The Love They Never Had: The Nam Mansion

Chapter 4: Gughwa (Chrysanthemum)

"Help me! Someone please help me! Help me...!" That was all that I could hear in my head as I tried to wake up from this nightmare that kept pulling me deep in the water that I could not recognise. I couldn't even remember the voice of what sounded like a child calling out to me. And it all happened when someone was clearly trying to kill me a stone's throw away from the young master's quarters. And I had a very clear idea about who it was; for someone who paraded herself to be 'a family member' of the Nam clan, she really didn't know how to be discreet even if the instructions were written on paper and glued outside her door. I really could not for the life of me figure out what fed her grand delusions of being a bride of the Nam family. She was about the same age as me, but she was plumper, more naive than myself and she had a rather unfortunate crooked face and body odour. She looked like she had been beaten up quite a few times and she acted as if we were all blind to her various bruises and scratches on her that her thin attire could not hide, no matter how pretty it was. But that was something was going to have to figure out soon if I was gong to survive in this hellhole of a place.

And in truth, I had already regained consciousness soon after the Young Master pulled me into his arms. Apparently, he had known me for a decade before I lost my memories, but I had no idea why I was so painfully shy around him. I couldn't open my mouth, I couldn't utter a single word and I could barely come up with a single thought in his presence, so I pretended to still be exhausted from what I had just been through. And I could only wait until everyone had left me alone to wake up and start forming a plan to get back at everyone who clearly held some grudge against me in my previous life. But it just didn't make any sense; from what the young master had told me, the servants had lived better lives than I had, so what was their problem? Why did everyone hate me so much? Did I do something to them that I couldn't remember? Was I bad person? Did I used to be? Did I harm anyone in my previous life?
Before I had realised it, I had spent almost an entire day in bed with my unanswered thoughts running around my mind. I needed to get some fresh air and take a walk, especially when the young master should be in his study right about now so I wouldn't have a chance to embarrass myself in front of him. But as soon as I opened my doors, I was immediately overwhelmed with the sheer amount of chrysanthemum's at my door. There were at least a dozen or so with all different colours, scents and they were all in these really pretty stained-coloured vases that I had never seen before. I was so blinded by all of these flowers that I hadn't even noticed the maids had all assembled themselves around my quarters and whispering their little heads off.

"I cannot believe that she was rewarded with one of the four gracious plants just for being in an accident!"..."aren't the white ones called 'spring snow' and the yellow ones called 'dragon cloud?' "Do these flowers represent the young master and the young mistress? He was so angry when he saved her from the water, she actually got Chun-Ae demoted to the kitchens and here she is, being sent flowers..." I could feel myself blushing deeply before I had the chance to defend myself, only to have the young master himself sneak up behind me and almost gave me a heart attack when I turned around and nearly ran straight into him. "Are you well, Yeonna?" I was honestly too taken aback by his handsome face to even register the fact that he was talking to me for the first time since we were 'reintroduced' to each other. His lips were full and the colour of a pink rose in it's prime, his cheekbones were extremely high and chiselled, his thick eyebrows were the only feature that he had inherited from his father and his long hair that I longed to touch...good god, I was really convinced that he had the face of an angel.

"Yeonna?" He had to take me by the wrist to wake me up from the trance that he put me in, and it was only when he actually had the nerve to caress my arm just like I thought he did when he brought me to my quarters to wake me up. But what really took me aback was the fact that she was very clearly smirking in my face as if he knew the shameful thoughts that were running around in my mind. And even when I tried to take back my arm, he actually held it again and he pulled me into him a lot closer than he should have out of nowhere. "I asked you how you were. Have you fully recovered now?" "I...I..." what was this man's problem? Was he teasing me? On purpose? It was like he was fully aware of the effect that he had on me and instead of being outright offended or courteous enough to keep his distance from me...he was actually encouraging me? For what? His own pleasure?