Unexpected Love

My childhood life was not your ordinary one. In fact, it could hardly seem the life of any child. Or adult. You see, my youthful days weren’t filled with toys and loving parents. The were filled with traveling. Time traveling....

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“Git a move on, you bag of rags!” Rasped the furious, condemning woman above her. Her fat cheeks spewed saliva as she scowled down at her and scolded. The woman’s dark eyes illuminated with scorn. Seriously? She didn’t look a thing like a bag of rags, in her opinion. And saying such a thing to a foreigner, too, was very rude. Baka, she thought to herself in annoyance.

Really, could she not have picked a better time to investigate the meeting of the Council? She could have gone a few minutes later when it was actually starting. But no, she just had to come earlier because of her stupid impatience. And get caught by some random baker’s wife who accused her of supposedly stealing a loaf of bread- which she really wouldn’t have minded eating right now due to its appeal to every single one of the five senses- and was now letting her go with ‘just a lecter’ and ‘givin’ her charitee for which she could use a lessin on’. By now she was about to go mad from the woman’s constant jabbering, for which was about to result in her missing the details of the Council’s meeting. Who knew arriving here early could cause her to be late in the end?

“Excuse me, ma’am, but I’ve really got somewhere I need to be right now. So unless you have something useful to tell me, I suggest you let me leave. I don’t want to have to hurt you.” She interrupted the woman at last, her ears ringing and her head pounding. Not good. She would need to concentrate during the meeting.

“Why I-” the woman recoiled in shock and indignance. But before the woman could finish, the girl disappeared into the crowd.

Phew, I thought that would never end. The girl groaned to herself. Wun Hu Jang is going to kill me if I don’t retrieve the details he needs. How did I ever get into their dreadful mess to begin with? Oh yeah, compliments of fate and the orphanage.

She rounded the corner of the business building, preparing to sneak in one of the back entrances. Her current clothing and young appearance could hardly gain her entrance to one of the most prominent businesses in Tokyo, Japan.

She poked her head around the corner to see if anyone was in the hallway. Not a soul. Must be later than I thought. She scurried down the hallway as silently as she could, and entered a small room which contacted to one of the private rooms where you could hear the meetings that went on. Thankfully, the chairman nearly always was with the others in the meeting rather than in his private booth, so it was empty today. Success.

She peeked through the shade, careful not to make the action obvious. The three supervisors, chairman, CEO, and director were seated at the table. Wang Ye Han, establisher of Wang Corps Enterprise, was still not present.The meeting hadn’t yet started, so she was safe. For now.

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She sat in the waiting room, impatiently waiting for the desk lady to call her name. She wanted to get this business over with, and she needed the money owed to her desperately.

She looked up at the lady for what was probably the hundredth time. The lady caught her eye and waved her over. She was pretty. Well, most young office ladies from Japan were. She had flowing black hair tied in a neat and sophisticated bun, and had simple, yet very enhancing makeup. Her skin was so creamy, too. The girl felt a spark of envy. Why couldn’t she have been born Japanese? No, she was originally from the States. Yes, that’s right. Boring old America. Who knew what she was then. And her parents couldn’t even tell her either. They were dead. Had been ever since she was two. Now she was eighteen, and still looked like she was fifteen. Compliments of being under the average American height. And here she was in Japan, where nearly every woman was short. And they thought she was younger than she was because she was short. Yet she was taller than most of them.

“Annelise Smith? Mr. Wun will see you now.” She spoke in Japanese. Her voice sounded as pretty as she was. Oh, the irony.

Oh he will, will he? She thought sarcastically.

Annelise noted that the desk lady’s name plate read ‘Ki Ana Hin’. Japanese people really did have such cool names.

“I’m Annelise Smith.” She confirmed. Ana Hin smiled and said, “Mr. Wun is waiting for you in his office. Thirty-second floor.”

“Arigato.” Annelise returned the smile. Ana Hin looked like a nice young woman. If she had had the time to do so, she wouldn’t have minded to become friends with the lady. Not many women her age really had ever taken a liking to her. Or she to them.

She bowed and walked briskly down the hall towards the elevator. Mr. Wun would most likely be in a bad mood if she was late. He seemed to have no regard for the fact that it took over five minutes to get from the reception desk to his office. Was it really necessary for him to always be so moody?

Annelise knocked on Mr. Wun’s door, waiting patiently for him to grant her entrance. Well, trying to wait patiently anyway.

“Come in and close the door.” He called in Japanese from the other side with that controlling and horribly wonderful voice of his. Too bad he wasn’t as charming as his good looks. It didn’t really help that he was only a few years older than herself and looked remarkably like Kim Jae Wook.

“Yes, sir.” Annelise replied as she did as she was instructed.

Wun Hu Jang’s office was elaborate and of excellent taste, which was a complete opposite of his personality. It looked as though it must have cost thousands of dollars to refurbish. And unlike most offices where it was decorated with fake plants, there were real plants in the office. Small orange trees and various potted flower plants. There were even geraniums among them. As much as she hated to admit it, the guy really was good at decorating.

Mr. Wun didn’t even bother to look up from his paperwork until she cleared her throat loudly a couple awkward minutes later.

He looked up at her with a raised eyebrow and begrudging smirk as he asked, “Hai?”

“The information. I’ve brought it.” Annelise spoke tersely, though she kept her voice somewhat respectful.

If Mr. Wun noticed her stiff response, he pretended not to, much to her relief- and slight disappointment. “Well, what did you find out?”

Annelise tsked and held out her hand expectantly. He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “What? You expect payment before the information? Clearly you don’t trust me.” He shook his head. “I hate to break this to you, Annelise, but you are going to have to tell me the information before you receive any sort of payment. I’ve hardly found you to be a trustworthy adult yet.”

Annelise snorted, annoyed, but didn’t bother to argue. “The stocks are going up in gold. Silver is diminishing quickly, as usual. I didn’t see it becoming any more valuable in the future. At least not yet.”

“Well, nothing I didn’t know before. Are you sure you even deserve payment right now?” He taunted as he interrupted her.

“That’s not all. Wang Corps Enterprise is investing in something new that is about to become the new jackpot. Diamonds. There’s a whole new mine of them that they’ve discovered down in an island off the coast of North Korea. I believe they were trying to mine them illegally however, and are trying to cover their tracks. But now I know their every move.” She held out her hand once more. “Payment?”

He chuckled, his perfect, white teeth showing, and handed her a check. “Seems I can rely on you after all. And no rude comments today either. Perhaps I’ve tamed you yet.”

She bowed and ignored his comment once again, doing her best to bite back a retort. She glanced down at the check now safely in her hands. Fifty-thousand won. Really, was that it? “Hey! This is half of what you gave me last time! You know I barely make enough for a living.” She protested as she leaned down toward his face.

He laughed lightly and leaned forward until his face was inches from hers. “You are beginning to learn too much, and I must keep an eye on you. You might become dangerous to our company, and it is one the richest ones in Tokyo. Even the world. And it must stay that way. But if you are so short on money, I have a proposition for you.” He smirked once again, this time more devious yet unbearably charming and sexy.

“Oh?” Annelise couldn’t keep the interest out of her voice, though she tried.

“Become my fiancée.” Mr. Wun offered, his voice becoming too much for Annelise. Her body seriously had no idea how much her brain despised her boss, for it was flushing deeply from underneath her clothing and her was heart picking up speed.

“Huh?!” She squeaked, startled by his sudden request. Her mind became blank with shock, and she stopped breathing for a full minute before she remembered oxygen was essential to human life.

“You heard me.” He smirked mischievously, and repeated more slowly, pronouncing the Japanese syllables separately. “Be-come-my-wife.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Annelise screeched. “In whose right mind would want to marry you?”

His expression hardened as he was no doubt offended by her strong refusal. Apparently he wasn’t too hurt, as he said quickly and confidently, “Well, your face and body language certainly said otherwise, as you clearly were blushing like a beet.”

Annelise opened her mouth to argue, but he put his hand over her mouth to shush her. “Shh, don’t speak. You aren’t thinking clearly. Your mind is muddled because you are receiving such a generous offer from a chaebol.” He nodded confidently.

Annelise removed his hand forcefully. “Oh? And what’s in it for you?” She stared at him suspiciously, wiping her mouth vigorously.

“No more blind dates. My mother will finally leave me alone, and you aren’t clingy like the rest of the women I have to meet.” He folded his hands together and stared at her innocently. Somehow he was able to accomplish such a feat.

“You’ve actually paid me a compliment. I no longer have any idea what to do with my life.” She stared at him, dumbfounded, her mouth gaping. “And I lost the bet...”

“Shut up. It wasn’t intended that way.” He huffed, grimacing at her.

Annelise laughed evilly at him, “Ha! I’ve won that one!” She smirked deviously at him in triumph and threw her arms in the air.

“Didn’t I tell you to shut up? I’m still your boss.” He raised his voice in annoyance, then muttered under his breath. “And your savior.”

“Oh, well thanks for saving me from the orphanage, like that’s actually worse than having to see you.” Annelise fired back, crossing her arms defiantly.

“Listen to me!” He growled, jumping out of his seat and grabbing her arm firmly. “I really am desperate for this! I can’t marry one of those suffering women that my mother picked out for me, and I have to be married by the year is over or my father will disinherit me. And you got to rot in the orphanage six years fewer than you would have otherwise!” He sighed and stared at the ground.

Annelise sighed and stared at his desperate, beautiful eyes- which were watching the floor- before reason finally left her being. “Fine.”

He quickly looked up at her in surprise, and opened his mouth to say something, but she beat him to it. “But,” she held a hand up. “Don’t think that it wasn’t weird that a sixteen-year-old boy took in a twelve-year-old girl, because in truth, that is very odd. And creepy.”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

Tsk. Not the reaction that Annelise was looking for. Rich Japanese men had a penchant for twisting someone’s words entirely to their will, she had found out, and this man was no exception.

“Anyway, when would the- well, you know, the...” Annelise trailed off, feeling it was to weird to say the word. She hugged herself tightly in attempt to defeat the crazy fluttering in her stomach.

“The what?” He cocked his head, putting on his usual innocent, yet mischievous, facade.

“Th-the wedding.” Annelise finally managed, blushing deeply as she said it.

“Oh, the wedding? Two and a half months from now.” He responded nonchalantly, playing with the pen he was holding.

“What?!”