six
Identify Me (ON TEMPORARY HOLD UNTIL "THE OUTCAST CLUB" IS FINISHED)
6 | STARVING
*AGASHI • 아가씨 = YOUNG MISS
“Try knocking on the door again.”
“I’m trying – um, sir? We have lunch here for you!”
“You idiot, why would you call him ‘sir’?”
“He locked the door again – goodness, what is the he trying to do, starve himself to death?”
“No good. Um, we’ll leave your food outside your door… err… not that you’ve touched your other meals, though…”
No thanks to the scuffling and muffled arguments in the hall outside her bedroom, Harin was this close to exploding. With every impatient ‘tap, tap, tap’ of her foot, her blood pressure only seemed to rise.
Enough is enough, she silently proclaimed as she shut her laptop, pushed herself off from her bed and practically kicked her door wide open. Instantly, she was face-to-face with two maids that shrieked in surprise.
“A-Agashi!”*
Harin poked her tongue against her cheek, raising an incredulous eyebrow at a flushing butler pressing his ear against her new familiar’s door. Red as a ripe cherry, the butler awkwardly shuffled away.
“Don’t tell me,” she raised a hand to silence them. “He’s still not eating?”
“Refused all his meals again, I’m afraid,” a maid sadly picked up a tray of last night’s dinner from the floor – cold, hardened rice and untouched seaweed soup.
The scent of a freshly-made meal hit Harin’s nose as she glanced at the butler beside her.
“How long has he been shut in there?”
“Four days and counting, ma’am. Tomorrow will be the fifth.”
“Even though he might be new, who does he think he is?” one grumbled, “He’s wasting precious food!”
The upset butler blinked as Harin stuck out her hand in front of his face. “Give it to me.”
“E-Er, agashi?”
Harin sighed and took the tray of hot food from him before anyone could refute. With the food in one hand, she walked up to Taehyung’s door and cleared .
“I’m coming in.”
One of the maids tried to put a hand on her arm. “Agashi, I think it’s best if we left him alone—”
Her warnings, however, were useless, as Harin burst inside with a simple turn of her nail in the doorknob lock. At once, sunlight from the halls poured inside the dark room.
“Oh god!”
Oh god was right. Immediately, a foul, pungent odour had crept into their nostrils – a mixture between sour and a warm musty scent that signaled that someone hadn’t showered for days. The drapes were completely closed, leaving no light source coming from anywhere other than the door that Harin was coming through. The décor, however, was completely untouched, almost as if nobody had set foot inside. The only clues that someone was still there consisted of the foul smell and a very odd dark lump on the floor, resting its back against the bed.
“Open the curtains, one of you.”
They were reluctant, but a butler scurried over and parted the curtains. Instantly, a surge of daylight outside poured into the room and onto the lumped figure, making everyone quietly gasp.
Taehyung was completely immobile, hugging his knees while his head full of matted hair rested face-down against them. He was as still as a statue.
But amidst the servants behind her, stunned in silence, Harin was the only one that simply sighed in empathy. Ignoring the scent that beckoned her to leave, she waltzed right inside and set the tray of food down on the floor beside him.
“Hey. Eat this.”
Nobody moved, least of all, Taehyung. Two of the servants clucked their tongue in obvious pity and disapproval.
“Is he dead?”
“Poor kid.”
“Serves him right for wasting perfectly good food.”
At the last comment, Harin shot the problematic butler a look, causing him to immediately close his mouth. She waved all of them out with a flick of her wrist.
One gesture was all it took for the servants to scurry out like mice fleeing from an irritated cat. The light dimmed ever-so-slowly as the door closed behind them, leaving Harin and Taehyung alone in complete silence.
“You can look up now, they’re gone.”
There was a pause before Taehyung gently moved his head. It wasn’t a giant movement, but his beady eyes were staring at her, so it was a start. At least he wasn’t ignoring her completely.
“Listen,” Harin spoke, “what he was saying is right, you know. We might be rich, but wasting food isn’t deemed right in our books, at least to me.”
Taehyung moved his head down slightly, as if agreeing.
“I know you must be feeling lost, but bear in mind, I’m not going to be that person that pities you and tells you to take all the time you need,” Harin said. “I took you in for a reason.”
Though her words were harsh, Taehyung felt as though they were laced with very intricate strands of light reprimanding, too. Nothing she was saying was wrong.
“You’re a member of this household now,” Harin continued, “and as my familiar, you have a duty to me. Show me that you’re worthy of living here.”
Taehyung’s lips automatically parted in surprise as he saw Harin pick up a scoop of rice on a spoon, gently place some marinated anchovies on top, and raise it up to his lips. Unsure of what to do, Taehyung tried to open his mouth, but Harin gave him an odd look and made him hold the spoon.
“You have hands. Feed yourself,” she got up slowly. “Oh, and make sure you finish all of that food, understand? Starving’s never good for anyone.”
Taehyung gazed up at her from underneath his long bangs, still holding the spoon of food in shock.
“After you’re done, take a shower. And—” she abruptly cut off her words to grab a Febreze bottle. “Spray this after you’re done, got it? It reeks in here.”
As soon as Harin closed the door shut, she swallowed the lump in . It had been too hard, much too hard for her to have been in there. She could relate all too well.
Wondering if she was too harsh, Harin slowly turned the doorknob and peeked in, but was surprised to see Taehyung sniffling. His fingers shook as he held his spoon with bony fingers and couldn’t stop staring at the brightly arranged side dishes and rice.
She didn’t know what he was thinking of at the moment that made him so emotional, but after a few seconds of sobbing, he wiped his wet eyes on his sleeve and slowly, very slowly, put the spoon of food in his mouth.
It was delicious.
*
Taehyung didn’t understand how amazing Rose Mansion was in comparison to Gapsun until after he was steamy and drizzling with water. He wasn’t sure if he used the right type of shampoo, and wasn’t too sure what conditioner was, so he just used anything that was stocked on the long bathroom shelves.
The only thing he was certain of was that he rather liked the scent of vanilla bean on his now very silky hair.
With a towel tightly wrapped around his body, Taehyung hobbled over and emptied the bottle or Febreze by spraying it everywhere in the room, stopping only to cough sometimes. It smelled great, too! Harin was right.
Check, he thought as he set the bottle down on a desk. He stared down at his rather bare midriff and pondered over another problem. Clothes.
Cautiously, Taehyung sniffed his Gapsun uniform, and immediately hacked. Compared to his vanilla bean hair and the ‘Toasted Almond’ Febreze scent in the air, wearing the Gapsun uniform would defeat the entire purpose to be clean.
To his surprise, the dresser was already stocked with clothes. From casual to classy, everything was laid out for him. Taehyung pulled out a crisp blue suit and tie in awe – he’d always wanted to wear a suit before…
Before he knew it, he had it on.
“….less… Useless, just useless!”
“FATHER!”
Taehyung jumped up at all the shouting as he clambered over to his door. Where was all that shouting coming from? He poked his head outside, and as he did, it became obvious that the shouting was coming from downstairs.
“When I asked you to bid on a familiar, I wanted you to get a competent one, not a shut-in who tries to starve himself to death!”
Taehyung recognized the authoritative voice as Harin’s father, and was stunned to see a few maids crowded around the banister, spying on the argument. They saw Taehyung and grew quiet as he crept forward to see what was going on.
“He is my familiar. I will take care of him,” Taehyung recognized Harin’s ash-blonde bob.
Her father pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look, I get why you might feel sorry for him because of your si—”
“Dear!”
“Fine. In any case, the boy better shape up, or else he’ll be thrown out. We’re not housing any orphans for free.”
“Easy for you to say,” Harin crossly responded, causing her father to furrow his eyebrows in irritation.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Harin was already up on her feet. “Just don’t lay a hand on him.”
In a split second, Harin was out the door. Taehyung tried to ignore the blatant stares from the other servants and watched as Harin’s parents heaved great sighs.
“That girl and her temper,” her father threw his hands up in the air. “It’s either her way or the highway!”
“Dear, let’s just let her be. I don’t want you two to get into another argument again.”
“No, I will disown her and throw out that boy at the same time if she continues to give me attitude—”
“I’M SORRY!”
Both adults snapped out of their bickering as they stared at Taehyung, who was on his knees before them. One of the maids upstairs gasped loudly and the servants all dispersed in embarrassment when Mrs. Go shot them an infuriated look.
“P-Please, everything is m-my fault,” Taehyung sunk his head in shame. “I promise I will d-do better!”
There was a tense silence as both husband and wife shared a long look. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Mr. Go gave him a flat look.
“Prove it.”
“Y-Yes, sir!” Taehyung yelped as he heard their footsteps trail further and further away. When the coast was clear, Taehyung scrambled up onto his feet and hurried upstairs into his room once again. He knew what he had to do.
Before he burst into his washroom, he folded his Gapsun Orphanage uniform and stowed it away into the depths of his drawers for safekeeping. He wasn’t sure why he even wanted to keep it safe – perhaps it was for the sole sake of comfort.
In the double mirrors, his unkempt reflection stared right back at him. Before he knew it, his fingers found their way into the washroom cabinet, and he pulled out a shiny pair of steel scissors, pressing it in between his palms and positioning it around a long lock of hair.
The first snip gave him chills.
*
A long, winded sigh escaped Harin’s lips as soon as she re-entered Rose Mansion. Her parents had to be so pessimistic all the time, and all too often, she wished she could have her own place, very far away from them.
“Please, stop!” A voice cried from the second floor as Harin snapped out of her thoughts.
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. What’s going on?
A shy maid edged over to her. “Agashi, it’s s-sir Taehyung…”
“Please, put the scissors down! You’ll cut yourself!”
Harin’s legs immediately flew up the stairs, mind in a chaotic frenzy. Was he insane? She knew he must’ve felt depressed and very much alone, but self-harm was never, ever the answer. Cutting himself was—
“YAH!” she stormed into his washroom and kicked the door wide open. It hit the wall with a bang, and all was quiet.
She gaped, jaw slightly agape, at the ridiculous scene. Taehyung, wearing a formal suit, held scissors high up in the air. His hair was no longer extremely long, but was cut all raggedy and odd, as if someone had used a miniature lawn mower to plough through it. His long locks were scattered all over the tiled floor, and a maid beside him seemed to be swiping the scissors away from his grasp, but alas, she was too short.
“Mother of…” Harin trailed off.
Despite the pair being frozen, Taehyung immediately sank into the same prostrated bow that he did in front of Mr. and Mrs. Go.
“I-I’m sorry for making a mess and being so foolish!” Taehyung gulped. “Please give me a s-second chance! I will do my best as your familiar!”
Harin stared at him for so long that she barely noticed the maid awkwardly leaving. Her eyes scanned Taehyung’s suit, to the hairy floor, and the scissors, and continued and continued until she burst out into a loud laugh.
Taehyung blinked twice and strained his neck trying to see what was so funny, while still bowing on the floor. “M-Miss?”
But Taehyung’s bewildered expression only triggered a volume increase in Harin’s laughter. After a while of trickling into muffled snickers, Harin finally wiped away tears at the corners of her eyes.
“So tell me, is this,” she motioned to the mess he’d made, “so-called ‘doing your best’?”
Taehyung finally grasped the situation and pressed his lips together, ears turning pink. “I didn’t want to embarrass you with my… looks.”
Harin hummed in interest as she took out her phone and speed-dialed someone.
“Mm, yeah, Hwasa? I’m coming over. No, no, not for myself… I need you to work a little bit of your magic.”
MUZIKMASTER SAYS-------------------
I'm actually so happy! I finally managed to getting around to making a proper poster and background for this story lmao.
I have to say, I'm pretty satisfied with the results as much as I am with the story so far. :) Finally figured out how to put a gif on a poster and I was literally squealing in glee lol!
That aside, please remember that I'm mainly focusing on finishing The Outcast Club first, so I'm only updating this from time to time if I get really stumped lol. Don't be surprised if you don't see updates for a little while until after TOC is finished, and don't be surprised if you do find an update or two! ;)
[!!!] Identify Me is on temporary hold until The Outcast Club is finished! More frequent updates after The Outcast Club is completed! :)
Comments