Once the fire sparks, everything burns

Spark one: Who are you?

A fiery red lipstick glided over the lips of the woman with an intense gaze. Even being the only one in the room, standing in front of a mirror, she never let her eyes free from her ambitions. She was not satisfied, and she added another layer of lipstick. She thought that her lips were the first thing she wanted others to see about her. After that, she ran her hair over her burgundy-red, wavy hair. She wanted everything to be fierce.

There were three words that were associated with her: red, fierce, and powerful.

She knew that she was still far from having the power she wanted, but that day, she knew that everything she wanted would fall into her hands someday. But with someone as ambitious as her, she could not wait anymore.

A notification popped up on her phone. It was a message from someone she had been trying to please her whole life.

"Don't forget to go home for dinner later at 7. Charm will be introducing her fiancé," she read, irked at the sight of the mention of her sister in the message.

Karin is the eldest daughter of the notoriously wealthy businessman Kevin Estrella. This family grew into wealth, having a business that has been passed on through generations. Estrella Inc. was known for successfully building businesses related to construction and design.

Karin's father married a very talented fashion designer, and this was where Karin got her interest in the arts. Her mother was no longer working as a designer, and this made Karin take over Estrella Creatives, the second-biggest business under Estrella Inc. after construction, which worked for marketing and designing clothes for their own brand. She was assigned to manage the company, but she had yet to convince her father to fully entrust it to her under her own name.

For that to happen, she had to beat her younger sister, Charm. Karin knew that her sister was never interested in arts and design, and what irritated her the most was when Charm kept on being in the same place as her. Charm also wanted that company, but Karin would never let that happen.

Karin almost lost everything to her sister, after all.

She ordered a spicy noodle soup for her lunch before attending the meeting. She inhaled the noodles without giving them a chance to chew, as she was hurrying up for the meeting. She only had 15 minutes for her lunch, while she had to read some documents. Of course, a boss like her hated the idea of being late, not because of the fear of being seen as unprofessional, but because she thought that one second wasted would have her on the losing end against her sister. Karin had to make sure that she was in control of everything.

"To conclude the performance for this month, Estrella Creatives showed increased sales and engagement." Karin was feeling dizzy, and she did not even understand a thing from their meeting. However, she knew that what was talked about was good for her company. She knew her skills, and she was confident that nothing would go wrong. At this point, Karin wondered if she was really talented or if she was just confident. Overall, it was her ambition that riled her up.

She took a break from reading documents, but as she was about to close her eyes for a minute, her attention landed on the newspaper with an interesting headline that said, "The heir to Arellano Inc. is about to attend his arranged marriage meeting for the 20th time."

Her eyes widened at the sight of the words "20th time." She thought that the man must have hated the idea of marriage so much that he had to attend it 20 times. Why would the family do this to him? Why does it say he's doing this for the 20th time? He must have been rejected, or he was the one who rejected the earlier meetings. Anyway, it's none of her business. Karin would never marry out of convenience. She must make everything happen on her own.