"M-Mom?!" Baekhyun exclaims in disbelief as he watches his mother enter the principal's office. After waiting for an hour, the 'special guest', as Ms. Kim had mentioned, arrived. She wore her usual work attire and had a bright smile on her face the moment she saw her son.

"Baekhyun-ah!"

The shorter male immediately ran to her with open arms and embraced her in a hug. "What are you doing here? How did you get in?!"

"Ms. Kim called me. There are few things we have to discuss."

"If you can come here..does that mean you have a nova?" Baekhyun asks, completely taken by surpise.

She nods. "I'll explain everything. It's time..for you to know."

"What do you mean?"

Principal Kim clears , bring both Byun's attention back to the whole situation. Baekhyun pulled his mother with him to sit in one of the chairs beside him, across from Chanyeol. Now, his expression had softened but he wasn't holding much emotion on his face.

"Is that...Chanyeol?" Baekhyun's mother asks with a slight surprise before observing the tall boy sitting before her. "You still look just as adorable as you did when you were younger."

Baekhyun's eyes widened. "Mom, you know Chanyeol?!"

Ms. Kim stood from her seat, "I'll let you guys talk. I have to attend an important staff meeting so I'll be back in an hour and a half." She bows, which all three return, before leaving her office.

After the principal closes the door, Chanyeol's eyes flickered to the kind woman he briefly remembered, giving her a quick bow before his eyes accidentally met with Baekhyun's. He could see the resemblance in their faces- how the ends of Baekhyun's eyes slightly drooped down, their pale skin, and even Baekhyun's smile was of his mother's.

"You and Chanyeol used to be childhood friends." She explains calmly to Baekhyun, who looks at her as if she's crazy.

"W-What? Me and Chanyeol? Childhood friends?..No way. No." Baekhyun shakes his head at the thought. He had never met Chanyeol before coming here.

Chanyeol sighed. "You just don't remember."

"What do you mean I don't remember? I'm pretty sure I would have remembered someone as cold-hearted and arrogant as Chanyeol." Baekhyun attacked, leaving a small frown on Chanyeol's face.

"He wasn't when he was younger. You two were the best of friends." Baekhyun's mother says, smiling at the old memories.

Baekhyun didn't understand. Why was his mother called in? How does she and Chanyeol know each other? How on earth could he have known Chanyeol? Why hadn't Chanyeol said anything about it until now?

"What are you talking about, mom?" Baekhyun looked at his mother with desperation.

"Baekhyun..your father and I kept this a secret from you..." She started, reaching out to hold her son's hand. "You got into an accident around 7 years ago, when you were 11."

Baekhyun narrowed his eyes. "An accident? What kind of accident?"

This news also caught Chanyeol's attention. "It's not...that-"

Mrs. Byun nodded. "It was a car accident. You were with your grandfather on your way back from school."

Baekhyun furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "I thought grandpa passed away before I was born."

His mother shook his head. "Your memory of your childhood is very faint because of this."

Chanyeol tried to piece together the information but something was still missing. It was clear that Baekhyun had no idea of their families' history, let alone their own.

"What does this accident have to do with anything? What does this have to do with Chanyeol?"

Baekhyun's mother continued. "Grandfather's car crashed into another car..and the other car caught on fire. That car, was Chanyeol's grandfather's car."

Baekhyun listen but everything seemed too extreme to be true.

"What happened..?"

"You were bleeding, a lot, from your head and had a serious concussion. When I first received the news, I thought I was going to have a heart attack." Mrs. Byun ran her hand through and down Baekhyun's hair, remembering the horrifying feeling of learning that her only son was only seconds away from dying.

"What happened to grandpa?"

"He managed to get you out of the car, and went over to help the driver of the other car-"

"Your grandfather killed my grandfather." Chanyeol says bluntly.

Baekhyun felt offended with Chanyeol's harsh tone. "Excuse me?"

"That's what happened, right Ms. Byun?" Chanyeol's eyes were cold.

"Don't speak of my father in that manner."

Baekhyun frowned. " What did he do?"

"I think I can explain this," Chanyeol speaks up. "as a family member of the victim."

"Chan-"

The taller male cut Baekhyun off, "My family are pure fire novaist. Our strength is fire. Our blood is fire. Even if the car was in flames, my grandfather wouldn't have died. His nova animal was a phoenix...Everlasting life in a different form."

Baekhyun silently awed in amazement. He had no idea such a power could exist.

"If he was basically immortal, how did he die?" Baekhyun questioned.

"That's where your family ruined mine. Your grandfather killed him."

"What power did my grandpa have?" Baekhyun asked. It didn't make any sense.

"Yes, why don't you tell us? If Baekhyun really has a nova or not." Chanyeol turned to Mrs. Byun. She expression dropped and she knew could no longer keep this a secret.

"Mom...do I have a nova?"

"B-Baekhyun," she started, looking at her son. "after the accident, you stayed in the hospital for a little over 8 months. The doctor said..you had minor amnesia and could possibly forget most of your childhood. The doctor we went to was a special doctor, a person like Chanyeol and every student or staff at this school. He said that you had been so traumatized by the accident that you locked away your nova."

Baekhyun blinked. "So..I have powers?"

His mother nodded slowly, understanding that it was a long time to take in.

"Have I ever used it before?"

Mrs. Byun shook her head. "No, and thankfully you haven't. Our family's power is not like others'."

Chanyeol frowned. "What nova is your family?"

Despite the taller male's persistence to find out, Mrs. Byun took her time to explain everything to her son.

"When you were younger, you and Chanyeol used to play all the time."

Baekhyun glanced at the giant sitting across from him. He didn't seem like someone Baekhyun would have gotten along with, even as children.

"Do you remember, Chanyeol?" Baekhyun asks. When Chanyeol eventually nodded, he felt something drop in his chest. Hurt? Betrayal?

"Why didn't you ever mention it?"

Chanyeol looked away. "I wasn't sure if it was you at first.. you changed a lot."

"The thing is, even though you two played together, you two never made contact with each other."

Baekhyun tried to understand that statement. "What do you mean 'never made contact'?"

"Chanyeol's nova and your's don't mix and considering that you two didn't know how to control your powers yet, Chanyeol always had to wear rubber gloves."

Chanyeol frowns at the memory.

"Was Chanyeol's power that dangerous?"

Baekhyun's mother hesitated. "He had burned you..once, when he had taken off one of his gloves."

"Oh..." Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol. "Is that why you prefer to not touch people? Is that why you push me away when I tried to touch you?"

Chanyeol didn't say anything but his eyes told the truth.

Something clicked in Baekhyun's mind. "A-And that time..outside your room. You said to me, that it was nice to finally touch me..You hugged me.."

Chanyeol tensed.

"Is that what you were talking about? That after so many years, you could touch me without gloves?"

This was news to Mrs. Byun but she didn't comment on it.

"You've known since then?" Baekhyun asks Chanyeol, who still remained silent.

"After the accident," she continued. "you never saw Chanyeol again. My father her was emitted to another hospital, where he passed away a year later.. Your father and I attended Chanyeol's grandfather's funeral a few days after. But when you finally recovered months later, Chanyeol's family had already moved away."

Baekhyun looked down at the fancy design on the rug under his feet.

"So what am I now? Is my power dead?"

His mother shook his head. "It's sleeping. You've locked it away for so many years. I enrolled you in this school so that you could learn how to control your power."

"Tell me.." Baekhyun looked into his mother's eyes. "what exactly is my nova?"

Chanyeol sits up in his seat, listening carefully. It was the last piece to his puzzle.

How his grandfather died. 

Who Baekhyun really was.

"It's.."

-

"You guys are finally back!" Sehun exclaims. 

"Did you hear what happened?" Jongdae asks he runs up to Kyungsoo and Jongin coming back from the forest. He and Sehun had waited for them outside their dorm building.

"What happened to what?" Jongin asks, clueless. Jongdae's expression made Kyungsoo worried. 

"Remember that girl who used her power on Baekhyun?"

Kyungsoo nodded. "What about her?"

Jongin furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait, when did this all happen? Someone used their nova on Baekhyun?!"

Sehun nodded his head. "It's a long story."

"Anyway, what happened?" Kyungsoo says again. The four of them enter the building, continuing their conversation.

"She was supposed to be on probation until next semester but the staff and Principal Kim decided to expel her."

Jongin's eyes widened. "E-Expulsion?! Why? Was Baekhyun hurt that badly?"

Kyungsoo paused. "He only had a minor bruise but that was from someone bumping into him."

Sehun spoke up. "Not that I think her actions should be taken lightly but her situation is worse than Baekhyun's."

Jongdae ran his hair through his hair. His eyebrows curved down when he was worried and it made the other three uneasy.

"What do you mean 'worse'?"

Jongdae pursed his lips. "Do you know what the terms are for expulsion?"

Kyungsoo nodded. He had read the student guidelines hundreds of times. "If you kill someone with your nova. If you destroy school property worth up to- I can't remember off the top of my head- a certain amount of money.."

Jongin remembered one. "If you use your nova on a teacher or school staff resulting in serious injuries."

Sehun frowned. "There's one more."

Kyungsoo tried to think of the last guideline in the student hand book. "If you lose your nova...?"

Jongdae nodded. "Those are the four expulsion terms."

Jongin blinked. "So which one did she violate?"

Jongdae looked at Sehun for help, despite being the older of the two.

"The last one."

-

"There's no way.." Baekhyun says in disbelief.

"I know it seems impossible and scary but it is what it is."

Chanyeol expression froze.

"So that's why he died.."

Mrs. Byun nodded slowly. "My father was only trying to help. He didn't know. Both of them were great novaist, well known within our society."

Chanyeol sat back in the chair, avoiding eye contact with both Baekhyun and his mother. He didn't know how to feel. What was he supposed to say to this? All along, he had thought Baekhyun's grandfather had killed his grandfather by doing something unimaginable, something against the books of novastry. How else could his immortal grandfather have died? It all made sense now.

"So I do have a nova.." Baekhyun repeats.

"Principal Kim knows this, too. She knows of our families' history..which is why she allowed you into this school." His mother explains.

"What am I capable of doing?"

Chanyeol clarified it for Baekhyun, who didn't realize the dangers of his own nova.

"It's just as it is called. You have a theft nova. You have the power to take away people's novas, forever."

It's revealed! Baekhyun does have a nova!

Leave a comment! What surprised you about Chanyeol and Baekhyun's history? Do you think Chanyeol should still be hateful towards Baekhyun's family? What do you think of Baekhyun's finally revealed nova? (Not related to the story BUT: Lucky One or Monster?)

Thank you for being so patient! I literally re-wrote this chapter several times and although its short, there's more to come!

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