Kim The faint mechanical beep of something idling above my head nudged me back to life.My eyes peeled open, struggling to see through a wash of bright light shining directly into my face. I tried to lift my arm to shield my eyes from the light, but my hands were restrained.I shut my eyes tightly and bowed my head to lessen the impact of the intense light, struggling to free myself from the restraints and figure out where the heck I was.The click of a switch rattled in my ears, and the light vanished with it. I waited a moment before opening my eyes to take a careful look at my surroundings.“Sorry, Mr. Kim,” a man's voice said, “you are not in heaven.”I shook my head and blinked five times to fix my blurry vision, then looked forward and saw a round table surrounded by wealthy old men in tailored suits, watching me as though they had been waiting for me to wake up.“Where is this?” I asked, not the old men, but myself.They didn't flinch. Their gazes remained fi

Maria I danced with discontent, watching Adam hold Rosa by the waist while dancing around the hall, looking her in the face with a degree of affection that felt like adding salt to the sore their earlier intimacy left in my heart.I had resorted to dancing with a random young man who asked to dance with me, and even though the man has a desirable look in his eyes, I evaded his gaze a thousand times, stealing glances of Adam, and fuming over the fact that Rosa had stolen the spot I felt was rightfully mine, until another man walked up to the man I was dancing with and nodded at him.The man dancing with me freed me and went for another lady, while the man who retired him offered me his hand. I looked at his gloved hand, and looked him in the face. Something felt awkwardly familiar about him, but I accepted his offer before rummaging through endless memories I might have had with him.His hand went around my waist as the music spiraled to its peak, and we danced like t

The maids didn’t knock to bring ironed clothes like before.Whoever was sending those clothes might have gone limp from last night’s sudden turn of events, when Adam and I turned up in black, instead of the creepy white they served us.I chose another black cloth, this time, a shorter, hotter one. I tied my hair with a ribbon, and instead of stilettos, I chose a black covered shoe that matched the black handbag I already laid out on the bed.By the time I stood before the mirror, I looked like the finest character of any dark aura movie ever premiered. I drew a black shade of lipstick on my lips and snapped my fingers.“Clock it!”---Like always, the halls downstairs were busy, like it always turned out after dinner parties. I remember attending countless dinner parties in the mansion starting from the very day my mom brought me to the mansion.It was always a big deal, and the next morning always turned really hectic for the maids. The good thing now remained the fact that my mom is

I arrived at the mansion in style, looking out for Maria, hoping to find her posing as the new hero of the estate, but she was not there in the drawing room.I, on the other hand, was done with the cleaning and putting the halls in order.I strutted to the dining hall, hoping to meet the Smiths eating breakfast, but the dining hall was quiet and the table was empty.I sighed and wobbled upstairs, heading to the room I shared with Adam. I did not meet anyone while climbing the stairs, but as I arrived at the passage leading to the room, I met two men moving Adam’s things.“Hey,” I said to them, “where are you taking those?”One of them took off his nose mask. “Boss said we should move his belongings to the master’s chamber.”They scurried past me without waiting for my opinion like it barely mattered at the moment. I swaggered to the room, worried I might find Mr. Conrad ordering the boys around, but right there in the room, standing by the window, was Adam, ordering the men on what an

Maria I’ve never been so ashamed of myself. I’ve never felt so beaten, so trashed, so whooped in my years of existence. The grin on Rosa’s face when she tossed me just one of what looked like a collection of pictures of me and Bruce making out in the guest room last night lingered in my mind like a curse.Whoever took that shot must have preplanned it before last night’s dinner party, and somehow everything worked according to arrangement, and now I’m being blackmailed by the same bitch I wanted to kick out of the estate.I turned on the sink tap, trapped water in my palm and splashed it on my face, washing off the shame that sprouted out of my oil and sweat glands the moment I got that picture.Who could be playing such silly games? Rosa isn’t smart enough to think of planting secret cameras in the estate to take pictures of people making out last night. Even if she could do such, she wouldn’t have thought of me having anything to do in the guest room. I have my own room