Signed with the Enemy

Chapter 3: He needs a wife.

Yuna looked at the ward's door before her, debating if she should go in or not. She wasn't the same person who had left this room hours ago.

She silently pleaded with her parents for having made a deal with the enemy.

“Save your conditions until the agreement arrives," those were his final words to her.

Yuna's mind drove her far with those words, what could possibly be in the agreement that he asked her to name her conditions later.

She remembered stories of women who had contractual marriages, locked away for years, reduced to child-bearing, never to see the sun, some died from lack of human connection.

A chill ran through her entire body, as she prayed, “God, protect me, I'm only trying to get back what belongs to my family.”

Yuna wheeled herself into the ward after the short prayer. For a moment she wished she was Hae-ri, sleeping in comfort and without care.

She gripped the bed frame, pushed herself up with both arms and hauled herself onto the mattress. Finally, she wrapped herself in a blanket.

Immediately she shut her eyes to sleep, the mental image of Liam flashed through her mind.

He was chasing her. “I didn't choose you randomly.” His words haunted her. “Your history, your roots, I knew all of it, long before we met.” He grabbed her legs.

Yuna jolted and jerked up, it was a nightmare. It felt like a warning, was he actually going to kill her and take the company for himself?

Liam remained an unsolved puzzle. “I shouldn't go through with this,” she muttered.

“Go through with what?” unknown to Yuna, Hae-ri had walked in with her medical file.

Yuna, mentally unprepared to give an answer, looked at Hae-ri’s hands. “Has my doctor been assigned?”

Hae-ri looked at her suspiciously. “You haven't answered my question.”

“I was just speaking to myself, I'm not supposed to go through all these pains,” Yuna looked her straight in the eye.

Hae-ri moved closer, cradling Yuna's face in her hands. “You're right my love, you shouldn't. I just had an argument with your doctor.”

“Why?” Yuna asked

“He assigned Dr. Liam to treat your legs. He cited him as the best in his field, convincing me he understood your situation better because he carried out the surgery on you when you passed out.”

Hae-ri paced back and forth in the ward, her hands on her waist, “I told him we need a different doctor. He told me to either change hospitals or leave. Can you imagine?”

Yuna mentally agreed with Hae-ri, the dream she had just woken from proved her right, “I need to talk, I'm the patient, he should listen to me.”

Hae-ri wheeled Yuna out of the ward to meet her doctor. On their way, they spotted Elliot and Liam walking toward them, deep in conversation, moving with the ease of people who had already reached an understanding.

Hae-ri, confused about the sudden closeness between Elliot and Liam, halted the wheelchair and waited for them.

“Good morning, Ms Vance. Liam glanced at the file resting on Yuna's thighs.

“I see you've been informed about our new arrangement.”

Without waiting for a response, he took control of her wheelchair, “We have a lot to discuss about your recovery.”

He looked briefly at Elliot. “I'll see you again, Mr. Elliot,”

His gaze moved to Hae-ri. “Ms?” Her name was unknown to him. “You can collect her in two hours.”

Before Yuna could protest, he had already wheeled her towards the direction of his office.

Hae-ri, In disbelief of what had just happened, she watched the wheelchair disappear around the corner. Her mouth slightly opened.

She turned to Elliot, who seemed familiar with Dr. Liam.

She tilted her head towards him, “Do you mind explaining what's going on?”

Elliot looked at her with sparks of joy: “I think Yuna can get the company back.”

“Oh wow, that's great, but how?” Hae-ri sounded delighted.

“If she marries him”

“If who marries whom?” to confirm that what she was thinking wasn't what Elliot meant.

“If Yuna marries Dr Liam, she may not like it, but this could be her only chance to get back what her parents built through sweat. YOUNA belongs to Yuna.”

“Are you insane?” Don't ever bring it up, Yuna will kill you. You expect her to marry that despicable man?”

“Think about it, he needs a wife, she needs her inheritance.”

He mentally imagined Yuna's future. “She needs to hear this, whether she likes it or not." Elliot sounded determined and optimistic.

Hae-ri stomped her foot in fury and walked out on Elliot. “You truly must have lost half of your brain.”

In Liam's office, from his drawer, he brought out a white envelope and tossed it across the desk towards Yuna, “There, the agreement, go through it, then share your conditions with me.”

Yuna pushed it back across the table; “Why are you my attending doctor?”

Liam raised his eyes at her, adjusting his glasses. “Why do you want to walk again?”

Yuna scoffed at him. “What sort of dumb question is that, who loves to be tied to a spot, unable to walk?”

Liam's mouth curved mockingly at her.

“Exactly, now you know it's dumb, it's even dumber that you lack the understanding that I can be the fastest way for you to walk.”

His patient thinned “You need those legs, so do I, the faster you cooperate, the faster your recovery, a wife who cannot walk is unacceptable to me.”

Yuna felt chills run through her, the memory of him grabbing her legs in the dream surged back. “I withdraw, I'm no longer interested in marrying you.”

Liam's eyes darkened; he uttered no word. ‘How dare she go back on her words? No one can do that to me’.

He pulled out his phone and a familiar voice filled the office.

“I'll do it.” Yuna froze.

“I'll marry you.” Liam looked at her over the edge of his glasses.

She lowered her head. “But I have conditions.” She couldn't believe he kept a record of their conversation.

Liam’s lips curved slightly. “Of course you do.”

Liam leaned back in his chair. “You don’t negotiate from a position of refusal, you negotiate from agreement.”

He studied her expression. “Start again.”

“And remember,” he closed the file. “Don't forget who dictates the tune."