Hiding from reality
Joshua stood there, feeling and looking dumbfounded. He looked from his dad to Mr. Han and back again.
"You're joking, right?" He said, letting out a dry laugh.
"No I'm not. You, Joshua Hong are getting married to Hope Adams immediately after your graduation in three months times." Stevie Hong said firmly as he put his things together, getting ready to leave. He was about to start walking towards the door when Joshua stepped in front of him. By this time, the other employees and Mr. Williams had stepped out leaving them with Mr. Han.
"What do you mean? This has got to be some kind of prank, right?" He scoffed, waiting for them to confirm it. When they didn't, he opened his mouth but no words came out just puffs of air. He ran his hand through his hair.
"Are you serious right now? So you mean to tell me that we just signed a contract to marry me off to someone I don't even know. She's older than me for crying out loud." Joshua cried, the volume of his voice increasing.
"Let's speak outside." Stevie said stepping around him. Mr. Han hung his head as he passed Joshua, following behind Stevie. He watched the two of them in disbelief.
He couldn't believe what was going on. He still felt maybe he was dreaming. He slapped himself and looked around, he was still there. He quickly followed them, taking the second elevator down. He rushed over to the parking lot and saw his father and Mr. Han standing in front of his car. He got to where they were and stood there waiting for an explanation.
"We made a decision to merge with Dotsy Corp. months ago. I was surprised when Mr. Adams quickly agreed to it all, but they had a condition. It was that his daughter had to get married to you. Seeing this as the only condition, I didn't think it to be that big of a deal, so I accepted it." Stevie explained and got closer to Joshua.
"I did this for you, your future and the company. You didn't want to take over the company, so I thought if I merged the company with a bigger one, you wouldn't have to burden yourself with having to take over, and you can live your life as you want it. Lucky enough for you, it would be your partner taking over, so you're free to do as you like. And if for any reason, a divorce takes place you have the most to gain from it all. You may hate me all you want but this is all for you." Stevie finished before leaving for his car.
Mr. Han stepped forward to talk to Joshua who was bent over, tears starting to fall.
"It may seem like your father hates you, but he has the best wishes for you. This way, your future is secured and you wouldn't have to worry about the business anymore. You can go back to your apartment, when you're calm, come back and talk to your parents. I'm sorry for hiding this from you, but it was not my place to tell." He patted his back before joining Stevie in the car and they drove off.
Joshua stood there, out of breath. He walked to the side of the car where he was sure no one would see him. He didn't know what to think. He felt like crying, but the tears refused to come out because he knew his father had did it just for him. But questions kept ringing in his head. What if it didn't work out? What if the contract they worked hard for fell through. This was the rest of his whole life on the line here.
He thought of his mother. Had she known about this? Thinking back to the moments before he left home and the odd way she had been acting and the wierd things she had said, he was convinced that she knew about it. He couldn't believe his mom had kept such a thing from him. He could excuse everyone else, but his mother had been the last person he would expect this from.
Standing up from where he squated, he looked up and saw Hope Adams standing a bit far off. They both stared at each other before she scoffed and turned back to walk into the building. He had already begun to dislike her. She looked to haughty and cold.
With a sigh, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and called a cab to take him home. He was too disoriented to drive. When the cab arrived, he took off his suit jacket and tie before getting in the back seat. He told the driver his address and laid down on the seat. His phone rang and he took it out of his pocket. It was his mom. He silenced the phone and put it back in his pocket. He kept zoning in and out of reality for the rest of the drive home.
When he finally arrived at his apartment, he paid the driver and dragged himself into the building. He felt mentally and physically drained. When he got in, he locked the door behind him. He dropped his suit jacket on the floor before walking to his bedroom while unbuttoning his shirt. He fell on his bed, burying himself under his blankets and pillows.
He started thinking of how possible it was to spend the rest of his life with someone like Hope. Being married mean being tied down to one person for the rest of his life. The thought scared him because Hope seemed like the type of person to make another person's life difficult especially if you were under her. What was he going to tell his friends? How was he going to explain that he was suddenly getting married immediately after graduation without them knowing and worse to someone he didn't know.
He groaned as he ran his hand down his face. His phone rang again and he brought it out of his pocket and threw it away somewhere in his room. He had been dozing off when he heard his door bell ring. He ignored it. It continued to ring over and over again before whoever it was started banging on his door. He didn't get up, because he knew whoever it was would eventually go away when they got tired of knocking. The person then knocked in a particular pattern and Joshua immediately knew who it was.
It was a pattern he and Lucas had come up with when they were younger to be able to recognize each other. If Lucas was here, that meant his mother had called him. He didn't go to open the door, because he knew Lucas had a spare key, and most importantly, he wanted to mess with him. He didn't know how he was going to tell Lucas what happened. He would be angry.
After a while, the knocking stopped. More calls came to his phone, which he ignored. He started hearing keys jingling in the lock on his door after a few minutes. He felt disappointed because Lucas had gotten to him faster than he wanted him to.
Removing the blanket from over his face, he looked up to see Lucas rush into his room, hair scattered, breathing heavily and looking disheveled. He smirked. When he saw Joshua, he let out a deep sigh.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He said walking over rto drag the blanket off of Joshua's body.
"Do you know how worried I was? Your mom has been busting my phone with calls, panicking. She said that you weren't picking up your calls, so I came here and I kept knocking because I saw your tie on the stairs and then I came to knock and no one answered. I had already thought the worst." Lucas ranted and Joshua smiled.
"I'm okay. Just sad, that's all."
"What is going on? She sounded so panicked and she said she just wanted to apologize, but you were not picking her calls. I've never heard her sound so worried before." Lucas said pulling Joshua out of his fortress.
"Well get ready to be a best man in the next three months, because guess who's getting married." Joshua said with a fake smile on his face.
"What kind of joke is that?" Lucas scoffed.
"I'm not joking, man. I really am getting married."
"Joshua Doyun Hong." Lucas scolded calling Joshua's full name. Joshua's face scrunched up at being called his full name as he leaned back in my bed.
"Seriously, why, when, how... To who?" Lucas looked dumbfounded.
"Well her name is Hope Adams, the heir to Dotsy Corp. and my fiancee." He said nonchalantly somehow accepting his fate.
"Dude how could you be so nonchalant about something so serious?" Lucas looked confused.
"You know how I told my dad I want nothing to do with the business, right? So apparently, he did this to secure a future for the company and for me. Since I don't have a main aim in life yet, having someone who can and is ready to take care of me was what he wanted for me. And if in any case a divorce should take place, I have the most to gain from it. I was angry at first, but I actually see his point. They're doing this to secure a future for me and I understand that and have come to terms with it. The only problem is that I don't know if it will work out between me and the heiress , because she seems like a real bitch." Joshua explained.
"Okay, I get that but this is all too sudden." Lucas said shaking his head.
"We'll just have to wait and see how it goes." Joshua shrugged.