…Juin walked toward the orphanage with a heavy heart, and in 25 minutes, he was standing in front of the orphanage with a serious expression on his face. As he looked at the huge building that housed more than 15 kids, images from the past slowly appeared in his mind.
It was as if he were back to the time when he was a little boy again, and he saw a group of kids standing in a circle at a corner of the front yard yelling,
"Freak!"
"Crybaby!"
"Weakling!"
And from the corner of his eyes, he saw a figure das.h.i.+ng across the front yard before jumping onto the biggest kid in the group. The figure tackled the boy who was at least a head taller than him onto the ground and sat down on him.
When the figure growled at the boy, his platinum blonde hair seemed to wave ever so slightly in the wind.
"I told you guys to leave him alone!" the boy yelled as he raised his fist; his bright, blue eyes appeared electrifying at the moment as he glared at the boy underneath him.
"F*ck! It"s Ashton!" a kid yelled before the group of children dispersed, leaving a smaller black-haired boy there.
"Ashton…" the boy underneath Ashton stuttered. He didn"t expect Ashton to return so early. He was supposed to be away for at least one more day!
"What did I say, Bobby? If you hurt Juin one more time, I"ll make sure you die horribly…" Ashton said in a low voice as he stared into Bobby"s eyes.
And for some reason, Bobby seemed extremely terrified of the smaller-sized Ashton, and beads of sweat started to form on his forehead. He also started to cry for help.
"Ashton, it"s fine…"
A small voice suddenly traveled into Ashton"s ear, and he turned to look at the young Juin, who was smiling at him.
"I told you to tell me if they are picking on you! Why didn"t you say anything in your last call?!" Ashton scolded Juin. He got up from Bobby, and after sending the bigger boy off with a glare, he looked back at Juin. "I would have been back earlier if I had known about this!"
Ashton"s eyes landed on Juin"s arm, which was sc.r.a.ped and bleeding, probably from an earlier fall. He took Juin"s hand and sighed. "I told you to be careful. Your blood is precious…"
"I didn"t notice," young Juin said with a silly smile as he looked at Ashton.
Ashton shook his head. He glanced left and right, and after making sure that the coast was clear, he placed his left hand a few inches above Juin"s wound and mumbled something.
Juin watched, but he did not say anything. "It doesn"t hurt anymore…"
"Good…"
"Are you ever going to tell me how you do this?" young Juin asked as he looked at his wound. The sc.r.a.pe marks were still there, but the bleeding and pain were completely gone.
Ashton grinned and patted Juin"s head. He then looked down at Juin and said, "It"s magic… When you"re older, I"ll teach you…"
Back in the present, Lucifer saw that Juin was frowning, and he asked, "What"s wrong?"
Juin glanced at him. He then looked at that specific corner of the front yard as he replied wryly, "I didn"t see it back then…"
He touched the place where he was sc.r.a.ped back then absentmindedly as he mumbled, "It"s been right in front of me the whole time… but I didn"t see it."
There had been signs that Ashton might not have been normal, but Juin had always thought that Ashton did something. He thought that the pain was gone because of some placebo effect, and when Ashton made flowers bloom in his hand, Juin thought that it was just some simple magic that he picked up from the books.
"This means that Ashton knew what he was…" Juin suddenly mumbled. "If he could actively do all those things…"
Lucifer finished his words for him. "You"re right, that means he"s aware."
Juin frowned. He took a step onto the front yard and made his way to the door. After pressing the bell twice, he stepped back and waited for someone to open the door.
A few seconds later, the door was opened. It was one of the old caretakers of the orphanage, and he immediately recognized Juin.
"You… Juin?" the old caretaker, Mr. Otto, said uncertainly.
"Yes, Mr. Otto," Juin replied with a smile. He then asked, "I"m here to see Director Wu. Is she still working here?"
"Yes, Director Wu is still here. Please, come in. I"ll let her know," Mr. Otto said as he signaled Juin to come in.
Juin followed Mr. Otto and walked up the stairs that he used to walk up and down every day, and whenever he pa.s.sed any of the children living in the orphanage, he could not help but think if they were actually humans like him.
"No, wait…" Juin thought to himself. "Am I really a human?"
A complicated expression appeared on his face as he slowly walked in the hallway until he reached a door with the plaque "Director Wu".
Knock!
Knock!
Knock!
"Director Wu, you have a visitor," Mr. Otto said loudly while waiting for permission to enter.
There was a short silence before a woman"s voice appeared from behind the door. "Who is it?"
"It"s Juin, one of our older batch of children," answered Mr. Otto.
A few seconds later, she said, "Come in."
Mr. Otto smiled at Juin before turning the k.n.o.b.
As they walked into the room, Juin could not help but feel a pang of nostalgia in his heart. He had been in this room numerous times before, mostly to defend Ashton, who often got into trouble for defending him.
When he saw Director Wu, Juin felt a slight fear in his heart. She did not look scary. Instead, she was quite lean, and her age showed as well, as her hair had turned grey in the last few years, and she now required reading gla.s.ses. However, seeing her still struck a chord within Juin.
Director Wu had always been a stern caretaker, and Juin did not have much of a nice memory of her. But he recalled that she was never mean or hateful toward any of the kids. She was just strict toward everyone.
"Director Wu…" Juin called her respectfully. "It has been a while."
Director Wu looked up at Juin, and after a while, she said with a frown, "You haven"t changed a bit. Did you eat well at Mrs. Martin"s place?"
Juin nodded. "Mrs. Martin is very kind toward me. My growth is just slightly slower than normal…"
Director Wu nodded. "So, what brings you here today?"
She then gestured him to sit and asked Mr. Otto to bring some tea and snacks in.
Juin sat down in front of Director Wu"s table. He could see the stacks of files on her desk. An opened file showed the details of a young girl. Before he could read more, the file was closed, and he looked up and saw a strict expression on Director Wu"s face.
"I taught you better than this."
"I"m sorry…" Juin mumbled and kept his eyes down.
"Look at me when I"m talking to you. You"re 16 years now, if I"m not wrong. Why are you still looking down at the floor the whole time?"
"Erm…" Juin did not know how to answer that.
She sighed. "When Ashton pa.s.sed away, even though it was a pity and sad event, I thought that it would be good for you, but it looks like I was wrong."
Juin frowned, and he unconsciously clenched his fists. "What?"
"The two of you were too close. As long as he"s with you, you can never grow as a person. I could never understand that boy. He"s way too protective toward you."
"Director Wu…" Juin looked into her eyes and said in a more decisive tone, "I… I came back to know more about Ashton."
"What?"
"Because of what happened, I have incomplete memories of him. I"m also trying to learn more about my past. Can you please tell me more about him? And myself?"
Director Wu stared at him, and after a while, she pinched her glabella and sighed. Waving a hand nonchalantly, she asked, "What do you want to know?"