The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

Chapter 839: REAS AND NIKKI BICKERING

THOMAS studied the young man standing beside his nephew. Lauren Watts. He knew who he was, but not because he was a famous actor. He had only learned about that when he did his own research. And he had only done that because Emmaline had mentioned that Reas was in a relationship with him.

From what he found, Lauren came from an upper-middle-class family. He had a normal childhood and no criminal record. Up until he became an actor, he lived a very ordinary life. But once he gained fame, rumors about his dating life started popping up constantly. Sometimes he was linked to one person at a time, other times, multiple people at once.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure whether to believe the rumors or not. Gossip like that often got blown out of proportion. What he did know was that he had no right to interfere in his nephew’s relationship. No matter what kind of man Lauren Watts was, it wasn’t his place to tell Reas who he should be with. As Reas and Astrid’s uncle, Thomas decided that was one area he would stay out of. He would be there if they needed him and protect them silently if he could. Besides, they were both still young. They were allowed to make mistakes in this area. Though Thomas hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

So he extended his hand. ”Nice to meet you, Lauren. I’m Thomas Grimaldi.”

The friendly welcome caught Lauren off guard. Or at least, he chose to believe it was friendly. He didn’t care if he was being delusional. He quickly took the offered hand and shook it. ”Nice to meet you too, sir.”

”You’re Brother Andreas’ boyfriend?” the little boy asked, drawing Lauren’s attention downward. ”Does that mean you like him?”

Lauren bit back a laugh at the way the boy’s face scrunched up. ”As a matter of fact, I do.”

The kid shrugged. ”Well, I guess there’s no accounting for taste.”

This time, Lauren couldn’t hold back the laugh that escaped him. He turned to Reas, who was now glaring at the kid. ”I like your cousin.”

The kid—what had Thomas called him? Nicol?—looked surprised at his words. Then he gave Lauren a small nod of approval. ”At least you’re not a lost cause.”

Reas reached over and ruffled Nicol’s hair roughly. ”Brat.”

Nicol jumped back and shot Reas a glare, frantically trying to flatten his curly silver hair. ”I’m going to tell Brother Aster you’re bullying me.”

Reas only smirked, looking like some kind of evil gremlin. ”Go ahead. It’s not like Aster’s going to scold me. We’re twins, remember? I’ll always be his favorite.”

Nicol’s eyes went wide at that. His lip started to tremble, and he stared at Reas like he was about to cry.

Lauren shook his head and gave Reas’ arm a light smack. ”Real mature of you.” He then turned to Nicol. ”Don’t listen to him. I’m sure you’re one of Aster’s favorites too.”

Nicol blinked and looked up at Lauren. ”You really think so?”

Lauren crouched down to meet Nicol’s eyes. He reached out and gently smoothed down the boy’s hair. ”I do.”

That earned him a bright smile. ”You’re not so bad. Are you sure you want to keep being Brother Andreas’ boyfriend?”

”Nicol, stop antagonizing your cousin,” Thomas said, though there was no real heat in his voice. If anything, he sounded amused.

Nicol pouted, crossing his arms. ”He’s the one who was mean to me first.”

”Who’s being mean to our Nikki?”

Nicol’s head whipped around at the sound of Astrid’s voice. He spotted his cousin walking in with a tray of snacks. Casey followed right behind him, carrying another tray with a teapot and cups. The moment he saw Astrid, his whole face lit up, and he started to run toward him. But before he could reach him, his father’s hand landed on his shoulder, stopping him mid-stride.

”Easy, Nicol. Your Brother Aster is holding a tray,” Thomas said. ”You might knock him off balance.” He then walked over to Astrid and took the tray from him.

Astrid gave the other a warm smile. ”Thanks, Uncle Thomas.”

He hadn’t even taken a step before Nicol launched himself at him like a rocket and wrapped his arms around his waist. Astrid chuckled and reached down to pat the boy’s head.

Nicol didn’t waste a second before launching into his complaint against Reas. ”Brother Andreas is teasing me. He said I’m not your favorite.”

Astrid raised an eyebrow. ”Oh, did he now?”

”Hey, that’s not exactly what I said,” Reas cut in dryly. ”I just said I’m his favorite.”

”It’s the same thing,” Nicol shot back. ”You already have Lauren, so you should be happy being his favorite.”

”He’s got you there,” Lauren said in amusement. Reas just rolled his eyes, but the small twitch at the corner of his mouth made it clear he enjoyed bickering with the kid.

Astrid chuckled at the exchange. He found himself wondering how they would react if he told them that while he had a list of favorites, the one at the very top, and most likely would stay there for a long time, was Wulfric. He could already picture the looks on Reas and Nicol’s faces.

***

They had light conversation over tea and snacks. Nicol kept talking with Lauren, clearly liking the other. Reas answered a few questions from Thomas about school. Casey asked Astrid about his latest projects. When lunchtime came, Astrid said he had prepared food beforehand, so they could just move to the dining room and eat.

Everyone perked up at that, clearly excited at the thought of eating Astrid’s cooking. Astrid asked them to head to the dining room while he transferred the food from his space ring onto serving dishes. Casey planned to help, but Lauren got there first. So Casey just went ahead and started setting the table.

When everything was done, the table was filled with a variety of dishes. There was a whole soy sauce chicken cut into pieces, stir-fried beef with peppers, tofu with minced meat and chili oil, garlic sautéed greens, and a large pot of winter melon soup with dried shrimp. A basket of golden fried spring rolls sat at the side, along with a big bowl of steamed rice.

And with that, they began to eat lunch.