The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

AFTER eating breakfast, the Townsend twins got ready to go out of the apartment once again. 

"Xiao Lan, I'll leave the apartment to you," Astrid said to the AI cat.

"Yes, Master, just leave everything to Xiao Lan," said the blue cat.  "Please, take care."

Astrid opened the door and walked out of the apartment unit.  Reas followed closely behind.

"So, where exactly are we going?" Reas asked.

Astrid said yesterday that they would go to a place that would lighten his mood.  But he couldn't think of a place that would do that.  No, there was one.  Diving at the VirtualNet and fighting at the Mecha Hall.  But seeing that they're going out instead of using a virtual pod, that was most likely not the case.

Wait- his brother didn't have a virtual pod here.  So, maybe they would go to a place with a virtual pod and then he could play to his heart's content.  Thinking of that possibility, he already felt his good mood rising up.  Astrid still knew how to coax him.

"It's a secret.  Just trust me.  You will definitely like it," Astrid answered in a mysterious tone.

Although Reas already had an idea of where his brother was taking him, he decided to act like he knew nothing so as not to ruin the surprise.  When they walked out of the building, Reas couldn't help but to look left and right, as if he was checking on something.

"What are you doing?" Astrid asked, staring at the way his brother was acting.

"Checking if that guy is just around the corner, waiting to ambush us."

Astrid shook his head helplessly.  Even if he didn't ask, he was certain that the 'guy' Reas was talking about was none other than Wulfric.  "I don't think the prince has a lot of free time to lurk around the corner just to ambush us."

"With that guy, you'll never know."

Astrid decided to just pull this brother of his to a taxi that stopped nearby.  After hopping inside, he told the driver the address of where they should take him.

Reas was not familiar with the address that Astrid gave the driver.  Which was really not surprising, considering that he barely knew any place in this capital.  He could probably search at his Terminal for that address to see where they were going but he didn't.  Where would be the surprise in that?

The car flew up and traveled towards the direction of the address Astrid gave. 

Reas, who was looking outside the window, noticed that they were going outside the city center.  Sure enough, a few minutes later, they were no longer travelling surrounded by tall buildings and establishments.  The longer they travelled away from the city center, more trees and other landscapes appeared. 

Now, he was even more curious as to where they were going.

After another half an hour, the flying car finally stopped.  Astrid paid the fare and he and Reas got out of the car. 

Reas stared at the place in front of him.  There was a white picket fence and after that was a pathway surrounded on both sides with flower bushes.  At the end of that path was a two-story building with rose vines clinging on its walls.  A wooden sign was attached to it which read, 'Rose Atelier'.

The first thing that come to his mind was, 'what the heck is this place'?

The meaning of 'atelier' was a workshop or a studio used by an artist or designer.  His guess that his brother would bring him to a place where they could go to the VirtualNet immediately vanished.  How could such a place with a name like that have a bunch of virtual pods?

"Are you sure my mood is going to improve in this place?" he asked, totally confused and also a little bit curious.

Astrid smiled at him.  "Of course.  Don't you trust me?"

Reas raised one of his brows at the other.  "Not when you smile like that."

His brother was now smiling at him in that smile that he often had when he was up to no good.  So, he already had a feeling that his mood would probably just worsen once Astrid showed him this 'surprise'.  He had already lowered his expectation.

Astrid acted like he was hurt by what Reas said.  "Reas, how could you say that your kindhearted brother?"

"Who was it that kept on insisting yesterday that he was not a good person?"

Astrid chuckled.  "Touché." 

He linked his arms around Reas' and pulled his brother towards the atelier.  On their way, Reas saw a guy from a distance painting something on a canvas.  Not far from the other was another guy doing the same thing.

Walking inside, the first thing he noticed was the paintings hanging on the wall.  They were all paintings of different landscapes.  From a mountainous area, to a snowcapped mountain, to the setting sun on the horizon of the sea. 

Although he didn't have any background on art, he could tell that these paintings were good.  No, they were more than good.  The colors used on them made them seem alive.  As if he had been in those places himself.

Right after the paintings, he noticed the tables and chairs scattered about.  But they were not in a messy state.  Although there was no order on how they were arranged, it didn't look chaotic at all.  In fact, it still somehow added to the whole aesthetic of this floor. 

There were three people there, sitting quite far away from each other and only minding their own business.  One was holding some kind of drawing board, he also saw one with his Terminal opened and seemed to be designing something on it.

"Is this some kind of special place for artists or something?" he asked his brother just to confirm his guess.

"In a way, yes," Astrid answered. 

There were staffs around holding trays of drinks and dessert.  Reas was surprised to see that these staffs were actually humans instead of AIs.  In this day and age, most people just use AI robots as staffs especially for such a job.  Because they're more thorough with their jobs and less likely to make mistakes. 

A staff walked up to them.  "Good morning, do you have any reservation?"

"Yes, for Astrid Townsend, please," Astrid answered.

The staff checked something in the virtual board in his hand, probably something like a guest list.  "Please, come this way.  Your companion is already waiting."

Companion?  Surely this brother of his didn't invite that prince, right? – Reas thought.

With doubt, he followed his brother and the staff to the second floor.  Unlike the first floor which was more open, the second floor had private rooms.  But the artistic atmosphere was still there.  The staff opened one of the doors and gestured for them to come in.

Reas walked inside and stopped immediately when he saw the person sitting on one of the chairs and eating some kind of tall parfait.  Sunlight from the window was cascading on his dark blond hair.  His pair of light brown eyes were bent into beautiful crescents.

Reas only thought was; Why was it him?