The Hidden Passion of the Step Uncle

"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.

"Your mother and I, we were once young people like you. We've liked, admired, and even fallen in love with someone. But..." her father paused again. "Making that person an excuse to go to the same school, that's not acceptable to us."

Elara looked at her father in silence. She did not know that her mother was listening to their conversation behind the wall where she had disappeared.

"It's about your future. You have to set your priorities first. Didn't you say you wanted to be successful?" her father asked, to which Elara nodded. "You said you want to be successful like Uncle Geremia, Aunty Flavia, Aunty Francisca?" Elara nodded to her father. "So you should know what makes them successful, right?" he continued.

Elara was silent, she already knew the answer, but let her father repeat the same discussion.

"It's because they are serious about their studies. They do what they love. They do everything wholeheartedly. They start everything because they love the field. Not because they are pursuing the opposite sex." Her father continued.

"I'm not forbidding you to like or love someone. But, doing an action because of someone else, it's the same as expecting that person to return what we've sacrificed for them.

"If in the end we don't get what we want from them. If in the end they don't think you exist and even ignore you, then you will be disappointed and think that everything you have done so far has been in vain.

"And at the end of the day, you'll stop your efforts halfway and I don't want you to do that.

"Your mother and I want you to go to college because you want to study that field. Not because he's there." Her father said at length.

Elara was still looking at her father. Her father had not guessed wrong. Elara really wanted to study in Manhattan because her crush was studying there. She got a scholarship to study at one of the prestigious universities in Manhattan. And actually, Elara also got the same offer, in fact she got offers from three different universities because of her intelligence. But until now she has not decided where to go because she herself does not have a definite goal.

And what her father said wasn't wrong either. She actually felt the same fear. If she went after him, if he liked her back, she might have a wonderful adolescence. But if not? Will she be ready to continue her studies with the heartbreak she will experience?

But the other reason besides the man was that Elara wanted to be free from her mother's monitor. Elara wanted to be free like her peers who left home and lived independently by renting a flat. She also wanted to be free from her mother's curfew.

But...?

Elara knew that her conservative-minded mother would not allow it. It wasn't that her mother didn't believe she could control her relationships. But her mother was too afraid of something happening to her.

Manhattan is not a small city that is safe from crime. Especially now that the news is full of bad things happening to teenagers. And her mother was indoctrinated by that. That's why her mother has always given strict rules.

Her mother never allowed her to play outside for too long without monitoring. According to her mother, if Elara and her friends wanted to play, it would be better if they came to Elara's place instead of playing outside. Abigail was happy to provide everything Elara and her friends wanted as long as they stayed at Elara's place, not the other way around.

And so far, Elara's friends didn't mind, and could even be said to be very enthusiastic. But it was Elara who felt caged. And now, she wanted to be free from her confinement. She wanted to be as free as any other eighteen-year-old.

Elara knew that living with Granny Ada wasn't a bad choice. Her grandmother was a kind, caring woman who was never controlling. Definitely different from Abigail. But there was one thing that made Elara reluctant to live with her. It was Granny Ada's youngest son. Rayyan Quirino.

Yes, Rayyan Quirino. The youngest son of the Altezza-Adaline couple, who is seven years older than Elara, has always considered himself the most handsome man in the universe and is a self-proclaimed playboy.

Elara didn't like him because he was always teasing her. Meeting him was like meeting a mortal enemy. There was never any peace.

Other people who saw their fight would probably find their behavior funny and laugh at it. But for her, her step-uncle's behavior only made her blood pressure rise with anger.

Then something occurred to Elara. "Uncle Rayyan, he's not in Manhattan, is he?" Elara looked at her father who was already engrossed in his tablet. Her father nodded his head. "Okay. Then," she said which made her father turn his head. "I'm going to stay with Granny Ada. And I'll think about which major I really want." She said with a smile framed on her beautiful face. "As long as that playboy isn't around, I'm safe." She murmured softly to which her father replied by raising one eyebrow in confusion.