Next To You (On-Going)

REMINDER: If you're willing to read anything cliché, you can read this story, TY*

~~~

Aiden Sage-seventeen, strikingly handsome, and treated like a hometown celebrity in the rising province of Prescana-lives a life most boys his age could only dream of. He studies at Stromwell, one of the largest and most prestigious schools in the province, a school owned by none other than his own powerful family.

The Monsalves.

Five years ago, his parents decided they'd had enough of his insolent behavior. At eleven, Aiden was known as the rudest, most defensive, and most troublesome child the family had produced in generations. So they grounded him in Prescana, far from the dazzling city life he once ruled.

In the province, he lived with only one relative-the distant cousin of his father's grandmother. Like any rebellious boy forced into isolation, Aiden tried to escape countless times... and failed miserably each one.

After a dozen attempts, he ran out of options. So he changed tactics. He began manipulating the old woman, pretending he had turned over a new leaf. He enrolled in the local school, acted obedient, and put on the role of the "reformed son" his parents always wanted.

For a year, his plan moved slowly but surely-until it collapsed like a house of cards. And all because of one girl. The girl everyone adored, the girl who could turn heads just by walking into a room-not because she tried, but because she carried a light Aiden had never seen before.

Suddenly, escape was no longer his goal.

She was.

He didn't want anyone else to have her. Aiden Sage had always taken what he wanted... and this time, he wanted her to be his.

This girl hit him harder than he ever expected. She turned his world upside down without even trying.

Everything seems perfect now. And the only thing left to complete his fantasy?

Is for her to finally say the words he had been waiting for the moment his plans changed course.

-----

This is a Filipino-English language story.