forced to be ' zhang hao au

015

"hyejin? what brings you here dear?" a familiar figure  stands before her figure unlocking the door. "oh, I'm just worried about hao. i think he's sick or something" hyejin stutters, being intimidated by zhanghaos mother. "right, come in. make yourself at home, i mean it will be your home soon haha" his mom says awkwardly, trying to ease the situation.

she leads her towards zhanghaos room, walking up the stairs. as they stand before his door, his mom looks over to hyejin and sighs. "i don't know whats gotten into him lately but his illnesses are getting worse." those words sent a sudden chill down hyejins throat. her heart started hurting. what illnesses was his mom talking about? he never mentioned any sickness? has he been hiding it this whole damn time??

"wait, what illnesses?" she stutters, trying to keep her cool so she doesn't freak his mom out. "well. not many people know about this but, since birth, hao's been having kidney troubles. he was born with a defected kindney. making it worse, his disease is also connected to his heart, which causes him to get dizzy and sick more often. we've been waiting for him to be old enough for surgery, but theres survival risks. and someone needs to take on his fathers company since his dads also struggling with his health problems, so we arranged a marriage between you both so you can lead both our companies, since we know hao can't do it by himself. he's our only son and he can't handle the responsibilities." she explains to hyejin.

she felt her heart drop to the ground. she had never known what he was going through, and how he was so good at hiding it. "this is between me and you, hao can't know i told you this. promise?" his mother whispers. "promise."

they both agreed to keep quiet.

"ill be right back." hyejin smiles, rushing outside of the house.

a bit later hyejin knocks on zhanghaos door. she took deep breaths before opening his rooms door and walking inside. zhanghao noticed that the person walking in wasn't his mom, his eyes shift towards the door as he was shocked to see hyejin infront of him. he slowly gets up from his bed, but accidentally tripping on the way. hyejin rushed towards him, completely worried. she wrapped her arm around his waist, her other arm holding onto his hand. she carefully led him back to his bed, sitting beside him.

"how'd you get inside? they don't open the door for homeless people." zhanghao chuckled before getting smacked in the head by hyejin. "you should be lucky anyone even wants to see your dumbass" she moved her position on the bed farther from zhanghao out of pettiness. he notices and moves closer to her, then hyejin moving even farther. this continues until hyejin doesn't realize and falls off the bed.
"ouch, i hate you" she groans before hearing a loud laugh from beside her.  hyejin rolls her eyes and sits on the chair across his bed.

"so how bad is it?" she asks, starting at him completely worried. "how bad is what?" zhanghao asks in confusion. "your sickness dumbass? i'm worried about you." she explains, her expression suddenly changing. he noticed her face and sighed. "she told you, didn't she?" hyejin gets up from the chair, back onto his bed. she got closer, wrapping her arm around him, slightly hugging him from the side. "yeah but, you'll be fine. right?" she asked, sensing a heavy feeling in her heart. "ill be fine, you see these muscles? they're not going down without a fight!" he points at his biceps. hyejin giggled at his stupid comment. he just looked at her, admiring her.

"oh wait, i went to the supermarket on the way and i got you this, its ginger tea. personally i hate ginger but i heard it's good for dizziness." she says, before grabbing a box of ginger tea out of her purse. "you better drink it, i used my ice cream money for this." she jokingly glared at him. "ill make sure to drink it, i guess i owe you ice cream then" he tilts his head, trying his best to force a smile. he looked as pale as a ghost, no amount of lies could cover up the fact that he was not doing well physically. it pained hyejin to see him like that, she never knew what he was dealing with.

it was all so sudden, it made her rethink everything she's ever said to him. zhanghao leaned his head on hyejins shoulder. "is it weird that i imagine our soon to be wedding like every single day? i know we started off on bad terms but i can't help but feel so safe with you, we might be young but if i had to get married with anyone, i'd definitely choose you." hyejin was surprised by the sudden confession, but she knew that she felt the exact same way. she smiled to herself, never had ever thought that she'd ever share a moment like this with her academic rival.

"this is pretty sudden, hao" she  giggles. "i'm being serious though" he teasingly sulked, removing his head from hyejins shoulders to look her face to face. "i feel like i am  dreaming. am i dreaming?" she says, grabbing her hand then pinching it, then very obviously groaning in pain. zhanghao chuckled, reaching his hand to play with hyejins hair. "i'm going to sleep, night" he rolls over on to his bed, putting his blanket over his body and shutting his eyes. "oh wait, should i go?" she asks, grabbing her purse and getting off the bed. "no, stay here" he mumbles, still keeping his eyelids shut. "yeah no, i'm not sleeping on the floor." she says, crossing her hands. "i didn't tell you to sleep on the floor"