The Invisible Mystery

Chapter 1: Liana Elisse Smith

I looked at myself in the mirror as I let out a sigh because I did not expect that something like this would happen. And I never intended for something like this to happen. I never expected that my father would make a sudden decision like this.

I sighed again as I remembered what happened this morning, when the three of us, including my sister, were having breakfast like we usually did before. I thought that it was just the same as it normally would, but I was wrong.

I just realized that my Father was planning something when I saw that he was looking at me from time to time. I also noticed that he was more silent than usual. He was not acting like his usual self, and that bothered me for the whole time, but I just stayed as silent as I could because I thought that he would tell me what had been running on his mind.

But it seemed like he didn’t intend to tell me anything, because we were almost done with our usual breakfast, but he was still stealing a glance at me, then he would just let out a sigh as he looked away from my direction. He kept silent though I knew that he wanted to tell me something.

I knew that I was not the only one who noticed it, because I saw how my sister was frowning at him when she caught him giving me a glance that she also could not understand. But because she didn’t want to interfere or to become disrespectful towards our Father, she just also decided to stay as quiet as she could be.

Don’t get us wrong, alright? We have a great relationship with our father. He always gave us what we wanted to have and he always made sure that he had a day to spend some time with us, but that didn’t mean that we could just ask him something without being respectful.

After all, even though we treated him as a friend, both of us also wanted to treat him as a father, to respect him as one, and we could not possibly ask something, out of curiosity, because my sister and I thought that it would really be disrespectful on his part.

It was a silent agreement between the two of us that we never talked about, but we both knew we had to follow, and as of that moment, we both decided to do just that and wait for our Father to talk; even though we were really getting awkward with what had been happening as of that moment.

It was the first time in years that something like that had happened, but we could not do anything but to wait for our father to speak. We could not do anything but to become aware of the uncomfortable silence between the three of us.

Even the maids who were checking on us from time to time had a curious look on their faces as though they wanted to know what had been happening, but they didn’t dare to say anything because it seemed like they already knew that we didn’t want to break the silence.

I was already finished with my food, and it seemed like my sister was done too. That was the moment that both of us nodded our heads when our eyes met. We had already decided that we should stand up from our seats because it seemed like our Father did not want to talk about that something that had been bothering his mind this whole time.

We were about to excuse ourselves, saying that we needed to do something, but before I could even open my mouth to speak, I heard my Father let out a loud sigh again that made me stop and look at him with a curious but worried expression on my face.

I was about to ask him if he was alright, but I kept quiet when I saw that he looked at me with a serious expression on his face that I rarely see on him whenever he was with the two of us. It seemed like whatever he was thinking about this whole time was really serious, which was why he had that kind of look on his face.

“I have decided that you will transfer to another university,” he said to me as he looked straight into my eyes.

My eyes widened because of what he said, and I also saw that my sister almost had the same expression as mine when we heard that from him. We did not expect to hear something like that from him, and I did not think that that was the reason why he had been acting so strange at that moment.

“May I ask why?” I asked him, because I could not remember anything that made him decide to do something like that.

I mean, I have been an excellent student the whole time that I was at the university. I also made sure that I was at the top of the class, because that was the only thing that my Father wished me to have. I couldn’t understand why he had to decide something like that. I couldn’t think of any reason, and I guess that my Father would explain to me what had been happening.

After all, he always tried to make us understand why he had to decide about something. He always explains things to us, so that it would not cause a misunderstanding between the three of us. He always made sure that he would do that, before he would do something.

I remembered that time when I asked why he was doing that, and he said that he didn’t want our family to fall apart because of a simple misunderstanding. He didn’t want to cause a fight between the three of us. He said that he did not want to lose his only family, and that’s us, my older sister, Abigail, and I.

And I guess that he would also tell us why he had to decide on something like that. I think that he would tell us why I had to transfer to another school, even though I was already content with my current university.

“Don’t get me wrong, Elisse,” he told me, and I could see a soft yet conflicted look on his face. “I knew that your performance in your current school is good, the best to be exact, but I wanted you to have an even greater opportunity. I wanted you to have a chance to show off your skills and performance at another school. A better school than the current one.”

I slowly nodded my head at him, even though I could not fully understand what he was trying to say. I have been trying to process everything, but I could not fully grasp what he was saying to me.

I have been at this university the whole time, and I can say that it was one of the best in town. It was even featured in one of the famous articles on this country, saying that it was in the top three best performing universities in the whole country, and I could not understand why my Father said that he wanted me to transfer to an even better, and greater, university.

“So… where will I transfer?” I asked him, even though I was still unsure about this thing.

Though I guess that I didn’t have any choice, because I could tell that my Father was really determined about this decision, and it seemed like he didn’t want anyone to stop him from deciding this thing.

My Father took a proper seat as he clasped his hands together. It was as if, for some reason, he did not want to tell me where I would transfer, though he could not possibly evade the question because he was the one who opened up the topic.

He took a deep breath before he said, “Pristine University.”

I frowned because I remembered that it was the top university in the country. I have read somewhere that this university is the best of the best, and almost all of the students of the said university are successful now. It even stated that this school always made sure that its students would achieve their desired goals.

I was about to open my mouth to ask him something again, but I heard my sister gasp as if she could not believe that our Father had decided that without even saying to us. That made me look at her, and I frowned when I saw that she had a horrified look on her face, and I couldn’t understand why she was acting like that.

“Dad!” she shouted, which made me flinch on my seat because that was the first time that I ever heard her shout like that. “Are you serious about this?” she asked our Father with a shocked expression on her face.

My Father looked at her for a brief second, before he turned to look at me and I knew that he intended to ignore what my sister had asked him. He intended to act as if he did not hear anything from my sister, and I could see that Abigail was displeased with how he had acted.

He smiled gently at me, though I could tell that there was something more in that smile, but as always, I didn’t point it out. I just continued to stare at him and I was trying to figure out why the two of them were acting like that, but my mind was blank and I could not think of anything.

“I wanted the best for you,” he said to me, ignoring the protests of Abigail. “And I know that this university will be the best choice for you.”

“How can you say that this will be the best choice for her?” my sister interjected, which made my Father and I look in her direction. “How can you do such things, huh?”

“Abigail,” Dad called her name in a stern voice that made my sister look at him, and she lowered down her gaze when she saw that kind of look on our Father’s face. “Enough of that,” he said before he looked at me again, then at Abigail.

It seemed like they knew something, but I could not figure out what it was and I did not dare ask because I knew that it would just upset my Father even more. He has been doing his best for the two of us, and it seems like he really wanted me to transfer to this so-called Pristine University.

“As I have said earlier, I wanted the best for your sister,” he said, which made Abigail look at him with an expression that I could not name. “And this is what I think the best for her.” It seems like my sister was about to cry when she heard that from our Father, and I still could not understand why. “Please respect my decision, my daughter.”

Abigail looked at him for a minute, before she let out a defeated sigh.

“Fine,” she said as she looked at my Father again. “But let Liana decide for herself. After all, she’s the one who will transfer to that school.” She looked at me, and that was the first time that I saw that kind of look on her face. A serious one. “It is reasonable to ask her opinion about this, right, Liana?”

She raised one of her eyebrows at me, and I just slowly nodded my head at her even though I did not know if my opinion was needed about this matter. After all, at the end of the day, my father’s decision would be the only thing that’s important.

I saw my Father nod his head at the both of us, and that made us focus our attention on him once again. “Of course,” he said, as he kept on nodding his head. He focused his attention on me again as he asked, “So, what do you think about it, Elisse?”

“If that is what you wanted me to do…” I told him, even though I was still unsure about some things, though I just shrugged it off because I thought that they would just tell me why they were acting like that. “Then I guess that it is fine with me.”

After all, all I wanted to do was to please my Father, who just wanted the best for me. And if this decision will make him happy, then I would gladly do that. Though I guessed that I would face some problems ahead, and one of them was I needed to find an apartment or a dorm because our home was really far from Pristine University.

My Father gave me a smile, then he looked at Abigail as he nodded his head. “I think that is the answer that you wanted to have, right, Abigail?”

That was the reason why I found myself staring at my reflection in the mirror, because I never expected that something like that would happen to me. And I did not expect that the moment that we finished our breakfast, my Father would tell me that I would go to Pristine University that afternoon.

He said that I needed to familiarize myself with my surroundings, and that I needed to grow accustomed that I would be living away from our home. He also said that I should start packing my things now, because he told me that he had already prepared all the requirements beforehand and that was the only thing that I needed to do.

I also found out that in less than a week, the school year would start at Pristine University, so I really needed to rush myself, and I did not have any time to think twice about my decision; though I already knew that I would not be able to back out from this said decision.

I let out a sigh again, before I turned on my bed to check if all the things that I needed to bring were already there, but I almost shouted when I saw that my sister was inside of my room, sitting on my bed and staring at me as if I had done something wrong towards her.

“You almost gave me a heart attack,” I told her as I put my hand on my chest to ease down the fast beating of my heart. “I did not even hear you knock. I did not even know that you were already inside my room!” I complained.

After a few minutes, she just let out a sigh as she ignored what I said to her.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked me, to change the topic to her sudden appearance inside my room. “I mean, I might not be in the right position to change your decision, but I just wanted to make sure that you really wanted to do this.”

I smiled a little at her, before I decided to sit beside her. “This is what Dad wanted me to do,” I said, as if that would explain all the reason why I intended to do this. “And I wanted to fulfill that.” I gave her a smile again, but her expression remained the same.

“But what about your own wishes? Your own happiness?” she asked me, a concern was evident in her eyes. “You always do something because that’s what Dad wanted you to do, but what about your own opinion?”

I laughed a little when I heard that from her. She said all of that as if she was not doing the same thing as mine. She said all of that as if she was not doing all the things that she had done because our Father told her to do so. She said all of that as if she was doing all those things on her freewill.

Though instead of saying that in front of her, I just smiled a little at her as I shrugged. “Maybe, I will find friends there and I will be able to enjoy some things at that university,” I said to her as I looked at nothing in particular.

And that was the truth. I wanted to have some friends at that university, if they would let me, and I wanted to enjoy it as much as I could.

Abigail just let out a loud breath as she hugged me, which made me look at her.

I did not even feel that she had stood up from her seat, though this was not the first time that something like this had happened.

“Just make sure that you will be safe at that university,” she told me, which made me smile a little.

I nodded my head at her as I answered, “I will.”