Chapter Text
It was raining when I first saw her. Everyone around me was scattering trying to find shelter, but not her..no..instead she stood under the rain. I remember being confused by this, why would a grown woman stand under the rain like that when even children were running. Who would have thought that 1 year later that same woman would be waiting for me at the end of the altar.
“You ready?” Momo looks at me with a wide smile on her face and I just nod, “You know Satang..Mina-chan’s really nice and..”
“Momo.” I stopped my best friend before she could say more.
“Right..well, everyone’s waiting.”
“Okay..let’s get this over with.” I force a small smile out.
And as I walk down that aisle towards a woman I know practically nothing about, I find myself thinking life really fucking sucks.
~
Hi,
I have an overnight shift at the hospital today. I made you dinner, you just need to reheat it.
-M.
“Well at least my wife can cook.” I grab the sticky note from the fridge, “But too bad for her I’m not hungry.” I toss the note away, making my way to our room to change out of my office attire.
Momo let’s go out..I don’t want to be home.
Sorry Satang but your wife paged me to the hospital
“Well okay…”
Jihyo-chan~~
No Sana-chan.
Tsk you don’t even know what I was going to say.
You want to go out…again right?
“I should have asked Nayeon first.”
Nayeon unnie
Hmmm unnie huh…what do you need Sana-chan?
Do you want to hangout tonight? The others are all busy…
I would..but I’m flying to LA.
NANI?!
Last minute thing with my parents.
Okay..safe travels.
Why don’t you ask your hot wife.
We barely even talk
So you agree…she’s hot.
Bye.
“Why have friends when they’re all busy.” I sulk, tossing my phone on the couch, heading to the kitchen to eat the food she made.
“Of course it tastes good.” I roll my eyes as I eat the ravioli she made..a white truffle ravioli that I told her I’d been craving.
Even though she knows I hated this set-up…that I didn’t want this..
“Why marry if you don’t even love me?” Sana asks Mina, after their parents formally announce their marriage, cornering the girl who was standing off to a corner by herself.
“I could ask you the same.” Mina looks at Sana, her honest eyes looking at Sana’s inquistely.
“Hmm..they said you were a doctor not a lawyer.”
“And they said you were a CEO not a psychologist.”
“Touche.” Sana nods, the image of Mina standing under the rain coming to the forefront of her mind so suddenly that she couldn’t help but to ask, “Why?”
“Eh?” Mina was caught off guard by the sudden question.
“Now that we’ve finished sizing each other up, can you give me an honest answer?” Sana plays it off cool and if Mina noticed she chose not to say anything.
“Seeing how you didn’t object earlier..I’m assuming that you too have lived your life dictated by your parent’s wishes.”
“You can say that.” Sana shrugs.
“Exactly..they chose everything for us, be it directly or indirectly. And I just kinda let it be..but then.” Mina pauses, “I realised that this is my life..and that I should make choices for me..not for them, not for the company, just for me, Myoui Mina. And now here I am, a doctor and not a CEO.”
“But being engaged to a random stranger doesn’t seem like a choice you would make.”
“Because this wasn’t something my parents asked me to do, it was my Obaa-san. My parents are business people at the end of the day, but my Obaa-san..although a businesswoman herself, encouraged me and supported all my decisions..even the one that turned my back on what our family built. And one of the things she wishes to see is me getting married. So yeah..that’s why.” Mina nods, letting the silence engulf them, ignoring Sana’s heavy stare who knows that there’s more to this story than Mina’s grandmother wanting to see her get married.
“Aren’t you going to ask me why I agreed?” Sana speaks up.
“No.”
“Why?”
“I have a feeling it’s not a story you’re ready to tell, especially to someone you just met.”
“I neither agree nor disagree.”
“I know you hate this and you probably also hate me…that’s fine. We both have reasons for doing this too. I won’t force you to like me or be friends..but can we at least be civil?”
“I won’t promise you anything.” Sana leaves Mina alone, going back to mingling with the executives who are more than thrilled about the future wedding which in turn means the future merger.
~ ~ ~ ~
“You are zoned out…again.” Kazuka, my younger cousin, hands me a cup of coffee, taking the empty spot next to me on the couch.“Is it work or?”
“Work is work. I just..I don’t know..my heads been everywhere lately. So you being in the city is great, because it’ll help me take my time off of things.” I smile, tapping her knee.
“Well considering the fact that my ever so headstrong older cousin, who did everything her parents wanted for the sole reason of never being in this kind of situation, I..”
“Kazuha-chan.” I stop her, “I have my reasons.”
“Have or had?”
“Can you not…please?”
“Alright alright.” Kazuha backs off, “But…”
“Really?”
“Just hear me out.”
“Fine.”
“Mina-neesan”
“Oh she’s Mina-neesan now?”
“Sana-neesan please.” Kazuha gives me a look and I roll my eyes.
“She’s really kind and caring. I saw how she was with Kana and Hitsuharu at the wedding, and if anyone can get those twins to smile like angels and not the little devils they are..she must be an actual saint. You don’t have to love her like a lover, but maybe things wouldn’t be so miserable if you two were friends.”
“We are friends.”
“We both know that is not true.”
“We have dinner at least once a week.”
“Alone?”
“Uh..”
“See!” Kazuha stands, pointing a finger at me.
“Can you shush..she’s sleeping.” I hush, making her sit back down.
“She’s home?! You said she would be at the hospital.” Kazuha looks at me wide-eyed.
“She came home earlier this morning..looked pretty exhausted.”
“Please tell me you at least offered her something to eat?”
“Well..I mean..she…I..”
“Neesan!” Kazuha yells, “Look I know that you hate this..but you made the decision to marry her so the least you could do is be a decent human towards her.”
“I can’t believe my younger cousin is now scolding me.”
“Only because I don’t like this Sana-neesan in front of me.”
“Kazuha-chan.”
“The Sana-neesan I know is sweet, kind, loving…not whoever this cold heartless woman in front of me.”
“I’m sorry..” I look down, ashamed of my own actions, “I just…what am I supposed to do?”
“Maybe waking her up and asking her to join us for dinner would be a good start.” She gives me that innocent smile and I find myself making it upstairs to our room.
~
“Mina-san?” I enter quietly, tiptoeing even though it’s also my room, “Mina-san.” I tap her shoulder.
“Hmm? What is it? Are you okay?” Mina gets up quickly, looking at me with worry.
“I’m fine, I just..you came home and didn’t even eat..so I was wondering if you’d like to get some dinner with me and Kazuha-chan.”
“Oh yes Momo mentioned your cousin was visiting from Japan.” Mina nods
“That explains the truffle ravioli..” I whisper, making a mental note to talk to Momo about the things she’s been telling Mina about me.
“What was that?”
“Nothing. So do you want to come? If you want to sleep more, I can bring you some food home.”
“No no..I’ll go.” Mina smiles softly at me, “I’ll just get ready, is that okay?”
“Yeah..take your time, we’ll be downstairs.”
~ ~ ~ ~
“Mina..” I speak up as Mina and I both get into bed. Dinner went really well and it was pretty fun.
“Hmm?” Mina looks at me, putting her iPad on the bedside table, giving me her full attention.
“What did you tell Kazuha-chan?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“She swore you to secrecy. Of course.” I nod, typical Kazuha.
“She didn’t I just…I’m sorry..did I overstep? I just..”
“Mina.” I interrupt her, “You didn’t…I’ve been worried about her and whenever I brought up college she just shuts me out. So to see her suddenly start talking about going to Yale this fall..I was thrown off.”
“Kazuha-chan’s smart and headstrong, but she’s also very scared…which is fair considering the fact that she’s being forced to figure out her entire life at 18.”
“Yeah, but weren’t we all?”
“Right but no one ever taught us how to deal with the stress.”
“Mina-neesan can I ask you something?” Kazuha asks Mina softly while Sana excused herself to use the washroom.
“Yeah of course.”
“How did you know you wanted to be a doctor?”
“I didn’t.”
“Eh?”
“I was gonna go to Harvard for business, but right before my freshman year..someone I care about was in a horrible accident..and for the first time in my life, I felt helpless. I couldn’t do anything…it took me a while to recover from that..and when I did..I just realised that I wanted more, that I wanted to do something that will help people. So I changed to pre-med and here I am.”
“I see..” Kazuha nods.
“Sana mentioned Yale earlier…are you also going to pursue business?” Mina speaks carefully, sensing the younger girl’s mood.
“Yeah..”
“Is that what you want?”
“I don’t know..Sana-neesan likes it..”
“Look, college is scary and there are a lot of pressures. But you know what..if you aren’t sure then you can also take some time off. Take your time and don’t rush it. You can take a gap year or begin as an undeclared student. You can explore and figure out what your passion is. The whole high school to college pathway is overrated.” Mina speaks carefully and Kazhua looks back up at her with a look of relief.
“Yeah..that’s true..it’s just talking to my parents”
“Maybe Sana can help you with that.” Mina nods towards Sana who was smiling as she walked back to the table.
“Yeah..I think so too.” Kazuha nods.
“So what’d I miss?” Sana asks, settling back on her chair.
“You helped relieve her stress?” I nod, looking down, trying to figure out why Kazuha couldn’t open up to me.
“In a way, but she’ll need you too. She’s still figuring things out..and I know she’ll go to you when the time comes.” Mina pats my hand lightly, letting it rest there for a moment.
“Right.” I pull my hand back, “Thank you.”
“Of course.” Mina gives me a polite smile, “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
~ ~ ~ ~
After the dinner with Kazuha and our talk at night , things between Mina and I changed..we aren’t friends..but we’re not strangers either. It’s a good change.
“You two are acquaintances now?” Jihyo asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Huh?” I look at Jihyo, “You and Mina.” She clarifies, taking a sip of her margherita.
“Eh?” I blink at Jihyo, did she just read my mind?
“Hmm..what were you thinking about?” Momo notices my confusion, leaning towards me while giving Jihyo and Nayeon a knowing smirk.
“Nothing anymore, you summarised it perfectly.” I look at Jihyo, hoping they all end this conversation.
“Ah, so you were thinking about your improving relationship with your wife.” Momo snaps her fingers, her face lighting up.
“We’re acquaintances.” I clarify, “That’s it.” I take a long sip out of my own drink. Glad that we decided to go out for drinks instead of watching a movie tonight.
“Exactly, one step closer to being wifeys..for real.” Nayeon smiles widely.
“Life isn’t like the movies Nayeonnie..just because Mina and I aren’t treating each other like air..”
“You treat her like air.” Momo interrupts, “I know Mina doesn’t.”
“Right speaking about that.” I turned to Momo, “What exactly have you been talking about?”
“Oh?”Jihyo looks at Momo, “I thought you didn’t speak to her cause she and I quote, ‘is so silently intelligent it’s terrifying.’” Nayeon chuckles.
“She is! Before Satang married her I had no reason to talk to her or to get to know her. I mean she’s the youngest surgical attending at the pavilion..her skills and intelligence leave everyone in awe and to top it all off she's hot as hell.”
“A triple threat, are you sure you don’t want your wife, Sana?” Nayeon asks.
“Why do you want her?” I challenge Nayeon.
“Hmm maybe.” Nayeon winks and I roll my eyes.
“Alright you two stop, so you and Mina are friends Mo?”
“We are.” Momo smiles.
Dr. Myoui Mina, even the name alone invokes a subtle sense of fear and excitement. A 26 year old woman who became NYU Langone’s Kimmel Pavilion youngest surgical attending and to top it all of the only heir to one of Asia’s biggest conglomerate group, Mirai.
“Dr. Myoui is getting married.” The news broke through the hospital like a broken dam, spreading from the bottom all the way to the president of the board.
“Do you know who the fiancee is?”
“I didn’t even know she was in a relationship.”
“Yoo Jeongyeon what did you do?” Mina speaks to Jeongyeon in Korean.
“Nothing, it wasn't me.” Jeongyeon puts two hands up in mock defeat.
“Well then how does the entire hospital know about my very private engagement.”
“Oh.” Jeongyeon chuckles awkwardly, “Maybe it was me.” Jeongyeon looks down, disappointed in herself, “I was on the phone with my unnie and we were talking about it. Someone must have overheard. I am so sorry Minari.”
“It’s fine…I know you didn’t mean for the news to leak, it was going to be released by our families back home anyways.” Mina sighs, taking a seat in one of the couches in the resident lounge.
“That was a deep sigh, what’s wrong?” Jeongyeon asks, sitting next to her best friend.
“I just…I’m getting married to someone I don’t even know..it’s..a lot.”
“It is…and I didn’t ask you this when you first told me about it, because well I’m not from your world, but I should have because I am your best friend..” Jeongyeon gets up from her chair, sitting next to Mina on the couch, “Why did you agree to this?”
“My grandmother.” Mina kept her answer short and sweet, “Look I’ve met your grandmother and she definitely didn’t seem like the type to push you into this.” Jeongyeon points out.
“She isn’t, but she wants to see me get married…she’s never asked me for anything, supported everything…and well you know me Jeong…I don’t even know if I’ll ever get married…”
“I know there’s more to this story than you fulfilling your grandmother’s wish Mina..and I’m not going to force you to tell me, but I do hope when you are married, that you try to open yourself up to them. You don’t have to love them, not right away and maybe even never, but don’t close yourself off from them. You guys will be partners.”
“And when did you, my friend who’s been single for as long as I have, get so good at giving married advice?”
“First of all, I’m your best friend..and I don’t care what Dahyun and Chae say and second, I know you…I know you’ll take care of them, treat them with respect, but that’s it. You’ll close yourself off and I don’t want that..I don’t want you to feel suffocated at home. So even though you two may not fall for each other, you can at least try to be amicable.”
“Yeah I know…we’ll see though, because I know she doesn’t want this marriage at all.”
“Ah, so it's a woman. How do you feel about that.”
“I don’t mind, you know my preference.”
“That I do, so what’s her name?”
“Minatozaki Sana.”
“Minatozaki Sana..like the CEO of Sora, the holding company of like I don’t even know everything?”
“They don’t own everything, no one can..they just have a lot of subsidiaries like we do.”
“Right so this is almost like a royal wedding standard.”
“I think my parents invited the Japanese royal family.” Mina replies nonchalantly
“The what family?”
“Nothing anyways..oh Dr. Hirai.” Mina notices one of her residents enter, switching back to English.
“Hello..Dr. Myoui, Dr. Yoo.” Momo nods at the two, her gut telling her to leave what she heard at the door but she couldn’t help it. And she also blames Jihyo for forcing her and Sana to learn Korean in exchange for teaching her Japanese.
“Sana is my best friend.” Momo speaks in Korean, surprising the two, “And I won’t sugarcoat it Dr. Myoui..she’s going to be difficult to handle. There are things that happened, things that made her put walls up, so all I ask is to please be patient with her.”
“I’ll take care of her, Dr. Hirai.”
“Thank you.” Momo smiles.
“This is great!” Jeongyeon claps, “Your Sana’s bestie and I’m Mina’s bestie…so by default we’re friends now.” The taller girl smiles, holding a hand out.
“Oh uh okay.” Momo nods, slightly confused by the sudden turn of events.
“Cool, let’s go eat. Mina’s treat.” Jeongyeon smirks at Mina.
“Sure.” Mina replies cooly.
“Yes!” Jeongyeon cheers, “C’mon Momo, it’s cool if I call you that right? You can just call me Jeongyeon or Jeong, whatever you want.”
“Uh okay.” Momo just agrees to whatever was going on, because it wasn’t everyday someone is asked to join Mina and Jeongyeon.
“Alright, Minari you driving?”
“I’m paying so your driving.” Mina replies.
“She’s quiet…and slightly intimidating, yes, but she’s also fun to hang out with. She understands my humour.”
“Wow someone actually understands your humour..must be because she’s a doctor too.” Nayeon teases Momo.
“Maybe, but Sana…” Momo turns serious, “She’s trying you know. She’s asked me about your favourite foods, drinks, tv shows, movies..literally anything.”
“Yeah you even told her about my truffle craving.”
“What truffle craving?” Momo looks at me confused.
“Remember I told you that I wanted truffle ravioli but you refused to get me some.”
“She was asking what was going on cause she was right next to me when you called.”
“And you just told her? Just like that?”
“Well she’s your wife Sana, plus it’s just a small bit of information why are you so worked up about it? If anything, you should have been more like Mina, trying to make things less miserable for you both, but no you just shut her out. Already hating her because of this whole marriage. A marriage that you agreed to, might I add.”
“Well I’m sorry I’m not like my perfect arranged wife who cooks dishes I crave…This whole thing sucks. I hate it. I don’t love her and I never will. I’ll no longer let myself be weak. But you’re right, I have been shutting her out..and I know that’s wrong so I’m fine with us being acquaintances now, maybe we can be friends.” I look at Momo who nods at me.
“Yeah, maybe you can.” Momo places a hand on my shoulder, “And I think you’ll find that..”
“Wait, wait, pause.” Jihyo interrupts Momo, “She cooked for you?”
“Not just cooked for her Ji…she cooked the food she was craving, which meant she had to go out of her way to get the ingredients and then make the meal itself..” Nayeon adds, “That just sealed the deal for me Sana-chan, if you don’t want your wife just send her my way. She’s smart, caring, hot as hell, and now she cooks too? Like if you don’t want to keep wifing her up, I will.”
“Nayeon!” Momo and Jihyo scold the obviously tipsy girl who shrugs and laughs.
~ ~
“Ugh my head. I should not have had that last glass.” I clutch my head, hoping it’ll stop the pounding, but of course it doesn’t work. After 5 minutes of suffering, I gain the strength to get up so I can grab an Advil and some water.
Here’s some Advil for your head and water. I made breakfast for you and Momo, she’s in the guestroom. I’ll be home by evening.
-M.
Thank you.
I sent a brief text to Mina after taking the Advil, surprised when I got a reply seconds later.
You’re welcome. Drink lots of water, it'll help with the headache.
I will.
Okay..next time I’ll put an IV drip in your sleep so your headache won’t be bad.
Eh?
I didn’t want to place one without your consent…
Mina you don’t have to do that..the Advil is enough.
If I do then your hangover won’t be bad and you won’t need the Advil.
I–
I’ll only do it if you pass out from drinking and it’ll be gone before you wake up.
I feel like you won’t back down from this.
Hmm not really, no.
It’s a bit excessive..so please just give me one when I drink too much.
Okay :)
“So stubborn.” I smile, getting out of bed to wake up my passed out best friend.
“Satang, good morning!” Momo walked out of the bedroom right when I was about to go over.
“How are you never hungover?” I complain while she shrugs, “It’s a gift. Anyways, what do you want to eat?”
“Oh Mina made us breakfast.” I reply already heading towards the kitchen.
“Did she now?” Momo looks at me with that side-smirk of hers.
“What?” I ask, heating the food up in the microwave.
“Omurice..huh..your go-to hangover food.”
“Which you probably supplied to her.”
“So she makes this everytime you drink too much?”
“Meh.”
“Oh Sana.” Momo shakes her head at me.
“What?”
“Nayeon’s right..if you don’t want to keep wifing her up, just let me do it.” Momo teases.
“Shut up.” I roll my eyes, “Let’s just eat so you can do the dishes.”
“Why do I have to do the dishes?”
“Cause my wife already made your breakfast.”
“Oh so now she’s your wife.”
“Just eat Momo.”
“Hai hai.”
“Hey Mina.” Momo looks at Mina, with a passed out Sana on her back.
“Jeez, just how much did she drink?” Mina asks, leading Momo to the master bedroom.
“Not much, she’s just not good at drinking like she thinks she is.” Momo chuckles as she sets Sana down on the bed.
“How about you? Please tell me you didn’t drive here.”
“No of course not, I took an uber. So can I crash here?” Momo asks.
“Of course. I’ll show you to the guest room.” Mina replies, her attention back on Sana. Carefully removing her shoes before tucking her into bed.
“Thanks Mina.” Momo smiles at how Mina cares for Sana, “She’s lucky it was you that was arranged to marry her.” The girl suddenly blurts out.
“Is she? Maybe it would have been luckier if she wasn’t forced to do this in the first place.” Mina replies with a shrug.
“True, but if it was anyone else..well..I don’t think they would care.”
“I’m not as heartless as I look Momo.” Mina replies teasingly.
“I told you that it was a first impression, it changed okay.” Momo shakes her head, knowing the girl was teasing.
“I was teasing, c’mon I’ll show you to the room and to the extra toiletries. I’ll bring you some of Sana’s sleepwear as well.” Mina leads Momo down the hall to one of the guest rooms they have.
“The toiletries are fine..I can sleep in this.” Momo replies.
“Alright.” Mina nods, “You don’t have any scheduled surgeries later so rest up.”
“Will do. Thanks Mina.”
“Yeah of course. Goodnight Momo.”
“Goodnight.” Momo smiles, noticing how Mina was carrying a small basin with her.
“Oh Sana…I wonder if your heart can really keep itself closed off from this woman you have by your side.”
~ ~ ~ ~