JACKSON
"So.. How's it going with Ellie? Her name is Ellie, right?" my mom decided to drop by unannounced to have some dinner with me.
"She's okay. That reminds me, I need to tell you something."
She looked at me and stopped eating.
"Why do you have to stop eating? It makes me nervous, you know. Just don't look at me like that," suddenly I felt nervous with her looking at me straight.
She sulked a bit and went back to face her plate and continued eating.
"What is it?" she asked while pretending not to look at me.
"We've decided to go with the arrangement," I finally said it.
"Reallyyy???"
"Ouch mom, do you have to shout that loud?" I pretended to cover my ears.
"Wait, this is not a prank, right?" she started to look around, looking for a hidden camera or something.
"Oh come on, no one else was here. Even you saw my manager left when you arrived. This is real," I assured her.
"Really?" her eyes filled with excitement.
"Yes. But we have some conditions that's not negotiable," I continued.
"I'm listening," she said with anticipation.
"First, we want to keep the marriage a secret. No one's supposed to know that we're married. Everyone that knows about it must sign an NDA, to make sure no one leaks it. I need to keep it a secret so I can keep working as an idol, and she needs it so she could focus on her job as a surgeon. That leads to condition number 2, we don't want a wedding party, just a marriage registration and maybe dinner with family. Only close family. No cousins, just us and her family. That's it. Three, you're not seeing her without me, and vice versa. I don't want you to grill her about babies and stuff when you know that it's not her priority right now. I don't want to put pressure on her. It would make me uncomfortable, so I don't want her to feel uncomfortable as well. Any questions?" I ended my speech.
She looked disappointed when I mentioned no wedding party and babies, but she decided to accept it at last. "Okay, I'll let your father know about it. I'll ask about a good date to register the marriage and booked a dinner. Ask her how many people she wanted to invite to the dinner and her birthdate, will you?"
"Okay. I'll text you when she answered it." We continued eating in silence and then she left. Phew.. I thought she would against our conditions, but this was really easy. Easier than I thought.
ELLIE
"Ellie! What makes you come here?" Grandpa greeted me with beaming eyes. I was guilty for not visiting him often due to my busy schedules. He was so happy when he saw me, he must've been lonely all this time.
"Well, I come here to give you my answer regarding the arrangement."
"Oh.. okay," he seemed excited to hear my answer. "Sit down, let's talk while drinking some tea." He asked one of the maid to make us some tea and brought it to the study room.
"So...," he didn't finish his sentence and gave me a questioning look.
"Well, we decided to give it a go, the arrangement, I mean. But we have several conditions that's not negotiable."
"What conditions?" her grandpa started to look worry.
"We want to keep it a secret. Anyone that knows us getting married must sign an NDA. His attorney will prepare it. We will keep it a secret maybe for about 3-4 years? He said he had to if he wanted to keep his work as an idol. I have to focus on my career as well for now, so I think it's a good reason to keep it a secret. And we don't want a wedding party. Just marriage registration and a family dinner. Everyone who attends the dinner must sign the NDA. And no one from this family will meet him without me and vice versa. We don't want to put each other in tough spot, being grilled by the opposite family," I finished my speech only to see my grandpa had a mixed feeling on his face. He looked okay for the secret part, but he was a bit disappointed about the wedding party part.
"Oh Ellie.. do you really not want to get a wedding party? What about a wedding picture?" he asked. Oh crap. I haven't talked about it with Jackson.
"Oh, I'll have to ask Jackson about it, grandpa. But I think we could do it at the dinner, what do you think?" he started to cheer up again. I must have forgotten that grandpa might wanted to have a family picture with me and Jackson. Suddenly I felt sad for disappoint the old man. He's been good to me all this time. And I repayed his kindness with this fake marriage.
"Okay. Who do you want to invite to the wedding dinner?" grandpa continued.
"I don't know. Maybe just you, Uncle and Auntie, Sophie, Lily and Mark, and Uncle and Auntie Chang," I just mentioned Grandpa's son and daughter and his other grandchildren.
"Um.. okay. I don't mind with the small celebration, as long as you're happy, dear," he said with a smiling face. I felt my heart broke into pieces when he said it.
After leaving grandpa's house, I texted Jackson about the wedding picture and he seemed okay with it. His mother must have asked the same thing. I gave him the names of the people I invited to the dinner party and he gave me his so we could memorize their names. He mentioned he forgot to tell his mom about the wedding ring, and I had to admit I forgot that as well. But we decided to just explain to them if anyone was asking about it. He would buy a ring just for the dinner, and I would give it back to him when we got divorced later.
[I forgot to ask your birthdate] He texted me again.
[What for?]
[My mom needs it for the wedding date registration, she wants to ask a good date for us]
[Oh. I don't know my exact birthdate, but grandpa celebrates my birthday every June 15th. My birthyear is 1994]
[Wait. You're also 94 liners? How come I don't know about it?]
[I am. Well, you never ask.]
[Do you want to pick the wedding ring together?]
[No. Just pick whatever you like. Don't buy the one that has big rocks. I don't like diamonds]
JACKSON
She's seriously weird. And she's the same age as me. I thought she's older, judging by her serious look and I thought medical school was quite long. Oh well, I hope her not knowing her exact birthdate wouldn't be a problem for mom. I'd better texted her about the birthdate situation before I forgot about it. I was about to go to the gym when I remembered something else.
[What about wedding gown?] I texted her again. She might not care about the wedding ring, but she had to try the wedding gown herself.
[Shoot. Can you help make the appointment with a bridal store and make sure it's private?]
[Sure. When are you free?]
[Friday night. Is that okay?] I checked my schedule. I had a photoshoot earlier that day, but nothing at night.
[Ok. I'll pick you up. Hospital or your apartment?]
[Hospital. It would be just us, right?]
[Hell yeah. Won't let my mom to interfere.]
[Great]
YOU ARE READING
Arranged Marriage (Jackson Wang FF)
FanfictionEllie was living her life as a surgeon when her adopted grandfather told her about his forgotten promise to introduce her to his friend's grandson. And the grandson was apparently the famous Jackson Wang. As they can't fight dead man's wish, they de...
