The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era [BL]

He looked at Kiran. "Thank you, Kiran! I know what to do now."

Kiran scratched his cheek, feeling awkward by the sudden gratitude. "No, I just said my opinion. If it helped you, then I'm glad."

He was genuinely concerned that anything he said might exacerbate the situation. Considering it was a significant issue involving Astrid's family, he worried that offering the wrong advice, as an outsider, could only harm Astrid further. That's why he's relieved he could offer help.

"Then I'll excuse myself for a moment," Astrid said before standing up.

After Kiran nodded, telling him to 'go ahead', Astrid walked further inside the greenhouse, where no one would be able to hear any conversation he might have had. He took a deep breath first before dialing his mother's number.

----------

Casey stared intently at the door of the private room in the restaurant where he was. After he sent those messages early in the morning, asking to meet the other, he didn't receive a reply. At least well into the afternoon.

[Hello. Sorry if my reply is late. I don't really know where we can talk in a private setting. So, I think it would be better for Uncle Casey to set the place. I'll go and meet you after my afternoon class is over.]

Casey did not waste any time and quickly reserved a whole restaurant. He was not worried that the staffs here would talk. Because they were required to sign NDA agreements to not spread whatever they saw or heard in this place. Although that only applied to their VVIP customers. In which Casey was one.

He knew how much it would affect Astrid's career if a rumor spread about him meeting Casey in such a private setting. He didn't want to bring that kind of problem to the other. That's why he chose this place.

He opened his Terminal and once again read Astrid's reply. His eyes particularly focused on the words 'Uncle Casey'. This address only had meaning when said by Nicol before. But now, it was different. Now, he not only had one but two full grown nephews!

The image of Astrid and Andreas flashed in his mind. Two people with very different physical feautures were actually twins.

Casey didn't think much of it before. But after finding out that they were his nephew, he couldn't help but think of the reason why the two were twins, despite looking so different from one another.

One should know that in this day and age, not many parents would consider having twins. Even if they did, they would pick a pair of male and female instead of the same gender. After all, who would want to have an exact copy of one's self? Because that's how it would appear for same-gendered twins.

Twins of the same gender were composed of the same DNA material that was simply divided into two to form two babies. It's like having a clone. Which no one would like.

But that was not the case at all with Astrid and Andreas. The two couldn't be any more different. From physique to appearance, everything was different.

Which could only mean one thing. That Emmy gave birth to them instead of having them in a fertility lab.

All people knew how hard and dangerous it was for a woman to give birth naturally. But he understood that Emmy and her partner probably didn't have a choice. If they went to a fertility lab, they had to give their DNA, which would then reveal their real identities. So, if they wanted to have children, natural birth was the only way.

Casey couldn't imagine the kind of hardship and suffering his sister had to experience. Just thinking about it was like stabbing his own heart a thousand times. His sister, with her identity, could have lived her whole life in comfort. But instead, she threw away her identity to live the life she wanted. At least, that's what Casey wanted to believe.

He wanted to believe that Emmy was happy. Because if that was the case, then what happened to her would be a bit more acceptable.

But he really couldn't know that, could he?

Truthfully, he just wanted to go to where she was right now. To stand in front of her and just give her a tight hug. To tell her how sorry he was that he couldn't help her. And to just... ask her how she had been doing these past two decades.

There were so many things that he wanted to do. But he knew that he couldn't. If he wanted to keep Emmy safe, then he shouldn't.

So, he could only do what he could right now. And that was to meet his nephews.

It would be hard to meet Andreas today since the other was in the military academy. The only one he could meet right now was Astrid. If his meeting with Astrid went well today, perhaps he could arrange to meet the two of them tomorrow.

At the thought that he would meet Astrid any minute now, he suddenly felt very nervous.

How could he explain to the other that he was his uncle? What if he didn't believe him? He should have given a better impression when they first met. There was also that incident when Astrid was first appointed as the brand ambassador of EMMA's new perfume line. He really didn't handle that well.

In Astrid's mind, he was probably just a flighty, unserious person whom one could hardly rely on.

Just the thought of Astrid having that opinion about him was enough to turn his stomach. But there was something even worse than that.

That Astrid knew who he was, who the whole Grimaldi family was, and he just didn't care.

Before Casey could delve on that thought, the door of the private room finally opened.