Iris

There was a time...

There was a time, not very long ago, when people live in an enchanting modern world of skyscrapers that reach the heavens and lights that burn brilliant you could have thought they were stars from the ground. The year was two thousand and twenty (2020). And during the month of April that year, a baby girl was born. Though not the first child of the 99th generation of the Irideas, that baby became the princess of the House. The first daughter of the head of the family. Irene Iridea.

And then that girl grew to be the fairest of all Iridea children. She was not just a princess, she became the light. A girl with the lush brown hair, skin as fair as fallen snow and beautiful hazel brown eyes with gold flecks – the first in the family to have one. She was praised for being a fast learner, admired for her kind heart, and envied for her charming smile. Indeed, she was loved by all.

Except for one girl, a cousin, who looked at Irene with nothing but contempt. Irene got the all the attention and love, and the cousin did not like it one bit. Especially since her beloved grandmamma, the oldest living Iridea, favored Irene the most. So she planned to exploit her relationship with the girl, scavenging for a flaw to taint the princess' reputation.

And she found it when Irene started hanging out with that Dela Rosa boy. Isaiah Dela Rosa, the first born of the president of Dela Rosa Company.

The Irideas and Dela Rosas never mingled. They were never acquaintances. Though they run in the same circle, did different businesses, the two families had bad blood between them as old as time. No one really knew the reason. It was just something considered as a status quo, a taboo. Irideas never associate with the Dela Rosas. Period.

Then there's Rosenthal. A devil in disguise. A traitor in the midst. A vulture, lurking in the corners and waiting for the entire Iridea to fall. He's the appointed treasurer of the American Iridea, the main base of Iridea Industries. Iridea Industries is an international company that handles advanced security and technology in banking and communications. They sell the most demanded gadgets – phones, laptops, desktops, musical devices – and held the longest record of having the most advanced and hack-proofed security system in the world. Rosenthal thought if he could make the security system malfunction, their clean record would be broken. Failed system means compromised security. Compromised security means a tainted name. A famous name being tainted with such scandal leads to hesitant buyers. Hesitant buyers can lead to no buyers. No buyers means no income. And no income yields a bankrupt company. Grinning at his plan, Rosenthal stole the files that contains the detailed mechanism of Iridea's hack-proof system and paid a bunch of hackers to do the job. His evil plan, unfortunately, worked. It did not even take a week before the American Iridea closed, and in 2 months, the entire Iridea Industries.

The entire House of Iridea became a target of the public. They were scandalized, defamed, disgraced. Rallies for refund happened every day outside their gates. The Iridea children were bullied in school. No one could get out of the house without getting egged on their porches. It was definitely the Dark Age for the family.

But nothing could ever compare to the sadness the household felt when their precious Irene was lost during their family's relocation to Europe. She was separated from Lady Carmichel, her grandmamma who was with her that time, when people at the airport recognized the old Lady and chaos erupted. Lady Carmichel and the guards did not realize Irene was not with them until it was too late. The plane already took off, and they could no longer risk going back because of the pandemonium.

Irene was suddenly gone. And she could not be foundanywhere, no matter how much they search.