ARRANGED BY DESTINY [CHOI SEUNGCHEOL]

CH: 2

Seungcheol

I kept my shoes inside the rack after locking the door. I was about to walk towards my room upstairs, “Seungcheol” I heard grandfather’s voice and almost got scared. Like why would he just call me out like that suddenly and he didn’t even switch on the lights of the hall? I walked towards the switchboard and turned on the lights.

“You didn’t come.” I sighed and walked towards him, “I already told you, I had work” I had a meeting and had to sort out a client’s proposal today only. “Sorry, Dadaji” I looked at him with apologetic eyes.

“What work stopped you, that you couldn’t even come to visit Das’s family for dinner?” I felt my dad’s presence, he was looking at us; I could tell this.
“I told you Dadaji, I couldn’t. I had to sort out a few things at work.”

“I had you informed about this dinner one week ago, you kept on saying that you would tell me later and that later never came.” I sighed and dropped my shoulder, “Dadaji-

“Fine, get married Seungcheol.” He cut me off, and with those four words, I felt my world stopped then and there.
“What?” I was taken aback and then my dad came into the picture, what was he saying, I was about to ask something but he spoke before me “You’re getting married to Nishita” I never heard him mentioning this name, who is this even?

“Nishita who?” I asked him. I am not getting married, I don’t want any marriage right now.

“Nishita Das” and then it clicked to me why was he so persistent of me going for dinner today. And Nishita? I vividly remember her. I don’t even remember when did we see eachother last time. I knew my family had a liking towards Nishi but I doubt she would even agree to this marriage.

“I can’t” I looked at them, “I can’t just marry her”
“Seungcheol” I looked at my dad, he was silent until now.

“Aise kaise shaadi kar lun mai?” (I can’t just marry like this)

“Seungcheol, you’re getting married and that’s it.”
“But why suddenly? I mean I know it’s been months since you were saying, this started even before I turned 28 two months ago, let’s just be rational, ever since we all got to know about the board meetings a few months back since then you’re asking me for marriage and now you finalized this even without asking me?” I couldn’t understand him at all. For me, I don’t believe in arranged marriages because falling in love comes before marriage and I wanted to marry with love, not someone I barely know

“Do you love someone or do you have someone in your mind right now?” I turned to look at my grandfather with shock on my face, love?
“No, I don’t love anyone and I don’t have anyone in my mind right now” I felt the discussion would be over but grandfather spoke again, “Seungcheol, the board meeting is in a few months, you’re well aware of that right?” I was wondering what was he going to say next, he continued, “if you want the inheritance and the position of CEO in the company, you need to marry Nishita”

“How is Nishita related to all this? I am the vice president right now, I worked hard all these years, I worked hard for almost 7 years and you are saying I need to get married to get to get the inheritance?” he nodded, I couldn’t understand his logic
“Nishita is the perfect choice for you, Seungcheol” I turned to look at my dad.

“But why? You didn’t even ask about it to me. What if she is not ready?”
“Our business will merge and will grow, and since we never know what will be the result of the board meeting so, it’s a better option. Also Nishita will be more than happy about this marriage.” Did she agree? And business merger, this is going to be a business marriage, a marriage of convenience.

“Seungcheol, whatever father told you is final, you need to get married to Nishita and it’s the right age for you to get married.” I sighed and wanted to leave the whole conversation because the tension in the air was so thick, I felt suffocated each passing second. I thought we were over this discussion last time but seems like they were prepared for this.

“If you don’t get married to Nishita, I will transfer the whole business to your cousin Somi” I was in disbelief, “You will do what?”

“You heard it Seungcheol, now it’s your cue to decide what you want to do.” Grandfather was so firm when he said this. “But I’ve been working hard without any help or favor, how could you give this choice to me? Dadaji please” I felt like everything was crumbling down in front of me, I worked so hard not for this.

“I need some time to think about this.” I looked at them.
“We can talk about this tomorrow, if you want” I gave my dad a look, “goodnight” and I went straight towards my room.

While walking I was wondering what’s going on with everyone, how could they just fix up everything, and Nishita… I vividly remember her, the way she smiled, the way she talked. She used to laugh a lot with Heesung, probably because they were of the same age and had few similar interests, but after completing school Heesung went abroad and I highly doubt these two are in touch.

I entered my room and switched on the lights, I closed the door and went towards my walk-in closet. I took my clothes and went straight to take a shower. I needed to calm down and forget everything for now. I needed to relax a bit under the warm water.

Warm water felt better today, I needed to take off the stress, work stress first, and now this marriage choice.

“If you don’t get married to Nishita, I will transfer the whole business to your cousin Somi”

This one thing is going to eat up my mind because of overthinking. I needed to take my mind off, “Nishita” I said her name subconsciously, she was adorable when I met her last time, I had a soft spot for her, everytime I looked at her, it showed me how she was a ball of sunshine and the way she was so cheerful everytime, even when she was with Heesung. I’ve always seen her smile that’s why I remember her smiling face only.

I wonder how she is now, I closed my eyes for a second and tried to forget everything.

Once I felt better, I changed into my night-wear and went out to switch on the AC. i needed my room chilly not very warm and not very cold.

“This feels so unfair to drag Nishita in this marriage of convenience” I sighed after sitting on the bed. I wanted to talk to her about everything, wanted everything to be clear, I wondered if she already agreed or was it only me who was overthinking.

“Getting married because of business.” I leaned my head on the headboard and closed my eyes, I didn’t believe in an arranged marriage, spending a lifetime with a person, needed love. Without love how are you supposed to marry each other, I always wondered how it would be to marry the person you love the most because not everyone is lucky like mom and dad, they fell in love and got married, and the bonus was their parents were business partners. Just the way we are with Nishita’s family, more like our grandparents were business partners and now passed down to their own sons.

How can I just marry Nishita out of the blue? Getting married to Nishita had it’s own benefits but they were business-related, first, a merger would take place, second the inheritance, and then the board meetings but what about her? What will she gain from all this business, as far as I remember she wasn’t even interested in business.

‘What do I do Nishita, help me.’ I pushed back my hair in frustration

Kya karun mai? (what do I do?)

Author’s Note:

So, here’s an update, are you curious about next chapter? Also I might be givibg weekly updates~

Earlier I was thinking about updating on Saturday but since I might be busy tomorrow, so I decided to post it today. Hope you had a nice day.

Happy Reading