20 A meeting?

The next two days went by reasonably quickly for Tai Yang, provided that he hardly ever had a second to sit down. All the while, Ji Ru seemed extremely distressed. While he had not an inkling of a clue why, he'd heard Ji Ru suddenly exclaim, "Bright green? That's- Are you sure? But that can't be, how could that be possible?"

The person he'd been speaking to at the time was Prince not-so-charming himself. In response, the prince pinched at the space between his brows and muttered that they'd talk later when Xiao Xia, Li Wei, Wu Ji, and Tai Yang approached.

It was the afternoon of the third day since Xiao Xia had arrived when she slipped him a note, asking him to meet her alone near the castle's stables after dinner before she and the others departed from Changying. 

"Oh?" Ji Ru responded when Tai Yang said he needed to go to the stables on his own. 

'I have to tell him... Li Jun said I have to have guards around me at all times, and Ji Ru definitely doesn't disagree with that sentiment.'

Tai Yang sighed. "Xiao Xia said that she wanted to meet me."

Ji Ru stared at him unblinkingly for a moment, and when he did blink again his brows furrowed deeply. 

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Li Jun isn't going to allow it. I'll tell you now that even if you do go to meet her for whatever reason she has, Li Jun is going to know. He cast a Mapping and Tracking spell when Wu Ji and Rai Lin arrived, so he's been keeping tabs on everyone's positions around the clock."

"What should I do then?"

"We need to ask Li Jun permission." Ji Ru said. "I guess you're right..." Tai Yang said, nodding in agreement. "I wonder what she wants." Ji Ru said, glancing at Tai Yang from the corner of his eye. Tai Yang's eyes were staring at the grassy ground of Ji Ru's bedroom. He looked deeply concentrated but curious at the same time.

"Me too." He said. 

Ji Ru bit his inner lip. 

'He... He can't be hiding something. Tai Yang isn't a good liar at all, and he can't act to save his life. I'm certain he himself is oblivious to what's actually going on here.' Ji Ru thought. 

"You'll have to go to find out."

"I feel like Li Jun will kill me if he knows about this."

"Perhaps we should go as a group. I'll let everyone know to give you guys a moment of space. That way, Xiao Xia won't be too upset, and Li Jun can watch to make sure nothing strange is happening. Not that anything is happening between you and Xiao Xia, Li Jun is simply jealous because he thinks she likes you more." Ji Ru scratched his ear. 

Tai Yang nodded slowly. "We can do that."

Ji Ru smiled at him. "I'll call master here before sending Li Jun the message so that he doesn't try to strangle you."

"Much appreciated." Tai Yang gave him a brief bow. Ji Ru pointed two fingers to his head in a sort of shotgun gesture and closed his eyes. A baby blue orb and a midnight blue orb emerged from his temple and attached to his fingers. He drew his hand away and pointed the finger gun to the wall, and flicked his hand upward, shooting the little orbs off.

In nanoseconds, they were gone, speeding through the walls to the recipients of the messages. Ji Ru looked at Tai Yang. 

"Li Wei will get his first and come here. Li Jun will most likely storm in here right after."

Tai Yang sighed but nodded. 

"What were those?"

"Whisps. We use them to send messages. They go to the recipient and whisper the messages in their mind."

"And the different colors?" Tai Yang tilted his head. Ji Ru snuggled deeper into the pillows of his bed. Everyone was supposed to be having an afternoon nap. Clearly, sleep was eluding them all. 

"Remember I said my Aura is blue?" Tai Yang nodded. 

"Since I'm a two type, it can only ever be blue. However, based on the type of spell I'm doing, or the way I use the spell, it can change to a different shade of blue."

Ji Ru pointed at him. "Your Aura is a Golden yellow, like the Sun."

'Or at least that's what I knew.' Ji Ru thought.

"So your Aura varied from different types of golds and yellows. It's really beautiful."

"I see." Tai Yang said, closing his eyes with a slight yawn. 

Ji Ru turned onto his side to look at Tai Yang who was on had turned on his side on his own bed. "Hey, Tai Yang."

Tai Yang opened his eyes at the serious sound of Ji RU's voice. 

"Yes?"

Ji Ru's arm was now in a crook, and his head propped up on his hand. 

"Did you experience anything weird in your childhood?"

Tai Yang blinked. 

"Weird how?"

"Like how I showed up in your apartment. Did anyone do that when you were a child?"

Tai Yang didn't say anything for a moment, but then he twisted his lips. 

"If it happened, I don't remember it." He said. "I was supposedly in a coma since I was six, for a year."

"A year?" Ji Ru raised his brows in astonishment.

Tai Yang nodded. "I have no memory before going into the coma, and I don't remember anything about my family, or if I ever had one at all. All I have is this." He lifted up his wrist and shook it a bit so the flat-disk charm jangled about.

"No memory..." Ji Ru said, narrowing his eyes. 'Maybe it's not that you have no memories Tai Yang. Maybe someone locked your memories.' Ji Ru thought, pursing his lips. 

Tai Yang let his hand fall back on the bed. "I've been to plenty of doctors back home. None of them could help me recall anything."

Ji Ru exhaled slowly. 'When you woke up, did they tell you about the state you were found in, or where?"

Tai Yang thought and then rubbed his eye. "Not immediately, but I did go back and check the records when I was older. They found me in my parent's home laboratory."

Ji Ru sat up with wide eyes. "Your parents were scientists?" 

"Supposedly. I traced the neighbors who used to live around there, but they told me that my parents never associated with any of them, so none of them knew what they did for a living. Nobody even knew their names, and it turned out that the house didn't even belong to my parents, so the home record couldn't get me their names either. Someone was temporarily sponsoring that home and that home lab for their research. The funny thing was that they had no record of me. I wasn't registered, apparently."

Ji Ru listened very intently. Every detail was important, even if Tai Yang wasn't aware of it. He nodded, urging Tai Yang to continue talking. 

"Those cards and booklets that they have on Earth 72... The ID, driver's license, and passport book, did they not have any of that lying around your home? Perhaps your parent's info..."

"Well, the house was on fire when the neighbor pulled me out. Apparently, it was completely incinerated. I believe nothing was found."

Ji Ru's eyes widened.

"You were pulled out of a fire?"

"I wasn't hurt if you're wondering, but I was unconscious. The doctors said that it was most likely the lack of oxygen that caused me to go into the coma."

Ji Ru nodded in thought. 'Brain damage from a lack of oxygen is definitely a possible cause, but this is all too elaborate. Memory loss, not being registered, your family being untraceable and missing, your home burning, and you being left all alone. Something's not right here. Don't you realize that Tai Yang?'

There was a knock at the door. Ji Ru let out a heavy breath. "We'll talk more about this soon." He stood up and walked to the door.

Tai Yang nodded as he watched him go, briefly wondering what was so interesting about his childhood trauma. Li Wei entered and briefly gave Ji Ru a kiss atop the head. He looked at Tai Yang. 

"Ah, Casanova himself." Li Wei grinned. "Li Jun is going to want to strangle you."

Tai Yang sighed. "I guess there's no helping that." He said, and then his thoughts drifted to how Li Wei knew about the term Casanova, which actually originated from the name of a man called Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seignalt.

And while he thought this, someone shoved between Ji Ru and Li Wei who were at the door, and pointed accusingly at Tai Yang. "YOU EVIL FUNGUS! GET OVER HERE!" He started to stomp towards Tai Yang who slapped his glasses on to look at Li Jun with wide eyes, cowering in the bed. Li Wei quickly grabbed him. 

"Hey, he didn't ask her to summon him. At least he's being honest and telling you." Li Wei said, struggling to keep Li Jun restrained since they were equally matched in terms of strength. 

"Let me hit him."

"No! Your majesty, he'll die!" Ji Ru whined. 

"He won't die, I'll hit him with just a little strength." Li Jun said and Tai Yang decided it was best to get out of the bed to run to the opposite end of the room. "Li Jun, be sensible, how can he help it if that woman is drawn to him? He's not reciprocating anything."

Li Jun huffed and stopped wriggling. He pointed at Tai Yang and slightly faltered at the very frightened expression on his face. Snapping out of it, he clicked his tongue and pointed at Tai Yang. 

"I'll be watching you very closely this evening you lecherous man."

With a humph, he crossed his arms behind his back, flicked his hair, and walked out of the room. Tai Yang blinked rapidly and looked at Ji Ru who could only sigh and shake his head.