Farewell

"Don't forget to take your laptop!"

Tulip let out a tired sigh as her father's voice penetrated deep into her head.

"I know dad, I'm not a child," Tulip said as she tucked her laptop into her bag.

"I know you're not a child, but hum-" Mr. Williams paused as he noticed the pointed gaze he received from his daughter.

"I'm not Human Dad and I don't forget things as easily as you do." Tulip pursed her lips looking at the horrified face of her father. She didn't mean to burst out like that, but she was tired of her father treating her like a kid.

"I thought we spoke about this. You must keep your true identity a secret for your own sake. You know what will happen to you if your true identity was found out, right?" asked Mr. Williams and like a child Tulip nodded.

She knew what was at stake. If anybody got to know what she truly was, not only would she be in trouble, but her father's life would also be in danger.

Tulip dragged her bag behind her, as she headed to the black car that was parked in front of her house.

"All ready to go, I see." Mr. Forson said eyeing Tulip's luggage. He paused his job of cleaning the car and went to help his young Mistress carry her bag.

"Good morning, Mr. Forson," Tulip said with her smile, the dimple on her left cheek coming to view. She looked wearily as her Mr. Forson tried to put her luggage into the car's trunk. His gray hair was neatly combed backward in slight waves, while his beard was nicely trimmed, only leaving behind a well-kept mustache on his aging face. His skin was slightly wrinkled and his veins made different patterns on his arm.

Mr. Forson however proved her fears wrong, effortlessly placing her bag into the trunk of the car.

Tulip sat in the car, she was just about to shut the door, when her father appeared from the house.

"Have a save trip, dear." He said as he got closer.

"Won't you kiss me goodbye," Tulip said feigning sadness?

Mr.Williams said in an obviously fake annoyed voice," I thought you were not a kid." Tulip thinned her lips, not liking the fact that her father was using her own words against her.

"Okay okay, just this once." Mr. Williams got closer in preparation to give his daughter a kiss when suddenly, she stood up, almost head-butting him.

"Where are you going?" He asked as Tulip dashed past him.

"I forgot something really important!" She yelled without looking back at her father.

"Sometimes I feel like time seems to fly by. I still remembered when she was a toddler." Mr. Williams muttered, his words earning him a nod from the old driver.

Tulip went up the flight of stairs that led to her room so fast that she looked like she was gliding across the stairs. She entered her room and stopped, taking a look around her room. She walked up to the dressing table that was positioned at one corner of her large room.

There on the table stood a picture in a frame of a woman that looked exactly like Tulip. Her black her fell freely to her waist. A dimple similar to that of Tulip showed as the woman smiled.

Tulip hugged the picture, angry and happy at the same time. Happy that she remembered to take the only picture she had of her late mother and angry that she had almost left it behind.

She went back to the front of the house where her father and the chauffeur stood conversing.

"If that is what you think then you should use that route." She heard her father say to Mr. Forson. She could only guess that they were talking about the best route to use to her university.

Tulip kissed her father lightly on his cheek. He gently held her hand as she tried to enter the car.

" Remember what we talked about and be careful. Always trust your intuition, that's one of the things that your mother left for you." Mr. William's said. His gaze came to fall on the picture that was clutched tightly in his daughter's embrace, he finally understood why she had dashed away.

"I promise to take good care of myself. I won't let anyone know who I truly am Dad, trust me." She said with so much conviction that her father didn't question her.

"I'll have your word for it. Take this," he said gently trusting a package to Tulip.

"It's from your mother. She said to give it to you when the time was right. I think she meant now." Tulip looked at the wrapped package in her hand. Her eyes fill with tears. She felt a mixture of joy and sadness. Her mother, she had heard from her father, was a very wonderful woman. To think her father had hidden this from her since she was born.

She wrapped her hands around her father drawing him into a tight embrace.

"Thank you so much, Dad."

" You should thank your mother not me. She did everything. All I did was follow her instructions." Mr. William said, his voice low and sober. He truly missed his late wife but he was glad she left him a daughter to constantly remind him of her. Tulip looked exactly like her mother. If Tulip's mother were still to be alive, people would have thought the two were twins.

"And remember to take your pills on time." Tulip nodded to her father's words before she sat in the car finally feeling complete.

Mr. Forson shared a short nod with his boss before he drove away, the car leaving behind a light trail of smoke.

The silence in the car was relaxing but Tulip didn't mind it when Mr. Forson broke the comforting silence,

"Aren't you a little too happy, Miss Williams?

Tulip stared at Mr. Forson through the front mirror.

"Do I have a reason to be sad?" She asked sincerely. Mr. Forson pursed his lips, wondering if he should let her in on his thoughts.

" I agree that there isn't any reason to be partially sad about going to that University, but if you think about it more carefully, there isn't any reason to be exceptionally happy either."

Mr. Forson paused, letting his words sink in. He didn't have any problem with her going to University, it was the university she was going to.

"You are going to attend a school for both humans and vampires, isn't that enough reason to not be happy."

Tulip noticed how the lines on Mr. Forson's forehead deepened as he uttered the word 'vampire'. She already knew that her driver didn't like vampires one bit, in fact, the very thought of them made him sick to his core. She didn't hold Mr. Forson's intense hatred for her mother's kind against him, to be sincere, she sympathized with him.

When Mr. Forson was young, he had lost his sister right before his eyes as a rogue vampire drunk from her until her body felt limp and cold. The gore of seeing your only sister die before him, not to mention the way she died created an emotional scare that Tulip was positive would never fade away.

"Times have changed, Mr. Forson. There are now a lot of laws that govern the way vampires feed, And besides the university serves as the sole evidence that humans and vampires can live

"It's just unsettling, that's all." He muttered