"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.