Ever since that night, Jasper was ostracized by his entire family. Except for his sister, Blair. She was the second child born to the Viroslav family. She was a beautiful child, with blonde hair and bluish-green eyes. Blair was two years older than Jasper, and after the incident, he was left without a mother. Blair thought that It should be her duty to protect her younger brother.

                                                     8 Years Later

I’m celebrating my birthday. Today I turn fifteen. It’s already been eight years without mother. I still miss her very much. However, something else has caught my attention today. Everyone’s being very nice to me. Even my father’s first wife: Priscilla. She’s the meanest of all his wives; when I lost my mother, she would always scold me for being a bad child and making my father sad. She said I was the reason my mother left. Her words hurt me, even though I knew that they were all lies. But today, she quit her petty act. She even said ‘good morning’ and ‘happy birthday’ to me today. It was very strange for her to be this nice.

But, here I am now. At the dining table. The three children at one end while the parents are at the other. It’s a long distance apart so we can all have different conversations. The table is decorated very lavishly today. It’s a long spruce table with twenty two seats available. It has a red cloth straight down the middle, and there’s a beautiful vase full of all different kinds of flowers, surrounded by a candelabra on each side. The chandelier was shining brighter than usual, and the rest of the room was decorated with streamers to give it a ‘happy birthday’ feeling. I think the maids spent a majority of their day on this, because everything looks perfect, not out of place, and not too messy. Just the way father likes it.

We had just finished dinner, and my father proposed that it should be time for cake and presents. Usually we open the presents first and eat the cake last. Blair was the first one to give me her present. It was a long, rectangular box. It was pretty small, and it was decorated with a wonderful peach and orange color with flowers as the design. I carefully unwrapped the paper and opened the box.

“Thank you so much Blair! You know me so well. I’ll cherish it along with my collection!"She had given me a beautiful dagger with rubies and diamonds around the base. there was a gold trim, and it was the perfect size. Even the blade was perfect.

“I knew you would like it. You always show me your collection of these kinds of blades, so I figured I should add one as well.” She looked at me with loving eyes as she kept her straight posture.

I moved onto the next present. It was from my brother, the oldest child in the family, Felix. He was six years older than me. He gave off the ‘perfect first son’ aura. He followed up completely to father’s expectations, and never went out of line. Especially today, he dressed very finely, according to father’s tastes. He even had his dark brown hair combed back and perfectly done. His present was in a plain white, rectangular box. It was larger than Blair’s box. I took the lid off and removed the tissue paper. He had gotten me a book on philosophy.

“Thank you so much! I’ll read it soon and let you know how I liked it.” To be completely honest, I couldn’t care less about books, but my brother only wants to impress father anyways, so I shouldn’t really pay much attention.

“You’re welcome little brother.” As he said that, all he was looking at was father, hoping for some praise.

The next present I received was from my father’s second wife, the mom of Blair, Flora. She was the kindest person in the household, although she never showed it in front of father, she was always very nice to me. After my mom left, all she did was comfort me. Her hair was a soft blonde, and she always had some wonderful hairstyle or another. She liked to switch them out often. Her eyes were a deep blue, she was very pretty and always smelled nice. I liked the way her perfume made her appearance even more elegant. Her present was wrapped with a bow tie. The wrapping paper was purple and blue, decorated with little gold flowers. It smelled like her perfume. I unwrapped it and opened the box. She had given me stationeries in different colors, scents, and decorations. She knew I liked this kind of thing.

“Wow! These are perfect! Thank you so much Flora.” I picked one of out the box and turned it around, it really was pretty, and it even smelled nice.

Flora didn’t really acknowledge me much around father, but this time she returned my thanks with a nod of her head. I only had two presents left. I chose to open the one from Priscilla first. She was always mean to me. She looked mean as well. Her eye shadow was always overdone, with a purple shade almost touching her drawn on eyebrow. Her brown hair was tied up in a tight french twist, and she always made sure to have the sharpest cupid's bow on her lips. Her lipstick was bright red. Although she tried to keep it hidden using face cream and other products, I could always slightly tell that she had some wrinkles forming on her face.

Priscilla’s present wasn’t wrapped. It was in a light blue bag with some coral colored tissue paper. I reached inside and my hands found their way to a heavy object. I pulled what looked like a study guide. Well, it makes sense. She was always pestering me to take my studies to heart, like her son did. She was always comparing me and Felix, even though I wasn’t even her son.

“Thank You! I’ll be sure to make good use of this. I’m sure it will help my studies out a lot.” I started flipping through some pages to make it seem like I was interested in it.

“You’re welcome, Jasper.” Even her voice made chills go up my spine. I couldn’t even look her in the eyes because she was always that horrifying.

It was time to open the last present, from my father. I looked up at him across the table when I began to open his present. The only expression on his face was a smirk hidden by his curly mustache. His white mustache and plump face, along with his combed back grey hair made him look like one of those generic, eccentric, rich old men. His present was very thin, and once I unwrapped the paper, it revealed a flat, black, leather book. I opened the book to something I never thought I would have to see.

“Father! What is this? What are you trying to make me do!” I couldn’t hold my anger back anymore.

“That’s my present to you. Are you not even going to say thank you?” He looked super pissed.

What was inside the book was a marriage proposal. Her name was: Lizzy LeBlanc. She had blonde curls and light green eyes with fair skin. She was beautiful, but I never wanted an arranged marriage. I couldn’t cooperate with this. I couldn’t accept this. But everything that happened today makes sense now. Priscilla must’ve known about it. That’s why she was so nice to me today.

“Father… You know I can’t do this. Why would you even consider for one moment that this would be okay… Especially since you did this without my permission. This is my life not yours!” I was starting to get really angry, and I wasn’t even sure about what my father was going to do to me. None of us are allowed to talk back to him.

“What did you just say to me? I buy you gifts, I let you sleep on a comfortable bed in a giant mansion. I don’t refuse you of your necessary needs. I give you freedom. You think you have the right to talk to me this way? Do you think you can just say anything you want with no consequences?” He got up out of his chair and started walking towards me. I’m screwed.

His plump figure slowly made its way across the dining room to my chair. Sitting down, I was about the same height as him. I started to apologize, but it was too late. He already raised his hand. Before I knew it, he’d already hit me full force. He slapped me right across the face. Hard enough to leave a mark and a few bruises. It was his way of life, it’s how he thought of everyone in his family. He was the owner, and he had the right to do whatever he wanted to do to anyone. I bet this was why my mother left. But why would she leave me here with him if she knew he was so bad? Why didn’t she take me away from this mess. Why didn’t she save me? He raised his hand for a second shot, but before i knew it…

“FATHER! Stop it!” Blair had made her way in front of me. She spread out her arms trying to protect me from father. I didn’t know how much she could actually protect me from him, but she was trying her best.

“What? Now you think you can talk to me this way too? Do you want a beating like he’s getting one now?” He grabbed her shoulder and threw her to the ground. He always avoided hitting noticeable parts on female bodies. He wanted to keep them prim, proper, and beautiful.

I quickly went to shield Blair, as she had done for me. I couldn’t take any of father’s antics anymore. He was really beginning to get on my nerves.

“You’re going to marry Lizzy no matter what you do, Jasper. That is my final thought on this.” He began to walk away, when Blair stopped him.

“Father? Marriage? Jasper, what is he talking about? Who are you going to marry? When did this happen?” Blair looked really hurt, as if she was about to cry. I showed her father’s ‘present’. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. But he ignored her and continued to walk back.

“Oh, children, there is one more announcement for everyone. Felix, would you please?” Once father made his way back to his chair, Felix got up from his chair and started speaking.

“I will be getting married in one month. I’m going to marry Cordelia Beaumont. Both of you have met her before, so I trust there won’t be a breath of complaint? Well, that’s all.” Felix fixed his tie, and sat back down in his chair.

“You heard him. Dismissed.” Father’s voice was sharper than usual tonight. He even forgot about the cake. I gathered my presents and Blair and I walked out of the dining room to our rooms.