_ Welcome to the high house!

Or maybe the more accommodating seat was not accommodative at all. The girl was a total snub.

"Hi," Afina had waved as she sat on the seat but had gotten only a grunt as a response.

She had hung her hand that was waving in the air and enclosed it after stuffing her lips together.

"Snub." she also grunted under her breath, hoping to hell the girl heard her.

By the rich balmy ambrosial scent softly emanating from the girl, Afina knew she was a conglomerate daughter no doubt. What she wondered was which of the conglomerate families she belonged to.

Maybe she should have paid more attention to the trend always going on on the internet about the conglomerate families, especially their daughters or heirs.

Those kinds of news irk her that was why she stayed away from the internet and also mostly because she could not afford it.

If things were different and she wasn't so indifferent about the outside world, maybe she'd know this snobbish brat beside her.

But whoa!

Had she rode in such a luxurious bus all her life?

Hell no!

"Whoa..!" she gasped as she strained her neck out and scrutinize inside the bus and the girls that were inside.

They were fifteen in the bus now. Five more girls to go and then, the high house was next!

The girls were so orderly. Too orderly for her. If they talked or gossiped, they did it in a polished way and were only whispering instead of speaking freely.

She would have some big adjusting to do. She was a loud and not-so-orderly person at all.

Mama Xylia and the rest of the street had raised her with so much love that she had no idea how to be like these girls.

Or were their behaved demeanors a facade?

Time would definitely tell!

"Can you not stuff your neck out like that and sit properly? Can you not make those annoying sounds and behave like a girl?" she suddenly heard a low piercing voice say to her. It came from beside her.

Miss. snub had spoken finally?

Afina grinned broadly. "You can talk? I was beginning to think you are a mute." she laughed.

Why did the heads on the bus turn her way? All the girls either had a frown or a disapproving look plastered on their faces.

"Is there a rule that is against speaking here?" Afina blurted and then, almost as though they planned it, the girls groaned simultaneously.

Were these divine persons at all?

Maybe they were robots! Afina couldn't help but shake her head.

"This is why such a slum girl shouldn't be accepted into a noble setting like this one." one of the girls growled.

When Afina turned to look at the owner of the voice, it was the girl from the interview parlor.

Mama Xylia said not to hate but she definitely did not like this one!

Since everyone was so against talking, Afina decided not to be the dark horse and maintain decorum too. The high house must not be like the atmosphere in this bus if not, she'd choke to death and die of boredom.

The bus pulled to a stop in front of a mansion and Afina could only curse that she wasn't the one sitting close to the window side. If not, she'd have shot her head out the window to catch the view firsthand.

"Fucking killjoys" she cursed under her breath.

The girl sitting in front of her turned her neck. "Words!" she scolded.

Why was this funny to her?

Oh, please!

The girls should drop the act already. Definitely, they were more ill-mannered than she could ever be. Even if she didn't follow their social media, she had heard stories about conglomerate daughters.

About how some of them were drug addicts, party addicts, or either caught in a scandal of being with a boy and doing all sorts of atrocities.

Now, they all probably thought they were in a competition titled 'the most behaved one' and thus, all hail the so gentle and cultured playacting.

Very soon, they would all get tired and drop their pretense.

This girl beside her had this natural cultured outlet to her though. She had read about divine persons with a green qi and how they were very powerful and respected.

Definitely, her family would be so rich for her to have leveled up so well.

Or maybe like her, she was born with a natural green qi but she doubted that last option.

Afina's heart danced with joy when she saw who entered the bus.

It was the girl from the tree line. She had gotten accepted too just like her!

Or maybe not like her. The girl did have a wealthy family. That difference was there and it was a huge one too.

The tree-line girl went to sit beside a girl after placing her luggage which was two big fancy suitcases under the seat.

The heels Afina was wearing were beginning to feel uncomfortable again. She had almost taken them off when she remembered the girls wouldn't take it well.

Not that she cared about what they thought anyway but she did not want for them to go gossiping shits about her in the high house.

Reminding herself she would wear the heels every day and that she better start getting used to it, she relaxed her back on the bus seat and hummed to herself.

.

The car pulled to a stop in the houses of the four other girls that were left and finally, they proceeded to the high house.

It broke Afina's heart that the lower-class girl who said her parents owned a kindergarten was not chosen. She was about the one in the closest situation as her but even she was not accepted.

" I guess I have to deal with only brats then," she said to herself and nodded her head in reciprocation to the beat her humming was creating.

She didn't give a damn if anyone was going to complain anymore. She would just be— herself.

.

Finally, the bus entered the heavily guarded high house gates. The driver, whoever he was because his section in the bus was divided in a way that they could not see who was behind the wheels did not drive in the direction of where the interview was held.

He drew down the mansion road and came to a stop in front of a massive duplex building.

One by one, they alighted the bus and found three maids awaiting them by the main entrance of the duplex.

Some men dressed in all-black suits came over to take their luggage in. Maybe those were the security officers working in the high house, Afina noted.

" This way" they commanded dominantly, looking so polished that Afina wondered if they could even be called maids.

Still, she knew these were but normal maids of the high house who works for the money and gets paid. Still, they had the effrontery to command them that way.

They were not subjected to doing meager work, unlike other normal maids of the high house. That was why the post was one that was hard to attain and only annually too.

It was more like a ticket into the politics of the line. A training to becoming a powerful figure in the line. Or so they said.

.

They all followed the maid's lead and Afina's jaw dropped when she set foot into the magnificent living room.

It was too spacious for a living room and with shiny furnitures and a rich interior design. There was an equally fancy staircase that leads up to the floors in the duplex.

The chandeliers in the living room looked just like the ones from the high house documentary shown in the TV.

The other girls didn't look smitten but she was. She was totally bought and drooling over the grandeur of the duplex.

The slight bow of heads of the maids got her attention and with the clanking sounds coming from the staircase, she saw the Matron richly dressed in white and red descending the staircase.

Afina was not sure if they were also supposed to bow for this woman but when the other girls graciously stroke a bow, she did the same.

She had no idea how to bow formally and grand the way these girls did so, she imitated the girl next to her.

"Welcome!" came the Matron's voice as she stepped down the last staircase. " Rise" she instructed them and simultaneously, they all obeyed.

If they were bowing like this in front of this woman, how would they do in the presence of the wives of prince Cargan or even prince Cargan himself?

Oh, she'd be dreaming if she thought she would get to see the prince at all until she was done with her years here.