After two weeks of grief and vehemence, Callista finally succumbs to her father's plans for her future. Her tiny silk-clad feet walks on the carpeted floor towards the study. Her brown eyes focused on the impending, enormous, oak doors that served to be the only entrance to his office. Dainty fingers grabbed purchase and with a deep sigh, she pushed the doors with all her might.
In retrospect, the proposition didn't matter to her. Bravely, she refused to listen to her father's orders, endured a heavy beating afterwards, and still had the will to openly frown upon Bhavin as he visited her in the garden. After her vicious display of defiance, no one dared sway her to accept the plan again. Her father ultimately ignored her during the rare moments he was at home. If not only for her stepmother's hushed nagging, she would've never been reminded of the issue. Bhavin, the duke's son, never came back. But, when her richest clothes and jewelry were taken away from her to sell, she knew she had to do something.
Their family owned a winery but when the last of their functional cellars burnt down from what police said to be 'faulty wiring' last month, they slowly plummeted from their lavish lifestyle. Tapestries, furniture, and servants that once adorned the interiors of her home had rapidly decreased by the month. Now, she shared a servant boy with her younger half-sister, Alice. Even Mimir, her eldest brother who was sent abroad to prepare himself for an inheritance (that no longer existed) , was forced to come back and aid their father on this predicament. In the very same month, her stepmother has grown deep creases on her face and her father's temper flared more often than before. She knew that the fate of their family was in her hands- hand in marriage to Bhavin.
"Ppa-pa?" the fifteen-year-old gently chirped to the crouched back hidden beneath a bergère chair.
She was greeted by the hushed scribbles of her father's fountain pen against paper. With another step further into the room, she spoke again.
"Alice?" He inquired. His hands still focused on reading documents.
"It's Callista." she whispered as if she feared her very name. Then, the scribbling stopped. At the drop of the pen, the study was filled with intense silence. Even her breath felt choked within her throat.
"I'll marry Bhavin." she spoke. Abruptly, her ancient father rose from his chair then turned to look at her. As she peered at him, she could see the dark circles underneath his eyes. Suddenly the vision is lost as she was engulfed into her father's embrace, the very first time in years that she had received from him.
"Thank goodness you've came to." he murmurs as he kissed the crown of your head. She felt a fuzzy warmth bloomed on her cheeks and her hands gently disentangles herself. Her brown eyes sought to see his and was surprised to see it glisten.
"On one condition, Father. I wish to bed Hiran my servant boy."
As if she were a cursed item, her father pushes her away.
"Y-you--" He began in derision. His fists were raised and shaking upon the girl. With her dainty arms, she covers her face from another beating.
But nothing came.
"Do as you wish. Now, leave." He exhales. With no further coaxing, Callista scrambles up and leaves the study in haste.
"You are just like your mother." his very words fleeting as the distance between the study grows wider.