Arranged - Katy Wong (fun books to read for adults TXT) 📗

Prologue

 

~~

I stared down at my daughter that lay asleep in my arm.

I blinked several times, trying to make the tears go away.

“I have some news regarding your daughter, Mrs. Halt. A group of doctors at this hospital ran multitudes of testes on your daughter and we still haven't figured out what is wrong with your daughter's body.” the doctor said.

“Is there anyway to find out what's wrong?” I cried.

He shook his head and said, “No, I’m afraid you have to let her go. There’s no way of saving her now. She only has a few days left.”

My heart squeezed and the more I tried to hold in the tears, the more my eyes burned.

Let my child go? I thought.

The doctor quietly stepped away and existed the room.

Let my first child go? And only a few days? I thought.

I squeezed the only daughter that I have in my arms and kissed her forehead as tears rolled down my face.

The door of the hospital room quietly opened. I looked up and it took me a few seconds to see clearly that it was the most famous pediatrician, Edward Cohen, who was standing in front of me.

Doctor Cohen's quiet steps appoached me.

“Doctor Cohen," I whispered as I grabbed his arm, "Doctor Cohen! Please help me!”

“She must be the one.” Doctor Cohen said to himself.

“Please help me.... please! I will do anything, I'll do anything! I can give you all of my money! I can give you my house! I do anything, just help my daughter! I know I'll own you, but please help me!.”

“I'll tell you what, I'll take her with me and I'll see what I can do about this because I think I know the problem here.” Doctor Cohen said calmly.

My eyes widened.

"Please remember to hand in your family record to the nurses at the front desk under my name."

Tears began to form again. "What can I do for you in return?" I asked.

He thought about it for a second before he leaned in and whispered it. I quickly agreed, because in that moment, all I'd about cared about was saving my daughter.

My one and only daughter.

There’s no other way of saving her. He was the best doctor and her life meant everything to me.

I handed my daughter over and he carried her gently in his arm. He existed the room before I could say any more.

“Honey, everything's going to be alright.” My husband whispered and squeezed me in his my arms. I nodded as the tears started to pour down.

It took a few hours before Doctor Cohen returns back into the room with Vanessa in his arm.

He walks in and closes the door behind him.

“Ok, I have the results and I know what's the problem, but I can’t tell you.” Doctor Cohen whispers and looks over his shoulder.

“What I can tell you is that you gave birth to a special baby... She is different from everyone else. She is not stabled, yet -”

“What do you mean 'not stable yet'?” My husband asks.

“She has power that not everybody in the world has. From this day on, she is different. She will need time to control her power. Right now, she is not stabled because her power is controlling her. To make sure that in the future this doesn't happen again, she's going to have to take these medicines... Trust me, it will help.” Doctor Cohen says.

“What do you mean by power? This doesn't make any sense!” I say.

“This doesn't need to make any sense to you, but remember the deal."

I looked at him in disblief. Should I even have trust this doctor? Is he really the best pediatrician?

"I got to go. I have another patient waiting for me. And like I said, I can’t say much about it.” Doctor Cohen says. He gets up and exists. He left the medicine on the table next to me.

I look down at Vanessa in my arms. 

You Got To Be Kidding Me!

17 years later . . .

 

~~

“Umm, Vanessa, please come home right now. I have something important to say to you.” Mom says on the phone.

“Mom? Are you alright? Is everything alright?” I asked concernedly.

“Yeah, yeah. Everything is fine ... Just come home, ok?” she asks.

“Ok, I will, but why are you whispering?"

“Don’t worry about that, just come home, ok?” She continues.

“Yeah mom, but really –” My mom cuts me off, “Vanessa Halt!”

“Oh, I'll be right there then. Bye, mom, see you later.” I sang.

“Wait!!! Actually, I will be waiting for you in the office...."

"Alright."

"Ok, bye honey.” Mom says before she hang up. I gave the phone back to the secretary, Ms. Song.

She put down the phone and with her Southern accent she said, “Oh pumpkin pie, I think your mama is going to pick you up soon! You better hurry and get your things packed!!”

“Ok,” I said, “I'll come right back.”

“Alright darling, gallop along!” she said and turns back to do her thing.

I ran down the hall to Composition Class and packed all of my things.

I went back to the office again, this time, my mom was there filling out some form.

“Hey, mom!” I said, relieved that she is ok.

She quickly looks up and shoved the papers that she was filling out in her little brown bag that she carries everywhere.

“Hi, honey.” She said, smiling as she pushed some of her hair to the side of her face.

“What was that paper about?” I asked, looking down at her bag.

Her smile dropped, and I could see that she was trying to put the smile back on.

She put one hand on her bag to make sure it was closed.

“Oh, that's nothing, really. Let’s go home now.” She said and guide my shoulders towards the back door that led to the parking lot.

“Okayyy.” I said stiffly, but I could feel that my mom was hiding something from me.

When we stepped outside, I shield my eyes from the blazing sun. I blinked several times before my eyes adjust to the brightness.

We got into the car and mom started the car. It was silent all the way from the school to our house. The atmosphere in the car was extremely awkward and tense.

My mom drove around a corner and I could saw our house. It was just another ordinary house that anyone could be passing by. But today, it was different. Outside of our house, there were 2 long limos. 

My mom stopped the car a few blocks away from our house. I heard my mom sigh softly before I turned to her.

“I knew that from the very beginning you were hiding something from me. Tell me now, mom! What is THIS?” I said, pointed at the very rich - looking people outside of our house.

“Honey,” mom said softly, getting out of the car. She paused, deciding whether she wanted to break it to me now or later. “We'll talk about it in the house, ok?”

She slammed the car door shut and started walking towards the house. I quickly followed her.

“Hi, Mrs. Halt, how are you and Vanessa doing?” the teen dad asked.

I raised my eyebrow at him.

How does he know my name? Mom better have a damn good explanation about this WHOLE crap! I thought, crossing my arms.

“I am doing very good. How about you, Mr. Cohen?” My mom said, smiling at him, before shaking his hand. But there was something in her eyes that told me that something bad is about to happen.

I looked at the teen mom.

Damn she looks like a model straight from the Bloomingdale's magazine cover, so thin and beautiful. Who is she? Is she a supermodel? I thought.

"I am also doing very well," Mr. Cohen said.

I looked at the son.

Woah! Is he gorgeous!? He also looked like a male model straight from the runaway!

I thought, staring at him for 5 more second. I can tell that his type, girls just take a look at him and they would fall for him madly.

I rolled my eyes.

I squinted my eyes at the sun. My head started to feel light and dizzy.

I looked at the boy again to see that his mother is whispering something in his ear. I only caught a word; love.

“Sorry to keep you all waiting, but let’s go inside.” My mom said and took out the keys to open the door.

As we walked in, I can feel that boy's eyes at me.

“Please sit here.” My mom said and they sat down in silence.

That boy's eyes are still on me, eyeing my body like seeing if my body was a type of body that he likes. I didn't dare to look at him and I didn't like him already.

After a moment, my father came home.

“Hello, Mrs. and Mr. Cohen.” My father said. Again, I sense something between them. They have a connection.

Strange!

Father settled down and looked at me and than looked at mom.

Mom looked at him back, nudge him a little.

This was awkward and I can’t take it anymore.

“Ok, what is going on?” I asked, interrupting the silence.

My parent froze, I feel foolish in front of the guest - whoever they are, I still feel foolish.

My parent turned and faces me.

“How should I say this, honey?” Mom said and clasped her hand together.

I know when she says how should I say this, honey? phase, it means there's bad news ahead.

I gulped.

I crossed my fingers, behind my back, hoping it not something really bad.

Please!

I said a silence prayer. Please, don't make it really bad.

"Umm, how should I say it?" Mom said again.

I waited patiently and sit back, I was trying to act patient.

I looked at my father and he was rubbing the soft spot between his index finger and thumb finger. He always does that when he is nervous.

"Ummmm, you are proposed to Jason Cohen? Should I say?" my mom questioned herself. And by the name Jason Cohen, I know exactly who he was - the super sexy guy in my living room. But I didn't look at him; I was too confused to look at him.

"You got to be kidding, right?" I asked her. I stared at my mom for a moment to make sure she is not joking. My mom has a funny personality, but this got to be a joke. This shouldn't be a type of thing that she should be joking about.

My mom didn't say anything; instead father started speaking, "Yep, you heard your mother."

"Why are doing this? This is so sudden and random. What is this about?" I asked, and was about to throw more question at them, but I didn't.

"Well, remember when you were 8 years - old, you asked us why you have to keep on eating these medicine and why you can't miss taking the medicine, even a day -?" dad asked softly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I said impatiently this time. I can't hold my patients in anymore.

I wish I could just wake up from this terrible nightmare.

“Well . . .” mom said, “you know the story when you were born, you – ”

“I know, I was weak, I was different, and the doctor cured me by giving me the medicine and now I am beyond healthy and – ” I said.

“Yeah, you know that doctor is Doctor Cohen. And, ummmm, you