章 20: Call a Truce (Pt.1)
Gyuri was in a daze while she swept the courtyard with a broom made from coconut palm fronds. It had been a couple of days since she had served the Kims their tea for the first time and she was already certain that it would also be her last.
After the disaster of a meal, Madam Zhou had given her a look that Gyuri was familiar with: it was the look of disappointment. Madam Zhou had not bestowed a punishment on her yet which made Gyuri nervous. Would she have to carry buckets of water again? Or will she give her harder tasks from now onwards? Gyuri chewed on her lip apprehensively. The notion of her pending punishment had led her to have sleepless nights, making her grouchy and paranoid.
Gyuri started sweeping the courtyard more energetically as she suddenly imagined Taehyung's smug face grinning up at her from the gravel below. Her mood soured at the thought of him triumphantly laughing behind her back.
"That stupid git" she muttered through gritted teeth. "It's all his fault. I swear down I'm gonna-"
Gyuri abruptly stopped midway her sentence when she suddenly felt a sharp pain at the back of her head again. She whipped around hurriedly and searched her surroundings in every direction. When she looked above her, she saw that there were no birds.
Where could the pebble have come from this time?
"What has the world come to?" she asked herself. "First my rotten luck with that brat and now, it might even start raining stones. Great. Just great." Gyuri shook her head dismissively and decided to ignore it. She was too preoccupied with her current problem to investigate further.
But as the saying goes, once is an accident, twice is a coincidence but three times is a pattern. And with that in mind, Gyuri soon realised that when a pebble hit her at the back of the head for the third time, it was not nature that was conspiring against her but some unknown fiend.
Gyuri set her mouth in a hard line as she feigned ignorance of the perpetrator's intention to annoy her. Theatrically, she looked around in an attempt to lure the culprit to try and hit her with a pebble again. From what she knew already, the crook was obviously stationed somewhere behind her for the stones to hit her at the back of the head successively.
Gyuri peered behind her and took note of all the possible hiding places the miscreant could be hiding in. Behind her was a bare flowering tree that had budding flowers on its branches. Nearby were also coniferous shrubs that were large enough to conceal an adult. She deducted that the arsehole must be behind one of the two possibilities.
While Gyuri pretended to sweep the courtyard, she noticed, from the corner of her eye, movement from one of the nearby brambles. Swiftly, she avoided a flying pebble directed at her and swerved to confront the rascal behind the thicket. She stomped up to the bushes and seeing that Gyuri was fast approaching, the culprit panicked, causing the foliage to shake as it tried to make its getaway.
"Get outta there and show yourself!" she exclaimed hotly. "I know you're in there so there's no use in hiding anymore."
Gyuri waited patiently for the perpetrator to reveal itself and soon enough he did.
"Hey, ugly Gyuri."
Gyuri's eyebrows snapped together as she glowered at Taehyung. "I should have known" she sneered. "Of course, it had to be you."
Taehyung grinned at her artfully. "You are as sharp-tongued as usual" he playfully remarked.
With little patience, Gyuri retorted, "What do you want, tosser?"
"Tosser?" Taehyung repeated. He was baffled by her choice of language.
Gyuri sniggered to herself as she realised that Taehyung was unfamiliar with contemporary British insults. Oh, this opens up so many future avenues! she thought inwardly.
"I mean, Young Master" she corrected.
Taehyung eyed her dubiously. But then, his lips formed into a roguish smile as he grinned. "How have you been since tea a few days last?"
Gyuri narrowed her eyes. Dick, she thought. "I've been better" she muttered in reply. It was evident to her that Taehyung was pushing her buttons on purpose. Keen not to give him the satisfaction he hoped for, she forcibly smiled, her voice thick with sarcasm. "Madam Zhou has given me a lot of work thanks to a certain somebody."
Taehyung maintained his impish smile. "I am glad to hear that the incident during tea has not greatly impacted your work ethic." He grinned at her smugly and Gyuri noticed that he had a slingshot in one hand. "But I dare say, your conduct during tea offered quite the entertainment for everyone. Cousin Namjoon especially."
Gyuri's face reddened. She shot daggers at him before taking a step forward, startling Taehyung.
"What do you want from me?" she questioned him icily. "We obviously don't get along so why not just keep out of each other's way?"
Taehyung arched his brow. "And why should I do that?"
"Because then we won't be at each other's throats anymore" Gyuri reasoned.
Taehyung let out a hmph as he chuckled.
"What?"
"I do not think you are aware but you are residing in Kim land. As long as you and I live in the same household, it is inevitable that we will always cross paths." He smirked, "And that means our little feud will continue until one of us leaves."
Gyuri let out an irritated sigh. The thought of having to go through such childish antics for however long she was going to be in Saim depressed her. "You're being ridiculous, Young Master," she said finally. "Why carry on this dispute when we can just stop it here? I don't want to keep having a showdown with you every time we meet."
"What are you trying to suggest?" Taehyung asked suspiciously. "Are you... calling for a truce?"
Gyuri considered this. "Yes."
Taehyung was in disbelief.
"As much as I dislike you, I don't really want to keep getting punished by Madam Zhou for retaliating for the stuff you do to me-"
"Correction" Taehyung abruptly interrupted. "You receive punishment because of the idiotic things you do to yourself. I am not to blame at all."
Gyuri bit the insides of her cheeks to stop herself from retorting.
"But you wanted to call a truce, correct?"
Gyuri hesitantly nodded.
"Fine. Let us call a truce."
A small smile started forming on Gyuri's lips. This brat may not be so bad after all...
"But," Taehyung added, "before we call this truce, there's one thing I need you to do for me."
Ugh. I spoke too soon. "You can't call in favours! That's not how truces work!"
"Then, we do not have a deal."
Gyuri eyed Taehyung crossly. The audacity of this kid! "Fine" she grumbled. "What is it?"
Taehyung had a wily grin. "I am going to need you to strip."
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