LESSON IN CONTROL

Part 1

A pause. Then she glanced at the first row. "Let's start there."

One by one, students began standing, awkwardly giving their names and snippets of their personalities. Some were confident, some shy. Aiah nodded at each one, offering no more than a quiet "next."

When it reached the middle row, Maloi stood first. "Hi! I'm Maloi Espino, structural track. And... I survived last sem thanks to cat videos and stress baking."

A soft ripple of chuckles.

Next was Sheena. "Sheena Lopez, also structural. My go-to therapy? Rewatching 'Howl's Moving Castle' like... eight times."

Then Stacey. "Stacey Ramos. Transportation track. I got through last sem by going on long, dramatic walks while blasting Taylor Swift."

Finally, Jhoana rose.

"Ano ba yan, pressure," she whispered to Stacey before standing.

"Hi, I'm Jhoana Robles. Structural din. Uh..." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, eyes flicking across the room briefly before settling back on Aiah. "Last sem, I think I coped by journaling. Like... writing stuff down para hindi ako sumabog."

She smiled a little - sheepish, honest.

And Aiah looked at her.

Really looked at her.

It was subtle, easily missed - but her gaze didn't move on as quickly as it had with the others. Her pen stopped tapping. The arch of her brow softened, just slightly, like something unexpected had caught her off guard.

Jhoana sat down.

And for the briefest moment, Aiah's eyes stayed locked on that seat. Silent. Calculating. As if she was already filing her away for later - not just as a student, but as something else entirely.

A flicker of memory surfaced, uninvited.

She'd seen that name before. Jhoana Robles.

Not just in enrollment lists or class records - but in faculty emails, dean's bulletins, and student org features that always floated around near the end of every semester.

Top of her batch. Consistent. Quiet. Impressive without being loud about it.

But Aiah's first real glimpse of her wasn't on paper.

FLASHBACK

It was years ago - when Jhoana was still a freshie, barely two weeks into university life. Aiah had just finished a committee meeting at the old engineering building and was heading to her car when she passed a group of first-year students gathered under a shaded walkway, nervously checking schedules and building maps.

She wouldn't have given them a second look - except one of them laughed.

Bright. Genuine. Startling in its clarity.

And there she was.

Jhoana Robles. Hair in a messy ponytail, oversized glasses slipping down her nose, sleeves rolled up despite dress code warnings. Holding her printed class schedule like it was a lifeline, but grinning like the world didn't scare her.

Even then, she stood out - not because she was the loudest or the prettiest, but because she meant something, even in silence. Like she knew where she wanted to be, and was quietly fighting for it.

Aiah remembered lingering a few seconds too long at the stairs that day, pretending to scroll through emails.

She hadn't realized then just how many times that name would reappear. How often that face would echo through award ceremonies, research proposals, and project submissions.

And now, here she was. Sitting right in front of her.

Older. Smarter. Sharper.

Still quietly brilliant.

Still impossible to ignore.

Aiah blinked once, locking the memory away with the rest of the things she didn't have time for.

She clicked her pen again.

"Next."

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After Class - 9:35 AM, Hallway Bench Outside Room 312

The moment the door finally closed behind Prof. Aiah, the tension in the room seemed to exhale. Chairs creaked. Pens dropped. People whispered as if emerging from a daze.

Outside, the hallway was starting to buzz again. Students spilled out from other classrooms, voices louder now, footsteps quicker, relieved by the short break.

Jhoana and the girls found a narrow bench along the wall, just outside their next room. Maloi plopped down with dramatic exhaustion, clutching her notebook like it had survived battle.

"Grabe, parang 'di pwedeng huminga," bulong ni Maloi mula sa likod ni Jhoana, her voice barely above a whisper as they all sat stiffly in their seats.

Stacey leaned forward, resting her chin on her palm, eyes fixated. "She's kinda... hot though. Like... intimidating-hot."

"Strict. But yeah. Definitely attractive," dagdag ni Sheena, eyes narrowed in analytical curiosity, like she was still trying to figure out whether Prof. Aiah was the villain or the heroine in this story.

Jhoana didn't say anything.

But her gaze lingered.

Prof. Aiah stood at the front of the room, effortlessly commanding silence without even raising her voice. She didn't need to. Her presence alone was enough to still the air - cold, sharp, and composed. The kind of presence that didn't beg for attention, but drew it anyway.

There was something... unreachable about her. Like she wasn't made of the same things as the rest of them. Not nerves, not doubt, not warmth.

But steel.
And logic.
And silence.

Whatever she was feeling, it was a mix of intimidation and awe - the kind of energy that made her shrink back without fully understanding why.