My Little Mind Reader

55. Ever After

Ming's POV

Yo and Pha now no longer had secrets between them. I knew how people had reacted when told about Yo's abilities so far. They were usually either in awe (like Kao), or took it in stride (like Korn). But so far, all of the people he told were people who loved him unconditionally.

Over the days and weeks that followed Yo's revelations to Pha, they had plenty of time to talk. I often listened while Pha questioned or argued and while Yo defended or soothed. I could still see so much love in their relationship that I put up with my anger over Pha's lack of understanding.

According to Yo, Pha needed time to think about what was making him so upset. At first, I was sure that he was simply annoyed at Yo for not telling him sooner. Yo, as always, had insights that no one else had, and he explained it differently. He seemed to think the biggest problem was that Pha was embarrassed about anyone being able to read his mind. As far as I was concerned, Pha was an arrogant prick, so I could totally believe that reasoning. Pha wouldn't want anyone seeing underneath his perfect exterior to reveal the loser that he really was.

At one point, Yo must have been upset at Pha's angry tone and he simply said, "I've had this ability since I was born. Do you really think there is anything in your mind that I haven't seen from hundreds of other people? I'm not going to stop loving you. I've been hearing your thoughts this whole time and I still chose to love you."

Pha's face took on that glazed but happy expression that only totally whipped people were ever able to fully pull off and their arguments stopped. As usual, Yo knew what Pha needed to hear the most. Sometimes I felt bad for the taller man. I'd been Yo's best friend since we were little kids and I'd yet to win an argument with him. Pha didn't stand a chance.

My own problems were becoming less important and fewer in number. For some reason that Yo never really felt needed explanation, Kit had suddenly started opening up to me. He told me he loved me. At first, it was only occasionally: when we were making love or quietly when he thought I was sleeping. Later, he started saying it when I kissed him at the end of the day. And finally, I'd hear those sweet words from his lips often. It seemed that sometime in the past few weeks, he'd decided it was true and he wasn't ashamed.

I felt happier and more complete than I'd ever felt. I knew Yo was happy for me. Whenever he saw me smiling his face would light up like I brought him a pink milk. That's just Yo's way of being a friend. My every happiness was his happiness. My sadness was his sorrow. I felt the same way for him, but really I only felt that way for the people closest to me. Yo felt that way about everyone, which was why he was so amazing.

I want to be able to say that Yo was that way just because he could read minds and it made him more aware of other people's feelings, but that wasn't the truth. Yo experienced horrible things in his visions and even in the thoughts of the people he met on a daily basis. So he could have focused on all that negativity and closed himself off. Instead, he was the poster child for loving your neighbor. It was just something that was unique to Yo.

"Do you still really hate Pha?" Yo asked, out of the blue. We were just pulling together some snacks for our study date with Forth, Beam, Kit, and Pha.

"Not as much anymore," I answered, mostly because I didn't want to hurt his feelings. "I mean, he's still too proud and bossy and outspoken, but if he makes you happy I'm willing to live with it."

"He does make me happy. But you're my best friend. I want you two to be friends."

"I don't know if that's going to happen anytime soon," I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but I knew I couldn't lie to him. "But I promise to try as long as he follows the rules."