You're My Treasure

Chapter 5

"Where is she? She's supposed to be here ten minutes ago!"

"I don't know! She didn't even go to dinner-"

"Shh! He's here!"

With his presence heard just a few feet away, the sisters lined up to bid their father goodnight. It's a tradition done by the daughters of the King to show how much of royal daughters they were. However, with the absence of their youngest sister, they couldn't keep a straight face up.

King Triton soon came through the curtain of purple seaweeds. Pleased of seeing her daughters lining up, he put his hands on his back.

"Girls."

"Yes, father," in unison the daughters spoke.

"I-Where's Ariel?"

It didn't take long for the father to notice the absence of his youngest daughter. He scanned the room from left to right, but came with a vain result.

"We have no idea, father. She hasn't been seen since..." Attina paused in mid-sentence, not knowing of what to say. The king waited for her to finish her sentence, when a red-haired mermaid peeked over his shoulder from behind.

"Did I miss something?"

King Triton turned around to see her, and his eyes bulging right away. "The dinner, you missed that."

"Ah, no worries," Ariel simply swam past her father towards Attina's side. "I caught up with it minutes ago, there were still some in the kitchen."

Triton crossed his arms, very much feeling suspicious. "Ariel? Where have you been?"

"Somewhere..." she turned around, only to find out her father not even buying the first word. Biting her bottom lip, her mind came up with an excuse. "The reef. Flounder and I had some... sightseeing!"

Triton reduced the gap between him and the suspected daughter of his, glaring a little at her. Every single girl in the room except Ariel herself looked at their youngest sister. They could already tell something smelled fishy. Triton was aware of this, but then, he decided to dig for the truth later on. Besides, he had the trusted companion he'd tasked just for the job.

"Very well," he looked at the other daughters. "Sleep well, my daughters."

"Good night father," the daughters replied simultaneously.

"Good night," with that, he left the room. The girls remained stationery for a few seconds before Attina broke the silence.

"Ariel, where have you been?" Being the eldest among the sisters, of course she had to ask the question again.

"Attina, didn't you hear? I went to the reef!" Ariel was annoyed with the same question. To avoid more questions, she headed to her bed.

"No, that's not what I meant. Where have you been specifically in the past days? Or weeks, perhaps, I don't know! Where have you been?" Attina slowly approached her sister.

"And why should you care?" Ariel shot back.

Alana cut in. "Because we all know well enough that you've been to places where we do not necessarily want you to go to, Ari. Come on, don't be such a rock-head, will you?"

"I'm not being a rock-headed person, Alana!" Ariel chuckled, with heavy sarcasm. "Is it wrong for me to come home with a smile on my face? Adella comes home with a goofy smile nearly every day, and god knows what she's been up to. Why don't you question her about that?"

"Because merboys happen to be attractive, Ariel," Attina crossed her arms. "She's being approached, or currently approaching a-"

"Being approached!" Adella exclaimed from under her blanket.