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 ing .

 

~

 

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 acc