Arranged Marriage

C4: Marriage!?

Tuesday. 11:45 am.

Miko was sitting in a room where they entertained their guests. With her grandpa sitting in front of her, her dad on his right and her mom on his left. The young shrine maiden girl looked at her family as she gulped down her saliva. She was feeling a bit nervous since they wore a serious face. She wonders if this 'important' thing is really that important. Her heart was thumping loudly as she waited patiently for her grandpa to talk. Both Miko and her grandpa stare at each other for a few minutes before he sighs.

"I want you to stay calm after hearing this, okay?"

'Why?' She wanted to ask but decided to only nod her head.

"Miko-chan, we already found the suitable person to be your partner. All you have to do is hurry up and marry her."

"... Huh?"

Miko looked at her parents, dumbfounded by this. Miko stuttered a bit before finally asking for confirmation.

"Did my ears go bad or did grandpa just say I'm getting married?" she was sweating, the room around feels hot somehow.

"You heard just fine, Miko-chan," her grandpa replied.

"No no, you must be kidding me right?" she tried to argue, mostly because she's trying to cheer herself up. There's no freakin' way she's getting married!

'What's up with this sudden development? I'm getting married??'

She's waiting. Waiting for all three people in front of her to break out laughing while telling her it was a joke, but no, they still wore the same serious expression. Her mom is looking a bit worried about her but she didn't say anything.

"What in the world..."

Miko looked at their faces, one by one. From her mother, to her dad, then to her grandpa. Obviously, they're not lying.

"Me? Get-Getting married? Haha.. Ha?"

Her mom, who's worried about her daughter, scooted beside her, holding her arms as she tried to calm Miko's down.

"Calm down, my daughter. Take a breath and then exhale. C'mon do it with me." she tried, at least she tried but-

"How am I supposed to calm down when my family suddenly decides that I have to get married!? And you already chose a partner for me!" she's not that mad, just disappointed. Actually, she is mad.

"Telling me to come home out of nowhere only to drop a bomb of information to me like this without any context--how am I supposed to calm down!?"

Miko stand up, and her parents followed it. They looked at each other as Miko yelled at them. OK, now she's angry. What the hell is wrong with their mind!

"Tell me the details!!"

"Calm down, Miko-chan" her grandpa starts, but she only ignores him and stomps out from the room, making her way to the 2nd floor. Her mom quickly ran after her, concerned about her child's mental health. She went to Miko's room, her mom closed the door behind her when she's inside and saw her daughter snuggle- hiding under the blanket. She slowly approaches her and hugs her daughter's back while muttering a song, trying to calm her child. She can hear soft sobs, she can feel her body's quivers, Miko's mom hugs her tighter, she understands her daughter's feelings and she's sorry for it. After a few minutes of hugging, Miko shifts a bit and pokes her head outside the blanket. She looked at her mom with those red and puffy eyes.

"Oh, my baby.." her cood her daughter as she pull Miko into her embrace which making the young shrine maiden girl flustered.

"Mom! I'm not a little kid anymore!" she cried out and tried to push her mom away. Her mom is going along with it. Miko sat straight on her bed and looked at her mom with a serious face. Her mom sighs, knowing what kind of question her daughter will ask, so she stands up and pat her daughter's head.

"Let's head down. I'll make some juice. We'll talk about this with your dad." her mom left her room and headed downstairs.

Miko sighed as she left her bed and made her way to the bathroom first. She needs to tidy her hair, her face, and mostly those puffy eyes because of crying. After a few minutes doing her things in the bathroom, Miko went downstairs to the kitchen and saw her mom setting down a plate of cookies on the dining table. Her dad was already sitting down, reading a newspaper. When they saw her, they smiled, her dad told her to sit while she nodded her head. She sits in front of her dad with her mom just right beside her dad.

"Grandpa?"

"Don't worry. It's just us. He said that we 3 need to talk alone." her dad said and once again Miko nodded her head.

"Care to explain now?"

Miko's dad took a glance at his wife for a second before nodding his head.

"You know that our shrine is not that popular. Having you move out from the house, it's get even more unpopular."

Miko frowned. "And?"

"And it's attracted a lot of company owners. They want to buy our land. To be frank, they tried to force us to leave."

"What!?" Miko was shocked by this. She didn't know, why did they only talk about now? Why didn't they tell her about this a few years ago? Why did they keep this secret from her!?

"But why our shrine?? Why do they need it?"

"They wanted our land. You know that the empty land behind our shrine is also part of us? This spacious land was kept and handed down from our ancestors to us. It may have no use right now but it's still ours and as a part of our family history. We can't just let them buy it like that." her mom explained.

Ah, that's why no one ever set foot behind the shrine. And it's still yet to answer her question.

"So why do I have to get married? Like, seriously, why?" there's a hidden rage behind those green eyes of hers.

"Grandpa has a friend who's a CEO of some big company."

Miko rolled her eyes. Ok, she knows where this is going.

"And that friend of grandpa made a deal with him, they help us and we have to help them? By helping them, you give me to his son that they can have an heir to continue their business isn't?" there's a slight groan in her voice. Miko was so annoyed by this. There's a lot of situations in her head already, where she imagines the CEO's son as the bratty type, or the playboy type, or maybe the sadist type. She shudders.

"You're half right and half wrong." Miko's ears perked up.

"Huh?"

"It's true that grandpa made a deal with his friend. Since they're a big company, a lot of other companies tried to pursue his daughter to gain the power to control the company through her, so to avoid that, you have to marry his daughter so that the other company will stop pursuing her daughter. No need to produce an heir, since you both can't anyway, you can just adopt a kid." Miko's mom explains slowly and calmly so that her daughter can process this information completely, meanwhile Miko's dad who's been staying quiet all this time, already ready himself with his hand on the table so that when Miko once again yells at them, he can just quickly shut his ears using her finger.