The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

"ARE you alright, Snow?"

Astrid's voice cut off Snow's thoughts. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. Then he forced the corner of his lips to turn up before looking back at Astrid and answering the other.

"Yes, I'm fine."

But what Snow didn't know was that his expression right now was very stiff. Even the corner of his eyes were red, as if he was on the verge of tears just a few seconds ago. And Astrid noticed all of that.

In the first place, if Snow was like his usual self right now, he would have asked why Astrid would even think that he's not fine. But instead, he just answered like that, as if trying to convince himself that that was indeed the case.

It was obvious that all of this was related to Ash. Maybe other people wouldn't easily notice it, but to Astrid, it was clear as day. He wasn't sure why Snow was reacting that way towards Ash, but at least he's certain that it's not because of what the latter thought. That Snow hated him or something.

If the other really disliked Ash, he would not even bother talking to him or even glanced at him. So, it was clearly not that. It was more like he was uncomfortable around the other. And again, that discomfort did not come from his dislike of him.

Astrid really wanted to ask why that was so but he resisted. This was Snow's business. He didn't want to intrude especially since the other obviously had no intention of sharing the reason to anybody right now. If Snow had that thought, he would have already told Astrid about it, or at least give him some kind of clue.

But Snow didn't. The other wasn't even showing any indication that he was remotely interested in telling him anything. Astrid wouldn't just confront the other about it and force him to tell everything.

After all, in his opinion, friendship was not about telling each other everything about yourselves. It's about supporting each other and be the person each other could rely on.

"I see," he said with a smile as he stand beside Snow. "Let's go over there. I think it has more fun games than this one."

Before Snow could say anything, he had already pulled the other towards the section where it had something similar to a dance dance revo machine.

"Are we... going to play this?" Snow asked as he looked at the machine with dumbfounded eyes.

He turned his head to watch the other people who was playing the same game and it was easy to surmise how the game was played. One just had to step on the arrows on the board that matched the arrows that was appearing on the screen. The speed in which the arrows appeared also increased as the song continued.

It sounded simple and all. But Snow knew how hard that could be especially for someone like him who had poor body coordination. He would definitely only look like someone who was being electrocuted or something.

"Yes, it will be fun," Astrid said with a big smile.

Seeing that, Snow couldn't really reject the other. Having a face like that really should be a sin. He sighed helplessly and said, "Okay, let's do it."

Astrid smiled happily and pulled Snow towards one of the machines. They had to wear headphones to hear the music.

Snow heard the song of a popular idol group these days. When he saw the arrows appearing on the screen, he panicked and just moved his feet without knowing if he's stepping on the right arrow. And, as expected, his screen was full of the word 'miss'. Indicating just how many arrows he had missed.

He turned to Astrid's screen. Contrary to his, the other's screen was filled with words like 'amazing', 'great', 'splendid'. He felt a bit envious seeing that. But when he turned his gaze to Astrid himself, he almost tripped on his own feet. Not because of his own carelessness, but simply because his brain received a shock from seeing the scene in front of him.

Yes, Astrid was stepping on all the right arrows, but he didn't look like he was dancing at all while doing it. He looked more like a robot that just malfunctioned. His movements didn't have any rhythm to it at all. Combined all that with the overly determined expression on his face and one wouldn't know if they should laugh or feel pity instead.

Snow thought at that moment, 'oh, so, there are also things Astrid couldn't do'.

Because he was so much more invested in watching Astrid, the game finished without him even properly stepping on one single arrow. So, in the end, a huge 'you lose' was plastered on the screen in front of him. He didn't even feel bad about it because he got to see such an interesting scene.

Astrid turned to him with a victorious grin and giving him a 'v' sign with his fingers. "I won."

Snow finally couldn't hold back the laugh that he'd been trying to contain since earlier. "Yes. Yes, you did."

And just like that, all the worry, sadness, and pain he'd been feeling vanished. At least right this instant, that was true. Once again, he was glad to have Astrid as a friend.

So, he could laugh like that. – Ash thought as he saw Snow laughing with joy. For some reason he couldn't understand, the image of the other laughing like that overlapped with the Snow he knew. His one and only summer snow.

At that thought, Ash almost slapped himself. Why would he even think of comparing the two? It's like looking for similarities between a prickly rose and a pure lily.

He shook his head and decided to erase that thought in his mind.

----------

That night, after the episode of [Baby's Day-Off] aired, as expected, topics about the parenting skills of Olivia and her husband trended. Olivia was particularly criticised a lot.

And then, the next day, a scandal about the Thornley family blew up in [Cyberspace] and [StarNet].