To Presume Is To be Consumed (Part 1)

Joan's hands shook. She stared at the electronic device sitting on the coffee table innocently in shock.

Soon she came back to her senses. She took a deep breath into her deprived lungs and let it out again. Slowly, she returned to her usual calm and aloof state. The tremors in her hands stopped as well.

The dubbed 'Ice Princess' had shown herself in the house, which was a rarity since this was the only sanctuary Joan would allow herself to take off her defences. Here was where the vulnerable little girl hidden beneath all the sharp thorns would show up.

Whereby the employees from her successful company would find this cold and collected side of her normal, anyone who truely knew the Joan in the Sanctuary would be shocked. Not that there was such a person in the whole world. Ever since the day she left 'The House', she had closed her fragile heart off from the cruelty of the world.

'The House' - thinking about it made her lips curled up in a bitter smile. Before that fateful day, it was her Heaven, her home. She had a gentle mother and an indulgent father. Since she was an only child, she was given unconditional love by both her parents.

Spoilt as she was, she never brought any shame onto the family. She was the epitome of the perfect daughter any parents could wish for - polite, intelligent and pretty. She was the ideal daughter and until that fateful day, she thought she had the ideal family too.

(to be continued....)