Fireflies And Butterflies (ON HIATUS)

01║First Words

To others, Mairborough was a town that flourished in hardwork and happiness. To Czarina, it was a town that came with the uncertainty of the next day, boring and delusional.

The ride back home to Czarina was like a quiet journey towards hell, the devil himself waiting at the end with an embrace of death. Throughout the ride, her mind always returned to her results, what the principal had read to her and what her mother will say to her.

You're pitiful, she could hear her mother's accented voice say in her mind, forcing her to wince. All you can ever specialize in is to fail everytime.

Despite that, Czarina rolled her eyes, passing her fingers through the pitch-black fur of her German Shepherd. It was lying beside her, its head resting on her laps. She heaved a tired sigh, throwing her head back. From the sound that was coming from outside, she guessed that they had passed the borders leading into Mairborough. People were chanting her surname and it made her groan in irritation.

"Stupid people," she muttered, slowly rolling her eyes. Her dog raised it's head and growled lowly at the tinted windows. She chuckled dryly, patting its head. "Pay no attention to them Bruvver. Those people are crazy, delusional buffoons that act all the time just to be noticed." She clicked her tongue and shut her eyes. "All they can ever bow to is money. Idiots."

With her eyes shut, Czarina eventually slept off, dreaming about her mother's face that held—or rather, will hold—a disgusted expression when they came face-to-face. Her sleep was cut short by the sound of her chauffeur softly calling out her name. A grunt escaped her as she scrunched up her face, peeling her eyes open.

"We are here Miss Rose-Velt," the chauffeur said from the other side of the partition that had been slightly rolled down.

Czarina palmed the side of her face and exhaled softly. "Then what are still doing in the car? Get out and help me get out of this car," she said quietly.

The chauffeur nodded and turned off the car. He rolled up the partition and exited the car. Czarina waited for him to open the door before she actually touched up her make-up, packed up her handbag—which took up to thirty seconds—and put a leash on her dog. The chauffeur waited patiently as she stepped out of the car, gently pulling her dog with her.

"Let's go," she said to her dog, smiling down at him. The dog barked and followed after her as she began to walk up to the porch. The heels of her knee-high boots thudded lightly against the cobbled path as she walked, her hair flying in the light wind.

Her made-up face was blank as she moved to the main door, servants greeting her left and right. Czarina payed none of them attention as she silently stepped into the building. It was only when one of the servants walked past her, a soft greeting rolling out of her mouth, did Czarina stop walking abruptly, one of the servant's features catching her eyes. She raised a brow and looked behind her. Her eyes trailed to the servant's hair, the thing that caught her interest. The female servant had styled her pearly-white hair styled into box braids which she had packed into a tight bun. Her hair was entirely different from the other servants who either barbed their frizzy hair or left it in tight buns, causing her to stand out. Czarina kept on staring, her breath becoming shallow and wispy, her heartbeat spiking just the slightest as her eyes slowly slid down the servant's head to her backside. She only caught herself in the act when the servant stopped walking and peered over her shoulder. Czarina whipped her head forward, her fair cheeks heating up.

Czarina awkwardly cleared her throat and glared at the few servants who were peeping at her hair from the corners of their eyes as they walked past. "What are you looking at?" she asked in a hard tone, raising her eyebrows. The servants averted their gazes, rushing past her to move to the long, winding stairs up ahead. "Idiots," she said under her breath.