The Orphans

17

The staff were zipping around the hall, doing about their own businesses. They didn't even notice Tony and I. Samuel walked in front of us so we can follow him, the staff bowed to him in respect but didn't spare us a glance. Not that I was complaining.

There were two sets of elevators. One was silver, one was gold. The staff cramped inside the silver one but Samuel les us to the golden one and swiped a card on the side. The doors opened with a ding.

I was about to ask why we were using the V.I.P. elevator instead of the common one when I remembered that Samuel was the owner of the company.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned on the metal wall, "You'll meet my assistant first. She'll lead you to the salon so you can have your hair and make-up done. You'll be having an interview after so it would seem like you're not different from the other members. I'll take care of your processing data. You should expect a busy schedule from now on."

"I'm used to busy schedules," Tony said.

Samuel rolled his eyes, "You should forget your old life now. Build a new one."

My heart felt a pang when he said 'old life'. I wanted to believe that this was temporary.

An uncomfortable silence settled in. I stared at the screen that said 14, 15, 16, every time it made a ding. I remembered from before that his office was at the topmost floor—the 20th floor. 4 floors left.

I decided to forget about my recent predicament and focus on my life today. I was curious about who I was going to be with as long as I was in this situation. Would they be nice? Or would they not?

Not once in my life have I thought about being an idol. A famous ballerina, sure, but not an idol. I'd have to improve my stamina a lot more since I'd be singing while dancing. Also, the genre wasn't anything like I've been dancing. I might need to practice a lot harder.

How should I introduce myself? What name should I use?

"Samuel," I called, "If we're supposed to hide our identities, what name should we use?"

Samuel hummed, "Maybe . . . Sophie Reese for the lady and Haris Farrow for the prince."

"You need to provide us our backgrounds so our stories match," Tony stated.

"How about you create your own?" Samuel asked. He snapped his fingers and smiled, "That's it! Your first assignment. Send me a 3 page report of your background. It's due the day after tomorrow. You will be provided with your own rooms and other necessities like a laptop. Use the laptop and just send the report to me via e-mail and please, don't search the internet for the report."

My jaw dropped, "You're expecting me to create a 3-page report on my background?"

Samuel shrugged, "If I didn't need it as soon as possible, I would've required you to send a 6-page report."

I groaned, "What is this? A school?"

"I don't see why you're complaining, Dee," Tony said, "3 pages is reasonable for a background story."

I looked at him incredulously, "Reasonable?" I asked, "I could fit it all in just one page! It's just a background!"

"Font should be Times New Roman, font size is 12, alignment is justified. First line should be indented. Apply proper punctuation and capitalization, and of course, grammar should always be correct," Samuel stated, "the title shouldn't be made larger than the body. That would be cheating. Also, only four spaces is in between the title and the body."

I put a hand in my head and rubbed circles on my temples, "I wasn't informed you were a teacher."

"We're here!" Samuel exclaimed as the doors of the elevator opened, revealing the same office I saw before.