Grace and Steph stood in front of the principal. He held his head frustrated, then his gaze moved to Ken.
"Ken, how could you fight a girl?" He asked, and Ken shook his head in denial.
"I didn't sir; she lost it on my body like a mad cat."
"Who are you calling a mad cat?" Steph asked angrily, and Grace sighed.
"Sir, we are all friends, and their fight was a misunderstanding. Please, we could fix this if we dialogue amongst ourselves," Grace explained. She didn't want her friends to get into trouble.
The principal received a message; he read it and clenched his fist. "You could all leave; let this not repeat again."
They were confused about why he suddenly let them go, but they all had a relieved look. "Thanks, sir," they all said, and left his office.
"Why did you have to beat him up?" Grace asked Steph, who glared at Ken.
"Didn't you hear him call you a murderer?"
"He called me a murderer, so why didn't you let me deal with it?"
"I didn't call you a murderer," Ken chimed in, but Grace didn't respond; she pretended like he was not there.
"Well, I saw this as an opportunity to teach him a lesson after he called me a bad influence."
Now her heart was at ease after she had dealt with Ken. "Grace, listen..."
"Don't talk to her; in the past, I always thought you had feelings for her. Guess I was wrong." Steph clung to Grace and took her out of there.
They walked out of school and stood there. Grace was waiting for Mr. Li, slightly hoping that Mr. Xu would come instead.
"Maybe you should listen to the principal, stay at home, and study for the exams. People at school won't stop gossiping about you."
Grace nodded. If she knew, she wouldn't have shown up today. "You are right."
"Steph, I feel so lonely." Tears rolled down her cheeks.
"At first, I had my mom, and I didn't care about anyone else, but she left me. Then I had Mr. Xu, and I asked him to leave, and he did."
Steph hugged her and said, "He won't leave; he will come see you today." She didn't know how to comfort her, so she could only lift her hope.
At that moment, Mr. Li parked the car in front of her. "Goodbye, Steph," she waved at her and got into the car.
"Miss Chen, how are you doing?"
He scanned her body, and she didn't have any injuries. He sighed in relief. "Did Mr. Xu ask you to check on me?" Her eyes lit up.
"Oh no, I just came across a video of you online. So I thought you were hurt."
"Oh," she leaned back dissapointedly.
Then she took out her phone and sent a message: [School wasn't good today.]
[I also didn't have breakfast.]
She sent the messages and waited, but there was still no response. "Mr. Li, did Mr. Xu come to the mansion today?"
"No," he answered.
*
Grace walked in and looked around, then her gaze moved to her cat. She picked it up and went to the kitchen to ask the maids for some milk.
On arrival at the kitchen, she heard them mention Mr. Xu. "He doesn't plan on sleeping with her," Nel frowned at Jen.
"That's just his style; once he sleeps with the lady, then he is done," Krish added, and Jen sighed.
"When will you all accept the truth? We have known him forever; then let's make a bet that he will sleep with her and then abandon her."
Grace walked in, and seeing her, they all stopped talking. "Miss Chen."
"Uhm, can I get some milk for the cat?" She asked with a low tone, and Krish hurried to get it.
"What are you girls doing? I am bored; is it okay if I join?"
They stared at each other, and Nel nodded. "We could gossip about men."
"And what they really want from women," Jen added.
"I realize I have never had a conversation with you guys, so let's all watch a movie together."
"We have some work."
"Please." She couldn't be bored when they were three young girls at home, so she decided to make them her friends.
"Okay," they finally gave in, and she smiled.
-
After they all moved to the sitting room, they sat there mutely; no one uttered a word.
"How did you get hired by Mr. Xu?" Grace asked, breaking the icy silence.
"Through an agency," Nel answered, Grace had heard of agencies that hire maids.
"Can I also sign up there?" She planned to work during the holidays to raise her tuition fee.
"What? Why will you want to be a maid?" Jen asked, surprised by her sudden proposition.
"I want to work and earn money."
"Mr. Xu will take care of all your financial needs; if you think you are a burden to him, then you are wrong. His money isn't that small," Krish explained.
"He left." She stared at her feet. What if he never comes back and just abandons her in this house?
"Well, you can't sign with our agency. It's meant just for ladies who grew up in the dom," Jen sneered, and Grace was confused; she had heard Mr. Li mention dom.
"I thought Dom meant home." So how could they hire just people from the same home?
"The dom is like a country inside a country," Nel explained.
"What do you mean?"
"In the dom, there is a president, teachers, billionaires, and everything else that a normal country has," she explained further when Jen squeezed her hand.
"Ouch," she winced.
"I don't understand," Grace said, becoming curious.
"Don't mind her words; the dom is just our home. where we grew up."
"Nel?" She turned to Nel; she was the most easygoing of them all and wouldn't have stopped talking if Jen hadn't stopped her.
"I will tell her just a little," Nel pleaded. She was also anxious to share the story with Grace.
"The dom is ruled by the Aguero family," Nel said, and Grace went into deep thought.
The name sounded familiar. "I have heard that name before," but she couldn't remember when or where.
"Maybe, but I am sure you haven't."
"Oh, so Aguero is the president?"
Nel nodded. "After the president, the rest of the dom is shared by the pope, bishop, and priest."
"The pope comprises of trillionaires—powerful men who are in direct contact with the Aguero's," Krish added, and Grace raised a brow.
"Is Mr. Xu a pope?" she asked curiously.
"He is the only pope."
"Ancaan?" Grace was getting curious; the story was very interesting.
"He is no longer a citizen," Krish said, and Jen sighed.
"Who told you that?"
"It's true; he left to become a boxer." Nel chimed in, "He didn't leave; it's just rumors." Jen wasn't giving in; there was a heated argument at the dom about whether Ancaan was still a citizen or not.