the handmaiden

i wasn't supposed to like her pt. 1

"Are you fond of her?" Another maid, Hayoon, asks Sookhee cheekily while stitching a hole in her sock and Sookhee wonders why she is even bothering to fix it since the sock already looks pretty damaged from previous stitching.

The question startles Sookhee and her hand slips when she slided one of her aprons across the washboard, making the soapy water splash on the wooden floor. Sookhee mumbles small curses and stands up to find a towel in their workroom. "What? No, of course not," she states way too hysterically. "Why?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

"Obvious that I'm not fond of her?"

"No, obvious that you are fond of her! Just now you even knew who I was talking about without speaking specifically."

Well, that's true, Sookhee scowls internally. She doesn't even know why she cares for Lady Hideko and why she doesn't want to admit it. Maybe it's just easier to deny the fact than to explain herself.

"I'm not fond of Sori if that's what you're assuming. She hid my shoe the day I arrived here, so it's clear that I dislike her because of what she did," Sookhee said, trying to sound as convincing as possible. She kneels down to dry the floor before the water gets all soaked into the wood and before getting in trouble with the housekeeper for ruining such high-grade wood.

Keeping her head down, Sookhee doesn't notice the disbelieving smile on Hayoon's lips, but she hears it clearly in her voice when she speaks up again, "Nice try, Sookhee. But we both know that I'm not talking about Sori. You've never lost a word about her."

Sookhee bites down on her lower lip, awesome, now she made it even easier for Hayoon to find out about the truth of her liking for Lady Hideko. Sori and Sookhee haven't talked to each other since the incident and she didn't want to, anyways. However, she was just the first person to pop up in her head to demonstrate dislike.

Hayoon and Sookhee aren't really close friends. They just happened to fulfill duties together before Sookhee had to pick up Lady Hideko from her reading sessions. They got to know each other like this and started talking, since both of them have always been alone, but Sookhee didn't come here to make friends, though. She only wants a part of Lady Hideko's inheritance and that's all. That's all there should be about being the heiress's maid. Making her fall in love with the 'count', putting her into the madhouse and then knocking it off to somewhere else with all the jewellery and money. Sookhee could go back to her aunt and help her with the babies again or she could go to Japan and live high off the hog. All these initial thoughts have still been stuck in her head but with a tiny hook that's called Hideko. She can't— doesn't want to deceive her. After all, she seems to be naive, but she's still innocent.

Moreover, Sookhee doesn't want her to be in a, even if it's feign, marriage with the count who is even more selfish than herself and absolutely not in one with her uncle. Relatives aren't supposed to have such a relationship to each other and she's pretty sure that Lady Hideko doesn't want to as well. It's noticeable from the tired and dull eyes that walk towards her after Lady Hideko's reading lessons.

That's perhaps the only good part in their plan, Lady Hideko can get away from marrying her uncle.

Before Sookhee could respond with another lie, the door opens up a crack and she quickly hides the towel behind her back, hoping it's not the housekeeper. As she does that, her frantic movements make her sit directly on the wet spot. Her expression changes slightly into uncomfort, but she collects herself.

When the door opens fully, it is unfortunately the housekeeper.

"Sookhee, where have you been? Aren't you supposed to be with Lady Hideko?" She questions bewildered.

The maid's eyes widen, "Yes! Of course! I won't let her wait any longer."

The housekeeper nods, "You mustn't leave her alone. I'm sure you know that she gets scared easily alone at night; she even called for you several times, but no answer."

Sookhee feels her heart sink in her chest, "I'm sorry. I'll make sure this won't happen again."

This being said, she quickly wrings out her apron and holds it in her hand, since it's too wet to put it on. Sookhee doesn't have time to put away the washboard, so she declares, "You'll clean it up for me, right, Hayoon?" and without waiting, she dashes out of the workroom.

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notes: there's gonna be a part 2, of course, but i can't finish writing the first story at the moment, so i wanted to publish the first part, so you know that i haven't given up this ff yet :D
also, hayoon and sori are not characters in the movie they're fictional; i just needed them for the story~
i hope you like it 💖