Lights Don't Go Out in the Annex - Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
“To be honest, I just dragged you into this mess to make it easier for myself, then the young master scolded me for that, that’s all.”
Mrs. Seo pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, checked the time, then her eyes widened.
“Oh, I’m late! Anyway, I’ll be back soon, so stay in the quarters.”
She pushed Leeseo’s shoulder, urging her towards the quarters, and then quickly turned around. She walked away with hurried steps, getting quite far before suddenly looking back and calling out to Leeseo again.
“By the way, Leeseo.”
“Yes?”
“Nothing happened between you and the eldest son, right? I heard you went up to wake him up when I wasn’t around.”
When Mrs. Seo, who had gone to get the garbage bags from the staff quarters, returned to the annex, Leeseo had already come down to the first floor and didn’t say anything.
Leeseo wondered who she heard it from. Was it Director Hwang In-cheol? Kwon Tae-gyeom? Did Mrs. Seo heard something from Kwon Tae-gyeom regarding that incident back then?
If that were the case, she thought that Kwon Tae-gyeom is a truly despicable man beyond comparison.
‘Of course, who wouldn’t be startled when a stranger enters your room where you’re sleeping and tries to touch you?’
There’s no way that Tae-gyeom didn’t realized that Hwang In-cheol had ordered her to do it. If he hadn’t suddenly caught her and pinned her to the bed, there wouldn’t have been any trouble in the first place.
“No, nothing happened. I just woke him up because he had to come to work and brought him a glass of water.”
“……Alright. Okay. Don’t worry about the annex from now on.”
Mrs. Seo gestured for her to go inside and turned around. As her figure got further away, Leeseo opened the side door.
Creak. There was a scratching sound. Thinking that she needed to oil up the door, Leeseo walked into the staff quarters. The door slammed shut behind her.
* * *
As Leeseo was crossing over to her room after dinner, she stopped in her tracks when she spotted Jin-gyeom standing under the moonlight. He was leaning against the glasshouse, a cigarette dangling between his lips.
Looking bored with his head down, he kicked a pebble with his foot. The pebble rolled forward and stopped just in front of her.
Should I go back to the quarters?
As she pondered, she met Jin-gyeom’s gaze as he raised his head. He smiled slyly, as if he had found the person he was waiting for.
“Are you just leaving now?”
“….”
“Go back early. It’s scary for a girl to be walking alone on a dark path.”
Jin-gyeom muttered the same old advice. Although the mansion was so vast that sometimes it was hard to perceive, this path was still within the confines of the mansion’s walls.
There was no chance of encountering any troublemakers within the mansion, given the strict security measures of the security company operating around the clock. Moreover, it felt ironic to receive such advice from someone who seemed to be the most troublesome individual himself.
Jin-gyeom didn’t seem to realize that he was, in fact, the last person she wanted to encounter here. If he did know, he might deliberately appear more persistently in front of her, but it’s hard to say for sure.
“I’m more afraid of you.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Nothing. Forget it.”
Leeseo shook her head and continued to walk past Jin-gyeom.
“What are you saying? Your voice is barely audible.”
Jin-gyeom mumbled and dropped his cigarette to the ground, stomping on it with his foot to put it out.
“I almost smoked a whole pack here while I was waiting for you. If I get lung cancer and die, it’s all your fault.”
The sand beneath his feet was noticeably dug up compared to other areas, and a few more crushed cigarette butts lay around him.
It was enough evidence of someone waiting for quite some time. Leeseo glanced at his shameless face.
“Why were you waiting for me?”
At Leeseo’s question, Jin-gyeom’s lips twisted into a mischievous smirk, making him look even more cocky.
“Why can’t I wait? It’s my own business.”
“There’s got to be a reason why you waited. Just spit it out. What is it?”
“Damn, getting straight to the point. You’ve got guts, huh?”
Jin-gyeom chuckled and bit his lip slightly before taking a step forward. Leeseo instinctively took a step back. One of Jin-gyeom’s eyebrows shot up.
“Am I going to eat you up? Come over here, won’t you?”
Jin-gyeom said threateningly, his eyes glaring. Even in the past, he never used polite language with Leeseo. But at least he used to address her as ‘noona’, an older sister, but now, he seemed to look down on her completely. He was really being disrespectful.
“But why do you keep addressing me informally? I’m much older than you. Don’t you remember?”
Did he forget because of his bad memory? Leeseo murmured quietly, curling her tongue.
“Are you annoyed?”
Jin-gyeom smirked and teased. Luckily, he didn’t hear Leeseo’s last remark.
“Do you want me to show you respect? Anyway, your self-esteem is disgustingly high for someone in your position.”
Jin-gyeom snickered. He had an expression as if he found it amusing to no end.
Suddenly, Leeseo wondered what she was still doing here. There was no reason for her to endure Jin-gyeom’s teasing, which lacked any substance and only made her feel worse the more she listened to him.
When she was young, she used to run away from her parents, who worked in the mansion. Not because she was scared, but because she wanted to avoid getting involved in anything dirty.
But now, her mom and dad aren’t here. So, there was no reason for her to endure Jin-gyeom’s behavior anymore.
“Do whatever you want. I don’t care what you say.”
Ignoring him is the best choice.
Leeseo turned away. Just as she was about to walk past him, without a trace of regret, his outstretched hand grabbed her arm, and something crashed to the ground. Looking down, she saw a workbook spread open, sprawled on the ground.
“Where do you think you’re going? I haven’t finished talking yet.”
“What’s this?”
“You said you go to a good university. Let me ask you something.”
Jin-gyeom picked up the workbook from the ground and brushed off some sand on its surface. The words ‘College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), Mathematics’ on the cover caught her eye. The tips of his ears reddened slightly in embarrassment.
“You have a private tutor.”
“Damn it, does the private tutor come to our house all the time?”
“You can write down what you don’t know and so you can ask later. Isn’t that why the tutor comes? Why are you asking me about this?”
Leeseo retorted with frustration. In response, Jin-gyeom, whose redness had spread from the tips of his ears to his cheeks, suddenly erupted with anger and yelled loudly.
“I can’t stand it when I get curious about something, you know? I can’t sleep or eat properly. All I can think about is that one thing all day long.”
Leeseo stared at Jin-gyeom in disbelief for a moment. She didn’t expect him to be so sincere about studying. It was a bit unexpected. However, she still found it difficult to understand why he brought the workbook and came all the way to her.
According to what the staffs were saying, the private tutor assigned to Lady Shin’s son was a famous CSAT instructor in Daechi-dong. It was said that they must have paid a considerable amount for the tutoring, so the tutor would probably be willing to answer phone inquiries at any time.
“If you find it frustrating, just call the tutor and ask. There must be explanations in the back of the workbook too.”
“I can’t understand even if the tutor explain it over the phone. Ugh, you talk too much. Can’t you just do it for me?”
Jin-gyeom sighed heavily in annoyance and scratched the back of his head nervously.
“You have quite a temper, don’t you?”
“…….”
“Would you do it if I paid you?”
Just then, a sound of someone stomping on the ground came from behind them. Both Leeseo and Jin-gyeom turned to look in the direction of the sound at the same time.
Their bodies stiffened. Jin-gyeom’s grip on Leeseo’s arm tightened even more, and she could feel the tension in his hand.
It was Kwon Tae-gyeom.
Kwon Tae-gyeom appeared from the direction of the garage, his drowsy eyes glistening under the moonlight. His eyes lacked any emotions, and his gaze was unenthusiastic. He stared at the two people who stood frozen like ice, as if they were just a background, and casually walked past them without any interest.
‘Well, the thing is… The other day, the young master called me in quietly and said that he didn’t want anyone else to come in and out of the annex except for the designated people.’
At that moment, somehow, Mrs. Seo’s words flashed through her mind. Since then, Leeseo hadn’t set foot in the annex. It’s been a week since she had seen Kwon Tae-gyeom.
Choosing someone to work in his house was entirely up to his preferences, and it was not something Leeseo had any control over. If she received a no-approach order from the ill-tempered young master, it wouldn’t be surprising and it was such a trivial matter that it wouldn’t affect her life in the mansion in the slightest.
She could just think of it as something to laugh off and move on from.
But then again.
Certainly, that’s how she should see it.
Yet, it felt annoying and unsettling, like a tiny, thin thorn lodged in the throat. Somewhere near the neck, at an indefinable point, there was an itching, prickling sensation. An odd and uncomfortable feeling that was hard to put into word. Trying to rid herself of the strange feeling, Leeseo swallowed dryly.
Slowly and steadily, the footsteps continued. The chirping sound of insects and the rustling of leaves in the wind ceased as if silenced all of a sudden.
Amidst the stillness, only the man walked languidly. The pale moonlight draped like a veil over his hair.
“I really hate that guy.”
Jin-gyeom muttered with a resentful look, watching the man’s receding figure with narrowed eyes.
Only then did Leeseo snapped out from the strange and surreal sensation. The sounds of the insects and rustling leaves returned. It felt as if she had been submerged in deep and suffocating waters, and then suddenly pulled out, as if she had just jumped out of a distorted space-time.