LESSON IN CONTROL

Part 3

AIAH's POV

Aiah stepped outside the office for a short break. She walked along the corridor, her expression neutral, but her ears tuned in without meaning to.

She passed a bench just around the corner - half-hidden by a cement column. It was Jhoana's group.

She heard the voice first - Maloi, loud as ever.

"Crush mo pa rin Jho si Aki 'no? Aminin mo na, girl. Lagi ka niyang nilalapitan tapos nagpa-pacute ka rin naman!"

Sheena joined in, laughing.

"Grabe, 'di nga tumatanggi sa attention. Nag-i-enjoy siya, for sure!"

Aki Villanueva - sharp, silent, and everything professors loved. He was calm under pressure, top of the class, and a walking math calculator.

And yes, Jhoana liked him. He was the first guy who challenged her academically, and she liked that kind of push-and-pull.

Jhoana's voice was softer, but clear.

"Hindi ko naman sinasabing may chance... pero 'di ba... he's nice. And kind of cute?"

Aiah didn't stop walking - but something in her pace shifted. Stiffened. Her fingers curled slightly at her side.

He's nice. And kind of cute.

Of course he was.

Young. Open. Smiling without calculation.
The kind of boy who could sit beside you, make you laugh, and ask for your number without hesitation.

She reached the far end of the corridor and stopped by the windowsill, staring out at the campus below - but not really seeing it.

Something unfamiliar curled in her chest. Not quite jealousy. Not quite anger.

But something tight. Unwanted. And impossible to name.

She inhaled, steadying herself.

No attachment.
That was the rule.
She reminded herself, again and again.

But the problem with watching someone too closely...

Is that sometimes, you end up getting pulled in.

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Lab Day - Week 5

Three days had passed since Aiah overheard that bench-side conversation.

But the words - "He's nice... and kind of cute" - clung to her like the scent of acetone in a sealed lab room.
No matter how many lectures she prepped, how many rubrics she restructured, or how many papers she marked in red, she couldn't scrub the image out of her head:

Aki, with that easy grin.
Jhoana, laughing - soft, unguarded - in a way no academic text ever deserved.

She told herself it didn't matter.
It shouldn't matter.

But when lab day arrived and she saw them again - side by side at Station 3, barely a ruler apart - something stirred.

Tight.
Unwelcome.
Unprofessional.

"Good morning," she said, placing the clipboard on the stainless table, her voice as sharp as the scalpel trays lined up behind her.

A chorus of "Good morning, Ma'am," followed. Muted. A bit too quick.

Goggles were adjusted. Lab notebooks flipped open. Everyone tried to look alert - even if half of them were still half-asleep from their 7 a.m. class.

Aiah's gaze swept across the room, clinical and practiced - until it wasn't.