Chapter 2: What's Your Name, Little Girl?
With Or Without You
What's your name, girl?
“Imo, is it time yet?”
“Not yet, Little Miss. See that? The moving truck is still there and people are still unloading things from the vans. Probably the owners aren't even there yet.”
“Oh.”
At the crestfallen expression of Dara's face, Mrs. Choi wanted to put her arms around the little girl, but knew that it would be unprofessional to do so.
Little Miss was the mistress, she was only the hired help. But the little girl had grown on the elderly woman's heart, so she hurried to assure her.
“Don't worry, Little Miss. I've already sent your driver, Mr. Park, over there. And he said that the workers told him that the new owners were going to arrive tomorrow. So why don't we just wait until tomorrow morning to pay a visit? How's that?” she asked.
“Okay. Thank you, imo!” Dara smiled at her nanny.
“That's better. Now, what do you want to do?” Mrs. Choi asked her.
“I want to go to the pond,” she answered.
“Oh? What are you going to do there? Feed the dunks again? Or perhaps the pigeons?”
“No! I want to make mud pies again!” the little girl answered, while lifting her hands in the air excitedly.
"Oh, mud pies, great!" Mrs. Choi said unenthusiastically. She wasn't a fan of Dara's mud pies, heck ANY mud pies.
'Darn that Eun-jee. For teaching the Little Miss how to make mud pies.' she thought silently.
Han Eun-jee was the young maid that Mrs. Park hired to help Mrs. Choi take care of Dara.
Mrs. Choi turned back to the expectant face of the young girl.
“Uhm, Little Miss, don't you want to play with your ceramic dolls? They're pretty, just like you.”
But the little girl just smiled and said, “I'll play with my dolls later, imo. I want to play baking pies now. I want to make an apple pie and a peach pie for omma when she gets back.”
“Alright, Little Miss.” Mrs. Choi conceded, “Take Eun-jee with you," she called for the young maid.
“Yes ma'am...” Eun-jee said breathlessly as she hurried to get to them.
“Take Miss Park to the pond. She wants to make mud pies,” Mrs. Choi said with a whiff of disapproval in her voice.
“Yes ma'am. Let's go Miss,” she said while taking her hand.
“Goodbye, imo! I'll bring home an apple pie for you!” Dara said as they went out of their mansion and into the waiting car outside.
“Make it a peach pie,” Mrs. Choi murmured quietly while shaking her head.
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The next morning found Miss Sandara Park up early.
“Hello sun! I hope you brought my new friend with you!” she said out loud to her open window.
She glanced down and sure enough saw a lady in fancy clothes get out of a gleaming red Lexus.
“Good morning, Little Miss! You're up earlier than usual, I see,” Mrs. Choi said as she entered her room with a breakfast tray in her hand.
“Imo! Look! I think the owners are here!” Dara excitedly told her nanny.
“Oh? Well, it sure looks like it. Why don't you hurry with your breakfast and bath, so you could go through this morning's lessons and then we'll go out and be neighborly?” Mrs. Choi said kindly.
“Yay! Come on imo! I want to eat already!” the little girl replied, all but snatching the tray away from her nanny.
The morning never passed so fast as it did that day.
Dara went through her piano lessons without making a single mistake in Swan Lake, breezed through her English tutor in record time, and finished her lunch before Mrs. Choi even finished her morning chores.
“I'm ready, imo! Let's go!” she quipped excitedly.
“Wait, wait for a minute Little Miss. Let's fix you up for a bit,” Mrs. Choi replied, as she straightened Dara's dress and adjusted her pigtails.
“There, now you're perfect. Let me go and get the cake that Mrs. Kim baked for your new friend, okay?” she hurriedly went off, leaving the little girl at the door, looking over the big house in front of theirs.
The two went off, hand-in-hand and crossed the street. They pressed the doorbell, introduced themselves to the front guard, and let in the gates.
A few minutes later, a harassed-looking man went out to meet them.
“Good morning, Miss Park, Mrs. Choi. I am Han Min-ji, one of the staff here. It is an honor to meet you. My mistress is resting but she wants to extend her gratitude at your warm welcome,” he said, quite distractedly, taking the cake from Mrs. Choi and handing it to a waiting maid.
“Uhm, I'm sorry, but is there something wrong, Mr. Han?” Mrs. Choi inquired, noting the man's worried face.
“I, that is...I -erm, di- did you happen to see a young boy around here?” he answered while wringing his hands.
At the words, 'young boy', Dara's eyes lit up. “Boy? How old?” she asked happily.
“Oh, he's seven years old. Have you seen him? He has big eyes, pale skin, straight nose, and white teeth. He was wearing black pants and a white polo the last I saw him. He's this tall,” Mr. Han said, while putting his hand just above this waist.
“No, we haven't seen any boy running around here,” Mrs. Choi answered, now looking around too.
Dara also started craning her head, looking around the spacious mansion lot.
“Hey! Mr. Han!” a voice said in English.
The three looked around for the owner of the voice.
“Look up, dummy!” the voice said again.
Mrs. Choi looked around, looking confused. However, Mr. Han and Dara, who both understood English, looked up immediately.
“Young Master!!!” Mr. Han exclaimed, while putting his hand on his heart. The poor man looked like he was going to have a heart attack.
Dara looked up at the young boy, sitting atop a tree branch, about 10 feet up. He had an insolent smile on his lips, and an I-dare-you look in his eyes.
“Young Master, please come down. Your mother will have my head if anything happened to you,” Mr. Han said, sounding near tears, while raising his arms as if getting ready to catch him if he fell.
“Catch me then,” the boy said.
“What?”
“I said catch me! Here I come, 1, 2, 3, wwwwaaaahhh!” the boy yelled as he jumped down from the branch.
Mr. Han managed to catch him, with the help of Mrs. Choi. They both fell to the ground with a grunt. But the boy just got up and brushed the dirt off his clothes, apparently unhurt.
Dara stared at him, this weird boy who went flying out of trees.
The boy stared at her. The perfect little doll in her cute dress, without a single hairstrand out of place.
He looked her up and down. Then fiinally, he smirked, walked over to her, and pulled one of his pigtails.
“Yah! What are you doing?!” Dara glared at him.
“I'm Kwon Ji-Yong. What's your name, girl?” the boy with the arrogant grin on his face.
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LOL so I couldn't stop myself.
MEET JIYONG! LOL!
One more chap (I think) of them as kids, then we'll move onto high school life and meet Youngbae! BOOYAH!
Comments are love! And they make me update faster. HAHA! XD
~Belle
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