Melting him slowly.

Old Genevieve and her husband Robert laid down on the bed separately in one of the VVIP wards in Babel Hospital, both were pretending to be sick.

They wanted to lure their grandson back home, and that was the only thing they could do to control him and make him do their wish.

The last time they met, they had a heated argument about him refusing to get married, this caused him to leave home in anger and ever since then he refused to call or come back home.

Outside the hospital, a black limousine accompanied with convoys drove into the hospital driveway slowly, and parked with silence, almost nonchalantly.

Just then, hefty men in black came down from the convoys parked behind, jogged towards the black limousine and one of them opened the door of the black limousine.

The door opened, revealing a tall, broad-shouldered man in an impeccably tailored suit. With an air of superiority, he stepped down from the car and adjusted his black silk tie, his piercing blue eyes swept the environment, appraising the people around there with a cool detachment.

He walked towards the entrance of the hospital with elegant moves, going to check on his grandparents with as much ease as he did with a billion-dollar deal. 

The doctor had informed him about his grandparents' condition and how serious it was, even though it looked like he didn't take it seriously, something felt strange to him, and that his grandparents fell sick at the same time.

 The doctor and some other employees were already waiting at the entrance of the hospital to welcome him and no one dared match his gaze.

A nurse entered the ward to inform Genevieve and Robert that their grandson was around; she covered both of them with a blanket up to their chest level before excusing them.

Soon, the door clicked open, and the doctor, Raymond, and his P.A. walked in. He met both of them on the bed sleeping with a pale expression, making it look as if something was really wrong with them, but unknown to him, they were pretending.

"Phil, why haven't you started the treatment?" He asked the doctor standing beside their bed.

"They refused, sir."

"Refused?" He asked and then smirked.

He moved closer to them, and he noticed his grandmother's eyes moving.

She's awake. He thought.

"Mother, Father, why have you refused to let the doctor treat you?" He asked calmly. 

The couple finally opened their eyes upon hearing their grandson call them.

Robert, his grandfather, tried to squeeze his face his already wrinkled face as if he was in pain, but one could almost tell from his grandmother's face that nothing was wrong with her.

Raymond was running out of patience, they both looked sick until they opened their eyes, especially his grandmother, she had a stubborn look on her face, silence took over the place for some seconds as Raymond waited for one of them to talk, but no words came out of their lips.

"Mother." Raymond's husky voice broke the silence.

"Why have the both of you refused to let the doctor treat you?" He asked with his cold gaze fixed on them.

"And why have you refused to get married, Raymond?"

His grandfather's voice followed after his. He suddenly rose from the bed and spoke, his voice sounding like that of someone who was hale and healthy.

So they were pretending!

"Why exactly, we want to know." His grandmother spoke this time around, supporting her husband.

"I don't understand what's going on. We are talking about your health here, and you two are talking about marriage. How does it correlate? Or do you mean you both want to get married again?" He asked nonchalantly as if what they were saying wasn't important.

"Of course, it correlates. We want to know why you are still single at twenty-six! We are married already, but you are not. Why?" Genevieve and Robert spoke at the same time.

"It's is none of your business," He answered calmly, obviously he was unbothered.

"It is our business, we want to know why you are running away from women, or you think we don't know that you fired almost all your female employees, most of your mates are married but you are not, don't you know that you will need a family to be with you when the both of us are gone."

"Raymond, say something. Why exactly have you refused to get married? Anytime we ask you, you always claim to have a fiancée, and we know it's a lie...…."

The grandparents spoke continuously, attacking their grandson who remained unbothered at the same time, not minding that there were other people in the room with them.

"I think I know why, eve." Robert turned to his wife and said.

"He is impotent."

"I was about to say that dear, if he is not impotent, then why is he running away from women?"

"Impotent? Of course, I am not impotent." Raymond yelled. The last words that came out of their mouth fueled his anger. It was as if his grandparents found joy in pushing him to the end whenever they were talking about marriage.

This time around, he couldn't help but give them the appropriate reply they needed.

"And I am not running away from women, I have a fiancée that I love!!!" He said spontaneously without thinking.

The last part made Genevieve and Robert speechless, their running mouth closed up, even Raymond himself didn't know when those words rolled out of his mouth.

"Yes, that's true, don't be shocked, I have a fiancée and we are getting married soon."

Both his grandparents looked at each other without knowing what to say. Even Tony, the PA, and the doctor were surprised to hear that Raymond has a woman in his life, few seconds of silence followed Raymond's words as everyone was rendered speechless.

"Ahh... Eve... Say something." Robert said to his wife because he didn't know the right words to say as Raymond's words had rendered him speechless.

"If you truly have a fiancée as you have claimed now, why have you refused to introduce her to us all these days? Of course, we will accept anybody you bring." Genevieve voice softened a little as she spoke.

"My son, we won't mind anyone you introduce to us as your wife, all we want for you is to have a better family when we are gone, I mean a beautiful wife with beautiful children." Robert sounded so sweet and calm while speaking as if he was coaxing him, acting like he wasn't yelling some minutes ago.

"How about you invite her for dinner next weekend so that we can decide when to meet her parents and prepare all the necessary things, darling, what do you feel?" She turned to her husband to support what she said.

"Yes, if you have one, invite her for dinner."

Raymond looked at both of them with anger burning in his eyes, if his grandparents were people he could deal with, he would have done that at that point.

"What is her name?" Genevieve suddenly asked, rendering Raymond speechless again.

He looked at both of them sternly, his hands turned into a fist because he had no answer to the question they just asked him.

"Forget it," he said with a cold and menacing voice before he walked away. At least he was rest assured that nothing was wrong with both of them. They were pretending.

"If you don't answer us… do not expect us at home and…. we will continue to refuse to get treated," Robert yelled loudly, interrupting his words with coughs deliberately, but still, he was ignored.

Raymond entered the back seat of the limousine and removed his tie hurriedly. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to calm himself down.

He recalled everything that just happened and started processing it one by one, he then remembered the part where he told them that he had a fiancée and his body stiffened,

because he knew deep down he had no one.

He had been deceiving them all this while and truly he had been running away from women, he wasn't interested in girls or anything related to them he saw it as a waste of time, and to cap it all he didn't want to get married.

He has just one mission In his life, and that was to take revenge for his parents' deaths, everything his grandparents said sounded like trash to him except for one, that he might be lonely when they are gone.

"Raymond, where are we going next?" His PA voice broke the silence in the car making Raymond snap out of his thoughts, he turned to the source of the voice with an extremely cold gaze, a gaze that made Tony rephrase his sentence.

"I mean, where are we going now, sir?"

"Take me to my house," Raymond answered curtly and looked away. There was silence in the car till they reached the house.

Finally, he got to his room, he sank into his bathtub after getting rid of his clothes from his body, trying to relax his body and brain, and then he started processing everything that happened earlier, they argued about this almost all the time, and all he did was to tell them he would introduce her to them one day, but he was just deceiving them because there was no girl anywhere.

Strangely, a part of him felt like there was truth in what his grandfather said, he didn't need a wife but somehow he agreed with the children part, just the thought of looking for a girl that he would bring to dinner in the next four days made his stomach twist.

'Should I go on blind dates?.....No, it is too low for me…' He thought … Or perhaps a surrogate mother would be better'.

After contemplating on what to do for a while, with a firm resolve, he decided to get a contracted wife.

He got out of the bathtub, dried himself, and changed into a transparent tight shirt that revealed his muscles and paired it with baggy trousers, after which he went downstairs to eat dinner.

At the dining table, Raymond's eyes moved around the wines at his front before deciding on the one to taste first, he really likes wine but he doesn't eat much, Tony came in with a mischievous smile, all he wanted to do now was to tease Raymond.

He has been friends with Raymond for years. Apart from his grandparents, Tony is the only one who understands Raymond and is sometimes capable of handling him when he goes berserk.

He sat on the chair opposite Raymond as he watched him staring at the wine bottles at his front, obviously contemplating on the one to choose.

"Raymond," Tony called out to the man who was ignoring his presence, but he didn't answer, Tony didn't mind, though. The next thing, he started laughing.

Raymond knew he was wordlessly mocking him, but he didn't say anything. He continued to ignore him.

"Raymond, did I offend you? If yes, I would like to know my offense." Tony spoke like someone on the verge of tearing up.

"Because you call me your friend yet you have a fiancée and you didn't tell me about it."

The right hand Raymond wanted to use to carry his drink stopped in the air upon hearing what Tony said.

"Why is everyone around me annoying" He exhaled in frustration and turned to meet Tony's eyes. Just by looking at him, he knew he was teasing him on purpose.

"Now, let me know my offense."

"Of course, you know I don't have anyone, Tony." Raymond roared out in anger, making Tony burst into uncontrollable laughter.

Of course, he knew, he was just teasing him on purpose, Raymond threw a deadly gaze before returning to what he was doing.

"Ray, who are you bringing to the dinner? What did you conclude on? I mean, what do you plan to do." Tony's voice was a bit serious this time.

Raymond gulped down his wine before speaking.

"Meet my lawyer tomorrow and tell him I need a contract marriage." He said and stood up from the place.