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"Tovia! Tovia!"
That morning, her father had called her, shouting her name as she prepared to go to college.
"What is it this time again?" Tovia murmured angrily as she descended the stairs.
"Don't you hear me calling you?" Mr. Page lashed out at his only daughter and child, but she only stood with an angry face, looking at her father. Tovia knows that whenever her father starts calling her like that, there has to be something that she will regret later.
"Prepare yourself tonight. We are both meeting the Woods," Mr. Page said, adjusting his tie.
"The Woods!" Tovia squeezed her face, looking ugly.
"I have already finalized your marriage with Jerry. So we need to meet with them tonight to talk about the wedding preparations," Jones added nonchalantly.
"No drama, you hear me?" He warned as he dashed out of the mansion, with his assistant following closely. Tovia stood still, like she had just been struck by heavy lightning. It takes a while for her to crawl back into her room.
Sitting in front of the mirror in her room, she stares at her reflection as if she has lost the sense of time. Suddenly, she yells.
"I hate myself! I hate myself!" Hot tears flow down her cheeks as she cries. Her face turns sore because of anger.
"How could he? How could he do that to me?" Tovia cries and starts to throw all the things on her dressing table away furiously. The sound of things shattering attracts Maggie, the househelp, who is working downstairs. She quickly runs to Tovia's room. Maggie had already secretly heard Mr. Page talking to Tovia about the marriage that morning.
"Young Miss," Maggie calls and quickly holds Tovia's hand, who is now crying seriously at the sight of Maggie. Maggie sighs seeing Tovia crying. She slowly bends down and starts picking up all the things Tovia threw on the floor.
"Young Miss, you need to pull yourself together," Maggie stands up, looking at Tovia's wet face in pity.
"How could I pull myself together in all this? How could I?" Tovia sheds more tears. Maggie then pulls closer to Tovia and hugs her by the side.
"I know it's difficult, but since there is nothing we could do about it..." Maggie pauses because she does not want to add to Tovia's pain.
"Why would he choose to marry me to those goons?" Tovia laments, still crying.
"Not even someone better, Jerry! Jerry, for that matter," Tovia cries at the thought of Jerry.
"Everyone in this city knows Jerry and the Wood's family are pure evil, and they have no regard for anyone. How could I marry into such a family? To that arrogant Jerry, at that?" Tovia looks frustrated and angry at the same time. Maggie sighs terribly, knowing the Woods.
Indeed, no one would be so unfortunate to marry into the Wood's family. Everyone knows that the Woods are just as their name suggests: brutal, evil, and the talk of all the bad things in the world.
"How could someone who is sane allow his only child to marry into such an evil family?" Maggie thinks worriedly, but does not utter a word about her worries.
"Only Jones would do that," Maggie mutters to herself and heaves a long sigh.
"Young Miss," Maggie calls Tovia after some time, knowing she has already calmed down.
"Maybe I should talk to Master," Maggie said slowly. Tovia looks up at Maggie. She can see how worried and concerned Maggie is because of her. Looking at the two, one could see how close they are to each other, even though they have the relationship of a master and servant.
Tovia has always regarded Maggie as her own mother, but she is just a househelp who has been working with the family for a long time. Tovia grew up with Maggie working in her family household, and Maggie always treated her like her own child too.
Tovia wiped the tears that stained her face because she did not want to bother Maggie with her problems. She really wanted someone who could talk to her father, but she knew that her father always did whatever he wanted. There was no way to talk her father out of his decisions.
"He has never listened to anyone, how will he listen to you?" Tovia sighed sadly. She looked at Maggie's worried face and slowly held Maggie's hands, then forced a smile.
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