Day 2

 

Loud snores filled the living room… no, scratch that! Not just the living room – loud snores filled the whole apartment unit that Jiyong couldn’t fall asleep anymore. It was already morning and he endured three hours of trying to fall asleep after being awoken by a monster-like sound that turned out to be only his maid’s snores from the living room. When he couldn’t take it anymore, he got up from his bed and stomped out of his bedroom.

 

As expected, his maid was still fast asleep on the sofa, her head hanging from the edge and her legs on the backrest. was hanging open too and a trickle of disgusting drool fell down from . Jiyong shivered in disgust so he looked away. He went behind the sofa and pulled the maid’s legs to wake her up.

 

“YAH! YOU! HEY YOU! WAKE UP! YAH!”

 

Dara felt her legs being pulled and she hated the feeling of being disturbed in the sleep so she kicked her legs, not aware of what was pulling her legs. However, she heard a groan. She opened her eyes and sat up. She looked around her but saw nothing or no one. She stretched her arms upward. She was about to lie back down when she remembered something.

 

She gasped. “What time is it?” she asked, looking for the clock.

 

“It’s nine… and you’re late!” someone said.

 

“Really? Oh my gosh! The conceited boss will be—“ she cut herself off. “Wait, who said that?”

 

“It’s your conceited boss who you kicked in the face.”

 

Dara widened her eyes and stood up from the sofa. She saw him lying on the ground with his right eye closed.

 

 

-

 

 

“Here’s a bag of ice,” Dara said, handing it to him.

 

“Curse you,” Jiyong whispered.

 

“Uhm, I think you mean ‘thank you’,” Dara said.

 

“Uhm, no. I mean ‘curse you’,” Jiyong repeated as he applied the bag of ice on his eyes.

 

“I didn’t mean it though,” Dara said, furrowing her brows.

 

“Well, you should have woken up before I did, like I told you, right? But, NO! You just had to snore so loud the whole apartment would wake up.”

 

Dara rolled her eyes. “I won’t do it again. I promise.”

 

“Let’s see,” he whispered. “Ugh, it hurts.”

 

“That’ll heal in days, don’t be so overly dramatic.”

 

“Shut up and go do your job.”

 

“Yes, your highness,” Dara said, curtsying once again in front of him before she left for work.

 

 

-

 

 

“If this’ll be what I have to do for ninety-eight more days… wait, I don’t think I’ll even last that long,” she said while sweeping the dusty studio. She continued cleaning the studio room while she continuously badmouthed her boss.

 

For the whole day, it went that way – Dara cleaning the whole unit, doing the dishes, doing the laundry.

 

And Dara could only guess it would only go that way for the rest of ninety-eight days… or for as long as she could stay as the maid.

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

Day 6

 

“Oh my gosh, SATURDAY!” Dara gasped as she cooked his breakfast. (She woke up before him finally, after a few attempts.)

 

Dara immediately removed her apron and went to take a bath. After she did, she remembered something.

 

“Rule number 5,” she remembered and Jiyong’s voice came into her mind. “You are not going to leave this apartment without my permission.”

 

“But I have to,” she whispered.

 

Quickly, Dara prepared the table with lots of delicious breakfast. She then filled his mug with coffee and went to the living room to get something. She tore a piece of paper from her music book and left it beside his coffee after she wrote her note.

 

She reread it and wished it would work.

 

“He won’t fire me anyway,” she said, more like convincing herself. She was pretty sure that he needed a maid and that he wouldn’t fire her that easily. “He won’t fire me with just this, right?”

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

Jiyong woke up with a start as he felt that there was something odd in the morning. He got up off the bed and stepped out of his room. The first thought he had in mind was:

 

“Where is she?”

 

He walked to the bathroom but it was empty. He went to the laundry room but there was nothing but clean laundry. He went to the studio room but there was no one there. His blood started boiling as he realized that her last chance was only the kitchen. And if she wasn’t there, he didn’t know what he would do to her.

 

As he arrived in the kitchen, he didn’t like what he saw, or more like, he didn’t like who he didn’t saw. Despite the delicious-looking breakfast in front of him, he didn’t have the appetite. He sat on the chair when he saw a note beside the mug.

 

To my conceited little boss,

 

Today is a Saturday. I am not asking for a day off or anything but I just needed to go somewhere. My bandmates and I always meet on Saturdays to at least catch up on each other. We have been doing this for months and I don’t want to be the one to break the tradition considering I was the one who suggested it after I dropped out of school.

Besides, I haven’t seen them for a while and I am sure they missed me the way I missed them… or more. Hope you’re not furrowing your brows by the time you reach this line. (Though I’m pretty sure you’re already frowning the second you realized I wasn’t around, right?)

Drink your coffee – it might turn cold. Eat your breakfast – I especially made it more delicious this time.

 

Your gorgeous, y maid,

Dora

 

“So, her name really is Dora,” he said and chuckled as soon as he finished reading the note. “You’ll see, Dora! I am so going to kill you,” he said. He was about to crumple the paper when he read another line.

 

PS: I’m just at the café in front of the apartment if you need me. I’ll be back before lunch anyway.

 

“At the café in front of the apartment, you say, eh?” he said as he crumpled the paper.

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

Dara had been waiting for an hour already at the café and she wondered why her friends hadn’t arrived yet.

 

“Maybe it isn’t a Saturday?” she asked herself. A waitress passed by and she asked her what day it was today just to make sure and she didn’t commit a mistake. It was indeed a Saturday. “Now, where are they?”

 

She was about to leave already but the café’s door sounded indicating a customer arriving. Her eyes flew to the door and she was glad to see her friends.

 

“Finally,” she whispered. However, through her peripheral vision, just outside of the café, she saw someone dressed strangely, with a hoodie and a mask across his face. She recognized the clothes as the ones she just washed recently. “Oh my…”

 

Her eyes squinted to see clearly and now she was sure that he was it. He was standing under a tree with his hands dug deep inside the hoodie’s pockets and his eyes directly staring at her.

 

“Oh my…” she repeated.

 

“YAH! YOU’RE HERE!” Bom greeted first. However, Dara couldn’t take her eyes off the man staring straight at her.

 

“Unnie! We have been waiting for you at the next café. As usual, you’re lost again. Thankfully, Chaerin unnie suggested to look for you at this café because she figured out that y--,” Minzy said.

 

“Let’s go, let’s go. Hurry up!” Dara said, pulling her friends towards the café’s kitchen.

 

“HEY! THIS IS OFF LIMITS!” a manager scolded but Dara and her friends were already running through the kitchen.

 

“Why are we even running?” Chaerin asked.

 

“There’s back door here somewhere,” Dara answered.

 

“But, we can also use the front door, can’t we?” Bom asked, despite still continuing to run.

 

“Hurry and run. HURRY!” Dara said.

 

As they arrived at the backdoor, Dara pushed it open with her palms. However, they were stopped by a pair of shoes appearing in front of them.

 

They stopped running and looked up. Dara gasped as it was the same guy as the one from outside of the café.

 

Dara chuckled awkwardly before her ear was pulled roughly, dragging her away from her friends, who were left dazed and confused at what just happened.

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

Jiyong had his arms crossed over his chest, waiting for her explanation.

 

“What?” Dara asked, uncomfortable under his stare. “I left a note, see?” she said, picking up the note from the kitchen table. “Wait, Dora. It’s not Dora, it’s Dar—“

 

“You did leave a note, Dora, but didn’t rule number five said—“

 

“Yeah, yeah. It said that I have to ask permission from you first before I could go out of this cage,” she said. “But, I had to! It was urgent. And, my name is not DORA, your highness. It’s Dara. It’s just short of one when I wrote it.”

 

“Urgent? To meet your friends? You consider meeting your friends as urgent, Miss Dora?”

 

“Of course. They’re my only family here in Seoul. I can’t risk not meeting them. Besides, what are you going to do with me breaking the rule, eh?” she challenged.

 

Jiyong tilted his head and thought. He didn’t know what the consequence was.

 

“See? You can’t even think of any. You haven’t thought of it before taking off right? And, what’s it with you anyway? I already asked permission through this note,” she said, showing him the note once again.

 

“It’s not asking for permission if it wasn’t personal,”Jiyong said. “And, I have the right to get mad at you because you just disrespected me as your boss by breaking the rules.”

 

Dara scoffed. “Just admit that you just like pissing me off. Don’t worry, the feeling is mutual.”

 

“I’ve figured that out by now. You don’t have to say it. Now, since you’re already pissed, I can go back to—“

 

“You’re in trouble,” Dara said.

 

“And why is that?” Jiyong asked.

 

“Seeing what you did to me in front of my friends, they’ll get worried and you don’t know what they’re capable of doing.”

 

It was Jiyong’s turn to scoff. “You’ve seen how they just let me off right? I don’t think they’re worried though.”

 

Dara realized he was right. “Well… Well… you’ll just see! They’re already trying to plot the plan. You’ll see, you conceited little erted jerk!”

 

“Whatever,” Jiyong said. “This conceited little erted jerk a.k.a. your boss is going to deduct your salary because of what you did.”

 

Dara gasped, her eyes widening. “What?! You don’t…”

 

“I mean it. So, next time, erted little self-proclaimed gorgeous and y maid,” he said leaning close to her, tapping her nose with his finger. “Think before you break the rules.”

 

Dara blinked at their closeness and then she stepped back. “What if YOU break the rules?”

 

“Me? I would never—“

 

“You just did. The one-meter rule, remember? You have been coming close to me since last night, and then outside the café today, and then just before this statement I’m saying,” Dara said. “I demand you add my salary so it would just be an offset,” she said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

 

Jiyong furrowed his brows. He just realized he did break the rules three times. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Alright then, you want to play that game? Fine with me. Anyway, two can play that game.”

 

Dara smiled, satisfied. “Deal.”

 

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

 

It was Day 9 of Dara’s maid work and so far, her salary had been climbing higher, making Jiyong upset at his own failures. He kept on violating the one-meter rule. He just couldn’t help but be less than a meter closer to her. But it wasn’t in purpose though. When he talked to her, like one time, he asked her where his favorite scarf was, he didn’t notice that he was already directly in front of her. It happened a lot of times and it always made Dara happy because of salary addition with Jiyong going crazy because of his own careless mistakes.

 

Dara was actually at the disadvantage because only the one-meter rule applies to both of them while the rest applies to her only. She didn’t know why he kept on committing the same mistakes.

 

“Really, you just want to come closer to me, right?” she once said over dinner.

 

The moment she said those words, she didn’t realize that they actually made the atmosphere between them awkward. She could only sigh.

 

“It’s not supposed to make things awkward though. Why were we awkward to each other after that then?” she asked herself that night as she laid on the sofa, her eyes glued to the ceiling, before slumber slowly consumed her.