Adelpha, Zoes 'very generous aunt' paces up and down, unable to control herself. She looks at the doorway that Zoe was supposed to come in through and shakes her head while balling her hands. "How atrocious, and absolutely preposterous is this?! Tell me Adelfa, what is your daughter doing right now? How can one be stupid enough to set a foot out of the house just before her coronation?" She turns to Melissa again. "You, tell me exactly where your goddamn sister is?"
Their brother, the youngest, tries to calm her down but was not even able to get a word through before she gave him the eye. He scoots closer to his wife and gives his other sister a sorry expression. Zoe wasn't the type of girl to go running around like that unless it was something important. What could be more important to her than the day she has been waiting for her whole life?
Melissa, who is the subject of her glares, hides behind her mother, shaking and biting her nails. Can't give in. Can't tell them where my sister is. It is bad. Must protect my sister.
Frustrated, she couldn't even pull at her hair as she had already had it dressed for the coronation and so was everyone.
"Sister, I am so sorry about this, I also did not know of this until this morning." Zoe's mother tries to explain, her eyes darting back and forth from the door hoping her daughter would walk in any second.
Adelpha moves closer to her sister and softly places her hands in hers. Their gold hair the same shade. "Tell me Delfa, has your daughter been with a man? Is that why you told her to flee? It is okay, it is very understandable and I can do something about it before it is too late and our family's names are thrown in the mud. Hun?"
Shocked she could even think of such a thing, she snatches her hand from her sister and stares at the other with an incredulous look. "God forbid such a thing happen to any of my daughters. I give them proper training Adelpha."
Infuriated she asks again. "Then tell me why we have to delay an important event because of the absence your beautiful darling who should have been here four hours ago?" When she doesn't get a response she begins to pace up and down again, before her eyes land on Melissa. Darting forward, she grabbed the shy girl by the arms and shakes her. "Tell me now. Tell me where she is! Are you hiding her atrocities? Open your mouth and tell me where your goddamn sister is Melissa?"
Unable to handle the pressure as she was almost on the brink of losing her consciousness, she responds. "OO1! Sister.. .sister...went to OO1." She finally confessed. "Please leave me alone. Mommy." Her cries for her mother made her mother quickly grab her and hug her.
Adelpha walks forward a bit and straightens her clothes. Adjusts her hair and calms herself before saying with a smile. "You have taught her well indeed."
Adelpho was shocked. Very. But not his wife and twin daughters. Zoe has always looked like the black sheep of the family and acted like the type to cause trouble. She does things on impulse and is different from the rest of the family as she wouldn't obey without having an argument first. So was Zoe's mother. She was surprised her daughter could mess up so badly like this on her big day and began to blame herself for not bringing her up well.
"That sister, OO1. Isn't that just forbidden? It should be okay if she comes back without seeing a man right?"
Adelpha, who was still on the brink of losing her cool after hearing where Zoe went, glares at her brother. "Are you not a member of the family? You do not know the rules? Don't tell me you have been teaching that to your daughters?" He looked downwards and didn't dare give her a response. "Now that it has come to this, I hope you are well aware Adelfi, that your daughter is impure."
After saying this she wanted to walk out on them when Zoe rushed into the hall. Her feets made a slapping noise on the old tiles, and her hands, filled with dirt, rested on the door knob. Her bouncy brunette hair looked more rough than usual. And her feets were covered in earth soil and blood as she was wearing no shoes.
The first person she saw was her aunt and she quickly rushed towards her.
"I am sorry I am late. I had something to attend to." She explains almost breathless.
"Did you?" Her aunt questioned in a monotone voice. "Surely whatever is in OO1 is more important than our family isn't it?"
Shocked, she looked in Melissa's direction and could see her sister already in tears. "Aunt.."
Pa.
Pa.
Without any prior warning or suspicions, her aunt landed two successful slaps on her face. "You bastard! Now that you have ruined the name of our family and soiled us all in the mud, are you happy?" She didn't even bother letting the girl have a word before she shouts. "Ladies!" Five girls in white dress quickly rush forward.``Inform the whole city, we will be postponing the coronation and throw her out. Abandon her in the streets." She commands with no emotion.
"Sister, you can't do this. Melissa can stand in."
"Who is to say that she is pure? Don't you try to get into this unless you want to implicate your dearest Melissa and her other cousins. We both the implications of scenarios like this."
Adelphos wife, Anabelle glares at Zoes mother and her daughters gaze upon them with disgust but for the sake of Melissa, her mother couldn't dare move closer to her own daughter and could only watch with tears in her eyes as her daughter got dragged away.
"You should be thankful for your big sister in law. Sister in law is in fact being merciful. Crimes like this, you know we go by old law. Say she should be beheaded in front of the whole city or killed with snake poison but it is between us families so she is letting it go."
Annoying as the arrogant lady sounded, she was right.
And like that, Zoe was cast out by her own family and left on the street.
BACK TO PRESENT.
As she carefully lets her fingers trace the strings of the violin she held, she glares at the man. It was all his fault?
"I should have left you to die on the street back then Zoe. Of what use are you if you can't even entertain me this way?" He takes a drag from his cigarette and puffs it in her face. "Part your legs well, let the sound fill the room."
Red with anger, she could not speak back at the moment. After all this was the only man willing to take her in. Even though this wolf was nothing but a devil.