The Dedicated Maid (1)
The next morning, I woke to the alarm and pushed myself up out of bed.
Stretching, I glanced to the side. The black cat plush I'd won yesterday sat neatly on the nightstand, and beside it rested the shopping bags of clothes I'd bought.
"...I probably won't have to wear those today."
Just thinking about the outfit I'd spent all of yesterday walking around in already made my body feel uncomfortable.
After washing up, I opened the closet and took out the maid uniform. I changed, tied my hair into the most manageable ponytail I could manage, and left the room.
When I went downstairs, Yujin was waiting.
"Good morning."
"Good morning."
"Today you will also need to complete the duties you did not finish yesterday."
"...So she's really not letting it slide."
"I beg your pardon?"
"It's nothing."
Ignoring my answer, Yujin handed me a mop that had been standing off to one side. I looked back and forth between the mop and her.
"...What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Clean the hallway floors."
"Ah."
Finally, something that actually felt like maid work.
"Please be careful not to leave too much water on the floor."
"Yes, yes. I understand."
"Do not merely answer."
Yujin looked at me with open distrust.
"Miss Sia, please see to the second-floor hallway."
"Understood."
I couldn't see what she was so worried about. How hard could mopping a floor be?
I carried the mop and bucket up to the second floor.
"Time to show off these veteran part-timer skills!"
I wet the mop and started wiping the hallway with a fairly practiced hand—until I failed to notice the water I'd slopped near the bucket and stepped right in it.
"Huh?"
My foot slipped.
"Kyaa—!"
I hit the floor with a thud.
That was when it happened. A latch clicked, and someone opened a door and stepped out.
"What are you doing there?"
"Can't you tell just by looking? I fell. What!"
Ha... this is humiliating.
The moment my face flushed, Joohyuk stood there with one hand covering his. Looking closer, I saw his shoulders trembling ever so slightly.
"...Are you laughing right now?"
"...No."
"You are laughing, you bastard."
"I said I'm not."
"Put your hand down."
"Ahem. I wasn't laughing. Just get up."
The moment I took the hand he offered and started to stand, my foot slipped again.
"Huh?"
Joohyuk immediately pulled on my hand and caught me before I could fall.
"Be careful."
"...I know!"
"You know, and you still slipped twice?"
"Shut up! I'm just not used to it yet!"
"Hmm. Got it. Then hang in there."
With that, Joohyuk went back into his room.
Once he was back in his room, Joohyuk shut the door and stood where he was for a moment.
What had just happened in the hallway kept replaying in his head. Sia, sunk onto the floor with her face flushed, glaring up at him—and the way she'd snapped, certain he was laughing.
"...This is going to drive me insane."
He dragged a hand down his face. If he hadn't covered it just now, she might have caught him completely. Of course, Sia seemed to have taken the whole thing in an entirely different way. That was probably for the best.
He had started toward the bed when a faint voice beyond the door stopped him.
"Nyah, you bastard."
"...Pfft."
This time a real laugh finally broke out of him.
"Seriously. Too cute. Han Siwoo. No... Sia."
Joohyuk sat on the sofa by the window and opened a book.
"Hmph! Just try teasing me about falling."
I went back to mopping slowly, starting with the wettest spots. After I'd been at the hallway for a while, Yujin came up the stairs.
"Are you finished?"
"Almost. As you can see, it's spotless, right?"
Yujin didn't answer. She walked slowly down the hallway, then stopped—of all places—right where I'd fallen earlier, and looked down at the floor.
Ah... don't look there.
"Miss Sia. I believe I clearly told you not to leave too much water behind."
"Ah... I already took a proper fall once, so couldn't you let it go on account of that?"
"...? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"No. As you can see..."
"Haa... Very well. It seems you have learned it with your own body, so we will stop here."
"Thank you!"
"More importantly, from here on we will move to the training the young master requested."
"What? What kind of..."
"We will start with the most basic things."
I had no idea what she meant to teach me, and I was staring at her when, right on cue, Yura came up the stairs.
"Ta-da! I came to help too. Today I'm going to teach Miss Sia how to take care of her hair, and a simple way to style it!"
"...Pardon?"
For a second I thought I'd misheard.
Suddenly we're doing hair styling?
That was when Joohyuk opened his door and stepped out.
"You said long hair is hard to manage, so I asked them separately. Learn it properly while you're at it."
"What? Hey!"
Leaving only that behind, he headed downstairs.
"Well then, Miss Sia! Shall we go to your room?"
Clearly delighted, Yura grabbed my arm and dragged me inside.
"No...! Can't I just cut my hair?"
"Oh my! What are you saying? How could you cut hair this pretty and fine?"
"Cutting it is not permitted. The young master was very firm about that."
Ugh... this bastard! It's my body anyway!
"You seem fairly used to the uniform now. The problem is tying your hair, is it not?"
"...Yes."
And so I was caught between Yujin and Yura, learning everything one step at a time—from how to care for long hair to the simple ways of tying it up.
At first I thought it would be over quickly. Hair was just something you brushed and tied, and I'd figured "care" would only mean picking up a few tricks, but there was more to remember than I'd expected. Yura, especially, was far more meticulous than I'd thought.
"Even when you brush, you have to start slowly from the ends. If you brush long hair from the top while it's tangled, it damages easily."
That was when a knock came—tok, tok—and the door opened.
"Sia. When are you done?"
"Why?"
"I'm hungry."
"Oh my! It's already time to prepare lunch. I'm sorry, young master."
"No. It's fine."
"Miss Sia, then shall we finish once you've tried the brushing yourself?"
"...Can't Yura just do it for me?"
"No. You need to be able to do it on your own."
Hearing that, Joohyuk spoke up.
"Then should I brush it for you?"
"Get lost. I'll just do it myself."
"Pfft—"
I took the brush from Yura, faced the mirror, and combed my hair the way I'd just been taught.
"Well done, Miss Sia. Then shall we stop here for today and go prepare the meal?"
I tied my hair again and got up to follow Yura, and that was when Joohyuk opened his mouth.
"I want to eat something Sia made."
"...What? I'm going to help anyway, so that should be enough."
"Not that. Something you made yourself."
Yujin glanced at Joohyuk, then tapped Yura on the shoulder.
"Oh, right! I still have a few things to finish with Yujin. Then, Miss Sia, we're counting on you for the meal!"
With that, the two of them hurried out of the room.
"...Hey! You're telling me to do all the prep by myself?"
"Let's go. To the kitchen."
"Wow... what's with that guy today?"
Grumbling, I followed him to the kitchen.
There were ingredients, but only a few dishes I could actually make.
"Haa... nothing for it."
I took them out, prepped them, and started cooking. Joohyuk sat at the kitchen table, watching me without a word.
Why does he keep staring? It's uncomfortable.
"Hey. If you're going to watch like that, at least peel an onion."
"Ordering a guest around."
"Who's a guest? This is your house."
"Then you're ordering the owner around."
"Then just don't eat."
When I made a show of setting the knife down, he finally laughed and stood.
"What should I do?"
"Peel the onions. The ones over there."
I handed him an onion and checked the pot again. It was better than doing everything alone, but I wasn't sure that guy had ever actually cooked.
Sure enough, when I looked over a moment later, he was locked in a long wrestling match with a single onion.
"...Is this your first time peeling an onion?"
"Yeah."
"Wow. So a chaebol heir doesn't even peel onions."
"I don't think it's because I'm a chaebol heir."
"So you just can't do it."
"Is that how it works?"
Unable to watch any longer, I picked up another onion.
"Look. You cut the bottom like this and peel the skin. That's it."
"You're good at this."
"I've lived on my own for years. You think I can't even manage this much?"
I was about to hand him the prepped onion when an old memory came back.
"Now that I think about it, you were like this before, too."
"Like what?"
"When we made curry at my place. You said you'd help, and in the end you didn't do a single thing."
"I did the dishes."
"Don't insist you did the dishes after washing one cup."
"You remembered."
"How could I forget? You were so damn proud of yourself afterward."
Joohyuk let out a short laugh.
"Don't laugh—just prep the ingredients already!"
He went back to the onions, and I put the rest of the ingredients into a big pot and set them to boil. Standing side by side in the kitchen like that, we had the curry finished sooner than I'd expected.
The smell must have carried, because Yujin and Yura gathered in the kitchen too.
"Smells wonderful! Is lunch ready?"
"I was just about to come get you. Perfect timing!"
I moved to scoop rice onto the plates.
"We'll handle the rest."
Yujin took out the plates, and Yura started serving the rice. Once the two of them sat down as well, the table was livelier than usual.
"Come to think of it, it's been a long time since we all sat down to eat like this!"
"Has this happened before?"
"Yes. When the young master was little."
"What was Joohyuk like when he was little?"
"Hey. Why are you asking that."
He looked briefly cornered and tried to shut the question down.
"What's the problem? They'd know better than anyone."
"Mm. I'll tell you that later."
Watching his expression, Yura let the subject trail off. A little later, the fairly noisy meal came to an end.
"Miss Sia, cooking must have been tiring, so we will take care of the cleanup."
"What? No. We should do it together."
"They said they would. You're coming with me."
"...? Where are you trying to go this time?"
"Follow me. My dedicated maid."
That damn dedicated maid... ugh.
And so I followed Joohyuk out of the kitchen.