avthorityâ:
âUgh, donât remind me,â Jinyi said with a huff. She then gently coaxed the butterfly upward to let it hang out on the top of her head. âWanna come? You can be my plus one. Picture that â you in a designer suit and us arm in arm? Pfft. Now that would really get my parents angry and the investors talking!â She let out a laugh just at the thought of it. At the impossibility of normalcy. But soon the sounds of the crashing waves overtook her laughter. ââŠYou already know what Iâm going to ask next, right? But I wonât ask today since itâs a holiday or whatever. You deserve a break,â she then said quietly after a while.Â
Gently turning her head to look at Kai so as to not disturb the butterfly on her head, her eyes softened as she gave him a little smile. His aura was one of Jinyiâs favourites, and she secretly hoped that it would never go black in her eyes. It was a soft and wispy powder blue that could blend seamlessly into a clear dayâs sky. Jinyi never told him it was one of the reasons she kept inviting him to be a Protector of the Trillions. Something about saying âHey, you emit one of my favourite colours and itâs somehow really comforting, so I want you nearby,â just didnât seem to fall into the professional talk they sometimes got into.Â
âWeâve known each other for years, but have I ever told you what colour you are?â People didnât usually ask her about their auras, any other Zhao could tell them that, so she never really brought it into conversation. But on the chance she would lose his colour too, Jinyi at least wanted it to live on in a memory beyond her just her own.
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âAs tempting as it is to upset your parents, those parties really arenât my thing.â Kai wouldâve gone purely to see the look on her parentsâ faces when he showed up, but it simply wouldnât be worth the trouble. As fun as it was, Kai was actually trying not to make a nuisance of himself. He had his own problems to deal with and didnât need to add more onto it, even if it would be amusing. Kai sighed, âYouâd know the answer anyway.â
Kai always seemed to see that smile from Jinyi when she looked at him, but heâd noted that it wasnât there when she didnât know he was around. He wondered if it was a special smile for him, or if perhaps she wasnât as happy as she portrayed herself to be. A question heâd love to ask, but certainly not something he had any right to pry in. It seemed like a genuine smile. That he could make her genuinely happy with his presence was enough.
âYou havenât,â Kai raised an eyebrow, âAnd if itâs bad, I donât want to know.â Sometimes ignorance was bliss, Kai knew that much. But, Jinyi was bringing it up, so she probably wanted to tell him. He smirked as he looked back at her, âGo on, then.â











