"What is the meaning of this?!" Odette shouted in front of her dorm building, her voice cracking with frustration and disbelief.
A large, imposing building with an entrance on the side, it was separated into multiple segments of individual dorm rooms stacked on top of each other.
Odette stood at the main entrance, staring in shock. The heavy doors had been locked even though it was only 7 PM.
The sun had barely set, painting the sky in fading oranges and purples. The dorm should be open until 10 PM according to the rules, but she'd already been locked out like some kind of criminal.
Moreover, her entire luggage had been unceremoniously dumped at the side of the entrance.
Her bedding, clothes, shoes, and all her textbooks had been moved out of her room and piled outside without her consent or even her knowledge.
She frantically tried calling the warden multiple times, but the call never went through—just rang and rang endlessly before going to voicemail.
Just as she was about to desperately search for another entrance around the building, a familiar voice called out from the second-floor window—her previous room.
"Odette, is that you?"
A woman called out mockingly, leaning out the window. She seemed to be about the same age as Odette, maybe a year or two older.
She had short, choppy black hair, thick black eyeliner that was almost raccoon-like, and big red lips smeared with too much bright lipstick.
She had a beauty mark on her cheek and a cruel, mischievous smile playing on her face as she looked down.
"Senior Eli! What is the meaning of this?!" Odette shouted back, clearly upset and confused about the entire situation.
"Oh my, such hostility," Eli covered her mouth dramatically with her hand, pretending to be shocked and offended.
"Please open the door at once. I have to get in!" Odette pleaded desperately, her voice getting higher.
Hearing the loud commotion below, other residents of the dorm began to cautiously peek out of their windows. But they didn't dare say anything or get involved, just watched like it was free entertainment.
The woman who was smugly looking down from Odette's old room was Elizabeth Winslet.
Second daughter of Winslet Corporation, manufacturers of Winslet Tea—a luxurious, overpriced tea brand in England.
And a second-year student at Ashford Global in the art and design department.
"Oh right, the warden told me that we needed to empty out a room since there's going to be a transfer student coming in soon," Eli said casually, examining her nails.
"So I was graceful enough to clean out all your stuff for you so you wouldn't have to bother."
"Good luck on finding a new place~" Eli added in an annoyingly playful, sing-song manner that infuriated Odette even more.
"What?! That's not fair!"
"How am I supposed to find a new place at this time? All the dorms are already completely full by now!" Odette shouted desperately, her hands clenched into fists.
There were several dorms under the institution and even fewer private housing options nearby.
The institution had already started three days ago, and all the available rooms had been filled up five full days prior to the official start of the semester.
"Sorry, girl. That's not my problem to deal with," Eli said with a fake pout.
"Maybe you should've thought this through before you seduced someone's boyfriend," Eli snapped, her playful smile disappearing completely as she abruptly shut the window with a loud slam.
"What?! I didn't—" Odette was genuinely shocked by the accusation, her mouth hanging open. But she didn't get the chance to defend herself at all.
After Eli closed her window with finality, all the other residents quickly followed suit, shutting their windows one by one.
Afraid that Odette would desperately ask them for help and they'd get dragged into the drama.
Odette was left standing outside in complete silence, alone.
She slowly slumped her head down in defeat, her shoulders sagging.
A faint sniffle could be heard in the quiet evening air as tears slowly ran down her flushed cheeks, leaving wet tracks.
"I didn't seduce anyone," she whispered to herself, her voice breaking.
"I'm not that kind of person," she mumbled, hugging herself.
Now all she could do was find a room to rent at a nearby hotel—that is, if she didn't want to camp out in the dark streets all night.
She grabbed her trolley suitcase with one trembling hand and hoisted her heavy duffel bag onto her other shoulder.
Slowly making her way down the path, the load was definitely not something she was physically comfortable carrying for long distances.
By the time she reached the main gate of the institute entrance, the duffel bag on her right shoulder fell off with a thud from sheer soreness and exhaustion.
The entrance of the institute had a huge stone pillar on both sides with an ornate archway structure connecting them at the top.
A four-meter-tall wall was joined at both sides of the pillars, stretching around the entire sprawling campus with a few smaller side entrances scattered here and there.
Odette collapsed and sat down beside one of the massive pillars to take a short break before continuing.
She looked down at her reddened, angry palm from carrying her luggage, and fresh tears started to form in her already swollen eyelids.
"This is so not fair."
*Sniffle.*
"I never wanted to seduce anyone... and I never did."
"What do they even know about me," she said bitterly to the empty air.
Sniffling pathetically and wiping away her tears with the back of her hand, her forehead, armpits, and back were all covered in sticky sweat.
Even if she didn't want to give in, she couldn't help but pity herself in her current miserable situation.
No friends or family present nearby to comfort and support her through this.
A young girl completely alone in a foreign land she'd only been in for a short time.
And the residents of the place were needlessly mean to her just because they could be, because she was an easy target.
This was way too much for her to handle alone.
All she wanted to do now was fly back home to West Virginia and cry into her mother's arms.
*Ring ring.*
She felt a sudden vibration in her jeans pocket, which turned out to be her mother calling at the worst possible time.
The timing literally couldn't be any worse.
"Hello, dear?" Her mother's calm, warm voice rang out from her cell phone speaker.
Her voice alone instantly put Odette at ease emotionally, but at the same time, it made her want to cry even harder.
Odette quickly cleared her throat and answered, trying to sound normal.
"Yes, Mom, I'm here."
"Honey, how was your day today?"
"It was great, Mom. Uhh... it was freshman activities day and I hung out with my friends afterwards," Odette lied, the words tasting bitter.
Not used to lying directly to her mother, Odette felt a weird, uncomfortable sensation tightening in her chest.
"I just got back to my room."
"Oh, you made friends already? That's wonderful!" her mother said excitedly, clearly thrilled.
"Umm hmmm," Odette hummed weakly in response.
As she made up more lies, Odette felt her own false words made her actual situation feel even more pathetic and lonely. So she could only hum vaguely in response.
But this weak response immediately made her mother suspicious. A maternal instinct is a unique, powerful feeling that can tell a parent when something is wrong with their child.
Even if they were thousands of miles away across an ocean.
"What's wrong with your voice? Are you okay? Did something happen?" she asked with growing suspicion and concern.
"I'm fine, Mom. Just a bit busy right now. I'll call you later, okay? Bye!" Odette sped frantically through her flimsy excuses and quickly ended the call before her mother could ask more questions.
If the call had gone on any longer, she probably would've broken down completely from her mother's gentle questioning.
And ultimately told her everything—which would do nothing but worry her mother sick. And there wasn't much her mother could do from across the Atlantic anyway.
She sat perfectly still and hugged her knees tightly to her chest, making herself small.
People passed by on the sidewalk and glanced at her curiously, but no one said anything or stopped to help.
She looked down at her phone screen.
It was already 7:49 PM. The nearby hotels might be fully booked soon if she didn't hurry up and get moving.
When the screen turned off, her pale, tear-stained face got reflected in the black glass.
Traces of tears were streaked here and there, with her hair completely ruffled and messy from the long day's work.
She was a total mess—a disaster.
'This stupid face of mine,' she thought bitterly as she glared at her own reflection with pure hatred.
'It has done nothing but bring me trouble ever since I can remember.'
She flared her nostrils in anger at herself. Even then, somehow, she still looked adorable in a heartbreaking way.
As she was harshly cursing herself in her dark reflection, a tall figure suddenly appeared looming above her head, blocking out the streetlight.
"Excuse me, miss. Are you a student here?" a deep voice called out from behind her.
Odette quickly turned around, startled, and saw an extremely attractive man slightly bending down to speak to her at eye level.
He wore a perfectly tailored three-piece suit, had a stern but not unkind look on his chiseled face, and sported a clean, sharp French crop haircut.
This level of striking handsomeness was the kind you would only expect to see in TV shows or movies, not in real life.
And the scent that followed as he bent down was phenomenal—a sophisticated masculine fragrance, yet not at all suffocating or overpowering to the nose.
"Uh... yes, yes I am," Odette answered, still sitting pathetically on the ground, looking up at him.
'Who is this guy?'
'Is he the security guard?'
'But why would a security guard be wearing an expensive suit like that?' Odette thought as her eyes traced down his tall body.
She looked back up at his intense eyes, which were staring down at her due to their height difference and positions.
'Still, that is one seriously hot security guard,' she thought despite herself.
"By any chance, are you in need of a place to stay?" the man asked directly, cutting to the point.
"...Yes?" Odette answered reluctantly after a short, suspicious pause.
She'd previously assumed he was a security guard, but now she genuinely didn't know who or what he was.
Was he a pickup artist trying to take advantage of vulnerable girls? Possibly.
But would someone really be hitting on her in her current miserable state, sitting on the ground crying?
As confused thoughts ran rapidly through her exhausted mind, Odette had somehow blurted out confirmation anyway.
"I see," the man stated simply, nodding once.
He straightened up and turned back, looking towards another man in a black suit who seemed to be a bit older than both of them, but not by much.
The other man stood patiently next to a stunning maroon Pagani Huayra, its curves catching the streetlight.
"Lucas, problem solved," the suited man shouted over to him with confidence.
The man standing beside the expensive car—Lucas—could only shake his head slowly in doubt while scratching the back of his neck nervously, clearly not convinced this was a good idea.