“Daniel!” Claire called for the fifth time as he pulled her up the front stairs and into her house. Funny, she didn’t remember leaving the door unlocked, but that thought didn’t stick around long as he slammed it and bolted it behind them. She pulled away from him, backing into the living room as he proceeded to pull her curtains closed and lower the blinds. “What the heck is going on, Daniel?” she asked as she wrapped her arms around herself. It was the fear in her voice that brought him out of his stupor and caused him to turn and look at her. She was frazzled, terrified by both his exchange with his uncle and his behavior. He’d done it again. He’d fallen into his old ways and frightened the one person on the planet he didn’t want to be afraid of him. Before he could stop them, memories flooded across his psyche, reminding him of his childhood in Korea. Of being called a freak. Of being abused on the schoolyard. And his brother coming to his rescue every single time. He looked at Claire then, trembling and vulnerable, and he couldn’t help but wonder if they were right all along. Was he a freak? A monster? What did any of it matter when she was standing there looking at him like she was going to cry. Daniel sighed. 

    “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he said, shaking his head in denial of his own thoughts. He placed the blame on his family, but it was him all along. He ruined everything he touched. 

    “Don’t be sorry, Daniel. Just tell me what’s going on. That man, your uncle, what was he talking about? Why did we rush back? I don’t think I’ve ever been this confused in my life,” she said. In the time it took her to look up at him he was across the room, pulling her into his arms and whispering apologies into her hair.

    “I didn’t want you to find out this way. Hell, I didn’t want you to find out at all.”

    “Find out what?” She pushed back so she could look him in the eyes. “Don’t keep things from me. If there’s anything you need, anything at all, you should be able to tell me. If there’s someone after you, someone who wants to hurt you, then we’ll involve the police. And if we can’t then we’ll figure something else out. But do you notice the emphasis on we, Daniel? Just tell me,” she said, grabbing his chin when he avoided her gaze. “What’s this about? Money? You have some impulsive gambling habit and you owe a loanshark money so he’s threatening to break your legs?”

    “You have the most delightful mind, you know that?”

    “And you are a champion subject changer,” she growled, slapping him on the chest. “I’m being serious! I don’t have much, but if it’ll keep someone from killing your obnoxious self, then I’ll do whatever it takes!”

    “Claire,” he whispered gently, taking her hand and kissing her palm. He wanted to laugh. It was the most idiotic response on the planet, but he wanted to laugh. “This isn’t about money. I wish it were that simple, but it isn’t.”

    “Then what is it?” she asked, her voice softening until it was barely a whisper. Daniel fought with himself as he looked at her. She’d become so precious to him so quickly, and the thought of driving her away haunted him. Did he have it in him to blindly trust the situation and tell her everything? What if he lost her? What if she saw him for the beast he truly was and drove him away? He wouldn’t be able to live with himself. “Please, Daniel. I hate the thought of you being in some form of trouble and not being able to help you. Don’t shut me out. Not now,” she said. Her words, whispered honestly and edged in fear, broke him.

    “You’re not going to believe me,” he mumbled, gnawing nervously on his bottom lip. He couldn’t do this. He wasn’t ready. But he didn’t have a choice. 

    “Try me.” 

    “Very well. I’m psychic,” he blurted out, hating how harsh his voice sounded amidst the silence of the room. He stood, watching her intently, waiting for her to laugh. To call him a lunatic. To toss him out. Something. Anything. “I can move things with my mind. I can read minds. And there are a group of people who want to harness whatever brain mutation that makes me the way I am and use it for…hell, whatever. I don’t even know what the hell they want it for. They’ve been chasing me around the world since I was a child and they may or may not have murdered my elder brother.” More silence followed his confession and he found himself waving a hand in her face to make sure she was even paying attention. “Claire?”

    “I’m with you. I’m just trying to…process this new information,” she said, gently pulling away until he released her. She didn’t go very far, just far enough to lean on the back of the couch for support. He watched her casually unwind her scarf and toss it on the couch, her coat following shortly after. “So, let me get this all straight.”

    “Be my guest,” he said wryly, secretly enjoying the muddled look on her face. It wasn’t often someone stumped Professor Claire Lanh. Knowing he had been the cause of her adorable confusion almost made him mad with joy. And then he remembered why she was stumped.

    “You’re a psychic.” She pointed at him.

    “Yes.”

    “You have uncanny mental abilities that are so rare they make you valuable to, what I’m guessing are…scientists?”

    “…I would say I’m valuable for other reasons too, but, that is correct.”

    “And you’ve been running from these scientists who may or may not be murderers…since you were a child?”

    “Once again, you are right on the money.”

    “Cut the , Daniel,” she said and he arched his brows at her. 

    “I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”

    “That’s because this is ludicrous,” she chuckled. “Psychic phenomenon isn’t real. It’s science fiction. The type of stuff bored writers make up to spice up their lackluster writing careers. If you didn’t want to tell me, you could have just said that. You didn’t have to make something up.” She shook her head, suddenly aware of the faint sound of tapping. Claire looked down to see the wooden leg of her couch vibrating gently and she quickly stepped away. The moment she was clear of it, the entire sofa slid to the left, coming to a stop between them. She glanced up at Daniel who stared smugly back, his eyes darkening seconds before the couch was pushed back into place by an invisible force. Several emotions rushed through her all at once, all of them fighting for a right to manifest on her face. Fear. Panic. Wonder. Even some strange, warped version of lust. She didn’t know how to feel. Did he just move the couch without touching it?! “Psychic,” she confirmed softly. Daniel nodded. 

    “Psychic,” he replied, his voice low. He watched her clutch her chest, her eyes searching the room, looking at anything but him as she struggled to grasp what he’d shown her. He could see the fear in her eyes and it syphoned every ounce of hope from his body, leaving him empty and listless. “You don’t have to pretend for me, Claire. If you tell me to leave, I’ll go.” Her eyes snapped to his.

    “Leave? Why would you leave?” she asked. He grit his teeth, unable to voice his fear. His fingernails bit into the palms of his hands he clenched his fists so tightly, tension running through every wired inch of him. Her gaze softened as she realized what she’d inadvertently done. She’d hurt him. She’d made him feel different, afraid that she no long wanted him, when she wanted nothing more than to pull him into her arms and cry on his behalf. Oh, the life he must have had. Her poor Daniel. “If you walk out that door Daniel Kang, I’ll never forgive you. This changes nothing between us. Didn’t you just tell me you loved me?”

    “I did,” he said through clenched teeth.

    “And I said the same. Yes, I’m a bit miffed that you didn’t tell me this in the beginning—!”

    “I just wanted to protect you, Claire, I swear—!”

    “—But! I understand why. I wouldn’t have told me either, to be perfectly honest. This is a lot to digest and if I didn’t know you the way I do now…If I didn’t love you nearly as much, maybe then I wouldn’t have stayed. But now? You’re not getting rid of me that easy. I don’t care that you are a psycho.”

    “Psychic.”

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