Afina
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Present
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If only father Atticus knew missing a day of work was totally irrelevant all because he wanted to be present when the results get announced. She wasn't going to win anyway.
Also, she wouldn't be the one to break that bad news to her over-excited parents. Let the TV screen do the dirty work.
Mama Xylia was rubbing her back affectionately and also assuringly.
Arrgh- mama Xylia was not thinking she was nervous, was she?
Being at the high house meant saying goodbye to freedom and Afina sure as hell didn't like to be bounded by rules. Losing the post in the high house wouldn't disappoint her as much. She might even be glad a bit. Except for the fact that mama Xylia's sacrifice would come to a waste, she would have not felt not even a single bit of disappointment or sadness.
The announcement program began with a documentary of the magnificent high house, prince Cargan, and some of the high staff working there with the matron and butler coming first of course.
"Beware of that matron Valentina. She has a flair for making life hard for the lower-class divine persons who have managed to wriggle themselves into the high house. She is an overly power-conscious reptile" Mama Xylia jibed when the matron's pretty face shone on the screen.
"So that's her name, Valentina" Afina nodded her head.
Mama Xylia's scolding rang in her ears. "Did you listen to what I said at all?! Surviving in the high house is almost the same as surviving on the streets if not worse if you get on the matron's bad side!"
"Yes, mama Xylia, stay away from the witch. Noted!" Afina chanted like a soldier. 'There is no staying away from her if I won't even get employed anyway' she added in her mind.
"Don't call her that! You will get in trouble right on your first day if you keep this up."
Father Atticus cuts in and hushes them. "The announcement is starting" he provided.
Now, nothing would definitely make Mama Xylia utter a single word. Not after the program has begun.
After all the opening programs, the matron who was gingerly dressed in an official red two-piece with her brownish hair packed in a half-sleek, half-curly updo began to speak into the mic in a seeming conference room used as the setting of the program.
"This year, we are going to call each of the contestants' names according to the number given to them during the interview and then announce as either passed or rejected." she paused and smiled.
The clicking and fluctuating bright lights that sparked across her face showed that the press were doing their job of taking shots of every moment of the program well.
Afina secretly rolled her eyes. She wondered if this was a job post or a beauty pageant.
"Each girl will be serving under twenty of Prince Cargan's fifty wives who have a post opened under them. The girls will be made to undergo quality education and promising ones amongst them will be set on the path of becoming a noble!" the butler continued the speech the matron had halted.
It would never cease to amaze Afina that a man had fifty wives. Prince Cargan would be one hell of an outgoing macker, she decided.
Now, she was going to work for that same man, and she would be living closely with him. Would definitely be one hell of an experience – the months she would spend in the high house if she got selected.
As though the matron did not want the Butler to take her glory from her, she commenced the speech. "Now, I will begin from the very first number." she smiled, gazed down at the documents on the stand in front of her then, she looked right back into the cameras. "I will do the girls the favor of avoiding mentioning their names but their numbers. So girls—" she began an apostrophe. "Listen out for your interview numbers. May the best girls win."
"Why is she smiling so much when she barely even smiles at all during the interview? These people will do anything to look good in public!" Afina scoffed and clicked her tongue.
Mama Xylia huffed instantly. "Did you get on her bad side already?"
"Cut the girl some slack, Xylia" Father Atticus interjected.
Afina knew Mama Xylia would not listen until she answered her so, that's what she did.
She answered and it was a lie. "No, of course not, Mama Xylia. I was well-behaved all through the interview."
Wait, was that even a lie at all?
She was indeed well-behaved. It was the matron who had a problem with her on her own for being a lower-class girl.
"Blue, what number are you?" Father Atticus changed the topic before Mama Xylia could raise another nag.
"One hundred and thirty-one," she answered.
The matron's voice reverberated from the TV set. "Number one—" There was a pause. " Rejected!"
Afina gulped, imagining the face of the number one girl right now.
Soon, it would be her own turn.
"One is always a cursed number. Afina, don't ever pick one in anything you are presented with." Mama Xylia instructed.
Obediently but not in the least bit convinced, " Yes mama Xylia." Afina replied for peace.
The first five girls got rejected. The sixth and seventh passed, the eighth to ninth was rejected and so, the circle went on until the announcement reached the hundredth number and twelve girls had been selected while eighty-eight got rejected.
"What is the total number of entries Afina? She mentioned it earlier but I forgot." Father Atticus asked her, his eyes still glued with interest on the TV screen.
Mama Xylia was who answered. "A hundred and seventy"
The sigh from Father Atticus was loud and deep. "I guess there are only eight girls left to be picked and sixty-two rejected." he was nodding, his gaze still fixated on the screen.
"Our blue must be so nervous." Mama Xylia chided.
Oh, please! She was everything but nervous.
"Number one hundred and twenty passed." the butler who had continued the speech announced.
At one twenty, fifteen girls have gotten selected.
However, from one twenty to one twenty-nine, all the girls kept on getting rejected until finally, it was time to announce one hundred and thirty, thirty one then two.
Sadly, the number before hers got rejected.
"One hundred and thirty-one will be announced after a commercial bre…" came the voice and Afina had no idea when she cursed.
"Why?! Why go on a break now out of all the other times?!" Mama Xylia almost screamed.
.
Two minutes later, the commercial break ended, and mama Xylia squeezed Afina's hands affectionately.
"Welcome back" The matron smiled one of her malicious smiles and the butler spoke next.
"Number one hundred and thirty-one passed"
"Yes!" Mama Xylia thrust Afina under her.
Afina, whose world had halted stayed there motionless.
Never had she imagined that she would get accepted into the high house.
She gave herself no benefit of the doubt, not even once.
Was it the tears streaking down Mama Xylia's eyes, the warmth of fatherly love that emanated from Father Atticus as he joined in the embrace, or the shock totally which made her eyes water until they shed their content down her plump cheeks?
You made it Afina! I knew you'd make me proud!" mama Xylia kept on muttering as she rubbed her hands over Afina's hair.
By now, she should have a pool of tears sitting on her hair, she thought.
Mama Xylia wouldn't stop shedding the tears and wouldn't let go of her even though all three of them have broken from the embrace.
Just when Afina was about to sit upright, mama Xylia dragged her poor head back under her.
Wanting the last days with her mother and father to be the most peaceful ones, she made no protest and allowed her mother to have her way.
Soon, the program ended after the date of the resumption was announced.
Afina saw that the girl from the waiting room passed the interview too.
It hadn't passed a minute after the end of the program that a gentle knock sounded from the front door.
"I'll get it!" Afina, who had been looking for a way to be free from mama Xylia's affectionate hold stood up and ran to the door.
Alas! The gentle knock was a pretense for what was before her wasn't as gentle.
The entire street was by their door with expectant glints flickering in their eyes. "Did you make it?!" Blake, the ice cream vendor who never ceases to toss her flirtatious winks whenever she walked past his stall was the first one to blurt.