Ziva cautiously turned the doorknob, only to find her father's twin children standing on the other side.
"Can I help you?"
"Father wants you to join us for dinner, ma'am," Twin 2 said.
"Please speak casually with me. It's not as if I'm royalty or something."
"Okay. Please dress your best, for we have a guest," Twin 2 replied.
"I don't have anything that fits up to his 'high' standards."
"Please follow me to the master wardrobe," Twin 1 said.
"Okay..."
Ziva followed the twins to a huge wardrobe, which felt like a paradise filled with clothes. Ziva picked out something simple yet elegant enough for a dinner. She decided to straighten her natural hair, as wearing it out would be seen as "disgraceful" to her father. Ziva is half African and half Indian. Her hair wasn't as "afro" but it was visible.
As she descended the stairs, she took her seat at the dinner table. Despite the weight of everyone's gaze, she remained unfazed. Her father and his daughter had yet to make an appearance.
The atmosphere was tense as the only people present were the twins and their Mom. A palpable silence lingered, hinting at an impending request from her father. Knowing his forceful nature, she understood that mere words wouldn't suffice unless backed by fear, which she refused to entertain. After an excruciating half-hour of silence, her father and Melissa finally joined them at the table, both wearing grave expressions. Melissa spoke up,
"Father, are you going to tell her?"
"After dinner, Melissa," Father replied.
Ziva didn't think much of it. While having dinner, I couldn't help but think why my father had accepted another female child but didn't accept me. It didn't make any sense to me at all. I mean, I know he has twins, which are both boys, so he's been blessed by God multiple times, but Melissa is a girl, and he welcomed her with open arms but tossed me aside. The thought of this whole situation made Ziva furious at her father. Melissa isn't even his biological daughter, but I am. Only twins have his blood. Her thoughts were cut short when her father finally spoke,
"You have to pay me back for living under my roof."
"How much money do you need?"
"Are you stupid? Do you think you have enough money to pay me back? I'm a billionaire. Even if you had saved all your money for 6 years it'll never be enough."
Melissa laughed.
"So what do you want? To humiliate me?"
"I have better things to do with my time," Ziva's father retorted.
"What do you want then?" Ziva inquired.
"I'm working with a colleague who's the finder of X headquarters, and he demands that the project can only continue if I make my daughter Melissa marry his second eldest son," her father stated.
"That's none of my business."
"Oh, but it is. Melissa doesn't want to do it. And you two are already engaged."
