headstrong / on hold

zero

} P R O L O G U E

The scenery before me is like seeing a completely different yet completely beautiful world. I never knew there would be a place that can beat New Jersey, my hometown, in terms of looking very pleasing to the eye, but of course, nothing can beat New Jersey in giving me the feeling of belongingness. That's something you can't have in this place called Sta. Cruz.

"Ms Frangipane?" I look at my right to see Renee, my 'caretaker', as my mom wants me to consider her as. Being a so called jewel of the Winter family has its disadvantages. And one of them is the fact that they have to be overprotective towards you. My parents don't want to lose their heiress to their multibillion dollar company, of course.

"Yes, Renee?"

"We are a few moments away from your new home and your mom e-mailed me to say to you that you should be in your best behaviour while staying here," Oh, how typical of her. "She says there would be no pranking, no clubbing, no drunk boys inside the mansion, no swearing, no inappropriate clothing and no drinking."

"Noted," I say, then continued to look at the beautiful Sta. Cruz once more. The song called 'Sippy Cup' blasted through my ear plugs and I hum to the tune while Melanie Martinez sings the lyrics.

My eyes then found a familiar face from a crowd of rowdy boys wearing clothes that scream 'bad ass fuck boys'. The feeling of familiarity was there, and the feeling in the pit of my stomach screams something which I can't comprehend. His dyed hair, prominent nose and sharp jawline ... I sense something different about this boy. An aura of mystery surrounds him and his beautiful green eyes say everything along the lines of atypical, hard going and godly.

As we drove past the rowdy boys, I changed the song to 'Amber Lynn', hoping that the slow music would cut the thoughts off of those green eyes. And I focused on the palm trees and the look on everyone's face when they see an old car driving past them. The look on their faces tells me that old cars are unusually present in Sta. Cruz.

"Ms Frangipane," Renee calls once again.

"Yeah,"

She clears her throat and I gave a glance at her direction with a brow raised, "Mr Winter wants you to go and buy a few formal dresses for a gathering which will be in a few weeks."

I roll my brown orbs and snorted, "It really makes my heart swell when I know for a fact that they can't message me with the phone they gave me last Christmas. Like wow, how communicative they are to their adopted pet."

Renee gasps, "Ms Frangipane! Don't say that!"

I removed my ear plugs and faced Renee, "I know what I stand in this family, Renee. Admit it or not, you yourself know this."

And silence overlapped the whole drive to the mansion because Renee knows. She knows what the elites think of me. I was just a trainee heiress. They just needed someone to carry the obligations they hold when they're dead. They just needed someone to show off how beautiful of a couple they are. How prim, proper and swell they can raise a lady to show off to investors and businessman. That's what I am; an object.

Just an object in a cage full of controlling prudes.

∞ ∞ ∞

The mansion was red, black and white. It had three different colours but all were combined perfectly and contrasted to absolute beauty. It looked more like a building rather than a mansion to me. Three storey floors, a landscape garden, a fountain and a statue of the Winters Co., our company, and a flag of the Elitix's, a group of elite family groups formed together to create an association to control the high statuses of the elites and billionaires all around the world. The grasses were perfectly trimmed.