Body & Soul 🇰🇷 Part 1

Chapter 69: Park Hyo-Sonn

He was everything I had dreamed of my whole life the minute I laid my eyes on him; the kind noble who held servants in esteem as well as his equals and was kind to them, rewarded them and kept them safe. He had perfect thick hair and smooth skin and a tall figure to match it although he lacked muscles. That was fine though; his kindness made up for his lack of psychical qualities.

I remembered the first time we met; I was with Seo Yeon as usual, running errands in the market when he first approached us looking lost. He asked me if I knew a girl by the name of Da-In; he used her name so informally I assumed she was a family member of his. I shook my head although Yeon kept strongly silent. I was taken by him at first sight so I tired to engage in conversation more before we took him on a tour of the village. He was a nobleman and I was a maid but he approached me as if I was his equal. I had fallen on some pretty hard times with my family so I was forced to work at a very young age to support my alcoholic parents and my 2 younger brothers who until this day refused to work and used the bare minimum money I made on their gambling addictions. It was only thanks to Yeon that I was able to keep a roof over my head and I started keeping my money to myself instead of sending it all to those 2 leeches.

He approached me a few times whenever we met in the market; he even spoiled me a few times by buying me nice things I could never afford on my own. He told me it was a sign of our friendship...but I wanted to believe otherwise. No man had ever paid attention to me before, not in any way shape or form. Yeon wasn't always with us, which I was honestly relieved about. She was a good friend to me indeed but she was so beautiful she usually always stole everyones attention usually by doing nothing at all.

It was only when we both noticed that there was a man in uniform older than all of us who started watching her, that was when she changed. She was no longer shy and quiet, she began to openly converse with people whenever she could and her tricks got a lot more bolder. She got into a lot more fights, openly defied our employees instead of blindly taking on humiliating orders like we all used to and she stopped hiding at home and started going out a lot more, even staying out until late. Her brother visited her when he could but I doubted he would be happy with her behaviour. I tried to talk with her to find out what was going on...but before we could strange things started to happen to her. It was as if she suddenly had the best luck in the world! Her employees started treating her better, the people who she had problems with now started to finally stay away from her, they even looked...frightened of her? She had a completely flexible schedule...and that man was still following her although she pretended not to notice at all...and that's when Hyun-Ki noticed Yeon for the first time...and all my dreams and plans with him disappeared.

Yeon hardly spoke to him at first so he didn't really notice her; but when she started acting out in front of us...I will never forget his reaction when she came up in front of him. It was like he was under a spell; her every move amused him, her intelligence that far surpassed his own shocked him and her looks captivated him. He quickly forgot our friendship...my only genuine friendship with the opposite sex and started paying attention to Yeon. Every time we saw each other he tried to talk to her but she didn't really converse with him; she kept her eyes on the man who followed every step she took. Every time he saw me in the market when I was on my own he would ask about her. He even went so far as to hire her to give tuitions to his younger siblings. She was fully aware of my feelings for him so she refused the job, unties he employed me as well so he had no choice. But I started to feel...invisible again. It was clear that I was not needed in this job although Yeon tried to delegate me as many tasks as possible. I soon began 'receiving gifts' from him but I wasn't as stupid as Yeon was starting to make me out to be; I knew she was leaving me presents that she was receiving from him. God only knows what she kept for herself as I also witnessed exactly how much her brother adored her and tried to spoil her as well...in a way that my brother's would never be with me. The Seo's were practically inseparable...in every way that my family were not. They were...close and intimate in a way that I had never experienced, not even with my own mother! Yeon didn't see anything wrong with hanging off her brother or embracing in him in public. Even when they were approached by separate people they would even hold hands and not let go of each other.

I couldn't take it anymore; it was hard to believe that she suffered epilepsy for years and used to dress in the rags that I was still wearing. It was hard too believe herself and her brother suffered in poverty for as long as they did. They both had a strong will to survive and they both had a strong work ethic. He had wealth and fame to his name in a short amount of time...oh how I wished my family had 1 fraction of their diligence instead of relying on me all the time and not even being grateful to me even once. And yet here was Yeon who would refuse her brother's attempts to spoil her but she was so thankful for everything he did when they were together. In the end I distanced myself from her and her...hypocrisy, her selfishness, her bratty behaviour...and her luck in life.