My Songbird's Dream

20. A Distant Melancholy

December 1944
Occupied Seoul

Madame Nam swept down the elegant hallway after checking on her mother, with trailing silken sleeves whispering behind her. Rounding a corner toward the main kitchens, she drew up sharply at the cruel commentary suddenly overheard from a cluster of household maids.

"As if that foreign witch deserves such special treatment for a mere dalliance..."

"They'll tire of playing house soon enough once her exotic looks fade..."

Madame Nam's sharp gaze immediately zeroed in on formerly-homeless Meiko's profile among the spiteful gossips. Temper flashed hot. Before another word emerged, she stepped forward and deliberately dashed the contents of a nearby glass across the petty faces.

Ignoring the outraged shrieks, Madame Nam pinned them all beneath a blistering glare. "Out of everyone gathered here trading such petty speculation, you disappoint me the most, Meiko!" Her resonant voice allowed no rebuttal.

"You think becoming a pet to the lady of the house makes you better somehow?" Madame Nam bit out harshly. "Or have you forgotten begging food from my own hands after poverty cast you into the streets?"

She eyed the dripping Meiko up and down with blistering contempt. "How dare you now believe yourself elevated enough to look down on anyone else!"

Meiko lifted her chin defensively even as she swiped at the water sliding down her neck. "That American woman is causing unrest, with Master Park favoring her so publicly over his own wife! It makes all proper relations a laughingstock."

Madame Nam angled a frigid glare over one silk-draped shoulder at the quietly seething Meiko. "Just because it's likely something you failed at yourself in the past does not provide grounds to criticize now."

Her stern finger stabbed out, pinning each shifting maid in place around the kitchen. "I suggest you all mind your business and be grateful for the comforts you enjoy presently instead of biting the benevolent hands enabling this lifestyle!"

Madame Nam surveyed them imperiously up and down, lip curling at past memories arising. "Or need I recount the many indiscretions and offers made toward the master by women in this very room over the month?"

Her lacquered nail stabbed toward the back of the room. "You - did you not think your frequent massage invitations went unnoticed?"

The elegant woman fixed her stare next on another shifting maid. "And you - my lounge workers reported your drunken singing advances made during unchaperoned drives."

Madame Nam lifted her chin imperiously, carefully bred poise weaponized to perfection. "I know all the shadowed secrets my women pass along about the desperate and aspiring in this circle..."

She slowly revolved to pin each guilty party beneath her piercing disgust once more. "So unless you wish me to share those secrets in detail, I suggest keeping occupied forthwith...and limiting gossip to tasks rather than betters!"

With a final scathing sweep of her eyes, Madame Nam gathered her silken wrap. "Now clean this spill before someone gets hurt trodding carelessly underfoot!"

The acid dismissal echoed with damning finality. Head high, Madame Nam allowed herself a small satisfied nod as she swept from the room, improper creatures properly scattered in her wake.

October 1941
Occupied Seoul

Miyoko stared broodingly out the rain-streaked car window, arms crossed tensely beneath the fur stole keeping winter's chill at bay. She kept her gaze fixed on nameless shapes hurrying past clutching umbrellas against the icy downpour. Anything so she needn't glimpse Yong-su's scowling profile in her peripheral as he drove.