Next to you

Chapter 8

Oscar was feeling restless. Yetao had been avoiding him for more than a week now and he couldn't understand why. Well, he knew that his behavior was linked to the bench incident, but Oscar was still confused. And he felt guilty. Yetao told him before that strong emotions could make him lose control of his powers, so maybe what happened was Oscar's fault. Maybe it was because of his words, of his pressure on Yetao, that the incident happened. Yetao must have been so scared.

Even if he wanted to apologize, Oscar was unable to do it. Yetao avoided him like the plague. He still joined them at dinner, but he was always the first one to leave and he rarely interacted with them. Also, he seemed to consider avoiding Oscar's eyes as an Olympic game. Yetao hadn't even showed up during their weekly meetings for training and tutoring and in class he was mute as a fish. Oscar wanted to give him some space, but he was growing irritated every passing day.

He also talked to Jiayuan, hoping that he at least could have any clue or something, but Jiayuan told him that in these days Yetao barely talked to him. But he promised to carefully observe Yetao on Oscar's behalf, something that Oscar was grateful for.

Oscar's mood was so bad that it was affecting the Quidditch training. He even got hit on the face by the quaffle, which caused a nosebleed.

"I can't take this anymore. Can you please talk to him? We have a match next week. How are we supposed to win if our captain is pining like an idiot?" Keyu said, irritated while he was accompanying Oscar to the Hospital Wing. He knew that he could easily heal Oscar's nose with his wand, but he took this opportunity to have a proper chat with his friend.

"Do you think I don't want to? He's avoiding me!" Oscar answered exasperated.

"Then corner him or something!"

"But I don't want to force him!"

Watching Oscar's distress, Keyu softened his tone. "I understand, but you need to solve this situation. It's getting ridiculous."

"I know, but I don't know how." Oscar said with a sigh.

"You still don't want to tell me what happened between you two, right?" Up till now, Oscar had refused to share this information with Keyu, saying that it was something between Yetao and him. Oscar said that it was his fault, but he himself seemed pretty confused. All their friends had noticed that something was off between Oscar and Yetao, but they didn't know how to help or if they could. "Why don't you pay a visit to Professor Zhennan? Maybe he can help you." Keyu suggested.

Why didn't Oscar think about it before? Professor Zhennan was the person who knew Yetao best. "You're right! Thank you, Keyu." Oscar offered his friend a smile to thank him for the suggestion.

After fixing his nose, Oscar went to look for Professor Zhennan. He went to his studio and knocked on the door twice.

"Come in."

Oscar opened the door. "Good afternoon, Professor."

"Oscar! What can I do for you?" Zhennan said, looking at him with a tiny smile.

Oscar took a seat in front of the Professor's desk. "Actually, I'm here for personal reasons. It's about Hu Yetao." He said getting straight to the point of his visit.

Zhennan's face darkened. "What do you want to know?"

Oscar gulped. "I don't know if you know what happened-"

"I know. He told me." Zhennan interrupted Oscar.

"Professor, he is avoiding me. And my friends. I don't know what I should do." Oscar continued.

"I've seen this coming." Professor said with a sigh almost as if he was talking to himself. "Listen, Oscar. Ever before I met him, Yetao has always been a lonely person. This is the first time he has real friends. What happened the other day has kind of shocked him. I don't know if you know, but when he feels strong emotions, his powers act up on their own." Oscar nodded and Zhennan continued. "Until now, the effects were pretty harmless, but the other day... He's scared, Oscar. He doesn't want to hurt his friends. He doesn't want to hurt you."