It all started with me getting kidnapped. Then I was sold into a new life. I was properly tuckered out that after eating the fruit and brushing my teeth I passed out.
"What is your name?"
Sleepily I answer:
"My name is Ezra, Ezra Magnolia White."
"Isn't that a boy's name?" Chung Cha asks, referring to my first name I suppose.
I don't remember hearing much else.
_____
"Gooood morning, Ezra!" Chung Cha strolls into my room. "Hurry up and brush your teeth and we can get breakfast."
I toss on the slippers I was given and slide out of bed.
Following her outside of the room I get to see the dark house in a new light.
The furniture was either white or black.
Black dining chairs at a white stone top table with crystals in it.
'Quartz?'
The same went for the island that was in the kitchen area. Black stools and a white counter top.
The black cabinets give it a classy look. Silver handles and a clean black fridge, microwave, toaster oven and dishwasher with silver handles and white crystal glass.
Everything about the kitchen screamed clean and brand new.
In the middle of it all was Mr. Moon who was cooking something on the stove.
He pulls out plates and places them down on the island.
Bacon, two slices of bacon and eggs are on the plate as well as a side of kimchi.
I don't like bacon or kimchi.
Well, I do like turkey bacon, I just don't like how pork bacon tastes.
"I don't like kimchi and pork bacon tastes weird."
"Try it, you may like it."
"Fine."
I take a bite and I am shocked.
"It's turkey." I stutter.
"Yeah, why do you not like turkey? Mr. Moon is allergic to pig meat. I don't know how he survives." Chung Cha says rolling her eyes.
"No, I do like it. I just don't like the taste of pork or pig meat in general."
"Try the kimchi, It tastes amazing." Chung Cha pleads, demeanor changing.
I groan, but begrudgingly try the kimchi.
Expecting it to taste salty, I prepare for the worst only to have an explosion of tastes hit my tongue.
Spicy, slightly sweet with an acidic aftertaste reminding me of balsamic vinaigrette.
"It tastes nice!" I say with a surprised gusto.
"That's my girl." She says with a grin.
It was strange she said that towards me. But in the end I ignored it.
"We will be shopping for clothes for you soon so you can wear one of Seung's button down shirts and his coat."
When I go to try it on, it fits but not well. It presses against my breasts and you could see my chest slightly.
I button the shirt all the way up. Feeling stifled, I unbutton the top two buttons.
"Much better." I then put on the coat, buttoning it up halfway and walk out of my room. The coat sat nicely at my shoulders.
Chung Cha meets me at the door.
"Ready?" She asks.
"Yes." I say taking up my sneakers that are by the door. From the looks of it I am probably a sight to see. My shoes were not the best quality of course, but I had to make due.
She takes me by the hand and Mr. Moon follows behind us looking handsome as ever.
I did put on my old panty for trying on new ones. Hopefully, the stores carry my size.
We get into a fancy looking car and Mr. Moon sits in the driver's seat and Ms. Lee next to him.
Mr. Moon smiles for the first time this entire trip and begins speaking in Korean to Ms. Lee.
I sit in the back of the car leaning out the left window ignoring the conversation entirely, falling into my own thoughts.
What would my mother think about this situation I am in? Or Finneas. He is my closest brother. He stood up for me and held the family together.
Each time Ma kicked me out of the house he would feed me until they finally let me back in.
My other brothers probably wouldn't care as much. But Finneas probably would.
I need to get hold of a phone and text him to let him know I am alright. But my phone was shut off and taken by those guys. I don't even remember his number by heart.
"Ezra!" Chung Cha shouts.
That shakes me out of my thoughts immediately.
"Yes?" I ask.
"We are here." She laughs opening her door and getting out.
Mr. Moon puts on a hat and a mask and opens his door as well getting out.
When he does get out he then opens the door and lets me hop out.
As we approach the mall, I feel eyes on me. I wrap my arms around myself and walk faster nearly bumping into Mr. Moon in the process.
Of course with how different I look, people are of course going to stare. But instead of stares of awe like in the US, I get stares, just plain judging stares.
People who's eyes have nothing better to do catch on and they glance and follow before deciding to mind their business and go on their own way.
A blonde European guy walks up to us.
He taps my shoulder and it makes me turn around.
"Huh?" I ask shyly. My voice softens and becomes a higher pitch.
His eyes scan my body up and down.
"You must speak English, don't you?"
I couldn't find any words to respond back with.
I turn behind me to find that Mr. Moon and Chung Cha are gone from my sight.
My heart begins to race and I feel my body shiver with fear.
'I'm lost.'
"It seems like you lost the people you were following." He says. "That collar. Are you alright? You aren't being trafficked, right?"
The tall blonde man looks around.
"Here I will take you to security. They will know what to do with you."
He grasps my hand and goes to take a step when something pulls me back. Or rather someone.
"Where you take her?" When I turn around it is Mr. Moon, Chung Cha was right, his English is terrible.
The blonde man suddenly flips a switch like magic because he begins to talk in full Korean.
"You kidnapped her didn't you. She doesn't belong here. What do you plan to do with her?"
The entire incident begins to attract attention.
"I didn't kidnap her. She is my girlfriend, now let go of her."
The two men pull on me from both sides until the blonde man seemingly gets the bright idea to pull on my shirt, and pop! There goes four buttons of the shirt, flying away into the crowd, exposing my breasts for the everyone to see.
"Yie!" I scream trying to cover my chest, but the man doesn't let up.
Mr. Moon then pulls me into his chest before the man rips the sleeve of the shirt.
Then we are surrounded by many men in suits.
Before I know it the blonde man is on the floor being arrested.
"That man must be a high ranking authority figure for the secret police to be involved."
The whispers around me continue, but I understand nothing.
"You alright?" Mr. Moon says.
I can only guess that it means 'Are you alright' so I answer in English:
"I am fine. My dignity isn't."
He furrows his brow, but buttons up the coat all the way up so that it is no longer hanging off my shoulders. So much for looking cute today.
We head into a lingerie store.
"What type of clothes would you like to see on her?" I look around but try and listen in on the conversation between Chung Cha and Mr. Moon. Not like I understand anything.
"I would like to see her in black. I am afraid if we do white it would clash too much with her hair, it might look good with her skin tone though. And I doubt they have many options of purple in here."
Mr. Moon walks up to a black bra set with lacy panties and long black stockings connected to a high waisted garter. He pauses then looks at me then back at the bra set.
He walks over and opens up my coat sticking his hands inside he cups my breasts. My cheeks heat up as his groping becomes more tender.
"Mr. Moon." I moan quietly, leaning into him.
I feel my thighs shake and the tell tale feeling that if he goes any farther my body will give off signs that I like it.
He quickly pulls his hands out cupping them and quietly barks out an order.
"He said to button up." Chung Cha says coming over and buttoning the coat.
She was staring with a strange look on her face as if she were… Maybe I am overthinking things.
Mr. Moon then takes his cupped hands and cups them around the bra.
"Good size." (K)
He pulls I off the rack and hands it over to Chung Cha whose eyes were wide open as she looks down at the bra.
He then takes a panty and puts it against me and hands it over to Chung Cha.
After he gets the garter and thigh high lace socks.
Once he grabs enough underwear sets he grabs my hand and walks me to the changing room.
Chung Cha follows.
The guard gives us the side eye as we walk into an open stall together.
"Undress her." (K)
Chung Cha nods and come over to me and begins unbuttoning my coat, then when she gets to the shredded shirt she takes it off with diligence.
I blush and grasp my ear, I am mostly naked, wearing only my old panty.
They then begin to dress me as if I were a doll talking to each other and leaving me confused.
The first fit me well, the second made me look like I worked in a brothel and the last few are regular bra and panty sets in pastel pink, pastel blue-purple, black, white and pastel blue and pastel yellow and green. All in order of when I tried them on.
He pulls out a light grey silk pajamas and a short hanfu-like lingerie.
I pull back on the clothes I came in with and we head to the next store after he buys the items.
Next stop on our list is the clothes store.
He bought me some jeans and some long sleeve shirts, as well as a puffy light blue jacket and an argyle sweater.
Next were shoes. I got maroon boots, white Uggas and a pair a fancy black wedge sneakers with silver trim and white base and some regular high top sneakers that are black with gold trim and white base.
We head out of the mall and have a quiet ride back to Mr. Moon's mansion.
When we get inside Chung Cha takes the clothes and heads to the laundry room which I follow her.
"You know, his parents are very traditional. They believe he should be married to a Korean woman."
"What brought this up?"
"I am just saying don't get too attached to him. His parents hold the final say." She puts the clothes in the washing machine after cutting off the tags.
"Why do you mention this?" I ask, surely she must like him as she doesn't want me getting used to him.
"I am just saying. His parents don't really like… people like you."
"Why, do they like you?"
"Well of course they do. I am his childhood friend." She says frowning slightly.
I pucker my lips frustrated.
Of course he has the parents pick I am going to have to work harder to stay here if that is how things are going to be. I can't end up on the streets again.
"Relax your face." She says poking my cheeks. Causing me to cover my cheeks and turn away.
"You like him don't you?" I grumble looking at her from the corner of my eye.
She looks at me with a strange unreadable face and blushes.
"Whaaat? I would never dare to have a crush on S— Mr. Moon." She says.
'Seung, the name she said before. I didn't forget. That must be Mr. Moon's name.'
I fold my arms and look away from the stuttering mess she has become. I go on a walk around the mansion to calm my mind.
'Can't fault her for being his childhood friend. But how does a childhood friend go from just friends to household assistant or butler in a sense who lives under the same roof?'
I shake my head and continue walking.
Smelling the telltale scent of a pool, I follow it and come across a room that has big white frosted glass window closer to the top it fades into clear glass.
I carefully open the door expecting no one to be inside.
Mr. Moon comes from up underneath the water and combs a finger through his hair which unceremoniously falls in front of his face. He makes an annoyed huff and answers his phone.
"Yes mother?" (K)
"~~~"
"I will be right there." (K)
He stands up out of the pool and walks through the small room.
When he spots me at the door he is fully clothed. Tight muscles are covered by his T-shirt. He rushes over.
"Go to your room." He growls.
This sends me scampering up the stairs and into my room.
I shut the door behind me and sit at the door. On my bed is something new.
A big white fluffy tiger plushie. It's black stripes are a delicate pattern. The tiger has a note next to it.
The note reads:
I asked one of the house servants to get you this stuffed animal as you will be staying in here for most of your time as a private servant. There is a phone under the tiger.
There is a phone underneath the stuffed animal with a purple lilac phone case and a Kuromimi charm. I power it on and continue reading the note:
This phone has my number and Ms. Lee's number. If you ever need help, do not hesitate to call this number. You will go to college to get a degree in Korean language. The password for the phone is XXXX.
I quickly type in the passcode and the phone opens up. Next to my bed the charger and I place the phone down to look at the stuffed animal.
Soft to the touch and smelling like moringa, I stick my nose into the plushie.
Then I sniff myself.
'I should take a bath.'
After a nice shower, I cuddle up in my bed nicely dried and naked I lay in my bed majestically.
Thankfully, phone is in English. Chung Cha must have set it up for me.
I take my phone and download Nimbus and opened the app.
Quickly, I type in my passcode and get all the data from my old phone that I backed up into the cloud, including pictures of Finneas, Gerald, Harold and Ishmael and I all together.
'I forgot about Nimbus.'
I open my LVnotes and type in new information for an account with Yiyi the social media app blew up in the states and it is what my brother Finneas uses.
Downloading Yiyi, I open the account and use a picture of my new stuffed animal and named myself. Magnolia9Baekho after the white tiger and my middle name.
Then I try my absolute hardest to find my brother's account.
'What was it?'
I bite my nail when it comes to me, my old account, I can use my old account.
E.Magnolia, I don't have any of my passwords or authenticator apps so I have to reach out before Finneas tries to talk to my old phone.
I open my profile and open my followers list. It was small, but that was how I liked it.
@FinneasWhite01 otherwise known as Peter the Wise because of a game we made up when we were younger. Peter is his middle name.
His follower count is a good thousand and fifty two.
I quickly send a message in our code after validating that it was him by checking his posts.
E: Hey Peter, it's Magnolia.
F: Magnolia?
E: Peter, I missed you
F: Where are you? Dad has been asking where you were and why you weren't answering your messages.
E: Why would he care?
F: Because your neighbors filed a missing persons report.
E: Right, the only reason they would care. Don't tell mom and dad where I am.
F: What happened and where are you?
E: I was kidnapped by loan sharks.
I then hear my door jiggle and I quickly text him again.
E: Have to go
F: Wait, you have to tell me where you are!
I turn off my phone and put on my robe and unlock my door.
Mr. Moon walks in and looks around the room.
I hum in confusion.
I walk up to my phone and look at the time.
The time was 20:34.
'Oh, time flies. It is already eight.'
He begins to walk to my bed and gets under the covers and waits there.
I guess I should brush my teeth.
I brush my teeth and braid my hair up for the night and walkout in my robe.
"Put the clothes away." (K)
Mr. Moon tells Ms. Lee.
She moves deftly and then bows before exiting the room.
This is what my life is now and it is way better than before. There is nothing that that would keep me from living this new life I have.
I climb into bed next to Mr. Moon and he wraps his arm around my waist and snuggles into my bosom.
My face heats up and I put my hand against his head.
'I wonder why he is so cuddly now.'
Then I snuggle up against him and doze off.