The Handmaiden - Jensoo

Chapter 8

Hearing a commotion from the heiress's room, Jisoo's curiosity got the better of her and so she decided to be brave and open Jennie's bedroom door. Noticing the heiress's absence, Jisoo, still whimpering slightly, walked further into the room on light steps to see the top cupboard door open. Confused, she looked around the room and saw how Jennie's favourite doll was tucked under the duvet on the bed. 

Tightening the noose around her neck, Jennie lay on her stomach upon the thick branch of the cherry blossom tree, the rest of the rope coiled and tied securely around the wood. "I wish I'd never been born," she thought again, before swinging herself by her arms while her legs dangled as she hesitated to let go. Squeezing her eyes shut, she let herself drop, pulling her grip from the branch above her and waited. 

She waited for the pain, the noose tight around her neck and the struggle for breath, but it never came. Opening her eyes, she looked down and rolled her eyes in frustration. "Let go," she ordered, lifting her gaze away from the woman beneath her. 

Jisoo was the one to catch her, one arm wrapped around her legs in a tight grip and the other supporting the bottom of her feet as she cried hysterically. "Miss, I'm sorry!" The handmaiden whimpered out, looking up to the woman.

"Let go!" 

"I'm sorry, Miss!" Jisoo cried, "Don't die. I'm sorry." Her breathing was uneven and ragged as she cried harder. 

"What are you sorry about?" Jennie asked calmly.

Jisoo struggled under the weight of Jennie, but remained holding her. "I tried to trick you into marrying that bastard." She admitted through a strained voice, "I was going to put you in a madhouse and run off." Heavy tears poured down her cheeks. "Don't die. Don't get married, Miss!" 

Jennie looked down at the bawling woman. "Kim Jisoo, are you worried about me?" Jisoo nodded desperately, her face scrunched from crying. "I'm worried about you." 

Jisoo continued to whimper until she realised, her face dropping in shock. "How do you know my full name?" 

"You think you're tricking me?" Jennie stared down at her softly, "You're the one being tricked. You're the one bound for the madhouse." Jisoo stumbled back after Jennie just dropped the bombshell on her. "I was going to lock you up in there under my name, then I'd become you and run far away with him." The heiress admitted into the innocent brown eyes below her, "I won't say sorry, since you tried to trick me too." She smiled softly at her, more with her eyes than her lips, but Jisoo still remained in complete shock. 

"That fucking son of a bitch!" Jisoo shouted angrily, accidentally dropping Jennie in the process as the older woman gripped at the tight rope around her neck, legs flailing as she struggled to breathe. Jisoo left her dangling as she raged below her for a few seconds but soon realised and supported her again. "Oh! Sorry, Miss." 

Back in the heiress's room, Jisoo sat at the table as she wrote a letter in deep concentration. Jennie, now wrapped in a pink silk robe, gently placed herself next to Jisoo in one of the chairs and smiled lovingly at the younger girl writing one of her first letters. She put a gold-plated bracelet on top of the letter as Jisoo continued writing, watching her as she subconsciously picked it up and bit down on it.

'I hope this letter find you well. This is Jisoo. I'm writing to inform you of a change of plans. I decided to team up with the Lady Jennie. As such, I'm now in need of all your help. I'm enclosing an item as advance payment.'