3rd person POV

Jaejoong ducked behind a pillar every time he saw soldiers walking steadily along the corridors. Finally, he managed to get to the outer palace which was where the interview room was.

"Woah... So many humans, no I mean, people are here already," Jaejoong gasped.

Seeing them clustering together in groups, he directed himself to a corner of the waiting room. They seemed to ignore his presence and are deeply engrossed in their own conversations. Jaejoong sat down and a helper came forward.

"Miss, this is your number card," the helper spoke.

Jaejoong reached out to take it and mouthed 'thank you'. As the helper was about to leave, Jaejoong tugged on the end of his shirt.

"What am I suppose to do with this?" asked Jaejoong.

The helper could not be more surprised to be asked such questions. Some of females in the room were from the countryside. Without a doubt, he answered Jaejoong.

"When this number is called out, enter that room," he said and pointed to the interview room.

Jaejoong nodded and the helper left.

"Wow, that girl is pretty," the helper thought, turning to glance at Jaejoong one more time before he exited the room.

The helper did not paid attention to what was in front of him. He turned and hit his forehead on the shelve.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed, gaining the attention of the people in the waiting room.

He staggered back and realized that the girls were laughing at his foolishness. Embarrassed, he hastily left the room. On the other hand, Jaejoong who was oblivious to his surroundings rehearsed his speech in his mind; the speech that Yunho trained him to speak in front of the interviewer.

Minutes turned to hours as the time drifted by. Jaejoong's eyelids felt heavy and he started nodding off. He had been going through the speech continuously and it was still not his turn yet. To be exact, two hours had passed. Since he had no company, he found waiting a bore and fell asleep.

"Number 179...Please come in," the speaker above the door crackled.

Jaejoong did not respond. The helper from before came to him and placed his hand on Jaejoong's shoulder. Gently, he shook him. Jaejoong jumped out of the chair, crashing into the helper. Jaejoong was stunned by the unfamiliar touch. He breathed heavily. Even the helper got a shock however, he was rather elated to have such a close distance between a pretty girl and him.

"It's your turn," the helper said softly.

Hearing what the helper said, he began to pay attention to the announcement made. He looked down at his card, bumping into the helper again. Jaejoong quickly stepped away from the helper and stared down at his card. The number said was his. He rushed to the door. He inhaled deeply before he tapped on the door with his knuckles twice.

"Please come in," a voice said through the door.

Jaejoong twisted the knob and entered the room. He greeted the interviewer and she gestured him to sit down.

"If given this position as a maid, what would you do to contribute to the palace?" she asked.

"I would like to serve the palace whole-heartedly, only to give the royalties the best without wishing for any personal gain....." Jaejoong began.

The interviewer nodded her head as Jaejoong went on speaking.

"Thank you. Please stay in the waiting room for the results," she said.

Jaejoong stood up and bowed. He turned towards the door. After he closed the door behind him, he heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness I know how to answer all her questions. Yunho really helped me a lot," thought Jaejoong.

Jaejoong went back his seat and waited patiently. Waiting seemed to be an eternality to him. Finally, the interviewer came out after much consideration of who to hire. She stood in front of the crowd and cleared .

"When I call out your number, please proceed to the room beside this," she started off. "5, 13, 20,26,30.....160, 179.... 234. That's all."

Jaejoong got on his feet and went to the other room. When the last person left, those remaining in the current room held their breath. Are they the ones being rejected or the ones being accepted?

"You may leave now," the interviewer said.

Once said, many had their eyes widened and some even cried. After a while, they left the room in procession with their heads lowered.

In the other room where Jaejoong was, there were murmurs. The girls were wondering what was going on. Just then, another woman came into view.

"Good morning, I'm Matron Lee and I will be training you all to became splendid maids by the end of a month," she introduced herself.

Many of them could not believe their ears. They were selected. There were broad smiles across their faces and there were some tears of joy. Jaejoong, on the other hand, was just happy that he passed and could go about instead of being back at Yunho's room.

"Settle down, ladies. I just started. However, if you are not capable of doing an excellent job after the training, you have to leave," she continued.

A small handful of them gasped. The others had the determination in their eyes that they would do well. Jaejoong just hoped that nothing would go wrong.

"Now, let's get you all to your respective rooms," Matron Lee said and clapped her hands twice. "Since there are 17 of you, 10 in one room and the other 7 in another room."

Everyone followed her out of the room; Jaejoong being the last to leave. They walked down the hall and turned round the corner. Finally, they reached their destination. She counted the first ten and opened the door, asking them to go in. Since they walked together in their own groups, the friends were not separated from each other. Matron Lee turned and faced the other seven. Then, they carried on walking down the corridor. She pushed the door and led the rest of them in.

There were two groups of friends and Jaejoong in the room. They started to get to know each other, leaving Jaejoong out of it.

"I'm Sunny."

"I'm Jessica."

"I'm Tiffany."

"I'm Minah."

"I'm Hyeri."

"I'm Yura."

They waited for the seventh one to say something, but nothing was heard.

"Say... Matron Lee did say that there was 7 of us, didn't she?" Sunny asked.

"Yup," the five of them said in unison.

Minah turned around and saw Jaejoong sitting on the bed nearest to the door.

"Yah! You cheated! You picked the bed while we were introducing ourself! You cheater bug!" Minah yelled across the room.

In a split second, she jumped on Jaejoong and tickled him.

"Ahahahaha. Please-hahaha. Stop..." Jaejoong said, laughing until tears began to fall.

"Ok, ok. I'm Minah. Nice to meet you!" Minah said cheerfully.

"I'm Jaejoong. Erm... Nice to meet you too," Jaejoong said shyly.

The others came over to Jaejoong and introduce themselves again.

"First come, first serve, I guess. So Jaejoong has this bed," Sunny joked.

"Jaejoong, your voice it rather low for a girl," Jessica commented harmlessly.

Jaejoong gulped.

"Does she know that I'm a male?" Jaejoong thought.


Jaejoong POV

I panicked and then, Yunho's words came to my mind.

"Yeah... I'm somehow sad that I have a voice like this..." I replied.

"Sor-rry," Jessica stuttered.

I smiled and thought,"To tell you the truth, I think that my voice great because Yunho once said that he likes my moans."

For the next couple of minutes, they fought over the beds. I did not know why they would do that. I meant, look! The beds were all the same. I went around the room and took in my new surrounding. I had to say that the room was less fanciful than Yunho's. However, Yunho was right. The maids' quarters really had everything. You don't even need to bring your undergarment!

"Ahem...Please proceed to the dining room after you have changed into the uniform," the speaker beside the door announced.

I recalled what Yunho told me; I had to change without anyone seeing me. I grabbed the clothes and dashed into the bathroom.


3rd person POV

"Let's hurry and change, I'm hungry." Tiffany said.

With that, they all ran to the cupboard and grabbed the free-sized uniform.

"Eek! It's not even nice! How do I attractive the princes' attention?" Hyeri squealed.

Yuna placed her hand on his friend's back.

"We will make do with it..." Yuna comforted.

The others nodded in agreement.

"By the way, where is Jaejoong?" Minah asked.

They turned his heads from left to right in search of their friend.

"Oh... The bathroom door is locked. I think she's in there," Tiffany said.

"Jaejoong is very quick on her feet, I must say," Sunny chuckled.

"It's ok if she is using the toilet. We're all girls so let's just change here," Yura said.

When they were all done changing, they left for the dining room. Jaejoong, being rather familiar with the palace, took the lead. The girls did not suspect anything.

"Finally, you're here. It has been 35 minutes and 48 seconds since I made that announcement," Matron Lee said with her arms crossed over her chest while tapping her foot against the floorboard impatiently.

Apparently, the second room occupants were the last ones to arrive at the dinner area. All the maids and trainee maids were there already. The girls made a 90 degree bow and apologised but, Matron Lee did not let them off without a lecture.

"Maids must work efficiently and quickly," Matron Lee went on. "Not to take your own sweet time. Being punctual is an important factor to be a maid. If not, it is an incompetency. Do you get it?"

"Yes..." the girls said monotonously.

"Say it properly with more energy! Do you get it?!" Matron Lee raised her voice.

"Yes!" the girls said together energetically.

After ten minutes of lecturing, they were able to enter the dining room to have their lunch. People could not stop glaring at them. Eating was very hard for them as they felt the other's stares burning onto their backs.

After their meal, the maids-to-be went to a room, somewhat like a classroom and they sat down.

"You must always address the royalties as Your Highness for the princes and Your Majesty for the king and queen," Head of training, Matron Lee started the lesson.

They were lectured about puntuality, manners, greetings, cleaning and following orders. Everything that would make them a perfect servant to the palace was taught to them. Many of the trainee tried to keep themselves awake while some took down notes.

"Tomorrow, we will do some practise on all these that I have taught today. After dinner, do go back to your room and review on what you have learnt," Matron Lee ended the six hours long lecture and left.

"Hooray! It's over! 6 hours of lecture is torturous!" Jessica cried.

"My neck hurts." Minah complained.

"I wonder why does she have so much to say. She did not enough stop for a break. She's insane." Tiffany said.

"Shh... She may hear us," Yura cautioned the girl.

"Whatever," Hyeri scoffed.

"By the way, did anyone of you took down notes?" Yura asked.

"Of course not!" Tiffany, Jessica, Sunny, Hyeri and Minah said in unison.

Yura flinched at their sudden outburst.

"Jaejoong, what about you?" Yura asked timidly.

"Yeah... I did." Jaejoong said.

"Can I borrow them?" Yura asked.

"Sure, but you may not understand them," Jaejoong answered.

"Omo! Omo! Our Jaejoongie takes down notes. Haha! So cute!" Sunny said.

Jaejoong felt embarrassed.

"No... I'm just practicing how to write... I'm not very good at it," Jaejoong said.

Yura looked down at Jaejoong's notes.

"Omo! Your writing is so cute. Even the mistake are cute too!" Yura teased.

"Don't worry, Jaejoong-ah! You will get better at it. If not, we can teach you," Minah encouraged.

"Yup," All of them agreed.

After dinner, they retired to their room.

"I'm so tired," Jessica cried out.

"The dinner is as bad as lunch. So little meat and lots of vegetables." Minah grumbled.

Jaejoong nodded in agreement. Which snow leopard would love vegetables more than meat?

"Even the uniform ! Long sleeves and the dress is until your shin. How do I show my beautiful legs off to the princes? Aish!" Hyeri complained.

"Yeah... Moreover, the uniform is free-sized. It doesn't show off my wonderful curves!" Sunny screamed out in frustration.

True enough, the maid outfit was not what the erted people dreamed about. It was not the fluffy, laced and super short ones but the long and traditional ones.

Yura was in the corner of the room, copying down whatever notes that she missed from Jaejoong's notes.

"So... Who are these princes you all are talking about?" Jaejoong questioned innocently.

"What?! You don't know them? They are the hottest, most charming, rich, kind and everything you wish for men in the country! Jaejoong! How can you not know them?!" Hyeri yelled.

"Prince Yunho is the older one and Prince Yoochun is the younger one. They are the hottest topic in town. Many girls are willing to die just to see them," Jessica continued.

"Yunho... Yunho, is Jessica referring to my master, Yunho?? Yoochun, isn't that my Master's brother??" Jaejoong thought.

These questions kept running through Jaejoong's head.

"Erm... It's getting late... Let's get ready for bed," Yura said.

"First one to the bathroom gets the warm water!" Minah shouted and scrambled to the bathroom.

Everyone burst out laughing. After everyone had their baths and brushing of teeth, they went to sleep.

This is just the beginning of their friendship....


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Yay! I updated again! Pretty soon?? Yeah... It's been a long time since i saw you all. Where i was you asked? Haha, im busy at school. So how was it? Is the introduction of six new characters overwhelming for you? This time I wrote a longer chapter because heyimvip said my last chapter was short so I lengthen it! Lol! I'm just kidding. It's because I'm having a long weekend so I had the time. Yay! No school on Monday and Tuesday thanks to presidential election and Hari Raya Puasa!