Chapter 8 The Empath

While Adrienne understood very well, she was still weak. She just didn't know that at a certain time or in a particular encounter with one ancient creature, her power would finally grow. Not fully developed yet, but it would when she met her true lover of a lifetime.

She found this insight when it occurred in her dream. That she needed to be careful of whom would be friends or foes.

Because she was also warned in her dream that she wouldn't know when the friends or foes were coming. The only clue she remembered from her dream was when she was told that she would meet her lifetime lover bound by the moon.

She met him under the big blue moon, then he just disappeared when she tried to reach him in her dream.

Thanks to her understanding father, Adrienne got the chance to teach a few students privately while attending the plain campus majoring in design, with the condition always showing up in the board meeting of Crane Hotel chains in the Main Land.

"I want to be useful in this Main Land", she said.

As a normal person could expect from an Empath, Adrienne had the urge to bring good deeds and happiness to her surroundings, though her father's line of business was the opposite of her deepest interest.

"How was daddy's funeral, Mr. Tanaka?" Adrienne asked an old thin man in a black butler suit, her father's most trusted concierge.

"Just like your father, my lady, graceful, serene, tranquil, and private," the old man replied.

Adrienne chuckled and continued with questions," What do you mean by that? And you need to work on your collocation, Mr. Tanaka." she finally smiled after feeling guilty as she realized she wasn't with her students.

"My apologies, my lady, though I've served your father for 30 years, that doesn't change the fact that I am still a person who wasn't born in the Imperial Colony. Unlike you and your father, my lady." he sadly smiled a little and Adrienne could sense the sadness in his expression.

"Don't you miss her, Mr. Tanaka, your one and only daughter? Daisy, I presume? " she finally concluded to test the water on Mr. Tanaka's sadly grief expression.

"Touche, my lady! You're the best Empath for knowing what in my mind and my heart is. I do miss my one and only daughter, just like your father always missing you, " Mr. Tanaka touched Adrienne's soft side of being an Empath. He knew exactly how to make her feel guilty.

"I'm sorry I arrived late, Mr. Tanaka, my flight got delayed, and you knew I flew from the other side of the world,"

Adrienne gave an apologetic expression.

"No harm done, my lady, it's an absolute deed for you to take your time. After all, you've been doing charitable pastime activities in the Main Land. What's in it for you, my lady? Make yourself stuck in that poor Land?" Mr. Tanaka shot questions that deprived the core of Adrienne's deepest passion and life principles.

She held her breath, exhaled a long sigh, and continued,

"I feel like I'm closer to my mom there, Mr. Tanaka. Though I never knew her, a day was enough to spend before she passed away...," Adrienne stared blankly like there was something, a face between the cold breeze.

A face just looked like her, only 20 years older. Her late mother.

Then she muttered the next words carefully like she was afraid of hurting others though there was no one left to hurt, "Being in the Main Land... makes me feel like she's with me all the time, Mr. Tanaka. Every corner that she ever stepped on... Each sip of breath she ever inhaled... The air, the sky... I feel her everywhere."

Then she stopped like there was a last drop of water she needed to swallow after a long walk in the desert, almost like she was choked.

"I'm sorry for being a crybaby, Mr. Tanaka. I believe this is most unlikely expected of me. Daddy wouldn't want me to be helplessly weak like this. I'll be strong from now on, " she braced herself.

With a strong whisper that calmed unduly vulnerable Adrienne, Mr. Tanaka showed his deepest sympathy,

"If I may and you'll allow me, my lady. I believe this is the part where you can scream and throw tantrums like a 3 years old girl who found her Barbie dolls shredded by a mean pup whose teeth are too itchy to grow. But then again, you're not that little girl. It's unlikely for you to do that..."

Adrienne giggled with tears. An irony with the fact that she was officially an orphan. Mr. Tanaka's effort to make her lighten up a bit, seemed like it'd worked, then he continued,

"In other words, my lady. You're most welcome to show your sorrow. My deepest sympathy, though I am old enough to be your father, you don't have mother and father now."

Adrienne chuckled and ask, "Did daddy order you to state that cruel fact right away for the time after he died, Mr. Tanaka? It doesn't sound like you for being so straightforward. I know you may look like you're strict for the exterior, but you have a soft heart, Mr. Tanaka," she smiled.

"Many apologies, my lady. I try my best to deliver your father's wishes, and I quote, "She needs to be reminded of her duties" Mr. Tanaka answered like he had a big lump in his neck.

"Tell me, Mr. Tanaka...," she paused then she carried on, "Isn't it difficult for daddy to be an Empath and the alpha psychopath to run his business empire at the same time? As far as I'm concerned, he is a better Empath than I am"

The tricky question quite made the old thin man raise his eyebrows but he's Adrienne's father's most trusted one so he knew the answer at utmost expected,

"Well, to put it most properly is that your father is a male, my lady. And it's well-known, that the best Empath is a woman like yourself. An Empath of pure blood with the richness of feelings sponge who can change the state of her surroundings."

Mr. Tanaka's voice was soft but clear firmed the solid fact. Then he abode,. . .

-to be continued-