Finding Stardust

And for a dozen years that they knew each other, Xion had never seen Therius feeling moved, like he was now. Therius" topaz eyes looked dreamy as he stared at the screen that displayed the most beautiful girl they had ever seen.

Physically, Emma Stardust took after her mother, Princess Arreya, but there was something different about her. This girl looked solemn and sad. They remembered Princess Arreya had a warm personality, and she always looked happy.

They didn"t know whether Emma looked this way because she took after her father"s quiet and reserved personality, or she was actually warm and happy like her mother but was feeling extremely sad. They could imagine how difficult her life must be, living alone in a foreign land.

Therius, who was always indifferent and never seemed interested in anything, somehow felt his heart saddened by her tears. He felt like he wanted to come to Emma and calm her down ... and do anything to stop her tears from falling.

I will take you home and make you happy ... thought Therius, staring at the girl"s face without blinking.

BEEP.

He finally pressed the b.u.t.ton to turn off the recording and took a deep breath. He then turned to Xion and looked at his friend intently.

Xion was stunned to see slowly a smile engraved on Therius"s usually stoic expressionless face.

"I will bring her home ..." Therius said firmly.

Xion nodded. "I can see it."

Therius looked at the screen once more and then got out of the messenger s.h.i.+p. He called the crew leaders and advised them not to listen to the message behind his back.

"Check the s.h.i.+p"s log and find out where it came from. We will land our s.h.i.+p there. Don"t you dare open the message without my permission."

"Yes, Sir."

Therius walked back to his room with a lighter mood. Xion had never seen his best friend look so happy.

"Ah ... apparently, he is madly in love," Xion murmured to himself.

***

Emma spent three days on the Moon to relive her memory with her parents and then finally decided to return to Switzerland. She felt very relieved after sending the messenger s.h.i.+p containing her message to Akkadia. At least, now she had something to look forward to.

Even if it"s going to take a year ... she would patiently wait. She would keep herself busy with various things while waiting for them to pick her up.

On the way back to Switzerland, Emma felt so tired that she spent the journey sleeping on the divan. Haoran let Emma rest while he sat pondering in his a seat next to her. He was very supportive of Emma meeting her family, but at the same time, his little heart reminded Haoran that he was not from Akkadia.

He did not know what to do when the pickup team arrived to take Emma home. Can he follow her to go to Akkadia?

Everything he knew was here on earth. He did not understand the Akkadian system, nor did he understand their language. He would be a stranger there. And what"s worse ... for them, he was just a creature from an undeveloped planet with backward civilization, compared to theirs ...

That was if they allowed him to come along. What if they didn"t accept him to come with Emma? How could he support and protect Emma? If they were not willing to take him along with Emma, ​​what should he do? Would he have to make Emma force them to accept him?

Haoran knew that Emma"s position was very weak because she was considered a fugitive from her planet. Even though she was the daughter of a princess, they certainly would not listen to Emma"s words.

"Oh, Emma ... What should we do when they come?" Haoran murmured softly, staring at Emma"s face as she was sleeping peacefully.

They landed back at the place where they were picked up by AWA. It was already 9 pm. The meadow was very quiet. Their rental car was still parked under the tree, exactly where they left it.

After taking their suitcases off the s.h.i.+p, Haoran and Emma immediately headed to their rental car and put their belongings in the trunk. The s.h.i.+p that brought them there became invisible and soon bolted into s.p.a.ce.

Haoran and Emma exchanged glances and took a deep breath.

It felt just like a dream! They only believed that the two did not dream the whole thing because they experienced it together.

"Let"s go..." Haoran said, pulling Emma"s hand. He opened the car door for the girl and, after he closed her door, he entered the driver"s seat. He saw Emma still sleepy and tried to cheer her up. "Let"s find a hotel in Interlaken. It"s very close from here so you can go to sleep right away. Tomorrow we will leave for Lucerne and fly to Shanghai."

Emma nodded. For the past three days, she had felt mental fatigue. She was indeed happy to be able to visit their moon base and saw the home her parents left behind, but at the same time, all of these memories stirred deep sorrow because they make her feel an unbearable longing for them.

This was what made Emma feel so tired and always wanted to sleep. Haoran drove his car at high speed, and half an hour later, their car was already parked in front of a hotel in Interlaken.

"We"ve arrived, let"s get out," Haoran said. Emma nodded. Both of them got out of the car and carried their suitcases down to the hotel lobby.

The check-in staff immediately welcomed them with a friendly smile. "Welcome, Young Miss and Young Master. What a coincidence, we have one last room available for you."

Haoran and Emma looked at each other.

One last room?

"Are the other rooms full?" Haoran asked. "We actually need two rooms."

"Ugh ... it"s rather difficult to find an empty room at this hour," said the staff with an apologetic expression. "There is a spring festival this weekend, and all the hotel rooms are fully booked. Can"t you share a room?"

"It"s OK, we"ll look for another hotel," Haoran said with a smile.

When he was about to turn around, Emma held his hand. 

"Uhm .. no need to go look for other hotels. Let"s just stay here. Besides, he said they have a festival here this weekend, and all the rooms are sold out. We will waste time if we go back and forth, looking for available hotel rooms."

"Uh ... but they only have one room ..." Haoran said, staring at Emma. The girl just shrugged.

"We are used to sharing a room when we were sailing, right? Let"s just share this one time," said Emma.

Haoran finally nodded. He then turned to the check-in staff and nodded. "Alright, we"ll take the room."