The Handmaiden - Jensoo

Chapter 4

Hunched over the side table in the main room of the house, the Count wrote out a letter in Japanese with a quill and ink. Setting down the quill against the pot of ink carefully, he leaned back in his chair comfortably and raised his legs onto the table, bringing the letter into his lap to read it.

"Here's the letter. Pay attention." He cleared his throat, reading out the letter in a mocking formal voice. "'Dear Miss Jennie Kim, Count Nakamoto has informed me of your urgent need for a maid. A maid is like a pair of chopsticks: her presence is little noted, but her absence causes much distress.'"

Half listening to the Count speak, Jisoo was wrapping Kutan into a silk kimono, blue with yellow and white flowers, while winding a salmon-coloured sash around her midsection. Jisoo's mother sat unbothered in the the other section of the room, smoking through a cigarette holder. Her legs were crossed on the seat, a pillow providing elevation for her knee while looking down in thought. 

***

It was late, the sky was pitch black and crickets could be heard in the distance as the town fell asleep. Jisoo was tying her mother's hair up in her room, as she laid on the bed facing a mirror. Jisoo felt like this was a chance to have some bonding time with her adoptive mother, taking advantage of their alone time.

"Did my mum cry before they hanged her?" Jisoo asked, her voice barely a whisper as the words escaped her lips before she could think any further.

"Women, who stole once and got hanged, cried. They cried a lot." The woman answered, her neck bent down as Jisoo styled her hair carefully. "Your mother stole a thousand times, was caught just once and died once. Did she cry?" She looked at herself in the mirror, chuckling throatily, looking at the girl in the reflection, "She laughed. She said she was lucky to have you before dying and that she had no regrets. You will surely become a brave thief." 

Jisoo threw her had back and laughed like a maniac. 

***

"It should've been me!" She cried. Jisoo only listed her lips into a small smile as her eyes showed sympathy. "I should be the one going to that Jap's house."

 Reaching forward, Jisoo stroked her sister's hair in a silent farewell.

***

The coin hit the Count square in the chest with an audible thump. He looked back at Jisoo startled, but his face softened into a smug look as he saw her face turned, avoiding his gaze stubbornly. Air was pushed out of his nose in a forced laugh, walking over to Jisoo he chuckled under his breath. 

"Everyone's talking about you in Eunpo," he mentioned, placing his hands on Jisoo's small shoulders from behind, "how you'll be an even greater thief than your mother." He pressed his thumbs into her shoulder blades in a massage, but Jisoo shoved him off, walking away. 

The handmaiden could barely contain the grin that shone on her face. "Who believes the words of a swindler?" She forced open the doors that separated the room from another section.

"When I give the signal, 'fully ripe', arrange for her and me to be alone." He disclosed to Jisoo's back, "Then I'll gobble her up to the pit."