Dragging his feet across the wooden floorboards of the room, Tai Yang had his eyes focused on only one truly special being.
Certainly... The only beautiful one who could comfort him after the painful, unforgivable week he'd had.
"Bed-Jiejieeeee!" He whined, falling flat onto the mattress. The old bed made a long creak of discontentment, and the wooden legs threatened to give way as the slender boy fell upon it.
"You have no idea how I've missed you. Uhuhuhuhuh!" He rolled over onto his back and the bed croaked again.
"It was awful, Jiejie. The only consolation I had was seeing you again." Tai Yang moved onto his knees and wriggled out of his lab coat. "Do you know, after flying all the way there, after having to almost SPEAK, out loud, that guy didn't even show up!?"
He sniffed. "I didn't even get to sleep! UHUHUHUHUHUH!" Throwing his lab coat hard onto the floor, he slammed his face into his pillow; his glasses bit into the bridge of his straight nose.
"And then after hours of waiting, he decides to announce that he decided that Tokyo was too far, and he actually wanted to have the meeting back here in Beijing! Turns out he hadn't left his estate! So we packed up, came right back here, and what do you know, he still didn't leave his estate! Can you believe that?"
Flipping onto his back as he held his pillow, he scrunched up his nose.
"AND THEN!"
*Flashback*
"Alright, Tai Yang, listen up. Our University needs the funding; and we need it bad. When we walk into that building, at any cost, you're gonna have to MAKE that lady want us."
Tai Yang blinked at the Professor. "M-me? But Professor... Aren't you presenting?"
"Yes, but look at me. I'm old. I'm wrinkled. Even though you're weird - and you're really so weird it makes me feel weird by association- your face isn't half bad. If you get that Xiao Xia to like us, then that Li Jun guy will invest."
"I-I-I-Professor, y-you overestimate me-" Tai Yang stuttered.
"It isn't the time to be modest. I can tell you now, that guy isn't gonna understand a damn thing we're saying. We'll go crazy trying to explain it to a layman like him. But the word out is that he's really trying to impress Xiao Xia. If we can get her support, just a little, he'll invest."
Tai Yang bit his lip. Professor An looked very serious and had an underlying look of worry in his eyes. "I... Will try sir."
"SIR! EXCUSE ME! Hello! My name is Fu Yao from ANIX ENTERTAINMENT! I couldn't help but notice that you're a very good-looking-"
Hearing the man, Tai Yang jumped behind the professor. Raising a bushy brow, Professor An looked back at the man. "I'll stop you there, son. Somethings wrong with this one. Got a few nuts loose. Decided to become a broke, anti-social researcher over fortune and adoring fans. Wasting his youth away, really. It's always like this. Don't waste your time."
The man called Fu Yao paused. "Oh... Well, could you please give him my card if it's not too much trouble, sir."
"He's going to use it to scrape up the agarose powder in the lab the next time his clumsy hands drop the container. Trust me, keep that card. Save the trees. He isn't going to call you."
The man looked dejected but bowed and walked away. Professor An smacked Tai Yang on the arm as they reached the building. It wasn't too far from where they'd parked.
"What's wrong with you? You really are a moron. All these opportunities won't stick around forever. One day you're going to look like me and you'll wish you'd have said yes."
"I... Want to be a researcher, Professor. It isn't about the money... I know researchers earn very little but... Even so, I want to do it. I don't have anyone to support too so... It's fine isn't it?"
Professor An opened his mouth to speak but stopped himself.
It was an unspoken understanding. Tai Yang, almost a decade ago, was what they called a 'Ward of the State'. He really didn't have anyone to be concerned about.
Clearing his throat, Professor An looked up at the extremely bourgeois hotel booked for the meeting. He whistled.
"Looks like the food will be good."
However, as they got nearer, the doorman cautioned them.
"Good Evening. Would you be here for the meeting with Mr. Li?"
"Yes, we are." Professor An replied. The doorman smiled apologetically. "We were asked to convey Mr. Li's sincerest apologies. It seems he is unable to make the meeting this evening."
*End flashback*
"I mean if you're going to cancel, TWICE, at least let us know! If he had time to tell the doorman, couldn't he have messaged the Professor, at least? We left all our specimens in the care of the Research Assistants, they must have been petrified. It's scary watching over experiments for other people. If something goes wrong, it's as if you messed it up. They must have been so worried this week..." Tai Yang sighed, sitting up against the creaky-headboard.
While he hardly spoke to the current postgraduates because of his quite crippling social anxiety, he still felt empathy for them when he watched them toil over their research and then have to take care of other researcher's experiments too. He often tried to help them secretly, but alas, being so anxious and trembling, he always accidentally destroyed their work.
Some of the students went as far as thinking he was a scary freak of a man, purposely ruining everyone's experiments. He really only wanted to help.
After all, he'd always been extremely good at his own lab work...
But he got so nervous at the thought of helping someone and messing up that he always messed up when he did try to help them. It was only with the older professors (who were quite strange themselves) that he could help immaculately. They didn't treat him strangely or see anything other than another researcher.
Yawning, Tai Yang stood up and readjusted his glasses.
"I want a snack. The tumtum is growling. I'll head to the fridge JieJie." He said, stepping off the bed and picking up his lab coat. Calmly, he tossed it over his shoulder and walked to the fridge, lightly humming as he went. With a murmur of his possible food options, he swung open the door and leaned into the fridge.
"What to eat, what to eat? Hmmm, maybe a pickled radish and peanut butter sandwich would-"
There was suddenly an electrifying noise behind him, a squeak, and an unceremonious thump. Feeling his blood run cold, his heart halt, and his stomach fall through the sky, he slowly turned himself around.
On the floor was a person in beautifully crafted traditional Chinese clothing. The man threw his head back and his long hair that was covering his face cleared to reveal a very flushed, innocent-looking fellow. The moment he saw Tai Yang, his eyes widened.
"I DID IT! I FOUND ONE ALIVE!"
At the same time, Tai Yang finally found the strength to scream bloody murder as he stared at the swirling blue portal a few feet behind the man and noticed how the man had actual fluffy, black triangular dog ears growing out of his head.
Throwing his peanut butter at the intruder, he ran in the opposite direction, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Nonononono Tai Yang! Don't be scared! I came here while the prince was preoccupied, so we have no time at all! I'm here to save you before you die!" The man squeaked, catching the bottle with fumbling hands and then scampering to his feet to chase after Tai Yang who wasn't hearing him.
He tried to grab him by the arm, but Tai Yang was already lifting his leg to kick him.
'What are you doing? Whack him unconscious and then run, you silly thing!' Tai Yang thought to himself. He hadn't gone through years of self-funded karate lessons to get that Black-Belt for nothing!
Who was this dog-eared guy?! Why was he in his apartment?!
"Tai Yang, please stop! We have to go before you get murdered! I don't want you to die in this world too!" He whined, pleadingly, yet he still effortlessly dodged the onslaught of Tai Yang's attacks.
Tai Yang paused and jumped back with a shocked expression. "M-Murdered?"
"I'll explain later, but right now, we've got to go!" The man dashed forward and held his hands, looking at him the way a shiny-eyed puppy would look at the person taking a bite out of a chicken leg. "But h-how do y-you know I'll be-"
There was the sound of the front door being kicked down.
"Quick! Before the portal closes!" The man said, grabbing his arm. Tai Yang was so stunned as the new intruders came into view that he didn't resist as the stranger yanked him into the glowing, swirling portal.
The man glanced at the intruders who hadn't seen Tai Yang or the portal. With one last yank at him, the stranger had fully taken Tai Yang through, before the portal disappeared into thin air.