Part Two; Chapter Two

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The last time Kahi was alone in the same room with her, Sooyoung had blown up a bookshelf and nearly scarred her teacher’s face. In fact, after that incident, Kangta had taken up most of her private lessons with Sooyoung, and the latter didn’t blame her for that.

Which was why, when the deputy headmistress strolled into the classroom that afternoon, looking as opulent as ever, Sooyoung was surprised. She had expected Kangta, of course. “Kangta-songsaengnim…”

“Is not the right person for this.” Kahi’s reply was as blunt as ever, though she forced herself to smile just a little. Even so, she was positive that Sooyoung could see right through her insincere gesture. Kahi sighed, being nice just wasn’t her thing.

“Okay. I know I’m the last person you want to be in the same room with to practice your new found ability. I know you probably don’t trust me and you probably hate me, but if Headmistress Jung thinks I’m the best person for this, then I am the best person for this. You trust her at least, right?”

Alarmed at the extremely informal speech her teacher had made, Sooyoung nodded her head quickly. “Yes. Yes, I do. And…uh…”

Kahi arched an eyebrow, a sign which Sooyoung understood as a prompt for her to go on. “I…don’t hate you. Really. I just think…” Sooyoung clamped shut in an instant as soon as her eyes met with those of the deputy headmistress’. Maybe she was overstepping her boundaries a little, she should have stopped her sentence after the little confession that she didn’t secretly want to strangle her mother’s old classmate.

“You just think I’m difficult to read.” Kahi finished the sentence in an ease, much to Sooyoung’s surprise. She didn’t know what to say or do, so she shrugged.

The older woman laughed, surprising Sooyoung even more. What drugs did the no-nonsense deputy headmistress take this afternoon? Sooyoung was completely sure that she was the first person in her batch to have heard the sound of her strict teacher’s laughter.

“So I’ve heard. Nothing new about that.”

Sooyoung managed a small smile at that response. She could see that Kahi was returning back to her usual demeanor; she had clasped her hands together and stared expressionless at the student in front of her.

“You do understand how your ability works, right?”

Sooyoung nodded slowly. She had replayed the meeting with Headmistress Jung countless of times in her head that she had almost memorized all that Headmistress Jung told her. It wasn’t easy to learn that the ability she has dreamed of discovering, was an ability with so much potential to cause more harm than good to the people around her.

“I am an angel when I’m happy,” She took a deep breath. “ and a monster when I’m sad.”

Shocked at the comparison used, Kahi shook her head slowly. “I wouldn’t label you as a monster. You have to hurt someone to be a monster. When you’re upset, you’re simply taking advantage, that’s all.”

Sooyoung shrugged again. “Tomayto, tomahto.” What’s the difference?

Kahi heaved a sigh internally. The fire incident had clearly shaken the young girl badly, that’s for sure. “Sooyoung, no one is blaming you for anything. You need to know that.”

“I am hazardous. A ticking time bomb.” Sooyoung nearly exploded, her hands were trembling with worry and frustration, maybe even anger. “You weren’t there when it happened. Jessica’s ability…I…I took it away.”

“And she got it back.” Kahi moved so that she was now standing directly in front of the brunette. She hesitated before placing her hands on Sooyoung’s shoulders firmly. “Listen to me carefully, because I am not going to repeat myself again. Whatever happened that night was unavoidable. In fact, it was a blessing in disguise because now, we know exactly what you are capable of. And hey, it’s a good thing, kiddo. It’s a good thing.”

Sooyoung was close to being in tears, but she was fighting to keep them inside. “I-I could have hurt someone the other night. I could have permanently taken away Jessica’s ability—”

“But you didn’t.” The grip on Sooyoung’s shoulders tightened, causing her to finally glance up. “You shouldn’t ever have to worry about that happening again.”

For the first time since she has stepped into Aeradias, Sooyoung was in such a close proximity with the one teacher everyone feared, that she had to mentally pinched herself to see if this was a dream or not. For the first time, she was actually looking into her teacher’s eyes. Sooyoung wasn’t sure what she could see in Kahi’s eyes, but the one thing she was sure of was, it was filled with so much determination that she found herself calming down the more she heard Kahi speaking. 

“Because you see, what happened the other night was the first time, but it will also be the last. I am not letting you out of my sight until I know you are fully capable of controlling your ability. You have my word on that.”

Sooyoung looked away. “I wished I wasn’t part Empath. Headmistress Jung told me that my ability is a lot stronger because of the combination between empathy and potentikinesis.”

“No, kiddo, you should be happy you’re part Empath.” Kahi was whispering now, “It is because of that, that there is a way to stop yourself from ever having to do what you did to Jessica the other night.”

“By controlling my emotions, right?”

Kahi nodded. “You assist when you’re hopeful. When you love. So don’t ever change, Sooyoung-ah. Hope and love are the greatest medicines in the world. You have those two qualities in you, naturally.”

Sooyoung smiled, immediately reminded of her grandmother. And deep down, of her mother, despite never having met her before. “Thank you, I…”

“Oh, don’t thank me yet. This isn’t going to be a breeze, you know.” Kahi was smiling as well, and if Sooyoung was any surprise with the change of expression, she didn’t show it. “Frankly speaking, it is impossible for me to ask you to be positive all the time. No one is capable of that, how ever insane you are.”

Sooyoung chuckled.

“But it is possible for me, as your teacher, to teach you how to control your mind so that you don’t ever have to rip a person of their ability away.” Kahi was still looking at Sooyoung when she averted her gaze back at the older woman. “Are you ready for that?”

She nodded. “As I can be.”

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No sooner than later, the rumors of Sooyoung’s actual ability were spread around the Academy. It all started with the admittance that she was not entirely an empath, and then a link was formed with what happened that night. A theory was then deduced by some senior students who had far more knowledge than any of the first years, who knew how fearsome it was to have two combined abilities. It didn’t require for them to know that Sooyoung’s father had potentikinesis as an ability to conclude that she had the capability to steal another person’s ability just by being in the surrounding radius.

By the end of the week, Sooyoung was once again the hottest topic in the Academy. To them, it was another round of avoidance. To her, it was a deja vu. She has also learned, from the hard way of the first time she was famous, not to bother to