I hate it when he does that, he’d go playful then he’d turn serious and snob. Pfft. What am I talking about? I hate everything about him. Now that he brought it up, I suddenly felt anxious. Why are those people chasing me? What do they want? And of all people, why me? I also remembered Wooyoung oppa. A mixture of longing and guilt filled me. In the current events, I forgot about him. If only I could hear his voice again. But I know that it would be better this way. I don’t want him to be involved in this unknown mess I’m entangled with. As for the pest, it’s so hard to believe that he can do something to help me from those guys. I mean, he’s just a driver and a farm boy, right?

 

 

Later. . .

 

“Kitten!”

 

A shiver ran down my spine. Eh? Why is that? Why am I shivering when the sun is high up in the sky? I glanced around and saw the pest with that lazy, y, devil smile of his again. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt and faded blue jeans. I almost fell off the ladder again as my eyes looked over him. Why does he look delicious?

 

I gasped as I realized what’s running on my mind. Get a grip on yourself, Dara! Disgusting! He does not look delicious! Definitely not! No, no, no! I’m just hungry that’s why I’m thinking of ridiculous things. Bah! He looks DISGUSTING! That’s right. He’s a pest and pests are disgusting!

 

Due to defensiveness, I snapped angrily at him. “What do you want?”

 

“Come here,” he said as he took me in his arms and carried me over a shaded area.

 

“Ya! What do you think are you doing? Put me down!”

 

He gently put me down under a tree and walked away.

 

“Ya!” I called after him.

 

“Stay there!”

 

What the hell is he up to now? I watched him go away but then, it finally dawned on me that my whole body was aching already. I sighed and closed my eyes, resting my back against the tree.

 

“Hey, wild cat!”

 

I opened my eyes just in time to see that something round and orange was going my way. I was caught off guard that nothing registered to my mind until I felt something hit me in the face. “Ouch!” I growled, “Ya, pest! Why did you do-?”

 

“Here’s another one!” he said and threw another one to my direction. Again, it hit my face. Okay, so my reflexes are slow. But who could blame me when I haven’t eaten anything yet?

 

“YA!” I burst out. I heard a chuckle and was surprised that he was now sitting beside me. Eh? How did he get here so fast?

 

“Eat those. Since we’re not allowed to have a decent meal, we have to endure with these for the meantime.”

 

“You could have just given them to me in a proper way,” I snapped.

 

“Eat,” he just said.

 

“This is your entire fault!” I burst out.

 

“What have I done? And why did it become my fault?”

 

“You’re the one who brought me here!”

 

“If you’ve forgotten, you’re the one who said you don’t want to go to your father.”

 

“But that doesn’t mean that you have to bring me here and make me do stupid things! What I’m doing here is a servant’s job! And why am I being punished? I have the right to eat! If Dad finds out about this, you’ll be sorry!”

 

“Then go ahead and tell him,” he said.

 

“And how am I going to do that when you confiscated my phone?! Ugh! It’s so boring here! No TV, no cellphone, no shopping, no EVERYTHING! Aish! Do you know how hungry I am already? Of course you don’t! How would you know when you-”

 

“AISH!” he burst out and took the oranges out of my hands and started peeling them. As soon he was done, he put the fruit inside my mouth. “My ears are complaining already. You’re too noisy!”

 

“Hmm. Sweet,” I murmured as the juice of the fruit reached my tongue. “Can I have another one?” I asked a while later.

 

He breathed, looking relieved, probably because I stopped ranting. I can’t help it; I’m just too hungry already.

 

“Help yourself,” he shrugged.

 

My eyes squinted as I looked at him suspiciously. “Why are you being kind?”

 

“It’s my job,” he answered.

 

“You weren’t this kind before even if I kept on reminding you your status in the house.”

 

“I was never mean to you,” he defended himself.

 

“Yes, you were ALWAYS mean to me!”

 

He sighed then shook his head. “Whatever.”

 

“Why are you like that?!”

 

“What?” he innocently asked, irritating me more.

 

Grr. I wanna strangle the life out of him!

 

“How many baskets have you filled already?”

 

I blushed. Err, well since I leisurely spent my time interrogating the helpers, I didn’t really made great progress.

 

“Hey, I’m asking how-?”

 

“One basket,” I mumbled.

 

“What?!” he exclaimed. “You’re hopeless.”

 

“I don’t need your help; I can fill them all by myself.”

 

“If you say so,” he shrugged and stood up.

 

“Ya! Where are you going?”

 

“MYOB.”

 

“YA!”

 

But he just continued walking.

 

“Don’t stress yourself too much,” a voice said. I blinked and looked to the left. I saw Kevin, the houseboy smiling at me.

 

“I’m not stressing myself. I’m just irritated and annoyed and tired and very hungry but I still have to fill four baskets.”

 

“I can help you if you want,” he said.

 

“Really?” I eagerly asked.

 

“Yes.”

 

“What do you want in return?”

 

“Just don’t tell anyone, especially, err, Mrs. Kwon.”

 

I bit my lower lip, hesitating. “Okay,” I slowly said. “I won’t tell the pest, I mean, I won’t tell anything to Jiyong either.”

 

He smiled. “Thanks for the thought. But you can never really hide anything from him.”

 

I frowned. “Why is that?”

 

He shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s either he’s just too smart or too observant.”

 

It didn’t escape my notice at how he seemed to respect the pest, eventhough he’s trying to be nonchalant about it. “Have you worked for the first owners, too?” I asked.

 

“Oh no. I just came here recently. Actually, Jiyong brought me here,” he chuckled, making me frown again. He might have seen the confused look on my face because he elaborated. “I’m an orphan, you see. Totally homeless. I actually don’t know how I survived all those years. One rainy night, Jiyong saw me in the park, sleeping. He asked me why I’m sleeping on the ground, I said I don’t have a home. Then, he took me in. Just like that.”

 

 

Later. . .

 

I was grinning from ear to ear at the surprised look at the old woman’s face upon seeing the five baskets. The pest, on the other hand was shaking his head while the old man was smiling, looking satisfied.

 

“Good job, Sandara!” the old man said.

 

As soon as I was allowed to get inside the house, I immediately went for the bathroom and took a shower. I was already wrapped in a towel when I remembered I don’t have any clothes with me. I was about to call the pest when the door suddenly opened. The pest threw a set of plastic bags to the bed. “Cheap clothes,” he said, winking.

 

“I don’t wear cheap clothes!”

 

“Then, don’t wear anything,” he grinned.

 

“Why you erted pest! I won’t give you that much honor!”

 

“If you say so,” he shrugged and closed the door. I went to the bed and opened the bags. I was surprised when I saw that the clothes aren’t really what you call “cheap”. All of them were branded, and some were even my favorite brands. How the hell did he afford these? Oh, maybe Dad sent him money or something like that. The door opened again.

 

“Don’t you know how to knock?!” I snapped.

 

“And don’t you know how to lock the door?” he asked back. “I forgot these,” he said as he threw me two black plastic bags. I frowned as I saw a naughty gleam in his eyes with that trademark devil smile of his.

 

“Why are you smiling like that?!” I snapped again.

 

“Is it wrong to smile?” he asked. “Oh, I hope I got the right size, I was thinking about you when I bought that stuff in the black bags. And I hope you don’t mind if they’re in black and red. I find women in black and red very y,” he winked and closed the door again.

 

What the hell is he talking about? Jeez. He’s really weird. I shook my head and reached for the black bags and opened it. I felt myself reddened as I saw what’s inside them. No wonder he looked so smug! Gah! He’s really a ert! Again, the items were branded. But what surprised me more was that the cup size of the bra and the size were really my size, totally fits. How in the world did he know my size?!?

 

I was thinking about you when I bought that stuff. . . his voice echoed in my head. OH-MAI-GAH!

 

Waahh!