Assistant
GuiltyIt’s not that Seulgi’s pessimistic or anything, but after months of job-hunting, sending hundreds of job applications, getting less than ten interviews, receiving no call in return, she starts to question her life choices.
But at least she has her apartment. For now. And her landlord’s nice, he’d understand.
“If you don’t pay next week, get out.”
.
—
“If you’re that desperate, I know someone who’s looking for a —”
“This may shock you,” Seulgi checks her nails, contemplating whether or not to get her nails polished. Nah. “But I don’t do it for money.”
Chansung rolls his eyes. “Sure, ‘cause you only accept gifts. Which you sell online.”
“I pay for the postage, see how generous I am?”
Seulgi unlocks her phone screen by swiping her finger across (she can’t be bothered to come up with a password). She plays tic-tac-toe, loses the first two rounds and wins the next three rounds. Then she goes online to see if she has anything to sell. Nothing. She opens her wallet. Also nothing.
She’s doomed.
Chansung plays with his car key. He bought a new car last week and doesn’t let anyone ride it (whatever, it’s an ugly car). He twirls his key around his finger. “So about this job.”
Seulgi taps the call icon. “What’s his number?”
—
Seulgi has never had with a woman but she doesn’t care about that. What’s important is she gets her job done. She trusts Chansung not to hook her up with a serial killer. And Seulgi has a black belt in taekwondo, she can take care of herself.
“You must be Seulgi, I’m Joy.”
That can’t be her real name. Seulgi should be the one using a fake name, not her client.
Seulgi looks around. It’s a simple apartment but fancier than hers. There’s a goldfish in a bowl and Seulgi taps the glass but the goldfish ignores her. She taps three more times. The goldfish turns around, stares at Seulgi for a second, then it swims away as if Seulgi doesn’t exist. Little .
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Joy says. “I didn’t think I’d find a personal assistant so soon.”
“Is that what they call it these days?”
Joy raises her eyebrows, seemingly innocent. “Come again?”
Seulgi s her shirt. It’s her favourite shirt and she doesn’t want Joy to rip it off. “Let’s get this over with, do you have any requests? As long as it’s not too extreme, I’m fine with whatever.”
“Excuse me, why are you stripping?”
“You prefer clothes on?”
“I prefer you to keep your clothes on at all times.”
“.” Seulgi tosses her belt onto the floor. “What about my pants?”
“Stop.” Joy steps forward and grabs Seulgi’s wrist. She smells like jasmine, nice and subtle. “Are you like this to everyone you meet?”
“Oh, please. We’re consenting adults and you’re paying for my services. It’s a win-win situation.”
Joy frowns. She buttons Seulgi’s shirt all the way up. “Services?”
“Look, are we going to or not? If you’re one of those people playing heroes, I’m out of here.” Seulgi ignores Joy’s look of disapproval, undoing the top two buttons. Prim and proper isn’t her style.
“You misunderstand.” Joy lets go of Seulgi’s shirt. She grabs her phone on the coffee table and makes a call.
Seulgi taps her foot against the floor. This is a waste of time. How hard is it to screw and never see each other again? Seriously, she has to go home before 5 to watch a TV drama (the previous episode ended on a cliffhanger, those evil writers).
After the fifth ring, someone picks up. Joy keeps her eyes on Seulgi. “Chansung, what did you tell her?”
Chansung’s voice emerges from the speaker, ”You mean Seulgi? I said you’re looking for a personal assistant.”
Seulgi purses her lips. No, it can’t be. Chansung is a prick but he wouldn’t have tricked her. Then again, Chansung once walked out of a restaurant and Seulgi had to pay the bill.
“Then why does your friend think I’m hiring her as a worker?”
“Oh, yeah, I didn’t tell her, did I? My bad, did she scare you? She can be really aggressive.” Chansung sounds like he’s holding in his laughter. “Yeah, sorry about that. But she was the one who left without letting me finish so it’s not my fault.”
That.
Bastard.
Seulgi snatches Joy’s phone. “You think this is funny, don’t you? I swear, Chansung, the next time I see you, I’ll shove a cactus up your —”
The line disconnects.
Joy takes her phone before Seulgi flings it against the wall. Seulgi screams in frustration and curses. It’s irritating how calm Joy looks, like she has everything under control.
“Are you still interested to be my personal assistant?”
Seulgi curses for the 13th time (the first 12 curses are directed to Chansung). “What do I do?”
“Anything I want.”
Something about Joy’s voice, no matter how sweet it is, bothers Seulgi. Call her paranoid, but this city hasn’t been safe lately.
“Are you a serial killer?”
“No, you’re my only target.” Joy laughs, soft and gentle. If it’s a joke, it’s a horrible one. “I’m a private investigator.”
“Great, no one would suspect you.”
“On the contrary, I’d be the first suspect if you were murdered right after I hired you. Do you know what cases are hardest to solve? When the murderer isn’t linked to the victim. I can’t predict their next move.”
What the hell, Chansung, she didn’t sign up to work with this creep.
Joy takes a small plastic bottle from the cabinet and feeds her goldfish. The fish swims to the surface. Joy smiles and she kind of, sort of looks attractive and it pisses Seulgi off even more. She turns to Seulgi.
“Will you work for me?”
Seulgi sighs. She has a feeling she’s making a wrong choice but she’d do anything at this point to survive.
“Fine.”
Joy extends her hand and Seulgi takes it. Her hand is cool but not unpleasant, her grasp is firm but not too strong. And there’s this look in her eyes that warns Seulgi to get the hell out and never come back but Seulgi’s feet are stuck to the floor. Joy grins.
“I look forward to working with you, Seulgi.”
Seulgi looks away, feeling uncomfortable. The goldfish stays still, opening and closing its mouth as if it’s sending a telepathic message to Seulgi (God, it looks so stupid). Then it swims away.
As if Joy has never heard of personal space, she fastens Seulgi’s top two buttons without asking for permission. Her cool finger grazes Seulgi’s skin and Seulgi’s will to protest disappears. Seulgi’s throat tightens as Joy’s smile widens.
“All my assistants were murdered but you’ll be fine, won’t you?”
Seulgi swallows but she doesn’t move. She can’t move. What is wrong with her?
Joy pulls away. “Just kidding, I never had an assistant.”
Seulgi’s chest lightens but she can’t find her voice. Joy was just kidding, right? It’s not like anything will actually happen. Yeah, that’s right. Just a sick, twisted joke.
There’s a glass vase of wilting flowers on a table. Joy picks up one of the white petals scattered on the table’s surface.
“I’d be stupid to murder someone who’s connected to me.”
—
A woman sits next to a lifeless body in the dark. She hums a tune, drumming a finger against the ground. She makes an ‘ah’ sound and presses her hands together, covered in white latex gloves with no blood stain.
“I almost forgot.”
She puts a crown of daisies on the corpse’s head. It fits snugly above his hairline. She fixes his hair, straightens his legs, and buttons his shirt all the way up.
“There, you’re pretty now.”
Author’s note: I’ve never written a detective story so I’m really excited about this. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing it. Tell me what you think.
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