The Unwanted Marriage

“What the...” I couldn’t finish my words as I was absolutely shocked by what I saw. It was a big banner that congratulated us: Siwon and I for our marriage.

“How the hell...”

“I don’t know,” Siwon answered me just before I could finish my question. I looked at him and examined his face. I doubted if he was telling the truth but apparently, his face showed that he was surprised as well.

He suddenly grabbed my hand and we walked towards the school entrance together. I was a bit shocked when I saw only a few students on the school ground. It was 5 minutes before the school bell should ring and supposedly, during that time, students should be flocking the hallways and corridors. But that morning was different, absolutely different.

“Yah!” I called out one of the few students who were roaming around the place.

“Where are the people here?” I asked him.

“In the auditorium,” he said and then walked away from us.

“Why are they in the auditorium?” I asked him. I know that both of us just arrived and he has no clue or whatsoever but he was the only one in there.

“Ah. I totally forgot. Today is Monday: morning assembly.”

“Shoot!” I know that it’s normal for student like us to have morning assemblies but, gosh, I really hate morning assemblies. It’s so boring and dull and tiresome and all the other words synonymous to BORING.

“Come on,” he said as he grabbed my hand again.

“YAH! I don’t want to go there!!!” I yelled at him as he dragged me towards the auditorium. He literally dragged me there. I tried to pull away from him but he was just too strong.

“Why?” he suddenly stopped and let go of my hand, finally.

“It’s boring! Only kids like you enjoy that stuff!”

“Morning assemblies are part of your student life. You, not even I, should miss it,” he briefly explained as he looked at me with those ‘I’m in control’ eyes of his.

“I don’t want it to be part of my student life. And besides, I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen,” I told him. We were still standing right in front of the auditorium’s doors.

“Come on. What bad thing could possibly happen?” he bragged as he grabbed my hand and opened the door.

We entered in the auditorium but what surprised me the most was that we were actually at the back of the auditorium stage. There I realized that we entered the wrong door. Instead of using the front door, we used the back door, where only the school administrators and people with great power enter.

“We entered the wrong door. I totally forgot I’m with you.”

“Wow. How could you totally forget? And why do you know this door?”

"Because I enter here every morning assembly," he answered.

"Why are you entering here during morning assemblies? Aren't you supposed to be with your class?"

"You obviously don't attend assemblies! I give speeches every Monday to the crowd! Stupid!" he answered in an angry manner.

"Yah! Don't yell at me!"

“Oh, the newly weds! Come here!” Ms. Kim, the person responsible for my early marriage suddenly grabbed both of us near the stage. She then went near our school principal, Mr. Kang and whispered something to him. Mr. Kang suddenly stood up and went in front of the microphone and talked.

Mr. Kang is my parents closest friend. He’s been taking care of us (in terms of studies and etc) since my mom died and he was one of our wedding sponsors. And by the way, he is a very childish person that’s why I wasn’t that surprised when he announced to the whole school that I’m already married. Yes, he announced it! And this was what he said:

“My dear students, most of you may have wondered why we placed a big banner outside the school building this morning. Well, the reason behind that is because we are congratulating the newly wed couple: our school body president, CHOI SIWON and the daughter of our late School chairwoman (my mom) LEE HAE MI. Let’s give the newly weds a round of applause!”

Yeah, so that’s what he said. He was looking at us, giving us a signal to go in front which by the way was the last thing in my mind. Agreeing to what he wants, I mean.

When Ms. Kim found out what Mr. Kang wants us to do (and we were hesitating to do it) she suddenly pushed both of us which led us to showing our faces to the crowd.

It was absolutely embarrassing. I was even planning not to tell anybody about our wedding. I definitely doubted if I could even show up my face to everyone after the morning assembly.

I looked at Siwon’s face, trying to find out what he was feeling and I saw his pink face. I know he was also embarrassed.

I then looked at the crowd’s reaction and saw their different expressions. Some were happy, some looked like they wanted to kill me, some cried, some looked like they wanted to kill Siwon and some looked terrified. Of what they were terrified of, I have no idea.

And because of the different facial reaction I saw, I quickly ran out of the auditorium because of embarrassment. I mean there’s absolutely no one in this world who could ever survive that embarrassment. Okay, maybe there are people who could survive that embarrassment, but I’m not one of them.

So I ran towards a tree in front of the school’s soccer field. God knows how much I love that place. It was there where my mom usually reads my story books when I was still a kid and she was still the school’s chairwoman. It was one of the most memorable places that I have, which is why I go there whenever I have problems.

I honestly want to cry but I realized that there’s absolutely no way I’m going to cry over that matter. I’m just embarrassed and pissed but I’m not sad. I’m pissed at Mr. Kang, for real. What does our marriage have to do with the school that he even had to announce it?! Urgh. I really hate him. But I don’t hate him that much, I mean we get along really well and stuff and I’m really close to him. Maybe I just hated what he did, not him.

I was lying on the grass under the shade of the tree, thinking through things and punching the grass over and over again when someone suddenly came.

“Mimi!” he called out my name and I knew right away that it was Mr. Kang. And that old man still calls me my childhood name.

“I know you’re upset Mimi,” he said as he sat beside me.

“Good thing that you know, ahjushi!” I angrily answered back.

“What I did was for your own good.”

“Good? How’s that supposed to do me good?” I angrily asked as I changed to sitting position.

“Well, you know how popular your husband is, especially to girls. That’s why I did that!” he proudly said.

“But ahjushi!”

“Aigoo. Everything is done now. Just don’t dwell so much on the past and live on.” He ended the topic without giving me a chance to talk, and it has always been like that.

“Come on. Class is about to start. You should go already,” he said as he stood up and offered his hand for me. I received his hand and he helped me stand up.

“Yah Ahjushi! If ever I’ll be treated badly, it’ll definitely be your responsibility!”

“How could they do that to the future chairwoman?”

There he goes again. Actually, when my mom died the position of school chairperson became vacant. My dad declined the position because of his work. So, Mr. Kang, being the closest person to my parents decided to help out the school and became the temporary school principal and chairperson until one of us, (me and my sister) eventually finish up studying. One of us will definitely become the next school principal as soon as we graduate. My sister also declined it a long time ago, and being the next in line, there’s a big possibility that I will become the next school principal which by the way I find really ridiculous given the grades that I have.

“Yeah right. Haven’t decided about that yet,” I answered him.

“Alright, but for now. Go to class!” he commanded and then I went away from him.

**MR.KANG’S POV**

^^FLASHBACK^^

“Jong Kook! I finally found the one,” I called up Jong Kook, a very close friend of mine. (Jong Kook is Hae Mi’s dad)

“That’s good Ji Sung! I’ll be heading to your office right away.”

After a few minutes, Jong Kook finally arrived and we immediately talked about our concern.

“Who’s he?” he asked me.

I took out an envelope and gave it to him. He studied every inch of it while I told him the details.

“His name is Choi Siwon. He’s a stop student ever since he was younger and he comes from a very good family.”

“You think that’s enough for her?” he asked again.

“I know you have doubts. But Siwon will be perfect for her. She’s clever and outspoken while Siwon is disciplined and responsible. She’s definitely going to learn a lot from him,” I explained to him.

“How are we going to do it?”

“I studied them closely and I know definitely what to do,” I said as I told him the plan I had in mind. He seemed to have agreed and even added some of his ideas to make the plan better.

“I’m sure it’s going to work because he is from a strict Christian family,” I assured him when he had doubts on things.

“Well then, let’s do it,” he confidently said. Both of us know that what were going to do is not good but it’s the only way to make things right. Haemi needs to have Siwon’s character to be the perfect person to replace me. And I will do everything to fulfill that.

Days passed by and things eventually turned out exactly, and even better as what was planned. They were involved in scandal and ended up marrying each other.

^^END OF FLASHBACK^^

After I saw Haemi walk away, I immediately called up Jong Kook.

“Ji Sung? How’s things there?”

“It’s fine. Everything went out well. Haemi and Siwon were a bit disappointed but eventually gave in. How about you?”

“I’m arranging it right now. I’ll see you soon. And, thank you.”

“No problem. I’ll see you,” I said and dropped the call. I’m getting nervous on how things will work out and absolutely anxious on how Hae Mi will react once she finds it out. But after all the things that had happened, this is absolutely not the right time to give up.