One
Of Maids & Men
"No Kyungsoo! Are you crazy?!" I practically shrieked at the younger. Kyungsoo winced and quickly covered my mouth.
"I am not crazy. Huang Zitao, however, is. This was all his idea! He just told me to pass it on to you. I think it's a good idea though, Luhan-"
I threw my hands in the air from exasperation, causing him to drop his hands from my mouth. "Dressing up as a girl to go be a full-time maid at the Kim's mansion?? That's not crazy at all. I don't think you realize, Kyunggie. The Kims. THE Kim family! The richest family around here, well aside from Kim Joonmoney--I mean Joonmyun. I'm just a poor little boy. . . On top of that, they own a huge mansion with two teenage boys! If I become their maid, I'll have to cleanup after them! Teenage boys are gross." I scrunched up my nose in disgust.
Kyungsoo laughed. "I don't think you realize, you're a teenage boy too, Luhan."
I pouted. "I'm in a university already." I corrected him.
He rolled his eyes. "It's not my fault if you look like you're still sixteen. Besides, you're only twenty so I wouldn't be talking if I were you."
I lightly smacked his arm. "Oh shut up."
He frowned and rubbed his arm. "But all joking aside, you do need the money, Luhan. The maid job has really good pay. If you take the job, you'd make more money every two weeks than I do in a month." he sighed. I bit my lip, weighing my choices. He was right though. I seriously need the money since my father was unemployed and too drunk to take care of himself.
"You're right, Kyunggie, but . . . . . I still have school to attend to. If I took the job, I'd have to practically live with the Kims. What about school? I need an education, too." I ran a hand through my hair.
He paused, deep in thought. It wasn't until a few minutes passed when he finally spoke, unsure. "I . . I could bring you your books and stuff. I'll take half the notes for you, Tao will take the other half. You know, . . . . since you have half your classes with Tao, and half with me. And everyday after school, I'll bring the papers to you." My mouth dropped open as soon as he finished.
"W-what?! No, Kyungsoo. Do Kyungsoo. I will not accept this!! You will not do that if I accept the job, you big idiot!!" I shouted at him, smacking the back of his head (maybe a bit too rough) with my palm. He groaned and held his head, glaring at me.
"And why not?" he snapped at me, his large owl-like eyes blazing with fury. Oh . Do Kyungsoo was angry.
I gulped nervously, immidiently cooling my tone and backing down. "I . . . I mean, no. Don't do that. Don't overwork yourself just for me. It's fine." I said softly. His angry expression melted away almost as quickly as it appeared.
"Luhan, you're my best friend. I'd overwork myself to death for you and Tao." he mumbled. I pressed my lips together tightly.
"Stupid Kyungsoo and your stubbornness." I whispered, laughing. I pulled the shorter in for a hug.
"I heard that."
"Good."
We let go of each other. Kyungsoo grabbed my shoulders. "Does this mean you're taking the job?" he asked curiously. I sighed.
"Probably. I really need the money. I'm just worried . . . . ."
Kyungsoo rose an eyebrow. "Why?"
I felt a blush creeping on my cheeks along with a sheepish smile. "What if they find out that I'm not actually a girl?" I bit my lip, already imagining the embarrassment.
Kyungsoo's face froze before he suddenly tossed his head completely back and let out a long bubbly laugh. "A-Are you serious, Luhan?" he could barely speak through his laughter.
I felt my cheeks burning even more. "Y-yes! Stop laughing, Kyungsoo!" I hid my face in my two hands. Yet still, the other male laughed again, this time it sounded more uncontrollable. My cheeks continued to burn with a raging hot passion. I probably looked like a cherry tomato!
Don't cry, don't cry.
I was always one of those people that cried easily because of humiliation. You wanted me to cry? Just bring up something embarrassing about me and I'd probably sob. I felt tears pricking my eyes as my best friend kept laughing at me.
Don't. Cry.
"Kyungsoo . . ." I pleaded for him to stop. To stop laughing at me. I guess he heard the hurt in my voice and shut up. His face twisted back into his normal expression, but then he smiled warmly and simply hugged me.
"Luhan, I wasn't laughing at you. I was laughing at your words. There's a difference." he clarified. I didn't say anything, only removed my hands from my eyes and blinked quickly. Too late; he saw my watery eyes. He chuckled.
"Luhan." he put my face between his two hands, forcing me to look at him. "They would never find out that you're a boy because, well, you're too pretty."
- - - - -
"I. Hate. This." I growled as I looked down at my outfit. Tao only smirked once again as he gave me an up-and-down look.
"It suits you." he teased as he tugged on the back of my dress. I blushed and swatted his hand away.
"He's right." Kyungsoo joined in, nodded approvingly. I rolled my eyes at the two idiots and looked back at the mirror.
Since I had taken the damn maid job, I had to dress in the clothes Mrs. Kim had given me. I remember she had squealed and half-cooed, half-purred to me 'You're the prettiest maid we'd ever had!'
Thinking about that, it made me scoff.
I hated my outfit. It was too. . . .cute. Too exposing. I felt my face burning, just like the first time I had seen the outfit. Did Mrs. Kim purposefully choose this outfit? I looked like a for god's sake.
(Luhan's outfit c;)
I groaned in annoyance, rubbing my face in the process. Until I remember I had makeup on. Panicking, I snuck another look at my reflection, relieved to see that none of my makeup had been rubbed off. Thank god. If it had rubbed off, it would have meant another dreadful fifteen minutes of Tao carefully applying it back on. I peered at my face again. My 'doe-eyes' (according to Kyungsoo) were thickly rimmed in black. My cheekbones were lightly tinted with pink. My skin was covered with a thin layer of bb cream, just for a smoother effect.
I sighed and messed with my fake hair. Tao happened to have a wavy caramel colored wig (from who knows what or why), the tips reaching the middle of my back; so he decided that I would wear it. To be honest, I really did look like a girl. A pretty one.
"Checking yourself out again, gege?" I heard Tao's familiar voice ask in our native tongue.
"No." I snapped at him, whirling around to face him. He clucked his tongue and smiled playfully.
"Gege~ Don't turn around too fast or everyone will see your ." he scolded. I frowned disapprovingly at him.
"Shut up, you ert."
Kyungsoo interrupted Tao and I, "Can we please take this back to Korean?"
"It's not our fault if you can't understand Chinese." I told the Korean. He only rolled his eyes.
"Come on, Luhan. Today is your first day of the job, so Tao and I will walk with you." Kyungsoo offered. I nodded in relief.
We left Tao's small apartment, the three of us walking to our destination: The Kim mansion. It took longer than all of us expected; about thirty minutes to walk there. I regretted walking in a short and skimpy outfit because I received many puzzled looks from males and females that paused to stare at me. One guy who looked about nineteen approached me with a friend. He smirked and slapped my through the fabric of my dress, causing the protective side of Tao to appear.
"Get lost." Tao growled, pulling me close to his body. I leaned back and rested myself in his hold.
"Why? Your little friend here is cute. Should hook me up with her, man." the guy offered. I didn't miss eye roll the guy's friend gave him.
"No."
"C'mon man!" the guy whined. He turned to look at me, flashing his bright smile. "What's your name, beautiful?"
"Get lost." Tao voiced firmly.
The guy smirked. "Yeah? Well I got-"
The guy's impatient friend roughly dragged him away by holding his ear. As they walked away, the trio could hear a male's voice say bitterly, "Dammit, Chen. Why you mess with guys bigger than you? She's out of your league anyways."
I was the first to bust out laughing, my friends following me afterwards. Kyungsoo was laughing so hard he looked like he was about to cry and Tao was bent over, hands resting on his knees from laughing so hard.
"Oh gosh, I can't breathe." I barely managed to say in between my giggles.
- - - - -
I walked up the long driveway to the Kim's front door. At the front gate, a voice on the intercom had said that only I was allowed to enter the gates. Waving goodbye to my friends, I made my way up. Alone. Nervous. Several minutes of walking passed when I reached the front door. After knocking once and stepping back, I inspected the door.
It was wonderful really, having designs of swirls and leaves etched into the fine wood. The doorknob was the color of gold and so shiny that I could clearly see my own reflection in it. I grew more anxious. If the front door was this fancy, I don't even want to imagine the inside of the mansion. I rose a closed fist to knock on the door again when someone suddenly yanked it open, making me gasp in surprise. I dropped my fist quickly and did a ninety degree bow.
"Hello, I'm-"
"Who are you? Stop bowing." it was a male's voice. It was fairly deep and had a demanding tone to it. I knew right away that this guy was stubborn and maybe even a bit rude.
I rose myself again to stare him straight in the eyes. He was tall, maybe around the one-hundred-eighty centimeter mark, with full red lips, dark brown hair swooping across his forehead, a slim body slightly bulging with muscle, tanned skin, and a strong piercing gaze.
"Are you part of the Kim family? I-"
The boy snickered. "I live here and I opened the door for you, didn't I?" I felt a nerve in me twitch in anger. "Who are you?" he repeated, leaning against the doorframe when I tried to enter.
"I'm the new maid of this mansion." I told him, boldly looking straight up at the handsome face.
He scoffed. "We already have like ten of them, so why are you here? I guess you're a little poor girl and need money too, huh?"
Girl.
He actually believed I was a girl. Relief flooded through me.
But as I let his rude words sink in,taking full effect. I felt my anger rising, but forced it back down. I needed this job for the sake of my father.
"Yes, I need the money. So could you please let me in?" I sighed.
"I need your name first." he smirked. I froze. Aw ! We didn't think of a false name for me!
"Uhm . . . .my name is . . . . uhm . . . . Xiaoling. Lu Xiaoling." I tried to cover up my stuttering with a fake smile.
The boy rose an eyebrow in what I assumed what surprise. "A Chinese girl?" He gave me a thorough up-and-down look. "Hmm, umma's never hired a Chinese maid . . . you might be fun, Xiaoling. Come on in."
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