Nineteen
Of Maids & MenA/n: This took a lot longer than I originally expected bc my family suddenly had plans TT-TT I apologize!
-shixiin
- - - -
"S-Se-h-hun!" Xiaoling squeaked, bowing multiple times as pink filled her cheeks. She lifted the clothing up to cover her flat chest, holding it firmly to her body by lacing her fingers together. Sehun scowled and stepped into her room.
"Don't cover yourself. Take it off," he commanded in a cold voice. She stood perfectly. Her hands were trembling visibly. When she did not obey, Sehun narrowed his eyes. "Do not cover yourself," he repeated in a low voice. She squeezed her hands together tightly, white beginning to dot along her knuckles.
"I- Sehun-ssi, I can-"
"Shut up and obey me," he told the maid, his eyebrows furrowing towards each other.
Xiaoling was about to speak when the unfamiliar voice from her cellphone beat her to it. "Luhan ge?" She swallowed, looking at the youngest for permission before moving. When he gave her a small nod, she picked up her phone in her small quivering hands with her shirts still pressed against her chest.
"Zitao," she began, "I need to go. Talk to you later." She didn't seem to wait for his reply and pressed the red END CALL button. She set her phone back down on the bed and faced him once more with her eyes trained to the floor.
"Tell me, Xiaoling," Sehun sneered, "Who are you?" The maid remained silent with her head lowered. Sehun blinked while gritting his teeth, forcing himself to not snap at her. "It's best for you to tell me if you don't want to get fired," he reminded her. He realized how dumb he must have looked with a bag of chocolate chip cookies in his hands, leading him to chuck it into the floor, startling the maid.
The maid rose her head with watery eyes. For a second, Sehun felt his breath hitch in his throat, however he forced himself to ignore it and the twinge of guilt. He wanted to know exactly who she really was. Her bubblegum pink lips barely parted as she whispered, "Please, don't,"
"Then start talking."
Xiaoling bit her bottom lip. "I can't. It's complicated."
He scoffed, "Fine, then I'll ask the questions and you can answer them." The maid's eyes widened.
"No wai-"
"What is your real name?"
She squirmed nervously, flipping her brown hair out of her doe-eyes. "Uhm, Xiao Lu. I, uh, my friends call me, uh, Luhan."
Sehun rose an eyebrow. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it? Tell me this; you're not a girl, you're a boy. A man." His tongue darted out to his suddenly dry lips. "Male," he stated flatly. The maid bit down harder on her bottom lip, not able to force any words past her lips. "If you don't tell me, or show me, I will find out myself," he warned her as he took a step towards her.
Xiaoling's eyes widened, stumbling backwards. "N-no! Yes, I'm...I'm a guy, okay?" she finally confessed with gleaming eyes. She squeezed her hands together. Sehun felt his stomach dropped to the floor and an odd nauseating feeling bubbled in his throat. He forced himself to keep an expressionless mask on his face.
He leaned on the door frame, "How old are you and what are you doing here in a place like this?"
"I'm twenty," Luhan replied quietly. He waited for Sehun to speak. When he didn't, Luhan continued, "I'm....I'm here for the money."
His answer caused a dry laugh to rumble from within Sehun's chest. "Of course you are. What do you think the other maids are here for? You think they enjoy being bossed around every day while wearing y outfits?" He rolled his eyes, scoffing in the process. "Even Sulli, Jongin's own friend, is here just for the money."
Luhan increased the pressure of his teeth on his bottom lip. "The money is not for me, it's for my father," he informed in a low voice.
Sehun slightly tilted his head to the side, his bangs, faded and messy, falling across his eyes. "That's new. Everyone here is working to earn money for themselves for some goal of theirs."
Luhan looked down at his feet, still covered with his white knee high socks that was required to wear with the uniform. Sehun realized that now that he knew Xiaoling was a guy, the maid actually looked pathetic wearing a skimpy dress and four-inch heels everyday.
Sehun brushed his bangs out of his eyes, "I feel like there are more details, but I got what I wanted, so I won't push it. I won't tell my parents or Jongin, so consider yourself lucky, Luhan." Said boy's shoulders collapsed with relief.
"Thank you, Sehun. Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you," he whispered frantically with honest gratitude, bowing enough to make his own head flood with a whirling sensation.
Sehun felt a warm buzzing feeling in his chest.
It was quickly replaced with a peculiar mixture of bitter turmoil and clouded dejection. Luhan watched his eyes darken, his thin lips press together tightly. He watched Sehun's eyes turn glassy for a brief second, before he blinked and they returned to their accustomed icy stare.
He his lips before mumbling, "And here I thought..."
A slight frown warped onto Luhan's feminine face. "You thought what?" he asked Sehun softly.
The youngest reached down to grab his bag of cookies, which Luhan would have laughed at if it weren't for the situation, and turned his back to the male maid. "You make a really good girl."
Luhan's cheeks flared. He hoped Sehun wouldn't turn around again so he wouldn't have to see the blush decorating his cheeks.
To Luhan's relief, Sehun did not turn around. In fact, he left the maid's room wordlessly as his bony fingers constricted the bag of cookies he was holding. He made sure to shut Luhan's door on the way out.
And here I thought I liked you.
- - - -
"Where did Sehun-ssi go?"
"To the store. He told me he needed to get something for school."
"Didn't he leave school early today, though?"
"...Yes, but I figured it was something for his earlier classes."
- - - -
Sehun ripped apart the the small plastic box in his hands. His fingers itched to finally regain the comforting feeling of cold metal pressing into his flesh.
When he successfully removed the blade from the box, he cradled it in his palm.
He dragged it across bar-coded arms with the image of Luhan flashing through his mind.
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