1.
Officially His Personal Maid
"So, this is the how many time that you're paying the debts for those gamblers?" Heechul who is standing beside Donghae, asks flatly.
"They're not 'those gamblers', they're my parents..."
"Which makes things even worse! I'm guessing this is your millionth time."
"I'm betting this is my billionth time."
"And I'm sprouting more rainbows than nyancat if you don't hurry up."
Donghae rolled his eyes and smiled at his best friend's impatience. He was, after all Kim Heechul. Heechul was staring at the clock as time ticked away for he was sacrificing his lunch break to follow him on a trip to the bank which he claims as idiocy. Heechul's eyes nearly popped out at the amount Donghae was about to give to the banker.
"Five million won? Are you crazy? Are your parents crazy? I could buy tons of kitty boxers for myself!" Heechul exclaims.
Donghae rolls his eyes. "Go get some decent ones from Calvin Klein."
"But their designs are boring."
Donghae can do nothing but sigh. Isn't underwear just underwear, why do people have to be so choosy about the design. As long as the material is comfortable and it doesn't make his balls itch, any underwear is fine for him.
8.00 pm marked the end of work. Donghae walked along the dusty pathways and the paint from the buildings were scraped off which told him that he was near home. He halted and stared at a particular grey building and entered. He walked along the corridors when he spotted his neighbour, Wufan.
"Hey fish!" Wufan waved.
Donghae clenched his fist and managed a smile, "Hi cockroach."
"How's life?" Wufan asked and before Donghae realises, Wufan grabbed his buttcheek.
"Wufan, stop doing that!"
Wufan looked at him innocently. "Do what?"
"Grabbing people's !" Donghae exclaims and he distances himself from his neighbour.
"But Zitao allows me to do it to him..."
"Well yeah obviously he has to because you guys are-"
"A couple!" Wufan chirps happily, and he was proud of it.
Wufan was a nice guy actually, Donghae thinks, if you didn't consider the fact that he has a weird of grabbing people's . Other than that, he's just your average hot next door neighbour. Donghae just isn't used to people unrelated to him touching him.
Needless to say his .
He mentally notes to carry an umbrella with him to protect himself from Wufan's attacks. He waves to Wufan and opens the door to his house, an empty silence greets him. It's not like he was expecting anything either, his parents were probably out at the gambling dens again.
Donghae never took proper meals, what served as his lunch and dinner consisted of instant noodles and an egg. Heechul felt so sorry for him that he suggested to be in charge of bringing Donghae food. Suddenly, "Go kick it in the , go kick it in the! Doo roo roo roo roo roo." his phone rang. He heard faint voices in the background before his father's gruff voice rang in his ears.
"Where are you."
"I'm at home."
"Come pick us up at the usual."
And with that, his father hung up. Donghae drives in towards a noisy and hazy street hidden from the city. A place well known for illegal gambling, drug dealing and ion. Not somewhere he'd intend to visit. He sees two familiar figures walking towards him with their heads hung low, Donghae knew that meant they had lost whatever money they initially had.
...
"What, you owe them two hundred million won? But I just paid your debt this afternoon!"
"I'm sorry son," Donghae's mother begged, "Please help us just this once. We promise, we'll definitely quit after this debt is paid."
"You will quit?" Donghae looked at them in disbelief. "I believed and helped you time after time, but nothing changed!"
"You ungrateful son, we clothed and fed you and this is how you repay us?" His father shouts and hits Donghae in the face.
Hot tears flows down Donghae's cheeks as he felt a throbbing pain, he glared at his father before locking himself in his room. Inside, he could still hear the faint sound of his father scolding him vulgarly. Donghae wonders if he had ever commited a sin in his previous life to suffer like that now and cries himself to sleep.
Donghae woke up early the next day, successfully avoiding his parents and headed to work. He spots Heechul taking pictures of himself while serving his customers.
"Heechul?" He called out.
"Why hello sweetheart, what can I do for you on such a lovely day."
The brunette took in a deep breath. "Could you lend me some money?"
"Again?" Heechul frowns. "How much do they owe now, a hundred million?"
Donghae croaked, "Two hundred million."
Heechul chokes on nothing and he dramatically puts his hand on his chest. "Your parents are insane. I don't even have that much with me."
Donghae feels guilty having to ask Heechul for money and decides he has had enough of ther bull. They aren't even grateful when he helped them clear their debts, they see him as someone they can use and not their son. This definitely wasn't Donghae's ideal image of a family. He decides not to do anything this time, if nessacary, he would even move out of the house.
When Donghae reached home, he sees a man around the same age as Donghae seated across his parents in the living room. They were discussing when they sensed Donghae's presence and halted. The man looks at Donghae and he smiles, Donghae awkwardly smiles back.
The man had shocking blonde hair that was styled up neatly, plump lips, a sharp jawline, and he wore a suit. Something seems to tell Donghae that the man was of a high status.
"Is that your son?" The man asks.
Both of them nodded in unison.
Donghae knows its rude of him to just stand there and listen to a conversation he isn't invited in, he quickly excuses himself and goes to his room, wondering who that man is and what is his purpose of coming to this shabby place.
"You know, maybe there are other ways of repaying your two hundred million debt."
Donghae's parents got excited and asked enthusiastically. "What ways?"
The man simply smiles.
While Donghae, who was oblivious to the conversation outside, continued dancing the pelvic dance in his room.
Donghae was simply walking along the streets on his way to work when he noticed two foreign-looking men following him. When he walked into a pet shop, they waited outside. When he went in the cafeteria, they queued beside him. When he turned to the left, they did so too. When he turned to the right, so did they. Donghae purposely banged into a pole, to see if they would do the same but they didn't. Still, the two men continued tailing him.
Calm down. Maybe they're scouting for models and you fit the criteria!
He assures himself. He was so busy thinking that he made a turn into a back-alley by mistake.
Wrong move.
The two men then signalled each other and before he knew it, he felt a tight grip on both of his arms and was being dragged away.
", let me go!"
Both men ignored him and they quickened their pace.
"SOMEONE HELP ME." he shouts but there's no one there save a dog watching him cluelessly. He started flailing his arms to loosen their grip on him, but it didn't work. He decided to distract them by having a conversation.
"Nice weather today! You are so gorgeous." Donghae tried to converse with them in English, but to no response as they continued dragging him.
He tried again in English with determination but hesitated a little,"You look like... Albert Einstein?"
He did try, but he wasn't really educated in English. Donghae gave up and slouched his shoulders as he just let himself be dragged away pathetically. Maybe getting kidnapped and maybe sold off of to some other country for hard labour would be better than his life now.
He spotted a shiny black limousine parked at the corner of the road and in an instant, he was shoved in by the two men and they closed the door. Donghae looked at them in confusion from the window as the car drove off when he felt another person's presence. Slowly turning his head towards his right, he jumped in surprise, causing him to hit his head.
"Ouch." Donghae groaned as he rubbed his head.
He looked to see a very familiar looking man smiling at him. Something about that smile was really really familiar. Donghae gasps when he realises its the man who visited his house the other day.
"Hello." the man says.
Donghae isn't sure if now's the time to be exchanging greetings. "Um hi?"
"You do know why you are here, don't you?"
"Um, no not really."
The man is surprised but he flashes Donghae a killer smile. "My name is Hyukjae, and from today onwards you're officially my personal maid or butler."
"Yeah that's very nice of you to hit on me but—" Donghae pauses, "Wait, WHAT."
Hyukjae simply smiled and took out a signed contract filled with bold letters, waving it in front of the other. LEE DONGHAE; SOLD - 200 MILLION WON.
Donghae opened his mouth but no words came out. It took him a full minute to grasp the situation that he parents had willingly sold their son off to pay their debts. He was to be a maid, a maid, to this Hyukjae man. How could his parents even do such an inhumane thing.
Suddenly, a creepy thought came to his mind.
What if Hyukjae asks me to do weird things with him. But I'm straight!
And if I'm a maid, he'll be the master.
If he asks me to be a nurse, he'll be the doctor.
If he asks me to be the student, he'll be the teacher.
Donghae nearly cries in fear at that thought and cringes. He feels all his pride and dignity in him shattering to pieces and he sits further away from Hyukjae.
Donghae finally speaks up. "What if I quit?"
"Then you would have to pay me the full amount of your parents debt, which I'm sure you can't afford right."
Donghae glares at Hyukjae. This man was devious, why would he even want to accept Donghae as a price of paying the debt. Donghae ponders over all the possibilities and he knows life for him is definitely going to be miserable.
---
"Are you sure this is your house." Donghae gapes at the building in front of him.
''Er, yes?"
Donghae couldn't help but hold his breath as he took in its magnificence and Hyukjae had to drag him in. The building was huge, it could serve as a boarding house for twenty people but intead, Hyukjae lives in there alone. They were welcomed by a row of maids in identical maid uniforms which it seemed like cosplay to Donghae.
Donghae never fails to be surprised at every room they visit. Every room is so grand that Donghae doesn't dare to touch anything in fear of breaking it.
A shiny chandelier hung on the ceiling as it glistened and the floors were made of marble tiles with two flights of spiral staircases which led to the second floor. There was also a heated pool that was connected to a hot tub on the highest level, out in the open space. Fancy paintings hung on the walls and the furnitures were made of high quality materials. While walking past the rooms at the first level, he noticed a fish tank which was about the size of a plasma television.
Just keep walking, just keep walking. It's just fishes, no need to get so worked up. Just keep walking.
Unfortunately, unable to control himself any further, he immediately rushed to the aquarium and stuck his face onto the glass.
He squeals in delight. " you guys are so adorable!!!"
Hyukjae had to use all his might to carry the enthusiastic Donghae who didn't want to leave, away from the aquarium. After he had finally finished taking Donghae around the house, he found the younger running back to the aquarium again. Just as Donghae was admiring on how nemo and dory were swimming together, he felt something soft hit his head. As he picked up to see it face to face, he stood there, baffled.
The younger stared at the skimpy clothes which was handed to him. "You expect me to wear this? It's like asking me to display myself fully on a butcher's rack."
"That's your uniform."
Donghae examined the uniform carefully with his lips pursed. It was a maid's dress which looked exactly like what the others are wearing. But the thing is, he's a man for god's sake, how can Hyukjae make him wear something like that. All the things that Donghae were afraid of was coming true.
"It's only for today right?" Donghae tries.
"I don't know." Hyukjae smirkes.
Hyukjae continues, smiling. "You have to call me 'master' starting from today, you have to accede to all my requests, regardless of what, understand?"
I hope you break you trip over a flower pot and break your nose, Lee Hyukjae.
Donghae forced a smile and gritted his teeth,"Yes, master.''
Hyukjae cupped his ears and smiled innocently, "What? I can't hear you."
The brunette took in a deep breath as he felt that very last bit of his pride seeping away. "Yes, master."
Hyukjae tapped his feet impatiently while waiting for Donghae. Donghae mumbles from inside the changing room, "God, it's showing too much of my legs. Who the hell designed this.''
''Just come out already and stop acting like a sixteen year old girl."
"Fine." Donghae said as his voice cracked a little at the end.
Soon, a figure appeared from behind the door. Hyukjae turned and his jaw dropped. Donghae stood in front of him, crossing his arms in annoyance. But he had to admit, Donghae looked pretty.
Donghae rolls his eyes. "I look like a girl now. And the stupid headdress isn't helping."
Hyukjae stared at him before coming back to his senses. "You don't look horrible, it's pretty on you.'' He winks.
The brunette scowled, "Pretty my .''
---
In the end, Hyukjae made Donghae change into more comfortable clothes because he kinda felt bad for him.
"Hi, I've been instructed by Hyukjae to bring his dinner up." Donghae says as he enters the kitchen.
A lady stepped out through the crowd of people who were busy cooking. She looked kind and she was in her late forties. "I'm Mrs Park, follow me."
They walk deeper into the kitchen, there were many chefs busy preparing food and Donghae spotted a cabinet full of knives for culinary.
Why do they need so much knives, it's not like they're gonna kill a whale or something. He thought to himself.
Just then, his phone rang and his heart almost jumped out when he saw the caller ID. Heechul. That name, in a situation like this, spelled trouble. He excused himself from the kitchen and went to a corner before answering, immediately hearing shoutings from the other end.
"LEE DONGHAE! WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE YOU." Heechul's voice boomed.
"Um, hi.''
"Hi? How can you say 'hi' after leaving me alone at work, I had to do our presentation all by myself." He snapped.
"Sorry, but I'm not in Mokpo now."
"Then where, North Korea? You're a really bad liar, I bet you're at home watching documentaries on fishes."
"No, really. I'm not in Mokpo. I'm in Seoul right now."
"Wow, I heard Seoul boys are hot. Why are you even there?"
Donghae hesitates if he should tell Heechul but he simply replied, "It's a long story, but I gotta go, bye!" With that, he immediately hung up.
He returned to the kitchen and Mrs Park briefed him that couldn't touch the pots unless he wore a plastic glove, he had to always wear an apron when he entered the kitchen, he had to use high graded ingredients and there were like tons of rules un-named which were awfully horrible.
Donghae knocks on the door and without even waiting for Hyukjae to say "come in.", he just lightly kicked the door open, holding a tray and shouted, "Dinner's here!" which caused Hyukjae to look up from the television, surprised.
No one has ever dared to enter his room without permission. Not even his parents.
Donghae looked up at Hyukjae, only to see him staring back at him. "You're supposed to knock, it's basic courtesy."
"I'm sorry master.'' Donghae says half-heartedly, feeling a slight anger bubbling up in him when he sees Hyukjae. "So which do you prefer, spaghetti or steak?"
Hyukjae looks at Donghae intensely. "You."
Donghae recoils in disgust. He had happened to see that line in a really cliche romcom drama which received low ratings. Hyukjae flushes, feeling embarassed by Donghae's reactions.
"I'll take the spaghetti." He clears his throat but looks at Donghae expectantly, " Feed me.''
Donghae frowned. "Why? You have hands don't you.''
Hyukjae is offended by the Donghae's statement and he took out the contract, waving it in front of him, as though a sign of threat. Donghae sighs and unwillingly scooped a spoonful of spaghetti and moved it towards Hyukjae's mouth. The older gladly opened his mouth, but only to be greeted with a harsh shove of spaghetti. He grunted in frustration and glared back at Donghae who was smiling back at him. He snatched the plate of spaghetti and ate by himself. This wasn't exactly how he had planned.
It was supposed to be...
Donghae knocks on the door.
"Come in."
He looks to see Donghae smiling shyly as he carried a plate of spaghetti and steak in. "Hyukjae, which do you want to eat?"
Hyukjae smirks. "You.''
Donghae blushed and looked away shyly. Hyukjae held the other's chin so that he was facing him. The older then leaned in for a kiss and it led to something further...
Now, it was totally wrecked. But all of Donghae's traits and weird habits made Hyukjae more interested in him. For who said that a submissive maid was always better? After dinner, Hyukjae sits across Donghae on the floor, and they stare at each other awkwardly.
Donghae coughed. "Do you want to hear a joke?" and he nodded his head. Hearing a joke was way better than staring at each other in awkward silence.
''Think of a number between 0 and 20 Add 32 to it. Multiply by 2. Subtract 1. Now close your eyes." when he spotted that Hyukjae had closed his eyes, he then continued. "It's dark isn't it?"
Hyukjae flung his eyes opened and looked at the other. "That's a very lame joke.''
"Tch, like you have a better one.''
"Let me ask you, what's 6 inches long, 2 inches wide and it drives women wild?"
The younger thought for awhile,"A ruler?"
He shook his head.
"A television?" The younger tried again.
He shook his head again.
''I give up.'' Donghae sighed.
Hyukjae smiled. ''The answer is money.'' lol to those who were thinking wrongly wink wonk
"What even, that's as lame as mine." Donghae chuckles and just like that, they spent the night telling each other jokes and playing board games. Donghae starts to think that Hyukjae isn't that bad of a person he previously thought he was.
It was getting late. Hyukjae climbed onto his bed as Donghae tucked in the blanket for him. Donghae unknowingly gave Hyukjae a goodnight kiss on the forehead, which caused Hyukjae to look at him.
Donghae shifted his gaze. "G-Goodnight.''
Eunhyuk patted the younger's head softly while grinning and he teased, "You sure you don't want to join me?"
"Hell no!" Donghae is flustered and left the room quickly, Hyukjae just laughed at him. Donghae retreated back into his room and changed to his pyjamas. He buried his head into his pillow and could feel his heart pounding.
Why am I nervous oh god. He thought to himself but then shook his head. "This must be a sign of a nearing heart attack."
He assures himself and sleeps, putting away all thoughts of a certain blonde-haired man.
---
"Wake up, wake up! get your out of your bed now.'' a voice echoed loudly throughout his room. Donghae groggily opens his eyes and sees a face right in front of him. He screams and punches the person on reflex.
"Ow! Oh my god, I think my nose is bleeding." The man howls in pain and clutches his nose.
Donghae does a double take at the skinny-lookng man in front of him and immediately feels sorry for punching him. "I'm so sorry!"
"Sure you are." The says bitterly.
The man is frighteningly skinny, Donghae wonders if he's anorexic. He can see bones jutting out from his wrists, and an aura around the man screams you-better-not-mess-with-me. "You do realize it's only 8 a.m. in the morning do you?" The brunette asked as he changed.
The man is shocked. "Only? You're supposed to be awake at seven, dearest sleeping beauty. You're absolutely utterly terribly late. Be thankful for Hyukjae excused you since it's your first day here.''
Donghae smiled at the mention of Hyukjae, "He did?" and the other nodded.
"So, what are you doing here?" The brunette asked.
The man is baffled. "What do you think, to wake you up obviously. By the way, I'm Kim Ryeowook. You can spot my name on this ugly gold rectangular-shaped badge and I'm in charge of all the servants here. You're not an exception, despite being a guy."
Donghae is all ready to go and Ryeowook mumbles, "Finally."
Donghae is led to a large room where he sees many other maids too, cleaning and scrubbing. There were many glass displays where potteries were kept in them, placed around the room.
"No way. You want us to clean this whole room in an hour's time?"
"That's why we hire maids to do the job. If you have any complaints, I can move you to basement three instead. I'm sure some hidden insects in the warehouse would gladly welcome you." Ryeowook replies flatly.
Donghae automatically goes in the room and starts sweeping. An hour passes and he has to prepare Hyukjae's breakfast.
Ryeowook stops in his tracks. "I almost forgot. You have to prepare four other people's share of food too because Hyukjae's friends are coming over later."
"Just great."
"Indeed!" Ryeowook unhelpfully adds on to the sarcasm.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Donghae made his way while struggling to carry five plates of cooked food to his master's bedroom. He remembers to knock and wait for Hyukjae's permission this time but still kicks the door open because he doesn't have any free hand. The room becomes silent and Donghae places the plates on the table.
He had to admit, all of Hyukjae's friends were good-looking, the five of them resembled the male leads in "The Heirs".
Donghae took in the magnificence of Hyukjae's room which he wasn't able to previously. It had a mini study room, a television and sofas that were made of leather. Further in was situated a king-sized bed, with closets and drawers made of mahogany which made the whole room looked grand.
The room was amazing itself.
That feeling in Donghae.
One word.
Expensive.
"Hi, you're the new servant in Hyukjae's household right?" The male in a navy blue polo shirt smiled. Donghae looked up and flushed, he wanted to just hide in a hole now.
After the introductions by Hyukjae, Donghae learned that the male in the navy polo shirt was Siwon, the one with tousled hair was Kyuhyun, the other male with a dimple was Leeteuk and the last one was Sungmin. Leeteuk smiled warmly at Donghae. "Are you joining us for our vacation in Jeju Island the day after tomorrow?"
Donghae was confused but he didn't intend to go on a vacation with strangers, he gives a strained smile. "Nah, I'd rather not spoil the fun."
"You should come, it's gonna be so much fun! There'll be swimming, clubbing, party-ing.''
Hyukjae smiled deviously at that thought. "Don't worry guys, he'll be coming."
Donghae looks at Hyukjae incredulously. But Hyukjae gives no room for Donghae to argue because now, Donghae doesn't even have the right to argue given his status as a servant.
He bows and looks back over his shoulder one last time at Hyukjae when he crashed into the doorframe before finally exiting. They chuckled at his clumsiness and when the door was shut, Kyuhyun plunged a spoonful of cheese baked rice into his mouth as he hadn't eaten for the whole day.
Just as the rest were about to tuck in, Kyuhyun spat out the food that he was eating and coughed. "If you do not want your taste buds to rot, do not eat this.'' He warned.
Sungmin eyes him suspiciously. "It can't be that bad, it looks so tasty... just one little bite?"
"And your mouth will drop out, I swear and cross my heart.'' Kyuhyun said as he did an 'X' sign on his chest.
Sungmin ignored him and took a spoonful of the baked rice and ate it, thinking that Kyuhyun was playing a prank on him but as he chewed a few more times, his nose cringed and his face was scrunched up. Sungmin spat out the food onto Siwon's plate by accident.
"Ew, Lee Sungmin!" Siwon hisses in frustration. He couldn't stand it when someone lacked table manners.
Sungmin gulped down a cup of water and let out a few breaths. "Is my mouth rotting? I think I felt it just now." he said with a horrified expression on his face. "Hyukjae, never let him take a single step again into the kitchen. Ever." Kyuhyun looked at Sungmin triumphantly.
Hyukjae ignored them and smiled darkly. "This trip is gonna be one hell of fun, guys."
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Finally, chapter 1 is posted yayyyy! Thanks for the comments and subscribing!
this took me long enough to write, honestly.
but ilu guys ;;;;;
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