Three years earlier....
January 15, 2014
"Happy Birthday, Honey!"
Nikka slowly opened her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows. Her eyes then saw her parents standing beside her bed with a birthday cake on their hands and on it were eighteen candles.
She smiled and remembered. She turned eighteen today.
She slowly rose from her bed as her parents started singing. Daniel, her older brother, was holding his camera and was filming everything.
Shoving a strand away from her wavy hair, she blew the candles and smiled, while her whole family cheered.
"Happy birthday, our dear Nikka! So what did you wish for?" asked her mom.
Standing beside her, her black hair with a hint of brown sparkled in the light. She looked exactly like her, petite with small thin lips and slightly brown complexion. She smiled, her brown eyes reflect so much affection for her baby girl who is now a woman.
"Hmmm... could it be...?" his father teased. His brown eyes gave her a knowing look as his thick brows slightly wiggled. Sighing, he placed his arm around his wife. He knew his baby girl had grown so much and seeing the reaction on her face, he teased her more. "Don't worry. He'll be here in a few minutes."
She gave him a pout and her father laughed.
"Dad..." she replied.
"Oh, my princess! You have truly grown," and he bent down and gave her a hug. Nikka hugged him back and he kissed her on the forehead.
She, including her parents, are Filipinos. Last year, her father was offered a job in New York as an architect to the Jones Architectural Company. Not wanting to leave his family behind, Anthony dela Cruz decided to bring his family with him from the Philippines and ventured out into a foreign land.
"A family must stick together no matter what," he told them.
Upon arrival, Mr. Alfred Jones, the president of the company, had helped them settle down. They found a two-bedroom apartment and bought some furniture from the money he lent them. With his enthusiasm and grit, her father had been promoted to Senior Architect in a few months and were able to pay back the money they owe.
Because of that, both families grew fond of each other, including Marcus.
Marcus is seven years older than Nikka. He is twenty-five years old, about five-foot six tall with golden brown eyes, black straight hair swept on one side and a darker brown complexion. Alfred is his stepfather. His mother, Elizabeth, was a widow.
After meeting on an online dating site, Alfred decided to visit them in the Philippines. Beth and Alfred spent time together, fell in love and got married. In less than a year, Marcus and his mom flew to New York, and had been living there for years.
Being one of the famous family in New York, the Joneses were always invited to gatherings. In a few months that Marcus and her mother moved, they have been in the covers of architectural magazines that led them to be invited to countless interviews.
Alfred and his beloved Beth had been one of the most intrigued couples in the architectural world. Seen as a fairytale love story where a resort owner from a foreign country who fell love with one of the most coveted rich bachelor, their story had surely been what most New Yorkers loved to gossip about.
Adding to all these, Marcus had also gained a lot of attention, most especially women. Dubbing as the next Christian Grey, women found him as mysterious and had a strong sex appeal.
Aside from being the stepson of the famous Aflred Jones, he was also the senior vice president of the company. Ladies were all over him, devouring them with hungry eyes like lions hunting for their preys. He was definitely a target and yet, if he did indulged himself in these affairs, he was certainly discreet about it and often dismissed who tried to pester him throughout the day with his cold stance. That often, too, shut the gossippers down.
The doorbell suddenly rang and it startled her.
"It's probably him," Daniel teased, as his thick brows wiggled just like her father's. He looked exactly like her dad, only younger.
"Okay, hija, we will leave you now so you can get ready while we entertain some guests," her mother said and both of them walked out of her room. They locked the door behind them.
In the Philippines, when a girl turns eighteen, she will have a big celebration, according to tradition. She will be like a princess, with eighteen young men with roses in their hands and dance with her, while eighteen young women held candles to say their wishes to the debutante.
But since she is in America, she decided to have a simple celebration. Though she has the option and the means, she chose to have a small gathering of family and friends. Throughout the school year, she only had two friends, Vera and Dominic. To her, America was still a foreign country although it had been a year since they moved.
"Home is where your heart is," as the saying goes. To her, home was all the way to the other side of the world.
She stood up from her bed and looked over her bedroom window. The snow had stopped falling this morning and covered the ground in sparkling white. She always dreamt of becoming a princess, wearing a gown like the one in Frozen, with a tiara, dancing in a blanket of snow.
'Today I can be a princess in my own small castle,' she thought as she jumped into the shower.
After showering, she opened her two-door wooden closet. Her pink off-shoulder skater dress was hanging on one side of the door and on the other side was a mirror.
She took a black velvet jewelry box. In it was a white pearl bracelet and a pair of pearl earrings. She was not much into jewelries but these are precious for her because her parents gave them to her last Christmas before they left for America.
She put it aside and opened one of the lower drawers. In it are her underthings. She took a pink lacy thong out of the drawer, dangling it between her right thumb and forefinger. Though she knew no one will ever see it, she felt a bit daring as she slipped it on.
She bought it last Christmas as a gift to herself while shopping at Victoria's Secret. She was just supposed to buy a pair of pajamas for Vera but as she passed by the underwear section, she decided to buy a set. Shy and conservative, she usually used the simple ones but the moment she saw it, her confidence builds up.
She finished dressing up and put on make up. She blow dry her hair and put on the tiara she and her mom bought the other day from Claire's. It might just be plastic but she felt like a princess. It is her birthday anyway so she can do whatever she likes even if she dreams to be one for a day.
She looked at herself one more time in the mirror, sweeping her eyes over her appearance. Her pink off-shoulder dress hugged her body, showing her curves. She was not big-breasted like Vera but the padding inside the dress definitely made her breasts pop, revealing a little cleavage. The push up bra that comes with the set did its job, and she smiled contentedly.
Her wavy black hair fell on the sides of her face. She took her black velvet jewelry box once again and put on her pearl earrings matched with the pearl bracelet. Placing it back in her closet, she took her makeup kit, opened it and dubbed her small lips with red lipstick. To finish, she strapped her white heeled sandals and stared back at her reflection in the mirror.
'I hope he notices me now, 'she thought and she took a deep breath.
She soon opened the door as she ventured out armed with confidence.