“She’s what?” Sehun’s mother asked, a bit stunned and a bit confused.

“My girlfriend,” Sehun repeated himself, tightening his hold around Taeyeon.

“Your girlfriend?” she asked again, still quite confused.

“Yes,” Sehun answered. He let go of Taeyeon and grabbed her hand, “I wanted to introduce her to you and dad as soon as possible,” he explained, “She’s the love of my life.”

“But…didn’t you say that you didn’t have a girlfriend last month?” Mrs. Oh asked.

“Well now I do,” Sehun answered, “come on Taeyeon, let’s go say hi to my mom,” he dragged the obviously stunned Taeyeon over to his mother, “mom, this is Kim Taeyeon, Taeyeon this is my mom,” he said, introducing both ladies to each other.

“Um…um…hi, nice to meet you,” Taeyeon said, snapping back to her senses and gave Mrs. Oh a bow.

Mrs. Oh frowned at Taeyeon as she repositioned herself from herself, “Tell me why is your girlfriend wearing our maid’s uniform?” she asked.

“She’s the new recruit Ms. Choi was waiting for, the one who replaced Jisoo,” Sehun answered.

“You mean, your personal maid?” Mrs. Oh asked, “I…Sehun, come over here, I need to talk to you,” she demanded and walked away from the door and out of sight.

“I’ll be back,” Sehun told Taeyeon with a wink and disappeared as well.

Taeyeon finally let out the breath that she was holding and felt like her legs were going to give out on her, “What did I get myself into?” she asked, pacing up against the wall and sliding down.

--

“Sehun-ah…,” Mrs. Oh began, “how…is it that your girlfriend is your maid?”

“Because,” Sehun began, crossing his arms across his chest, “she just simply is. I’m in love with her and she’s in love with me,” he explained, “so you can call the wedding off now.”

“Are you doing all this just because of the wedding your father and I set up for you?” she asked angrily, “your father and I are only looking out for your well-being.”

“Well now you don’t have to,” Sehun argued back, “I love her and I’m not going to let no random girl come into our relationship.”

“Sehun…”

Sehun pushed himself off of the wall and walked over to the door, “I appreciate that you and my father are willing to look after me but,” he turned his head slightly to the side, “it’s my life and I should decide on what I do with it,” Sehun opened the bedroom door and left, closing the door behind him.

“This…no..,” Mrs. Oh picked up her cellphone and quickly dialed a phone number, “hello? Yes can I please speak to Naeun?...”

--

After a few minutes of staying silent and not knowing what to do, Taeyeon forced herself up from the floor and grabbed her backpack, “I have to get out of here,” she told herself. She slung her bag over her shoulders and made her way back to the door. She placed a hand on the door knob, turned it and collided into Sehun’s chest, “Ow!” she yelped, falling backwards.

“Ah…” Sehun reached out and caught Taeyeon around her waist just before she hit the floor, “are you okay?” he asked, staring right into Taeyeon’s eyes.

“I…I’m fine,” she stuttered and squirmed to get out of Sehun’s arms and away from the stare he was currently giving her, “you can let go of me now,” she mumbled.

“You should really watch where you’re going,” Sehun told her and let her go, “where are you going?” he asked, eyeing Taeyeon up and down.

“Home,” she answered, “I feel weird staying here.”

“Oh…,” he said, “I’ll…um…I’ll have my driver send you home then.” Without saying anything else to one another, Sehun led Taeyeon out to the front of the house. He opened the back door of the car for Taeyeon to enter and then leaned against it, “Hey,” he called out softly. After seeing that Taeyeon wasn’t going to turn to face him, Sehun continued on, “I’m serious about the stuff I said about your dad; I’m willing to help you as long as you’re willing to help me,” he explained.

“Why?” Taeyeon asked, “we don’t even know each other, why are you so desperate to help me?” this time, Taeyeon turned to face Sehun.

“Like I said, you help me and I help you,” he repeated himself, “plus, you’ve already accepted the money, no giving it back.”

Taeyeon sighed, “Why are you lying to your mom? If you knew that your mom already matched you with another girl, why did you need a girlfriend?” she asked.

“First off, she’s not my mom; she’s my step-mom,” Sehun began, “second off, this is my life. I don’t need my step-mom or dad to be telling me who I should marry. It’s 2016, arranged marriages is old school,” he explained.

“She’s not your mom?” Taeyeon asked.

“No,” Sehun answered, “anyways, we’ll save this for another time. I expect you to follow me home from school on Monday and give me an answer about being my personal maid,” he said and backed away from the car, “good night Kim Taeyeon,” Sehun closed the door and tapped the car, signaling for the driver to leave.

--

“I’m home,” Taeyeon announced as she walked through the door, “why am I calling that out anyways? No one is home right now. Both mom and dad are still at the store,” she told herself and slipped on her house slippers. Taeyeon made her way to her bedroom, switched on the lights and walked passed the mirror but stopped and walked back. She stood in front of the mirror, looking at herself in the maid uniform, “personal maid huh…,” she said quietly, “6 million won per day…,” Taeyeon took in a deep breath and walked away from the mirror to her bed. She fell on the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling, “seriously Kim Taeyeon, what did you get yourself into?”

“Don’t tell me you never noticed…your dad is addicted to gambling…”

Sehun’s words from earlier continuously echoed in Taeyeon’s mind as she continued to stare up at the ceiling, “gambling…,” she heaved out a heavy and tired sigh and placed her arm over her head, blocking the bright light away from her eyes. She closed her eyes and slowly allowed herself to fall into a deep sleep.

When Taeyeon awoke it was dark in her room. The only light came from her alarm clock sitting beside her bedside. She glanced over to the light and squinted her eyes, reading 11:30 pm flashing from the clock. Taeyeon sat up in her bed in the dark and scanned her room. Slowly, she got up from her bed and trudged her way over to the door. She opened her bedroom door, stepped out in the hallway and stopped as she heard voices coming from the living room.

“What are you going to do then?” Dahee asked, “I told you to stop gambling months ago and you refused to listen to me, now look at where we’re at,” she said angrily.

“I’ll find a way to pay them back, I promise,” Wonbin said.

“How?” Dahee asked, “We’re out of money. Taeyeon has no work experience because she’s worked with us all her life, how are we going to get money to pay off your foolishness?”

Wonbin heaved out a sigh, “Would you quit it? I told you that I’ll find out a way,” he said, frustrated.

“Whatever,” Dahee said angrily and shuffled to stand up from the sofa, “you better find out a way, or else I’m takin