Chapter 10

They both turned over their heads at the same time. Kyungsoo's arms were still wrapped around Sehun's waist, with the taller's hand was cupping his cheeks firmly.

"Oh. Hello, grandpa. What are you doing here?" Sehun asked nonchalantly. His face had gone back to its natural stoic expression.

"I should be the one asking the question. What are you doing, touching each other so intimately like that? I never taught you to be improper, moreover with a maid!" The man, who apparently was Sehun's grandfather, glared at them both. Sehun cleared his throat and released his hands at once. He stepped away from Kyungsoo.

Sehun's grandfather was a man who seemed in his late sixties, who still maintained his shape quite well to be the authoritative figure he was. Standing tall in front of them, his presence supposedly was enough for anyone to feel intimidated.

Sehun didn't feel discouraged at seeing his grandfather. He was just embarrassed to be found in such a compromised position.

Kyungsoo, well, Kyungsoo was just too dense in general to be intimidated by wealth or power. The boy was putting his interest in something else; in the attire Sehun's grandfather wore.

"This is Kyung- uh... Do Soo Kyung, the classmate I told you about," Sehun explained, referring to the 'girl' in the maid hanbok beside him.

Sehun's grandfather narrowed his eyes, looking at Kyungsoo in a judging manner. "You never mentioned that your friend is a pretty girl," he said in a lower, acussing tone. His sharp gaze bored into Kyungsoo. "Do not take my words as a compliment."

Kyungsoo stared at Sehun's grandfather in awe. The way he talked reminded Kyungsoo of the royal nobles in the historical dramas.

The elegant hanbok Sehun's grandfather wore had triggered something inside the boy, which had emerged the minute he laid his eyes on the family house. Kyungsoo's eyes lit up. Smiling brightly, he dropped his knees to the ground. His sudden act startled the grandfather and his grandson.

Kyungsoo, or known as Soo Kyung for the time being, raised both hands up to his eye level with his head slightly bowed and eyes on his feet. He bent his upper body about 45 degrees and stayed in that position, absorbed to his new job already.

"Good day, Sehun's grandpa. May you will always be blessed by the stars. I am the humble Do Soo Kyung, ready to serve you," he greeted solemnly, maintaining his hands raised at the eye level.

Sehun raised an eyebrow seeing Kyungsoo's antics behavior, but refrained himself from saying anything.

Sehun's grandfather eyed the girl in her maid hanbok with a confused look. He wondered what the girl had learned about him, what Sehun had told her. That kind of greeting was a common thing in the past but now it was rarely used on daily basis.

Master Oh gritted his teeth and decided that it was only an act made up to impress him, so that he then would give them his blessing upon their forbidden relationship.

A liaison between a commoner and a noble. Over my dead body, he scowled at the hideous thought.

"Please do not call me grandpa, young lady. You have absolutely no right to properly call me that." Master Oh stared sternly at Kyungsoo, who was casting his eyes downward his head politely.

"Just call me Master Oh for that matter," he went on coldly. Sehun was about to ask his grandpa not to be too harsh to Kyungsoo when Kyungsoo responded solemnly,

"I understand, Master Oh. This humble Do Soo Kyung will be very delighted to be able to lessen your burden even for the slightest." Kyungsoo bowed his head down and made no attempt for any eye contact with his master.

The creases between Sehun's grandfather eyebrows got deeper. He murmured under his breath and left without saying a word.

Kyungsoo got up elegantly. He placed his right hand above his left hand, and stood up straight with his hands resting in front of his lower abdomen. He maintained his position, until he could not hold it anymore and started to giggle.

"What was that?" Sehun asked him in confusion. He could not catch up with Kyungsoo's behavior.

Kyungsoo answered happily, "Dae Jang Geum."

"Huh?" Sehun was genuinely confused.

"Looking at what your grandfather's wearing, don't you think the Dae Jang Geum era fits the role more?"

"And look at my outfit," Kyungsoo showcased his maid hanbok, "It's exactly the kind of outfit those ladies in court wore on the Jang Geum era in the palace, oooohhh this is so fun!" Kyungsoo clapped his hands in excitement and twirled around, showing off his outfit.

He looked at Sehun and stopped twirling, smiling mischievously. "I never thought that you too are into that kind of stuff," Kyungsoo chirped, as his hand played with his braided hair.

"What stuff?" Sehun asked, taken aback by Kyungsoo's inexplicable antics.

Kyungsoo grinned. "Role playing. That was exactly what Sir Min Jeong-Ho did at the love scene. I was so shocked, I thought you were going to to kiss me for real." He giggled at his silliness.

Sehun was perplexed. He opened his mouth trying to say something, but closed it without a word. He breathed his frustration and went out the room without looking back, leaving Kyungsoo behind.

"Wait...!" Kyungsoo flailed his hands in panic.

"Sehun, where are you going, take me with you! I will definitely get lost here, your house is too big!" The 'girl' in the hanbok ran after Sehun, raising his skirt up to his thighs, completely forgot to be elegant and act Jang Geum-like.

***

On the contrary of Sehun's grandfather's attitude, Sehun's parents were more than happy to see Kyungsoo -- at least his mother was. She squealed out loud and ran toward Kyungsoo to squeeze the boy hard and swung him around like a rag doll, cooing at his adorableness.

"I can't handle this...! Ohmygod, you're so fluffy and cute! Come here you adorable wide-eyed puppy gahhhh so cute!" She screamed, pinching Kyungsoo's cute chubby cheeks. The boy could only let out small whimpers, which sadly made her pent-up aggression escalating even more.

Kyungsoo was finally released after Sehun's father cleared his throat in awkwardness, separating the poor new maid from his aggressive wife. Kyungsoo wobbled around in dizziness before Sehun caught him and held Kyungsoo to hin to prevent him from falling. The poor boy was literally man-handled by a woman; who was way taller and most definitely a lot stronger than him. Kyungsoo was woman-handled.

Sehun's mother was a well-known supermodel before she married his dad and retired. She gracefully maintained her figure and her supermodel posture; standing beautiful and painfully so tall, Mrs. Oh towered the girl who was sadly a boy in reality. Apparently all the Oh family members shared the gift of height.

"Um. Hello, Master, my name is Do Soo Kyung." Kyungsoo mumbled shyly in Sehun's arms. He bowed. Folding his right hand on top of the left, he raised his elbows to his shoulder level as he casted his eyes downward.

Kyungsoo tried to drop on his knees, but he failed to do so because of Sehun's grip around him. The boy whimpered in annoyance. He pushed Sehun with the back of his head repeatedly, trying to make a sufficient distance to do a proper bow.

The scene had provoked Sehun mother's aggression to rise; she struggled to free herself from her husband, hands reaching out toward the girl in her cute hanbok, not minding her expensive suit that began to have creases all over (Sehun's mother refused to wear hanbok, at least on daily basis. She stated that wearing hanbok made her feel like a Christmas tree due to her height).

Mrs. Oh's excitement fortunately ceased (a bit), enough for her husband to safely release her.

"Don't call us master, little one. Call us aunty and uncle, or you can call me mommy if you want, come here..!" She coeed Kyungsoo to lure the boy closer. Her husband and her son walked a step forward for a precaution.

Sehun's mother was not famous for her calmness, and she tended to have mental breakdowns at seeing things that she considered cute and fluffy, such as puppies, kittens, babies, plushies... and apparently Kyungsoo.

Sehun decided to save Kyungsoo from his untamed mother and send him away for good. "Uh. Soo, you may begin to do your job now. Our chef is going to start the preparation for dinner, maybe you can give her a hand or something."

Sehun's mom seemed to hesitate. She knitted her eyebrows in concern. "Are you sure that's a good idea, dear? Grandpa has been a little cranky these days because our usual head chef's been taking her days off. He eats less, grouching at the food that doesn't meet with his taste. Maybe we can just ask the little one to do harmless things, such as accompany me to go shopping." She stared at Kyungsoo with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Come here, let's go shopping with aunty, ugh so cuteee, come here little one...!!!" She cooed at Kyungsoo with rising aggresiveness.

"Don't worry aunty, I'm here to work, I don't want to get paid doing nothing." Kyungsoo shook his head in disapproval. "And I love to cook, please let me." His wide eyes stared at Sehun's mother in a hopeful gaze, hands clasped together over his chest.

Sehun sensed danger oozing from his mother who froze in her spot, looking straight to Kyungsoo, hands covered over to muffle the inhumane shrieks that began to come out. Ignoring his mother's protests and cries, Sehun dragged Kyungsoo out of the room, muttering that he needed to show him where the kitchen was.

***

The Oh family had already had their seats in the dining hall, waiting to be served. Their table arrangement had been changed -- from the traditional low table seating the noble household normally had, to the high table westerner seating ( it was partly because of Sehun's mother influence, but mostly because his grandfather, although he refused to admit it, could not sit on his knees for too long due to his arthritis).

The atmosphere in the room was silent, just like it was supposed to be during a proper dinner (Sehun's mother broke the rule almost every time - she went silent only if she didn't feel like speaking.

Sehun's grandfather, face as sour as vinegar, was sitting in his seat, arms crossed over his chest. Sehun and his father were wearing identical stoic expression, sitting calmly to wait for their dinner. Mrs. Oh glanced toward the door every other minute. She could not wait to meet the cute maid again.

Not long, Kyungsoo came into the dining room carrying a tray of food. He happily approached the Oh family. Adding to his quirkiness Sehun had begun to realize the boy had in him, Kyungsoo sang cheerfully as he was serving the dish, "Dun dun dada Dun dun dada Dun dun dada daa de doo doo-"

 "..." "Soo, what are you doing?" "...."

"..."

"Were you just humming the 'Mission Impossible' theme?"

"Yes...?" Kyungsoo answered as if there was nothing wrong with singing an action movie theme song while serving food for a noble family dinner's table.

"Please stop. The song's kind of inappropriate to be sung here," Sehun whispered in a hissing tone, stealing a quick glance at his grandfather whose face darkened even more.

"Ooopsy. Sorry. You're right." Kyungsoo grinned sheepishly.

Sehun was just about to take a deep breath of relief, when Kyungsoo decided to hum the more appropriate song he had in mind,

"Onara onara aju ona..."

Kyungsoo sang Dae Jang Geum theme song instead.

Sehun's mother could not hold herself back. She laughed hysterically as she clutched her stomach, definitely not representing an elegant lady (or a lady in general). Her laugh got louder from seeing her family members widened their eyes in shock, literally jaw dropping.

And Kyungsoo was just standing there, tilting his head, not catching the cause of her sudden burst.

............................................................