there her whole childhood. Even his parents are well aware of how dangerous she can be when furious. So they found it better to just leave her alone until she calms down.

She went to the hospital. The old man was assigned to a VIP room until his stay. Everyone thought the old man lied about his condition. But no! He's really sick. He wasn't acting.

While other doctors were attending to him, Juhee was busy with surgeries after surgeries that were scheduled for her. After all, she is a doctor by profession and savior of many patients.

She always wanted to be a doctor, even after becoming one, she never left her learning progress. Even now when she has achieved her title as the best doctor in the hospital, she still acts down to earth and learns from others as much as she can.

But...yeah! She can be scary at times.

“How's bed no.34 doing?” Juhee asked one of her under junior while walking in the hallway towards the surgery room.

“Her condition has stabilized for now. One week of rest, and she is good to go.” Said the junior girl walking on the right side beside her.

“Hmm! And...observe the patient bed no.10. His health was getting worse yesterday. Ask his family to come meet me, we need to explain everything before things go south. Surgery is a must for him.” She reminded the junior about the other patient.

“Got it!”

Six hours later,

Juhee finally came out of the surgery room and headed towards the bathroom straight. The surgery lasted for six hours, and now she was drained.

She just got a call from the Old man saying he wants to see her. She freshened up quickly and went to see him.

Juhee is seriously exhausted. Till now, it was only work which was draining her energy but now...the thought of being married is making her body tired.

For all these years, she tried her best to stay away from commitments and promises, and tried escaping the family heritage. Yet in the end, she still fell deep down. It was not expected but it has happened already. There is no use crying over spoiled milk now, better to accept it.

After getting fresh and changing into more formal clothes, she comes to see her grandfather. He's lying on the bed while there is another man in the room, feeding him green grapes adorably.

She enters the room. The old man notices her but doesn't react, keep eating grapes by the hands of another man.

“How are you feeling now?” She asks as she walks to her side.

She takes away the bowl of fruit from the man's hand and sets it aside on the table. She takes a chair from the side and sits on it like a queen, crosses her legs and hands while staring at him.

“I am feeling much better now, thanks to you.” Says the old man as he tries to avoid her gaze.

“You are quite brazen. You took advantage of your illness to force me into this marriage. You know that I love you the most in the whole family, and you still set me up. Now that your wish has come true, what do you want me to do next? Have kids with him?” Juhee asked sarcastically.

The old man surely was shameless. Once heard about having great-grand kids, he got up and sat straight on the bed in excitement, as if he wanted this to happen. She was speechless and slapped herself hard on the forehead seeing his silly smile at the mention of kids.

“Please! You are too much, just rest. I will come to see you later on. You are my grandpa but behave just like a little child, I can't talk to you anymore, I have no energy to argue with you.” She gave up, he's out of her league.

“Aiyo! Don't go, have a conversation with this old man for a little while.” The old man finally spoke.

Seeing that he wants to have a conversation with his granddaughter, the extra man in the room got up and left the room, leaving them both alone to have a serious conversation.

She went back and sat on the chair.

“You are not mad at me for doing this, are you?” He asked.

“I am really mad at you right now, but will things change if I scream at you? No right? So don't say anything that might make me more angry.” Juhee replied.

“But it's a good thing that you are now married.” He tried debating with her.

“Do you think I am okay with this? For the last seven years, all of you have been trying to set me and Jacob with each other with your silly tricks, you all failed every time. But now that you have succeeded, what more do you want? You all don't even care if I am happy or not.” She didn't look him in the eyes but kept staring at the door, she's really mad at him for doing this to her.

“My dear little girl, I am just trying to make your life easier. You and Jacob got married just now but you were betrothed years ago, when you were infants. Plus, when you two just became adults, we arranged your marriage. It's just you two who kept running from the marriage.” Said the old man in a serious tone.

Their fate was sealed when they weren't even born. But Juhee never accepted their family's decision, and she never wanted to as she felt like a right from her had been snatched away. There was even a point when Juhee tried to kill herself to break free from this drama. She never wanted to marry him.

Jacob never liked her in a way a man would, and nor did Juhee like him the way a woman would. They were persistent and wanted to go their separate ways.

The family thought they were still not grown up, so they were let off the hook. But the decision of the marriage was made already, there was no way the family wanted to move out from it.

In the last seven years, many events happened, many chances were given to them to fall for each other. But nothing changed, they remained the same, love never bloomed in their heart for each other.

The old man knew how much his granddaughter loves him, and would do anything for him, so he staged this act and forced them into marriage.

In the end, it worked out well. Juhee and Jacob finally became husband and wife, like how everyone imagined and expected.

But Juhee is not at all happy, neither is Jacob.

“I remember, when I was five years old, you told me to only marry someone if I love them. In the end, it's you who took advantage of my love for you to fulfill your selfish desires. As much as I am hurt by this, Jacob must be going through the same. You didn't think about our life. You just care about yourself.” Juhee blamed him for everything.

“Child! If you don't try to love someone, how will you know your efforts were worth it? I think, you two should start living for yourself rather than being busy as always.”

Her grandfather was something. She was sad and upset, angry with him. Yet he was giving her wrong ideas and life lessons that had no use for her for the moment.

Juhee set aside her anger and displeasure for a moment and smiled at him. No matter how this old man behaves, he is still going to be her favorite person.

“I can't promise you anything. But I will try my best. You should rest now, I have another surgery appointment. I need to go.” She said as she got up from the chair and walked out of the room after giving him a bright smile.

“This child...she will understand me soon.”

After two days.

Two days went by and no one talked about the marriage thing. Neither Juhee contacted Jacob, nor he contacted her. But that was until the marriage certificate arrived.

Juhee's mother was over the moon when she got the delivery which had her daughter's marriage certificate in it.

“Finally! I can proudly tell others how handsome my son-in-law is.” Evelyn chirped excitedly.

She was not flaunting her daughter's looks but her son In-law's. What a mother she is.

“Oh, God! Please. Did you ask me to come home for this thing? If it's only this, then I am going back to the hospital.” Juhee started walking towards the door but her mother stopped her.

It's such good news. Of course, Jacob's parents were coming and here they come. Just as they came inside, both mothers started running towards each other as if a strawberry cake is being distributed for free in a high-class bakery shop.

“Evelyn! We finally got the marriage certificate. We have finally become In-laws now, I am so happy.” Jacob's mother is way too happy and excited.

“I know, right! We are even close now. I can finally tell others that Juhee is my daughter now. I am so happy that my daughter-in-law is such a beautiful and kind woman.” Yumin said in an excited tone.

Jacob stands behind his mother and is shooting daggers toward Juhee who's beside him. “She is talking as if I am no longer her son. What do you mean that she is beautiful, your son isn't handsome? You never compliment me but now you appreciate others. Two faced.” He murmured to himself.

Evelyn and Yumin find themselves to be the luckiest person. They were just best friends recently but now have become one tight family. Nothing is as important as this to them. And now they seem to be planning their kids' future too. It's terrible.

Both families then leave Juhee and Jacob alone and go to the lawn to have a pleasant conversation.

Juhee can't stand Jacob, and neither can Jacob. But now they are forced to see each other's faces. They feel both awkward and weird to be around each other.

“How's your business going?” Juhee initiates the conversation.

It's so awkward that she feels like digging a hole and hiding herself in it, it's embarrassing too for some reason.

“The business is good, and I am good too. What about you? Things must be difficult for you since you work the whole day and night sometimes.” Even Jacob tried to have a normal conversation with her.

It's horrible, their conversation sucked. Or maybe they aren't made for each other. It's been years since they last talked to each other decently.

Seven years ago after the announcement and sudden news of their arranged marriage at a family event, they resented and hid from each other. Always in a foul mood when seeing each other anywhere and avoided as if another person was a plague.

And now finally, they are here, married to each other before they even realize.

“Since they have already forced us into this marriage, if we don't show them what they want to see, they won't stop meddling in our lives. Have you thought about what to do next?” Juhee asked curiously.

She knows the nature of her and his parents very well and how far they can go to achieve their goal.

It has become important to plan things ahead now. Things won't stop at marriage only, the family must be cooking something else.

“You are right! From what I know, they won't stop until they get the result of their desire. Looks like we have to enter the battlefield now. So! What's the plan?”