The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

ASTRID just entered his apartment when his Terminal rang a notification for a video call request. He sat down first on the couch before answering it. The moment he did, his brother's face immediately filled the virtual screen. He was about to greet the other when he noticed Reas' dark expression.

He didn't know if it was their connections as twins, but seeing the other's expression, Astrid quickly understood why the other called him. Reas must have heard about that Jesse Norris issue. Now, how should he go about this conversation?

He was about to greet the other when he another video call notification popped up on his screen. When he saw the name of the caller, he felt like he'd seen a savior. Now he could direct Reas' attention to someone else.

Astrid quickly changed the setting to group video call and a partition appeared on the middle of the virtual screen. His brother was on the left side and the new caller was on the right. And just like he expected, Reas' expression quickly changed the moment he saw the latter.

He had a feeling that it's not just because he suddenly saw Lauren. It's because of the fact that the other was dressed up rather prettily. Lauren had hair extensions that made his dark blond hair curl up beautifully around his face. There were also gems lined up around the corner of his eyes, making him look quite magical. Add that to the light make up and what you get was an explosive visual.

Looking at how Reas was staring at Lauren, his brother definitely had the same opinion. And Astrid smiled inwardly.

"Lauren, you look amazing!" he said first. The other, who seemed to have the same reason as Reas for calling him, appeared startled. He didn't have to guess to know that it's because of suddenly seeing Reas. He turned to his brother. "Don't you think so as well?"

Reas looked like he was so taken by surprise that he was unable to answer immediately. But being Reas, he quickly pulled himself together and said with an almost deadpan expression, "Yes."

Astrid resisted the urge to laugh. He knew that expression his brother was making. He always had that deadpan expression every time he's trying very hard to hide his shyness.

Lauren was actually feeling a bit nervous when Astrid asked Reas about his looks. But when he saw the other saying 'yes' with such an expression, as if he was just being perfunctory, he couldn't help but feel disappointed. Then, he quickly scolded himself. What was he feeling disappointed for? Did he want Reas to compliment him while blushing or something?

Somewhere deep inside, he actually already knew the answer.

He shook his head. This was not the reason why he called Astrid. Before thinking of such useless things, he might as well state why he called the other.

"I just finished a photoshoot," he said first to explain his appearance. "Anyway, I just found out that the person responsible for that debacle this past weekend tried to do something to you again. Has everything been resolved? If not, just tell me. I'll let that guy taste my fist."

Now that he thought back to that, he couldn't help but feel angry again. It had been a while since he encountered someone so shameless. Imagine, you were the one at the wrong. But instead of apologizing and making amends, you chose to commit another wrongdoing.

Lauren just couldn't understand just what kind of mindset such a person had. But he had been around the entertainment industry long enough to know that people like that Jesse Norris wasn't really exactly a rare breed. They were much more common in this industry that anywhere else. After all, this place simply bred jealousy and insecurity. To the point that one would not even hesitate to commit a crime just to reach their goals.

It's just sad that Astrid had to experience such a thing before even completely debuting.

Hearing what Lauren had said, the awkwardness (shyness) Reas felt upon seeing the other vanished. He was finally reminded of the reason why he called his brother.

"Those bastards, did they do something?" he asked, barely holding back his anger.

Reas had read that gossip article, courtesy of Ash, of course. The indignation and anger he felt right after was almost uncontainable. He held himself back because he knew nothing would come off from being angry at that moment. What he needed to do was to contact his brother first.

But because of Ash being annoying and asking him constantly if Astrid was really his twin, their next class started and he wasn't able to call his brother immediately. He had to wait for his class to end to give Astrid a call.

The anger he was feeling had already accumulated at that point. He even felt mad about the fact that Astrid didn't tell him anything and that he had to find out about it through a third party instead.

He was ready to give his brother a piece of his mind, scold him a bit. But Lauren suddenly appeared on the screen looking like that and all his thoughts just scattered like a hundred dandelion flowers.

He glanced at Lauren. The word Astrid used to describe the other was 'amazing'. But the first word that came to his mind when he saw Lauren was not that. For him, at this moment, the word 'stunning' was more apt.

Yes, Lauren was so stunning that it simply rendered Reas speechless.

Realizing that his thoughts were wandering off again to something unrelated to the topic, he secretly pinched his arm so he could focus more.

"No, they weren't able to do anything," Astrid responded to his brother's question. "I won't let those kinds of people touch even the tip of my fingers. So, the both of you shouldn't worry too much. With Sister Ellis' help, everything was under control. I was in no way disadvantaged. If you look at it from another angle, I was probably the winner of this situation." He smiled at the two. "So, don't be angry, okay?"