The House of Etiquette - Lisoo Conversion

16

Lisa rose at dawn, having slept not a wink, and cleared up the broken glass in Jisoo's study before sitting alone in the breakfast room, waiting for the rest of the house to wake. What she had seen ate at her heart. She felt miserable, but perhaps not quite as miserable as Jisoo.

When Jisoo arrived in the breakfast room— her wounded hand freshly bandaged by the matron— she was clearly bearing the ill-effects of her overindulgence. She sat at her usual table with her head in her hands, drank only water, barely ate, and left as soon as Soojoo relieved her to do so. She spoke to no-one else and never once broke a smile.

Since it was a Sunday, there was little to be done after the usual Godly obligatories. Assuming Soojoo had plans to dominate much of Jisoo's free time, and not daring to make a bid for her attentions in any case, Lisa kept out of the way as best she could. Once the midday heat waned to a more comfortable level, she took a book and a blanket and went to Jisoo's spot beneath the tree at the lakeside. There, she read passages in fits and starts, her concentration broken by gazing intermittently at the lake.

"Thinking of going in?" Jisoo startled her, and she lost her page.

"Oh, damn and bugger." She leafed through the book, not at all sure where she was or why it mattered. She hadn't been enjoying herself.

"If you want to swim, I'll watch." Jisoo sounded painfully hopeful. "Like always."

Sadly, watching was no longer good enough. Lisa shook her head.

"May I join you, then?" Jisoo pressed on.

She had a book held to her chest, but Lisa guessed it to be little more than a ruse to get out of the house without being subjected to an interrogation.

"Where's Miss Soojoo?" Lisa glanced around, as if the cruel brunette might be lurking in some shrubbery like a spy ready for ambush.

"Out." Jisoo tossed her book onto the grass and sat close.

One hand immediately strayed to Lisa's waist, but came to an abrupt halt when Lisa involuntarily flinched.

"Whatever's wrong?" She shrank back. "Have you grown dull on me? I wouldn't blame you. I must've been a frightful sight last night. You caught me drowning my sorrows."

"What sorrows?" Lisa picked idly at a dishevelled page corner.

"Nothing as could be so easily explained in a few simple words." Jisoo sat sideways, heels to bum, her shoulder propped against the tree trunk. "But if I did anything whatever to upset you, then I am deeply sorry."

"It was not what you did then that upset me." Lisa closed up her book and abandoned it. "It was what I witnessed after, in Miss Soojoo's room."

"I was afraid that was you." Jisoo cringed. "I heard footsteps."

"You were giving her pleasure." Lisa slipped into a sulk.

"Oh, my love." Jisoo shuffled closer. "I did only what I had to do."

"What you had to do?" Lisa glared at her. "Who has to do such things? What hold does Miss Soojoo have over you?" She demanded answers. "Who is this woman?"

Jisoo shrugged. "When I met her, she was a spinster heiress who'd brought much shame and aggravation upon her parents by refusing to marry. To separate himself from his parental failure, her father gave her an annuity and set her up in this house, intending to keep her busy and away from society life, but she never wanted it." Jisoo glanced back at the house, visible in the distance beyond the sprawling gardens and scattered apple trees. "It's her house in name only. She has no interest in the running of it and comes and goes as she pleases, like a feral cat."