Mai wasn't sure her face could become any more red than it was at that moment. At first, she wanted to simply believe she had imagined the whole thing or she was just dreaming. If it wasn't for the heat of Narus' breath still on her neck or the scent of his cologne which reminded her this was real. The other option was that he was possessed and Mai needed to jump away and attempt to exercise the spirit from his body. She felt him pull away from her not even noticing his hands were on her hips until she no longer could feel the weight of them on her sides.
"I'll wait for you at the bottom of the landing, I'm sure you would like to change and freshen up before dinner," Oliver paused as if thinking what to say next, "I'll be returning to my flat after dinner."
Mai heard the door shut before running into the on-suite to splash her face with cold water. She quickly changed out of the comfy clothes she wore for the plane ride and slipped into a simple pair of jeans and a white shirt. She took a deep breath and tugged on her powers looking for where everyone was. Mai had developed the ability to visualize a person's aura as long as they were in the same building or area she was in. With this, she could also pick up any strong emotions that were coming from a person, something she had subconsciously been doing for years.
With her growing powers, she even gained the ability to use a small amount of PK, it was honestly a very weak power and she struggled to even lift a pen with it. Monk took Mai to see a specialist in Japan when they noticed a growth in her powers and that is where they discovered her ability to use PK. It was described to her that her natural PK was relatively low but she had the ability to take in PK from an outside source and use it for herself or store and amplify it by sending it out of her body. This was something they had never really tested, only knowing about it from the one time Mai accidentally used this technique and nearly killed herself in the process.
About a year ago, the Japan team took a last-minute case, and Monk had asked Mai to join them if she had the time. The spirit was truly evil and strong, and the group was in way over their heads. Monk and John had been knocked out, Ayako and Masako injured with Yasu locked outside the building. Mai was the only one left standing, well leaning against a wall while struggling to stand would be a better term for her state in that moment. Mai thought back to what the specialist told her and somehow managed to pull PK from somewhere else into her body. The only issue was she didn't know how much or what to do with the power she now held. She wasn't trained like Naru had been to manipulate and attack with PK, so she did what the specialist said she should be capable of doing. That was taking the now magnified power and releasing it out of her body. Mai pushed the power out of her body all at once, inevitably turning herself into something like a PK bomb. The power did manage to destroy the spirit but also did grave damage to Mai's body. She woke in the hospital weeks later where she had little memory of what happened.
To this day she remembers somehow using all the PK and pushing it out of her, but has no memory of how she had been able to do it. After the incident, she made a promise to Monk that she would never attempt to do anything like that again until she was properly trained, but deep down even with training Mai feared ever using her PK again. Her PK ability weakened as time passed, and her power was less than before the incident. She has little to no control over it now. This means that when Mai's emotions run too high her PK grows and causes her to affect the temperature or levate a small object.
Oliver saw Mai make her way down the stairs, waiting for the moment for the girl to trip right into his arms. Yet, this moment never came. Maybe in the time they had been apart, she somehow managed to become less clumsy. He showed her around the bottom floor of the house when he felt the girl fall into his back and mumble out an embarrassed sorry. Noll couldn't help the chuckle that came from his mouth, her clumsiness was still alive and kicking.
"D-did you just laugh?" Mai asked completely shocked.
He gestured Mai towards a large double door before opening it for her. The sound of his mother and Madoka immediately filled his ears. Oliver let Mai begin to step into the dining room before stopping her, "Now Mai, I would never do that," he flashed a small smile at her before walking into the room. Mai now stood speechless in the doorway, the door now being held by Noll's PK to keep it from smacking the oblivious girl.
"Mai, please take a seat anywhere," Luella said smiling at the girl.
Mai blushed before taking a seat at the table across from Oliver. The servants began bringing out the first course and Oliver watched Mai from the corner of his eye. She smiled and talked with Madoka and his mother about whatever gossip or useless information the females had in his life. As dinner went on he felt himself feel almost enchanted watching her, hoping he was managing to find his interest in her.
"So Mai, how is everything with Elijah," Madoka asked looking at Oliver instead of Mai like she should have been looking towards.
"Well, he is supposed to come visit in the fall, but I truthfully hope he doesn't," she paused before continuing, "I don't want him to think that this relationship is something I want anymore. He is nothing more than a friend to me now, which is something he shouldn't even be." Oliver noticed how Mai had been messing with the emerald necklace while she was speaking.
"I personally find someone new is the best way to move on," Madoka said still staring at Oliver with a glint in her eyes, "Leave it to me, Mai, I'll send London's most eligible bachelors to your door at once."
Mai laughed with the ladies as they talked to her about going on a tour of BSPR tomorrow. They told her about the charity ball and made plans to all go dress shopping. With that, Oliver had officially lost any interest in their conversation and continued picking at his food.
After dinner Oliver said his goodbyes to his family and guests, slipping away upstairs to grab some books from his office before returning to his flat. He wondered if having 3 offices was healthy or showed some type of deep workaholic issue. Oliver quickly grabbed the books he was looking for before walking out the door and bumping into a familiar body. He looked down to see Mai's brown eyes swirling with emotion.
"I'm sorry, I just saw you were in here and you seemed distant at dinner," Mai said not meeting his eyes. He looked to see her messing with her necklace again and Oliver felt anger fill his body. What he was angry at? He wasn't sure, but he wanted nothing more than to get away from her and that stupid necklace.
"Most people don't continue to wear jewelry gifted to them by an ex if they are truly done with that relationship," he didn't know why he said it and regretted the anger in his voice as he spoke.
"I, uh, Monk put a protective rune on the back of it," she said quickly flipping the necklace over to show the small engraving, "I just thought it, I don't know. Mai paused as if she was trying to find her words before running her hand through her hair, "I don't need to explain myself to you, who has clearly no interest in any type of relationship with anyone. I mean come on Oliver how can you of all people shame me for a past relationship or my feelings toward a person? Not that it is any of your business but Elijah is in my past and I plan to keep him there, I don't want to talk about him anymore and I would love to stop reliving a relationship with a man who cheated on me with a friend." Mai huffed before continuing her rant, "Remember that it was you who when I told you that I loved you, told me that I in fact loved your dead brother. As if it had ever not been you."
Oliver watched Mai as she realized the words that left her mouth and she began to run away. He reached out to grab her wrist, stopping her and looking into her eyes. She said that she loved him, as in the past tense. He felt something inside him break in that moment. Something that he had been feeling for years, since Japan that he could never place until right now. He didn't just have some strange feelings towards Mai now that she's back in her life, they have always been there. Buried somewhere deep inside him hidden by his grief and resolve to find his brother. Oliver Davis had been and is still in love with her, but she no longer loved him.
"I," he was at a loss for words, his mind running, "I am not shaming you." Oliver dropped her wrist and walked away from her, hoping to get away before his mask broke completely. "Goodnight"
Mai all but ran back into her room, shutting the door before sinking to the floor and crying her eyes out. How could she admit to Oliver that she loved him and for him to completely ignore her again? After all these years she was stupid enough to go back to that day in the woods all over again. It wasn't as if she said that she was still in love with him, but in all truth, she never stopped loving him. He was on her mind constantly, even when he left she always found herself thinking back to him. What he would think about something, how he would handle whatever situation, if he thought about her at all.
She didn't know why this train of thought but she got out her phone and called Elijah. To her surprise he had answered right away, happy to hear from her. She told him that they couldn't stay like this anymore, how it wasn't healthy for either of them. They both needed space to move on from this relationship. Mai asked that he take this time to meet someone new and she was going to do the same. Apologizing for leading him on and asking him to distance himself from her. Mai hung up, took the necklace off, and threw it into her luggage before crawling into bed and falling asleep.
Mai woke up the next morning feeling drained from the day prior. She was exhausted from all the travel and the fight with Naru. Somehow she always found herself fighting with him and saying things she shouldn't. She had just told a professor at her university that she loved him, who cares if they had history? Deciding to make today a better day, she quickly got up and ready for the day. Mai all but ran down the stairs to meet Madoka and Luella when it was time to head out for the day.
The group arrived at BSPR and Mai found herself speechless at the size of the building. The two led her inside and began showing her all kinds of different rooms and labs they had. Mai made a note to mentally remember the office locations of everyone she knew and the cafeteria. Mai was surprised to hear the cafeteria had a cafe and coffee shop inside. After the tour was done they made their way back to the cafeteria where Luella made a pit stop at Naru's office with a "do not disturb" sign. His mother ignored that completely. She decided it was best to wait off to the side and hopefully out of view.
"Mother," Naru sighed, "The sign means I'm busy and do not barge unwanted into my office."
"Oh come on Noll," Madoka joined Luella in his office, "We both know you abuse that sign, I had to send a company email about employees overusing them when it is convenient, who do you think I was talking about in that email."
"The two of you kept me in Japan and in turn, I am now behind in my work here."
"Would you like to join us for lunch at the cafe with Mai?" Luella asked, completely ignoring the fight he was attempting to start, "I'm sure a familiar face would help her adjust to the new building."
"Madoka is a familiar face and I'm busy," his tone darkening even more at the mention of Mai, "I'd rather spend my time catching up and not wasting it further."
With that, the three made their way to the cafe with Mai in a noticeably less excited mood. The two ladies did their best to fix and talked her ear off about everything great about SPR and Cambridge.
"Oh Mai, look to your right," Madoka said pointing discreetly at a group of people sitting down at a nearby table. "Those are some people you'll be working with on cases, the girls are Grace and Lyla Cross, both mediums. Lyla is a perfect medium like Gene was, but she is the sweetest, I'm sure you'll love her. Watch out for Grace though, that girls got a serious attitude and thinks she the best medium to ever live. The guy in the glasses is George Murphy, I think he'll actually take classes with you at Cambridge, he's a research intern. I'm thinking of giving him to Yasu as a gift when he starts, very good at his job but kind of a weird guy."
"Are they all part of your team?" Mai asked Madoka as she watched another male sit down with the group. He was about the same height as Naru with dark brown hair and bright green eyes. She could pick up some kind of accent when he spoke but it wasn't British.
"Lyla is a permanent member of the team and George is one of the interns assigned to us, as for Grace, she's too busy with her modeling career to commit to any team but she helps out us and others when they need a medium." Madoka noticed the other male joining them and winked at Mai, "Oh Theo come here for a second I have someone you should meet."
Theo walked over to the three of them and Mai sensed nothing but kindness coming off of him and some pretty intense power, nothing like Naru's, but still. "Mai, this is Theodore Atkins, he is a physic from France. He has clairvoyance like you and some pretty serious PK like Noll."
"I appreciate the compliment but comparing myself to Oliver is a bit of an over-exaggeration." He offered his hand to Mai and kissed her palm, "Lovely to meet you, Mai, I'm assuming since I haven't seen your beautiful face around here you must be new."
Mai couldn't help the blush that was hopefully not very noticeable on her face, "Yes, I actually just moved here from Japan, I'll be working for BSPR while I'm attending Cambridge."
"Mai actually worked with Noll during his time in Japan, like I mentioned she uses Clairvoyance but also ESP, astral projection, PK, and I'm sure she has other things she hasn't told us about."
"It's always great to meet another PK user, I'm actually in the process of writing a book about the different types of PK abilities and I'd love to talk with you a bit if you have some free time," Theo smiled at her and Mai now felt almost embarrassed.
"Oh well my PK isn't anything to write about just some low PKST," she paused, "I've been told I'm able to receive and amplify PK but it isn't something I have ever tested or used successfully. My only attempt actually ended up with me in a week-long coma, and my power has been unstable at best since."
Everyone perked up at this like they had been hearing it for the first time. It was then that Mai remembered she had only mentioned that she had some PK ability and not the type. She didn't want to talk about something she wasn't able to do, even if she could theoretically.
"Wow, you are the first PK amplifier I've met since Gene…"Theo said getting cut off by Grace at the now-forgotten table to the right.
"Theo our food here if you want to join us like we had planned," she said with such a stuck-up tone Mai wanted to throw her fork at her.
"Well I better get back to that, but I'd love to meet with you later to discuss more about these PK abilities. I'm meeting with Oliver after this and I'll get your number from him. I do look forward to talking more with you soon." Theo said before returning to his table, but Mai found him looking over at her many times during the rest of her time at the cafe.
"So Mai," Madoka said giving Mai a look that meant she was up to something, "my info might be outdated but I believe Theo is very single and he is well respected in the parapsychology field."
Noll had just finished work and somehow found his mood the worst it's been in days. Not only did one of his only friends ask him for Mai's number, but Theo spent multiple minutes of their meeting talking about how beautiful Mai looked. Telling him all about her amplifier PK ability. What destroyed him was Theo asking if Naru had plans to test Mai's powers with himself. The researcher in him perked up at the idea of being able to use his full power again, but he would never risk her safety. Theo offered to test it since his powers were less extreme, but Noll would have no part in it. He was completely forgetting what allows a PK user and a PK amplifier to work together is the connection and trust they have for each other. That's how Theo was, like a dog with a bone, forgetting the science when he got too excited about something. Thankfully he knew the man well enough to know he'd calm down soon and come back to reason.
Noll's savor came in the form of a new case. Madoka had dropped it off before she left for the day and he was eager to get back into the field. It was an old watermill that had a large list of strange accidents and other phenomenon. Noll found himself drifting back to his conversation was Madoka earlier in the day.
"Noll, you are always better when Mai's around, happier even, I wonder why that is?"
I'm better with you, you're better with me
I still miss all our nights
Even fights were all better with you
You're better with me
There is nobody else who can love me the way that you do
Better than you
Better Than You by ThisWildLife