I Would Travel A Thousand Years For You

Chapter 4

"Hello, my name is Seohyun. Are you the new handmaiden?" Seohyun asked politely.

Taeyeon flashed a nervous smile and replied "Yes I am. My name is Kim Taeyeon and I'm 25 years old. Nice to meet you."

Seohyun smiled warmly and led Taeyeon through the humongous mansion. "Before you meet Lady Jung, I should give you a heads up. She's very temperamental, and can be a bit cold. Please do not feel threatened by her cold glare, she means no harm." Seohyun adviced, and though Taeyeon already knew all this, she nodded gratefully.

Seohyun opened the door to a room and poked her head inside. "Sica Unnie, the new handmaiden is here." She announced, and Taeyeon heard a deliberate loud yawn from inside.

"Sica Unnie? Seohyun is the other handmaiden?" Taeyeon thought to herself as she entered the large room.

On seeing Taeyeon, Jessica sprang up from her bed. "You, what are you doing here? Are you here to ruin my life and Yuri's? If so, I won't let you." Jessica hissed, and Seohyun cleared her throat uncomfortably.

Taeyeon squirmed, after all these years, she still succumbed to the intensity of Jessica's glare. "Unnie, calm down. Taeyeon Unnie is the new handmaiden your father employed." Seohyun cooed, trying to calm Jessica down.

"Honest! I'm just here to do my job, that's it. I would never even think of ruining you or the Princess. I swear! I already promised the Princess and I'll promise you too!" Taeyeon defended herself.

Jessica glared at her for a while as Taeyeon evenly met her gaze before Jessica huffed and stomped away to her bed.

"You know about her too?" Seohyun whispered to Taeyeon, trying to avoid being heard by Jessica.

"Yeah, I accidentally saw her kissing the Princess. And let's just say that our first encounter at the market resulted in me almost being slapped by her guard." Taeyeon whispered back, watching as Seohyun tried to stifle her giggles.

"Yah! No gossiping and giggling! Seohyun ah, I'm hungry, could you get me some food please?" Jessica called sharply, and Seohyun scrambled away.

"And you! I don't know why you came here but since you're my maid, draw me a bath. And remember to only put three candles, I don't like their smell very much. When you're done, you can dust and tidy the room." Jessica ordered haughtily.

Taeyeon hastened to comply and quickly set about doing her tasks. After cooling the way to exactly 30 degrees, the way she knew Jessica liked, she tidied her room and arranged everything properly. Taeyeon knew Jessica well enough to remember that she needed to put everything where Jessica could see them, otherwise she might forget something. Jessica refused to admit that she was impressed, instead ignoring Taeyeon.

"Yah! How did you know what temperature I like the water at? I never mentioned it!" Jessica asked, suspicious.

"Uhhh, Seohyun told me just now when she was briefing me." Taeyeon fibbed, obviously uncomfortable.

Jessica said no more and closed her curtain before undressing. Taeyeon had no need to look away, she had seen Jessic enough times before. Seohyun soon came back with a tray of food, and looked around the room, impressed.

"How did you know that she likes her room this way?" Seohyun whispered.

"Lucky guess. She seemed like a forgetful kind of person. At my old gibang, one of the giseangs, my friend Yoona, was exactly the same. She used to sneak me in to her room just to help her clean it up so she didn't get in trouble." Taeyeon laughed as she remembered Yoona's crazy antics the week before.

"I knew Yoona Unnie was that kind of person! She never admitted it, but Sica Unnie has seen her room and told me about it! I never knew that it was you who cleaned it though!" Seohyun laughed.

"Seohyun ah, are you talking about Yoona? That girl, she's such a klutz, always losing her things. She's so lucky she had her mystery friend to help her clean her room." Jessica called from her bath.

"Yeah, and now you get that person to clean your room for you!" Seohyun called back.

Jessica stepped out of her bath and laughed. "Was it you Seohyun? Did you do it without telling me? I always knew you and Yoona had something you were keeping from me." She teased.

"Nope, it's actually Taeyeon Unnie! Yoona Unnie used to sneak Taeyeo  Unnie into her room to clean for her!" Seohyun answered, her eyes twinkling.

"Really? I had no idea! Well it seems like you did a good job for your first day!" Jessica exclaimed, forgetting her hostility towards Taeyeon.

Taeyeon smiled happily, so happy to once again see Jessica's happy smile and hear her laugh.

"You two are free now, do you want to play? Or do you want to go look around?" Jessica asked.

"I think we'll stay. I'll show Taeyeon Unnie the estate tomorrow, is that okay?" Seohyun asked Taeyeon.

It took Taeyeona  moment to register that Seohyun was talking to her. "Huh? Oh yeah sure!" She answered.

Seohyun laughed as she took a seat on the floor while gesturing for Taeyeon to follow. Jessica dried her hair before sitting down, and looked at Taeyeon.

"Let me teach you how to play our game that we made up. First of all......"