My Little Mind Reader

28. Ain't No Sunshine

Ming's POV

Of course. That bastard would see some stupid picture and decide that Yo was cheating. Cheating sounded exactly like something Pha would do, so of course he assumed that Yo would do it too. But Yo would never have done anything like that. It wasn't in his nature to be deceitful. Yo even hated lying to people about his powers, but he knew that he had to in order to keep his family and friends safe.

If Kit hadn't sent me that picture and told me what Pha thought, we might not have figured it out. My first decision had been to act as if I didn't know anything. I hoped that if Yo thought Pha was just a playboy, he would be able to get over it sooner. But that hadn't worked out.

Yo had cried, wondering what had gone wrong. He'd been hurt and angry and kept questioning himself. Yo thought he had read Pha wrong, that he should have known this was coming. He should have heard it in Pha's thoughts. He even felt like there must be something wrong with him, because Pha had refused to break up with him in person. As if Pha's lack of courage could in any way be Yo's fault.

By the next day, I had to tell Yo the truth. He would have figured it out eventually when he read my mind. For now, I knew that Yo needed to trust himself, he needed to trust his gift. Yo was sad when I showed him the picture and told him what Kit said. While I knew it was for the best, Yo had cried even more, hurting in a way that made me want to kill Pha. Now Yo knew the truth, Pha just didn't trust him.

This morning, Yo had broken up a fight that should have ended with Pha in the hospital. I couldn't even be grateful that Forth had gotten in some good punches before we got there, because Yo was still in so much pain. We'd skipped our morning classes, taking some time for the two of us, so that Yo could try to find some peace of mind.

He was finally looking like he might be able to hold it together when Pha came to sit next to him. We were just sitting down to lunch. Couldn't he leave us alone?

"Can we talk?" Pha asked, looking at Yo hopefully.

"No, thank you," Yo said, giving him a polite smile, like a stranger. Way to go, brother. He's nothing to us, just ignore him. "I have to go to class in a few minutes, so I'd like to eat my lunch."

"I really need to explain," Pha said, putting his hand on Yo's arm.

Then Yo did something I was really not prepared for. He turned to look at Pha with a face I'd rarely seen on my sweet, thoughtful best friend. It was the expressionless, quiet stare that he reserved for people he knew he couldn't trust. I didn't envy anyone on the other side of that stare. It was worse than being hated, it was knowing that as far as he was concerned, you were nothing.

"I'm sorry, I really don't want to talk to you," Yo said as he stood up. He picked up his lunch and walked away. Pha moved to follow him, but I grabbed his arm. Enough is enough.

"I warned you before," I said, trying to maintain my calm facade because there were still other students around. "I told you not to hurt Yo. Forth wanted to kill you, but Yo saved your worthless life. Wasn't that enough for you?"

Pha tried to speak, but I held up my hand to silence him.

"I admit that I've never really liked you," I said, gripping Pha's arm as tightly as I could. He flinched, and tried to pull away, but I didn't let go. "You're arrogant about your good looks. You're thoughtless because you've never had to work hard for anything. You're selfish. You have everything you want, but you take it all for granted. You never apologize, even when you're in the wrong. You never consider how anyone else feels."

With that, I push hard on a nerve in his wrist with one hand. He cried out for a moment, but no one near us seemed alarmed. I let go of him momentarily as I stood up and walked behind him, then put my hand on his shoulders and pressed him down into his seat.