The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era



SILENCE continued to fill the air. Both Wulfric and Reas were standing like children about to be scolded, while Astrid was looking at the two with arms crossed and a raised brow.

This silent stand-off only stopped when a loud rumble echoed in the apartment. Both twins glanced at the source of the sound and landed on Wulfric's stomach.

Wulfric let out an awkward laugh. "Sorry, the smell of the food is making me hungry."

Astrid sighed. "Come on, let's eat lunch first."

Wulfric and Reas, as if given pardon, quickly walked towards the table. As Wulfric was about to sit down, Reas stopped him.

"That's my seat."

"Seriously?"

As if to answer that, Reas promptly sat down on the said seat. "Seriously."

Wulfric clicked his tongue as he sat in another seat.

"How old are you again?" he asked, indirectly telling the other that he was being childish.

"I'm 18," Reas said. Then he added with a smile that seemed to be mocking Wulfric. "My brother is too, just so you know."

Wulfric looked like he swallowed a blowfly after hearing that comment.

Watching the two bickering like this, Astrid felt like he was in a limbo. He shook his head. If he continued questioning the 'realness' of this situation, he would just have a headache. So, he decided to just get over lunch first.

"Let's eat. And then after, let's have that conversation," he said.

Both Wulfric and Reas stopped their bickering at Astrid's declaration. They returned to looking like children being grounded by an elder. They then picked their spoon and forks and quietly ate their food.

One would think that they wouldn't be able to taste the food because of the atmosphere. But surprisingly, both ate very enthusiastically, gorging down their food like there's no tomorrow. Who could blame them? Astrid's cooking was just that good.

It didn't take long before they all finished the dishes on the table.

Wulfric rubbed his full stomach. Still bathing in the afterglow of good food, he said, "Aster's food in really the best in the entire Empire."

And he didn't say that just because he loved Aster. As someone who's very picky when it came to food and had tasted the cooking of some of the best chefs in the Empire, he could honestly say, without prejudice, that Aster's cooking was the best he had ever tasted.

"Complimenting me is no use," Astrid said as he stood up. "We will still have that conversation."

"I will clear the dishes on the table," Reas said, as if knowing what to do to somehow alleviate his brother's annoyance.

Wulfric also understood this and added, "I will do so as well."

"There's no need for the General to do such a menial task."

"What menial? I'm not that narrow-minded."

Reas only gave the other a look as if asking 'really?'. Then, the two started another round of bickering.

Astrid shook his head and just walked towards the living room and sat down. He opened his Terminal and checked his upcoming schedules as the two cleared the table.

Since he shot the commercial ahead of schedule, a day was freed up for him next week. An episode of [The Great War] that would air next week included a scene where he could showcase his acting prowess, so there would definitely be a hot topic for that. Since he didn't have a particular schedule that weekend, should he invite his friends to watch it together? 

But Kiran and Snow could be busy that day. Especially Snow, who had just signed with Polaris. He heard from Ellis that most newly signed artists had to attend personal acting classes. Something that he skipped because the management felt that his acting skills were enough. Although he still received coaching from time to time. But not really that often like other rookies in the company.

Lauren, on the other, was definitely still busy with the shooting of his new movie. So inviting him was out of the question.

As he was pondering over what plans he should make, he heard the sound of glass breaking from behind. He looked back and saw a broken glass on the floor. When he raised his head, Reas and Wulfric seemed to have turned into statues, frozen in place. The two looked nervously at him, obviously worried that this would make him angry. Then they glanced at each other.

With just that look, Astrid could already tell that the two would start another round of bickering, probably blaming each other. Before that could start, he spoke first as pre-emptive measure.

"Do clean that up as well. Before, you know, I get really angry."

The two immediately moved and cleaned up the mess they made. They moved so quickly that they finished cleaning everything up in just a minute. Of course, the dishwasher was doing all the cleaning. But it's still a bit impressive.

Then they sat in front of him, looking like children waiting to be scolded.

Astrid sighed, seeing them like that. Even the slight bit of anger he felt earlier had already simmered down.

"I won't scold you, so relax," he said, no longer in the mood to give the two a talking down. Especially when both looked like a pair of poor puppies right now. "Just tell me how all this came to be."

"Let me do the explaining," Wulfric volunteered. "When you left this morning, Reas arrived not long after. We had a conversation. I told him that I confessed to you. I felt like he didn't take it too well, so I suggested that we fight it out in the Mecha Hall. Just like how hot-blooded soldiers would. Our fight lasted quite a while, so we didn't have a chance to check our Terminals. That's why we couldn't answer your calls and reply to you."

Astrid raised a brow after hearing that explanation. "Well, I guess the Mecha fight is very effective. Seeing as how you two are getting along now."

"Yes."

"No."

Wulfric and Reas said respectively, almost at the same time.