In front of a gigantic door in the colossal hallway, there stood two women dressed in maid attire. A black dress, a white apron, and also a white hairband.

They have been standing there for like ages, afraid to bend the doorknob and walk inside. More like being scared of walking into the lion’s den.

Meanwhile, the one who seemed younger and was carrying a small tray that was containing a cup of coffee.

She looked over at her superior with troubled eyes, “I’m afraid the coffee will get cold soon, ma’am” she spoke in a low trembling voice.

The older woman then gulped for the last time while the younger made the sign of the cross repeatedly.

With this, the woman jiggled the doorknob and set her foot into the enormous bedroom and the other followed in step quickly.

The gleam of the sun in the room was so dim that they could barely see clearly. Thus, the older maid summed up her footsteps to the nightstand and then grabbed the curtain controller.

She then pressed a button and the curtains opened on their own automatically.

The younger maid was now given the access to walk over and dropped the coffee tray on the nightstand and they both thereafter went to stand at the end of the queen-sized bed with their hands folded.

Gazing at the figure beneath the quilt on the bed, the younger maid released a deep sigh as she wiped the balls of sweat on her forehead.

“Good morning, ma’am,” the older woman greeted, trying to make her voice more stable because she was shaking terribly inwardly.

“It’s morning already, Ma’am Karina, and you need to start preparing for school,” she put in and this time, the figure on the bed stirred but only adjusted the black sleeping mask on her eyes.

The woman sighed softly before exchanging a glance with her fellow. Waking her boss up hadn’t been always easy but nerve-wracking.

She dug a hand into her apron pocket and fetched a note, “You have a Biology class in the next two hours, ma’am,” she read out from the agenda note.

“Damn you old woman!” the sleeping lady on the bed snatched a pillow and tossed it in the maid’s direction.

“Are you crazy?” she squawked and removed the sleeping mask over her head abruptly, “How dare you forget that the Biology man has been away? Don’t you want your job anymore? Do you wanna get fired?” She threw a tantrum.

Her eyes had become redder and seemed to fill with chilling anger.

“Of course, I’m aware of his leave, ma’am. But I got a report that a new tutor would be replacing him today,” the older woman said proficiently.

“Jeez!” Karina barked, “Damn you, damn the old tutor, damn the new tutor. Damn every one of you!” she yelped, tossing away the rest of the pillows on the bed.

“I hate Biology. Why can’t you all understand that?” she asked in a low fierce voice, plundering her shoulder-length red hair with all her fingers.

“Perhaps you should exclude it from the courses, ma’am,” the older maid suggested in a friendly manner.

“It’s a compulsory course, you dimwit. What do you know?” Karina shot at the innocent woman who immediately suppressed her lips into a tight line, feeling a bitter taste in her mouth.

Karina then crawled to the tip of the ample bed and reached out to slide her feet in the flip-flops but she couldn’t, the slippers were a bit away from the bed and it occurred that she wouldn’t bring herself to wear them.

Her teeth grated, “Where’s Helen?”

The maid’s swapped a knowing glance, “Do you mean Linda, ma’am? Your room keeper?” The younger maid spoke for the first time.

“Get her here now!” she looked at the maid and shouted.

“Right away, ma’am,” the maid said nippily and then scampered out of the room at once.

In a matter of two minutes, the maid arrived back in the room with another maid, who looked much more older than the other two maids.

Seeing the reproachful look in Karina’s eyes, Linda knew she had done something wrong again.

“Here I am, ma’am,” she said feebly, looking down at her feet.

“I have asked you a thousand times to always put my slippers fifty-three centimeters away from my bed so when I hop out my feet can land on them,” Karina fired, getting on her feet and walking toward the maids.

“I mean, am I being unreasonable?” she directed her question to the maid.

“No, ma’am. You’re not being unreasonable at all,” the maid tumbled out.

“Is that too much to ask?” she raised a question again.

The younger maid screamed ‘Yes’ inwardly, glaring at Karina discreetly.

“It’s not too much to ask, ma’am Karina. Please forgive me,” the accused maid pleaded guilty.

“On your knees, Helen,” Karina commanded naturally, fixating her eyes on her. “You know it’s not too much to ask but then you purposely did it, you useless old hag”

Linda went on her knees immediately without arguing, feeling bitter and grieved in her heart as if she had gulped down a cup of broadleaf holly leaf tea mixed with vinegar.

Tears prickled the younger maid's eyes as she looked from the woman on the floor to Karina’s retreating figure, heading the bathroom.

For crying out loud, this woman that Karina ordered to kneel was quite enough to be her mother.

Linda soon noticed the tears that were silently streaming down the younger maid’s face.

“Stop crying, Sarah, I’m fine,” she assured in a quiet voice with a soft smile touching her lips.

The old maid from earlier smiled bitterly at Linda on the floor, “I’m sorry, Linda. Do you want me to tell madam about it?” she asked, feeling extremely bad about the whole situation.

Both she and Linda were the trusted maids Karina’s mother had personally assigned to Karina since she was in diapers.

“It’s fine, Margaret. I’m sure she would ask me to stand up once she’s done dressing up,”

An hour later, Karina walked into the ergonomic dining room, looking regal in a white jumpsuit, red heels, and leopard coat with huge diamond earrings and a silver necklace.

Her red hair was packed into a tight ponytail which accentuated her face. Turquoise blue eyes, pointed nose, and thin lips which she had obviously applied red lip gloss on.

She looked like a model, a striking model that could appear in front of a magazine without any question.

“Good morning, ma’am,” a maid at the table greeted politely and moved a seat backward for her to sit.

“How would you know?” Karina answered with an eye roll while she sat down.

She looked at the varieties of meals on the lengthy white oak table which consist of her favorite meals- rolled eggs and spaghetti, Nashville hot chicken, grilled cheese, and many more.

“Where’s my mom?” she asked the maid.

“Here I am, sweetheart,”

Karina looked up to see her mother striding into the room.

A slightly robust woman, clad in a royal blue plaid dress and a pair of white kitten heels.

Furthermore, she wore a diamond jewelry set that was studded with emeralds, which was elegant and majestic and her gray hair was done in a French twist.

“Mom,” Karina’s face wreathed in smiles while her mom stooped and kissed her forehead adorably.

“Did you sleep well?” Irene asked her daughter as she sat down beside her, taking her left hand on the table in hers.

Instantaneously, the smile on her face wiped out and she was now looking severe, “I want someone else to replace Helen, Mom. She always looks for a way to get on my nerves,”

“I know you will never allow me to fire her but could you at least put someone else in her place?” Karina bemoaned, her jaw clenching.

Irene's smile grew wider as she leaned forward and grabbed a plate, “It’s Linda, darling, not Helen,” she corrected and Karina rolled her eyeballs.

Whatever.

“Karina you should know by now that there’s no one else who could understand you better apart from Margaret and Linda,” Irene spoke cogently.

Karina huffed, “So you believe those useless women understand me better?”

“Come on, dear. They are not useless. They’ve been so kind to you since you were a little baby,” Irene told her with all smiles and then put the dish in front of Karina.

“They are not kind, mom. They were only working for their pay and nothing more,” she asserted before snatching cutlery.

Irene then breathed out softly and she reached out a hand to stroke her daughter’s back affectionately.

“You have a date after lecture this noon, baby,” she dropped the shell after a momentary silence.

“What?” Karina let go of the fork she was holding, her eyes dilating.

“Yes, dear. The last date with Mr. Flore’s son was not a successful one,” Irene jogged her memory.

Karina pushed the food away and banged the table, “Until when do you intend to stop setting me up with guys, mom?” she asked furiously, her nose flaring.

“Until when you get serious with a guy, sweetheart,” Irene retorted, carrying the jar of water and pouring it into a glass cup for her daughter.

“For goodness sake, mom. I’m just twenty,” Karina bellowed, struggling to bring her temper under control.

“Yes, darling. You are an adult already. Your Dad and I are so willing to have a grandchild soon,” Irene grinned, raising her hand to touch Karina’s face.

Karina stared at her mother’s face and lost the urge to argue further.

‘I’ll have to come up with something,’ she told herself inwardly.