Some time later, the sky was gradually turning dark as the sun settled down to the western horizon. The city's night life was about to open up any minute, and entertainment establishments such as clubs had been filled with lots of people.
However, Alisa was tired from shopping all day. She was also frustrated upon seeing how little was left of her money after buying a car and clothes. Her remaining savings only amounted to 20 million lux. All of a sudden, she forgot the life of frugality. She thought it was okay to spend that much once in a while as a reward for herself for surviving in a hell she thought she would never escape. There were no assassin's organization hunting her down and certainly, she was out of the military of Sylpharia. Alisa was as free as she could be.
Her only problem now was finding a stable income. She thought about applying a job, but who would hire a person who had no firm background? Much less someone who didn't attend school. She wondered what school life was about. Her age still fit in the age of going to a university.
"Maybe I could attend a university to broaden my knowledge and insights while also raising a small company..." She said out loud while steadily holding the steering wheel of her brand new red McLaren F1 which costed her 20 million lux. Her heart bled when she paid for the car earlier. But now, she didn't think so anymore. It felt so comfortable and it was worth the price. Still, she won't be able to bring it just anywhere she wanted to, which only became another headache for her. People tended to gawk at high profile cars like this and she would only attract more trouble soon.
"Why did I even buy this thing?" She begrudgingly asked herself. She sighed and continued driving until she finally reached her new home.
Alisa entered her villa that was situated somewhere near the lake surrounded by a forest just behind her home. Good thing that the delivery crew had properly arranged the things she had bought so she didn't have to do anything else. It was still spacious, but it didn't look so lonely anymore. However, cleaning the place would be such a troublesome task. She thought about hiring housekeepers as soon as possible so she went to the new desk table made of premium sandalwood where a brand new high-end laptop sat on top of it along with a few peripherals. She would be using it to secure a good job soon, but she really had to find reliable housekeepers for now to manage her household.
She opened it and adjusted the settings to her liking and created an account on a website for hiring and finding jobs. She posted a recruitment job for housekeepers with a monthly salary of five thousand lux with free accommodations and place to stay. She would be glad if the housekeeper would stay in the villa since there were many available rooms anyway.
Soon enough, her notifications rang like crazy which shocked her. Then she noticed what was wrong. Her eyelids at the realization that she didn't clarify that she would be hiring women only.
"I forgot to put the required sex..."
She let out a sigh. It couldn't be helped since it had already been posted. She filtered the potential candidates, leaving all the men out of the choices and eliminated those females that had bad qualities or weren't suited to her preferences. After a few minutes of choosing, she finally had decided to hire two young women who seemed to be struggling against their situation. Their characters were good according to their biodata and they were diligent too. She would be testing them tomorrow if it was really true.
As for the last person, it was an older woman in her thirties who had a child. She was a single mother who had been abandoned by her abusive husband and raised her child all on her own. She was a little skeptical to her background but decided to give her a chance. As long as she was up for the task she would give as a form of test tomorrow, then there was no problem taking her in.
After she was done with the recruitment, she hacked into the registry's office of the government secretly and registered her identity, including a fake background and education up to high school level. That way, she would be able to attend to a university if she felt like it soon.
Her eyes soon became droopy as the drowsiness kicked in. She looked at the time and it was already past midnight.
"I guess it's time to kick in."
She yawned and lay down on the soft couch. She was too lazy to go to her new bedroom. She would be examining it tomorrow. It didn't take that long before she fell asleep and her consciousness slowly drifted to her dreams.
Another day had started as the sun rose up. Alisa lazily opened her eyes while the bright ray of the sunlight shone upon her face through the glass windows. Her current life was still a little surreal. While it was peaceful and silent, it was way too silent. Her face frowned as she felt ticked off for no reason. Was it supposed to be her period? She'd usually feel irritated when that thing was coming.
"It's really not good to be living alone in such a large villa. I'm starting to regret my choice..."
Today was the day she would be interviewing her three potential housekeepers. Anytime soon they would be here so she quickly ran towards the bedroom to doll herself up a little bit. She was shocked to find upon entering that it was exquisitely designed. Anyway, she had no time to be gawking at her own bedroom. She immediately took a bath for a few minutes and applied light make up like a professional that covered her still recovering cracked skin from all the times she had spent in the military.
"Mhmmm! That's better." She happily smiled in front of the mirror, satisfied with her image.
As the three arrived at the villa, Alisa welcomed them inside and served them coffee along with a few tasty snacks. She was radiating a mature aura of a young and elegant lady who was still in her teens, which made them look at her in admiration. Who would have thought that the one who was hiring them was a young lady who was living alone? Surely the rich had their own sets of problems, they thought.
"Hello, everyone. How about you start introducing yourselves first?" Alisa greeted with a smile.
The three nodded while the youngest one started. "My name is Celine Matthews. I'm still a university student. I know my studies might get in the way but I promise to do a good job in maintaining the house."
The girl named Celine seemed quite stiff and nervous. She was just about the same age as Alisa. The latter thought that she would probably get along with her just fine if ever she survived a day in cleaning this household. She had a good character despite being shy. Alisa was satisfied and nodded.
The other younger woman who seemed to be in her early twenties spoke next. "I am Lily Enfield and I am from... I am from this city. I graduated in a local university just recently with a business course so I know how to manage finance affairs and other business-related staff. Though, I had applied into several companies but I wasn't able to meet their standards so here I am applying in the job you have posted."
Here was another person with a strange circumstance. She looked like she was hiding something, but Alisa could feel that she was really sincere in applying and she didn't detect any malice or ulterior motives towards her so it was fine. Everyone had their own sets of problems, after all.
The last one to speak was the single mother. Her expression was a mixture of anticipation and fear, which was also strange. Her eyes kept on darting from Alisa and somewhere random. The woman definitely had a low self-esteem probably because of all the disappointment and whatever mistreatment she had suffered. But it was not her place to ask about it. What she needed was someone who could be trusted to manage her house.
"Hello, Miss Hayworth... I-I've read about the job you have posted and I want to apply as a housekeeper. My name is Maria... Just Maria." She fidgeted in her seat, her eyes shifting nervously around the room and sometimes at her fellow applicants as she introduced herself.
"Maria, is something wrong? You keep on looking away for a while now." Alisa inquired.
"It's..." Her words were stuck in her throat. She was becoming more agitated as the time went on.
Alisa thought that they would get nowhere like this so she just skipped on the introductions since she already knew most of their backgrounds. She would ask her later instead if she passed the trial.
"Anyway, enough with the introductions. I'll brief you with your jobs. I just recently moved here so there's not much to be done here for now. I would only like for you to maintain the cleanliness of the villa as well as outside for now. I'll be checking your work later on when I come back as I still have something else to do. Also, please arrange the other things I have bought yesterday as well as the new clothes."
There were surveillances installed in the villa anyway which was part of the perks given by the Golden Pavilion Realty to keep the place safe and secured so she didn't have any worries about things suddenly disappearing if someone would attempt to steal from her. It was time to test them.
The three nodded to her instructions and began to work. Alisa didn't require them to wear maid uniforms like in the rich families which made them breathed a sigh of relief. At least their new boss wasn't looking down on them. Their tense bodies finally relaxed and they let out a soft smile except for the older woman who was a single mother. Her face was still painted with worry and exhaustion.
Alisa kept on wondering what was wrong with her. She decided to confront her later. If she didn't want to open, she had no choice but to investigate her circumstances secretly. It was very important for the boss to know her subordinates' problems in order to ensure a peaceful cooperation with them.