Suspicious New Professor

Family Ties and Warnings

6

Jenissa had always found a sense of peace within the walls of her home. Her university life was filled with complexities, especially with the new professor stirring up strange emotions she couldn't quite decipher. But here, within the familiar creak of the floorboards, the scent of her mother’s lavender sachets, and the echoes of her younger siblings’ laughter, things felt clearer, simpler.

Jenissa arrived home late after an exhaustive day at Lille National Institute of Advanced Technologies. The sun had just dipped below the horizon, casting a pink and violet glow over the street as she pushed the gate open, her backpack heavy with the weight of notes and unanswered questions. Her mind lingered on Professor Elias Noir and the latest bizarre classroom incident, but she was grateful to leave that world behind, at least for a little while.

Inside, the warmth of family surrounded her instantly. Jerrik, her 12-year-old brother, was hunched over the coffee table, deeply absorbed in assembling a new model airplane, the remnants of plastic sprues and tiny screws scattered around him. Jerina, 15, had sprawled out on the couch, her laptop open with notes on trigonometry that Jenissa recognized from her own high school days. Their mother, Nancy, was in the kitchen, her soft humming drifting into the living room as she prepared dinner. This was her haven—simple and steady.

"Jen, you're back!" Jerrik called out, barely looking up from his project, but his grin was evident in his voice.

Jerina lifted her head from the laptop and gave her a teasing look. "Long day at the nerd institute?" she asked with a smirk.

Jenissa laughed, tossing a pillow at her. "Not as nerdy as watching you struggle with trigonometry."

Nancy poked her head out from the kitchen, her hair tied in a loose bun, a knowing smile playing on her lips. "Dinner's ready in a few minutes. Set the table, please, Jerina," she said, her gaze softening as it landed on Jenissa. "And Jen, you look like you need a warm meal and some good sleep."

Jenissa smiled back. “More than you know, Mom.”

They gathered around the dinner table, the meal simple but comforting—roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans, all of it infused with Nancy's warmth. Conversation bounced around, mostly about the small happenings of Jerina and Jerrik’s days at school. Yet Jenissa’s thoughts kept wandering back to Professor Noir, his strange, unguarded glint during the spill, the unsettling feeling that he was orchestrating everything.

Nancy noticed her daughter’s silence. “Something on your mind, Jen?” she asked, reaching across the table to squeeze her hand.

Jenissa hesitated. “It’s nothing, just… university stuff.”

Jerina rolled her eyes, obviously unimpressed. "University stuff" was Jenissa's standard answer, but this time, it sounded heavier than usual.

“Come on, tell us,” Jerina prodded, the slight competitive tone of younger siblings always eager to pry something interesting out of her.

Jenissa looked around, unsure. They were her family, but she didn’t want to draw them into her strange suspicions. Still, their inquisitive gazes weighed on her.

"Well," she began slowly, choosing her words with care, "we have a new professor for Computer Graphics, Professor Noir. He’s… interesting." She left the word hanging, but it felt hollow, even to her.

Nancy nodded thoughtfully, sensing more beneath her daughter’s cautious phrasing. "Interesting how?"

"He’s a bit… unpredictable," Jenissa said, realizing how lame it sounded. "He's… clumsy, you know? Like, really clumsy. But there’s something else. It feels like an act sometimes. There was this weird moment today—he spilled water on purpose, I think. And then, just for a second, I thought he was… I don’t know, calculating. Like he knew exactly what he was doing."