HIDDEN PASSION

"Mommy, I want to go to Manhattan." The eighteen-year-old girl whined to her mother.

Her mother looked back at her daughter and her husband in turn. The near-fifty-year-old man could only shrug his shoulders as if he felt no guilt. The wife squinted back.

"Papa said that if you lets me, I can continue my studies in Manhattan."

A sly smile developed on her mother's face. "You really want to go to Manhattan?" her mother asked slyly.

The girl with waist-length hair nodded her head enthusiastically.

"I will allow you to study there." Her mother said again, still with a smile on her face. Elara became more enthusiastic and looked at her mother expectantly. "But there are conditions." She said which made Elara's eyes round.

"Co-conditions?” stammered Elara. She knew this was not a good idea. Her mother was the most cunning person ever. A selfish person at the same time. But for the sake of her desire to study there, what could she do. "What are the conditions?" asked Elara fearfully.

"You can go to college in Manhattan, as long as you stay at Granny Ada's place."

Duaarrrrrrr! As if lightning had just struck her head, Elara could only look at her mother with her mouth agape.

"Mom..." she said softly. "Why do I have to stay at Granny Ada's place? Isn't our family Granny Claire. Why don't I just stay at Granny Claire's place?" Elara coaxed her mother.

Her mother shook her head. "I can't. You know that Granny Claire's family isn't doing well right now. Granny Claire has enough Gianna to take care of, she doesn't need another kid to wear her down. So if you want to go to college there. You have to be willing to live with Granny Ada. If you don't want to, then don't go there. Just look for colleges around here."

"But Mom... I promise I won't bother Granny Claire. I'll actually help Granny to look after Gianna, take care of Gianna too." She coaxed again. Her mother clucked back.

"You? Take care of Gianna? You can't look after your sister, how can you look after your cousin?" Her mother snorted again.

"Mommy, please..." Elara whined again. But her mother shook her head again.

"Yes, or nothing. That's the only choice you have." Abigail said, leaving her eldest daughter with her husband.

Elara watched her mother leave with an annoyed frown on her face. She looked back at her father who was pretending to look at the tablet in his hand.

"Papa... help me." Elara coaxed her father.

"Help you with what?" replied her father in a lazy tone. "I told you that you have to persuade your mother yourself. If I help you, your mother will be even less likely to let you go." His father replied with a regretful face.

Elara scowled at her father. Her face twisted in annoyance again. She folded her hands on her stomach with her back leaning against the same sofa her father was sitting on.

"Why go to Manhattan anyway? Isn't there a college in Kansas that you like?" his father asked again.

Elara turned to her father and nodded. Her father squinted back. "There isn't a campus you like, or a boy you like who isn't there?" her father asked suspiciously.

"Papa! Shhh... shut up." Elara instantly silenced her father's mouth. "If Mommy’s hears about this, she won't let me go to Manhattan." The girl whispered in her father's ear. Her father just nodded in understanding. He lowered his daughter's hand and grasped it tightly.

"Elara, darling, listen to me." He said in an authoritative tone. "It's not that I don't want you to go to Manhattan. I won't forbid anything that has to do with education, and neither will your mother. Even if you want to study abroad, we won't stop you as long as... your goal is to study. Not chasing after love or men. " Her father said seriously.