A Girl From High Society

Chapter 10

 

And so she climbs back up to the porch of the house that was so unfriendly to her six months ago, and then finds herself in a spacious hall hung with portraits of Edward Park's ancestors. Here everything looks the same as it was in spring: expensive furniture, polished parquet, stucco, the smell of leather and floor polish, John the butler is a stone statue with a face expressing friendly indifference, dressed in a strict suit, which grandfather and father Jisoo never wore, Emma looms over his shoulder — the only dark spot Among the winter-pale faces, and right in front of Jisoo, Mr. Park is frozen in his fake smile, and while he and Edward are hugging, Jisoo finds herself glancing somewhere deep into the rooms in search of Rosé.

Nonsense, Rosé didn't come out to meet them that time either, although Edward returned after a long absence, and even more so now he won't come, so there was no need to hope. Jisoo resolutely shook off the veil of disappointment.

-Miss Kim?

Jisoo realized that she was being addressed, and, distracted from thoughts about Rosé, saw Mr. Park's outstretched hand.

-Just Jisoo.- She caught herself on deja vu, because then, in May, this conversation had already taken place, and also Mr. Park called her by her last name, and she also answered him "just Jisoo", and this only emphasized that either Mr. Park had already forgotten her, or he was so unwilling to cross the line separating one of the son's casual lovers from something bigger, who openly emphasized this by calling Jisoo "Miss Kim". They say "don't forget who you are in this house, darling."

Mr. Park stretched his lips into a polite smile, and Jichu felt the cold pressure of his hand. John and Emma silently tilted their heads when her gaze fell over Mr. Park's shoulder and stumbled upon their unfriendly faces.

Unsuspecting Edward, smiling, put his arm around Jisoo's shoulders, and she caught Emma's momentary glance at the groom's face glowing with happiness. There was a feeling that he was ready to announce the engagement right here and now, without waiting for dinner, and this was frightening, because Jichu was not ready to accept the consequences yet, but Mr. Park had already turned away, saying:

-John will take your things.

Again there was John's straight back leading her to the guest room, again the stone-hard "Please, Miss," and Jisoo caught herself thinking that she wanted to show this butler her tongue in a very childish way and ask: "Well, did I happen to be a random guest in this house?" But, of course, she did nothing of the kind, but only thanked John dryly and, closing the door, found herself in the already familiar space of the guest room, remembering those memorable weekends when, entering here, she looked at the hotel room with amazement. For six months nothing has changed here — only the bedspreads have become orange instead of gray, and fresh peonies in a vase have been replaced by a composition of dry Helichrysum. Jisoo put her suitcase by the bed, took off her jacket and went to the window, looking at the peaceful winter landscape.

The luxurious Park Garden, which took third place at the Skillful Brown Festival in 2021, was magically transformed: now the majestic hedges of three meters high were withered and disheveled, which made the maze look not so geometrically correct, and the cleaned paths pierced it through with a bizarre pattern of intersecting black lines. The gazebo was covered with plastic, warm covers were put on the thuja, and in the middle of the lawn, which was located just under the Jisoo window, there was now a large Christmas tree. Probably, in the evening, lanterns will be lit on it, Kim thought and looked at the roof of Rose's house. Everything looked so quiet and calm, as if there were no people anywhere, and the light snow fell slowly and immediately melted on the ground, and I wanted to go outside, walk for a long time through the damp fields in rubber boots, and then cover myself with a blanket and sit in front of the fireplace with a glass of mulled wine in the hand. She pulled the window frame and, letting in some fresh air, leaned out of the window, inhaling the smell of winter and smoke with pleasure: probably a fireplace was being heated somewhere in the house.