Forbidden Desire

My aunt and I looked at each other confused, and we were surprised by Jason’s voice invading the room.

“Good morning, Jin, is everyone here already?”

“Good morning, Mr. Park! Yes, everyone is already waiting for your orders.”

“Great, come with the other employees to my office.”

He said seriously, and Jin nodded. We were about to start following him when he turned to face us.

“You two, not you! Please, I want you to go out and buy the things missing from the pantry. I’d also like you to try to find my strawberry jam.”

“But, Mr. Park, if it’s not available in the market, then I’ll only find it in Incheon.”

“Well, then go there.”

He said simply, and my aunt seemed surprised.

“That’s going to take half the day.”

He ended up giving a slight smile and shrugged.

“No problem, I’ll send a company driver to take you both.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I also want you, ma’am, to call two cleaning ladies to clean my room because there are some broken things there.”

“Jane can clean!”

“No! Jane will go with you to do the shopping. I also want you to choose one of the cleaning ladies to become permanent.”

He walked away, and my aunt looked at me suspiciously.

“He’s trying to get us out of the house, but why? And why does he want another permanent maid?”

My heart almost stopped at the thought that he might be starting to take away my responsibilities and wanting to hire another girl to be able to fire me. My God! That was it, he was going to fire me! And now how am I going to find a job quickly to be able to continue in college? My whole body shudders, and I try my best to disguise how terrified I was from my aunt. Some time later, my aunt had already called the cleaning ladies, and they were already cleaning Jason’s room. The company driver arrived, and we went shopping, which really lasted almost the whole day.

We had to stop on the street to have lunch and then went back to shopping, finishing when the day was already getting dark. I almost arrived late for college, I saw some strange movement in the house with people walking back and forth, but I didn’t have time to go see what was happening. I only had time to take a shower and, because I didn’t have time to look for clothes, I ended up grabbing a black dress that was a little tight. It went down to my calf and had thin straps. I put on a denim jacket over it, wore white sneakers, and rushed out seeing that Eunji was already waiting for me.

“You look beautiful!”

“Thank you! It was the first outfit I found!”

“I think it’s the first time I’ve seen you in a dress.”

He admired me from head to toe, looking impressed while biting his lips, and I blushed, feeling embarrassed.

“Stop it! We’re going to be late!”

“Oh, sorry! I even forgot about college…”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Now it was his turn to blush, and his eyes lit up when he smiled at me. I cut off our eye contact when I grabbed the helmet and lifted my dress a bit to get on the bike. We left there going to college, and we barely weren’t late. The class was amazing, and everyone only talked about the exhibition. The ten chosen students had become closer, and I noticed that one of the selected girls was trying hard to get close to Eunji, but he didn’t seem to notice. She was beautiful, had a lovely smile, long and straight brown hair, she seemed to fit all the Korean standards, and she dressed very well. She took advantage of a minute when Eunji left the room to buy water and approached me smiling. I smiled back, and she sat next to me.

“Hi, Jane, right?”

“Hi! Yes, and you’re Hayan, right?”

“That’s right! You’re new here, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I arrived in Korea at the beginning of the month.”

“Oh, I could tell you weren’t from here.”

“Yeah, I’m from Brazil.”

“Oh, that’s cool! Wow, you’ve been here for a short time and already seem so close to Eunji.”

She said, and I felt a twinge of jealousy in her tone.

“Yeah, I work at the same place as his brother, so when he found out we attended the same college, he introduced us, and we became good friends.”

“What a lovely story. It almost seems like destiny!”

This time her tone was mocking, and my smile faded.

“Do you and he have something?”

She said disdainfully, and I looked at her seriously.

“No! Why?”

She seemed satisfied with my answer and turned to observe me with disdain again.

“Because I really like Eunji, and I want him to be my boyfriend.”

She spoke as if it were already a certainty, and I shrugged as I returned to focus on my drawing.

“I hope you’re not an obstacle because no one gets in my way. So stay away from him!”

Her tone of voice was firm, and I ended up laughing at her audacity. Eunji returned to the room, and she smiled at him before returning to her seat.

“What did she want?”

He asked me as he took a sip from the water bottle in front of him.

“To date you!”

I said absentmindedly, and he almost choked, spitting out some of the water, making me laugh at his reaction.

“WHAT?”

He shouted, and everyone looked at him, and he blushed, lowering his head. When everyone returned to their tasks, he asked me quietly.

“What?”

“She came to tell me that she wants to date you and for me to stay away from her prince charming.”

I said in a mocking tone as I smiled, and he was speechless.

“And you’re not going to do that, right?”

I pouted, pretending to be upset, and I could see the concern on his face, but soon I ended up smiling.

“Of course not! Crazy girl.”

I grumbled, and he smiled, taking one of my hands. We stayed like that for some time until the class ended, and we packed up our stuff, leaving the room slowly. The sky was beautiful, and I found myself admiring it as we headed towards the bike.

“Yesterday, due to the rush, we didn’t even go out to celebrate that our paintings were selected. How about going to a restaurant?”

“I loved the idea!”

“You seemed a bit distant today. Did something happen? I saw you were on your phone a lot, and you’re not usually like that.”

He seemed worried, and I decided to tell him part of the truth.

“Yeah, I was looking for a job.”

“What? Why?”

“Nothing, I just don’t want to work at that house anymore. Not even live there, to be honest.”

He smiled at me and seemed to brighten up.

“Maybe I can help you with that.”

“How?”

“Let’s go to the restaurant, I’ll tell you there. But I’m happy to know that you want to leave there.”

We stopped by the bike while I returned his smile. He approached me with the helmet in his hand as he looked at me, then he moved closer to my lips, and before I could move away, I heard a voice echoing through the area.

“Jane!”

I looked startled as I saw Jason coming out of the car with a stern expression, making my whole body tremble as he slammed the car door shut with force.

“Jason. I mean, Mr. Park? What are you doing here?” I asked nervously.

“I came to pick you up!” He replied, glaring at Eunji. I could see that his look was one of anger, and the one Eunji returned didn’t seem friendly either, so I just asked.

“Did something happen?”

“No! Do I need reasons to come pick you up from college?” He replied, his penetrating gaze completely dominating me.

“No,” I responded weakly.

He approached me, taking my hand and pulling me closer.

“Then let’s go! Thank you, Eunji, but Jane will come with me.”

Eunji looked at me searching for answers, but I didn’t even understand what was happening there, so I just lowered my head.

“No problem then, tomorrow we’ll go out to celebrate, Jane.”

I nodded, and Jason looked at me, seeking answers.

“Celebrate what?”

“She didn’t tell you? Well, you’re not close anyway, why would she tell you? See you tomorrow!”

Eunji gave a mocking smile as he put on his helmet, got on the bike, and left, leaving Jason confused and irritated. He applied some pressure to my hand, squeezing it lightly, and guided me to the car, opening the passenger door. When I got in, he closed it forcefully, then got into the car and drove off, increasingly faster until he started taking a route that I didn’t know. Suddenly, he stopped the car abruptly, parking on a deserted street. He unbuckled his seatbelt and took a deep breath as if trying to control some anger he was feeling. He gripped the steering wheel, resting his head against it, seeming to be in an internal struggle until he lifted his head, sighed, and looked at me, appearing calmer.

“We need to talk.”