WAYO'S POV
Uncle Charong showed up early just like he said he would. When he knocked on the door, Pha answered it since he still was only letting me out of bed when he had too.
"Dr. Kongthanin." I hear my uncle say before he walks into my line of sight. He looks me over, then takes a seat beside me on the edge of the bed. "How are you feeling, nephew?"
"I'm ok, but uncle, did you just call P'Pha, Dr. Kongthanin?" I say surprised and look at Pha as he also enters view.
"Yes, that's his name isn't it? Dr. Phana Kongthanin."
"You're a doctor?"
"Uhm, well, yes. I am. I came back to college to study some new medical advances, so I can keep my skills up to date."
"Back to college?" I mull the thought over in my mind. "Uncle how do you know Pha?"
"I met him when your mother was sick. He worked at the last hospital she was in for treatment." Geez, that was a long time ago. I was like four years old when my mom died.
"P'Pha," I look at him. He looks upset, but I'm not sure about what, "how old are you? I mean I never thought about it before, since you look just a little older than me. But if you were already a doctor when my mother was sick, you must be really old."
My uncle laughs out loud at my question, while Pha looks relieved and irritated at the same time, if that's possible.
"I'm not that old. I'm about 23 in vampire years."
My uncle leans in close to me and whispers, "Now ask him old he is in human years."
I know Pha heard the question, because when I transfer my gaze to him, he is staring daggers at my uncle. "Well? How old are you? In human years."
He looks at me then away as his hand scratches the back of his head, "It's just the number of years I've been alive, it doesn't really mean anything. Does it really matter?"
"No," I smile it him, "But I'd like to know."
"Fine, I'm ffifer rhthe." He mumbles as he rubs his hand across his face.
"What was that? I think you were mumbling?" I'm really trying to hold back my laughter right now, but Pha is making it pretty hard.
"53! I'm 53. Alright?"
My mouth drops open in surprise. 53? Holy cow! I'm only nineteen and he's... Stop! I can't think about that, it would be too gross. "B-but you look so young." I sputter.
"Wayo, you know vampires age slower than humans. We've discussed the aging process of several different species during our lessons. Why are you so surprised?" My uncle asks.
"Well, I remember you saying that, but I didn't really think about it in this situation." I look Pha over with new eyes, so to speak, as he stares back at me looking a little worried.
My uncle's voice, breaks our staring contest. "Dr. Kongthanin, aren't you going to be late for class?"
Pha looks at his watch, lets out a low curse, and starts grabbing his things. "N'Yo, I will see you this evening, ok?" He hands my uncle a piece of paper, "He needs to stay in bed and rest, and if you notice any of these symptoms, he needs to go back to the clinic immediately. The address is listed there. I have to run an errand after class, but I'll be back right after that. Bye."
After he runs out of the room, my uncle looks over to me, "Wayo, you have some explaining to do."
He asks me what feels like a thousand questions about yesterday, of which about 994, I can't answer. Why? Because yesterday was just a normal day for me until the whole stairs incident. I don't recall anything out of the ordinary happening at all yesterday or prior to that day either.
When he finally lets up, I need a nap.
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KIT'S POV
I don't know what the hell is going on with Beam, but he is acting weirder than usual.
Every time we go back to college, he goes off the deep end, by drinking and partying like he's a kid again. This time started out with a normal amount of crazy, but I thought he might slow down after Forth said he was his mate. I guess I was wrong though, because over the last five weeks he's gotten even worse. He's now started skipping classes and even staying out all night.
I am really beginning to feel bad for Forth. I've tried talking to Beam about it, but he just keeps blowing me off. Well, today we are going to discuss it whether he likes it or not. We're currently doing revisions for our next class, when Pha leaves the table to get us some drinks.
"Ai'Beam, I want to talk to you about the wolves."
He groans at my words, "Ai'Kitty, not again, please? No more lectures alright. I am not doing anything awful to Forth, he'll survive."
"Hey, asshole I don't give lectures!" Beam throws a disbelieving look my way. "They are not lectures, they are discussions about what is going on in our lives."
"Discussions requires two people's input, Ai'Kitty."
"Fine, damn it! Never mind then."
When Pha comes back with our drinks he notices the atmosphere, "What is with you two? I was gone less than five minutes."
Beam pipes up, "Kitty was going to lecture me again."
"Aahh." He says in acknowledgement of Beam's answer as he sits down.
"Hey! What does that mean?"
"It means that you do love to lecture us. A lot." Pha says casually.
"You know what, screw both of you!" I say as I get up, grab my stuff, and walk away towards our next class.
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BEAM'S POV
Pha and I watch as Kit storms off. He's always so touchy.
"What are you going to do about Forth?" Pha asks.
"Really? You too?" I look him over. "Why do you even care?"
"The guy is growing on me. He's been a good friend to Yo and seems like a decent person." Pha shrugs his shoulders.
"Look, don't worry about Forth. I'll take care of it." I say confidently.
Now Pha is the one giving me looks. He doesn't say anything else, but after a minute he seems satisfied by what he finds and turns back to his notes.
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FORTH'S POV
I swear Beam is trying to drive me crazy. He treats me like a yo-yo pulling me close then pushing me away.
During the school day, it's like I don't exist. If I want to see him I have to go to his faculty between my classes and spy on him from afar. However, nights and mornings are a completely different story. He's in my room waiting for me when I get back from school or he appears wherever I've made plans to be, and he stays over every night.
"P'Forth, what are you doing?"
"Ack!" I jump back from my spot and crash into Ming who was standing behind me trying to figure out what I was looking at. We fall in a tangle of limbs on the ground. "Damn it, Ming!"
As we try to climb to our feet, Ming unloads on me, "Why are you yelling at me?!? All I did was ask what you were doing! You're the one who knocked me to the ground then fell your heavy ass on me."
When he's standing again he looks around the corner, "Aahh, spying on Beam? Why don't you just go over there?"
I change the subject, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm going to visit P'Kit, but I don't see him. That's ok, he can't hide from me for long. I'll find him." He says then starts walking towards the table where Pha and Beam are sitting.
It's not fair if Ming can go over there and I can't. I make a decision and take a deep breath. I quickly catch up to Ming and we walk the last few yards together.
"P'Pha, where is Kitkat?" Ming asks as soon as we arrive.
"He got huffy and left a few minutes ago. Pretty sure he went to our next class, but he's in a temper N'Ming. I wouldn't recommend trying to see him right now."
"But, P'Pha, I need to see him. Please, can you take me to him?" Ming begs.
"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you, Nong." Pha turns to look at Beam and me, "Ai'Beam, you staying here?"
"Yeah, for a few minutes. I'll meet you in class." Beam says. He hasn't looked at me, but he knows I'm here. I'm sure he recognized my scent long before I got to the table, just like I did his.
After Pha and Ming walk away, "What are you doing here?" Beam demands.
"I wanted to see you."
"You just saw me less than four hours ago." He states as he finally looks up at me.
"But I wanted..."
"Forth, I will be very angry if my friends find..."
"They won't. I promise." I say hurriedly to placate him.
He stands and starts packing his books up, "I will see you tonight."
"I'm going to see Yo after school with Ming." I tell him, so he knows I won't be in my dorm room.
"Kitty and I have an errand to run with Pha, then we're going over to visit too. I can get Kitty to drive, then we can go in your car to dinner after... if you want."
"That sounds nice."
"Alright, then I will see you this evening." He starts to walk past me, but stops right beside me and places his hand on my arm. His touch feels burning hot, like he's branding my skin.
"You have to stop coming here during the day or..." he says as a mischievous smile crosses his lips, "at least be sneakier about it."
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PHANA'S POV
"What do you mean the security footage from yesterday is missing?" I'm talking to a member of the campus security team.
"We don't know what happened, but we have about 2 hours of missing footage from yesterday afternoon's recordings from around the Faculty of Arts. I can't explain it. We keep copies on a secured server. Maybe the files were corrupted." He pauses, then asks, "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"No, that was it." I am almost vibrating in anger as I turn to leave, and Kit and Beam simply follow me out of the security station.
Once we're alone outside, "Ai'Pha, this means it was deliberate and someone is trying to hide their tracks." Beam offers.
"I know. This gives us a dead end though since no one got a look at the person who pushed Yo." I say.
"Do you think they will do something again?" Kit asks as he looks worriedly at me.
"I don't know. Probably. They went through all the trouble to clear the security footage, which means this isn't simple bullying."
"But why would anyone want to hurt Yo? He seems pretty harmless." Beam insists.
"I don't know, but we need to find out before anything else happens." I state.
12.17.2017 7:45 am US CST