"Yo, Rowan, why didn't you tell me this whole marriage deal came with a sister? And one this beautiful, no less." Emrys Harding, one of Rowan's closest friends asked, his gaze fixed on the silver-haired girl.
Rowan glanced at Astra too, his gaze lingering on her for a second before he mumbled, "Right... a sister. Totally forgot about her."
He'd met her once, about nine months ago, back when his dad dropped the bombshell about his engagement. Rowan had been told that the woman his dad was dating had a daughter, someone just a few months younger than him.
At first, the idea had actually excited him. Finally, he wasn't going to be the youngest, and he'd finally get to play the big brother. Someone to tease, to mess with, but also to look out for.
But then he met her.
The first thing that popped into his head when he saw her was. [Damn, I'm gonna have a hard time keeping guys away from her.]
She was beautiful, in a way that made people stop mid-conversation just to stare. The kind of beauty that felt untouchable, like she wasn't even real.
Then the second thought came right after. [She's... strange.]
Not in a bad way, exactly, but she wasn't what he expected. Astra was quiet, almost too quiet. She didn't talk much, and when she did, her voice was soft but flat. She never smiled, at least not that he'd seen.
"Are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna introduce us?" Silas Patton, his other friend asked as he nudged Rowan with an elbow.
Rowan shot him a warning glare. "Not you too."
"What?" Silas held up his hands in mock surrender. "I'm just being friendly."
Ziyan shook his head at his friends who were trying to dig their own graves. Ziyan couldn't entirely blame them though. That girl had an appearance that seemed to draw attention like a magnet. It was impossible not to notice her. She stood out not just because of her striking features but because of her aura.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, breaking him out of his thoughts. Glancing at the screen, he saw the caller ID and sighed.
"I've gotta take this," he said, excusing himself from the group though the others did not even pay him any attention.
"Well, if you're not going to do the honors..." Emrys stood up, but before he could finish his sentence, they all watched as Astra turned and walked straight toward the exit.
She did not turn around, she did not even respond to the people who tried to strike up a conversation with her. She just blatantly ignored them as if she did not even see them until she disappeared through the double doors.
"Holy shit, talk about ice cold." Emrys whistled low. "Are you sure she is not your father's biological daughter?"
The comment earned him a solid smack between the shoulder blades that nearly sent him face-first into the marble flooring. He caught himself on a nearby chair, turning to glare at Rowan. "What the hell, man? I was kidding!"
But Rowan wasn't listening anymore. His eyes were fixed on the doors Astra had vanished through, a small frown creasing his forehead.
Rowan wasn't the only one who had noticed. From across the room, Calix had been watching too, especially because of the attention she had been garnering since the beginning of the ceremony. Men, both young and older alike, couldn't take their eyes off her, and even some women whispered behind their hands.
[This sister of his...was really strange.]
Astra gave a soft sigh of relief when she stepped onto the balcony. She rested her elbows on the railing and bowed her head down, her silver hair creating a curtain around her face. She stayed like that for a while, her shoulders hunched slightly as if there was some heavy weight pressing down her shoulders.
Some times later, her head slightly raised up, her gaze now slightly narrowed. She had noticed the presence before the person even made a sound. Her action was small, one that most people would have missed entirely. But the young man who stood a few feet away from her was not like most people.
Ziyan stared at the person who had been the talk of the night apart from the couple that got married today. He had just finished the phone call and was about to go back to join his friends when he spotted her out here. He could not help and before he knew it, his feet were dragging him towards her.
Astra didn't turn when he approached, though from the way she had slightly stiffened told him she knew about his presence. The moonlight caught in her silver hair, creating an almost ethereal glow around her silhouette.
"Are you alright?" he asked, stepping forward but still maintaining a few feet distance between them.
When Astra finally looked up at him, her silver eyes meeting his, Ziyan felt the air leave his lungs. He knew she was beautiful, he had been watching her from a distance the whole time. But he did not know she was this beautiful. No, Beautiful wasn't the right word, it felt too simple, too ordinary to describe what what he was seeing.
Astra's expressionless face flickered, almost imperceptibly, as if she'd been struck by an invisible force. Her silver eyes seemed to look not at him but through him. The smile on his face remained, but she was seeing something else entirely.
Red-rimmed eyes that had never shed their tears. Lips that trembled with words never spoken. A silent scream for help that had echoed so long it had become white noise, even to himself.
Years of pain lay buried under that smile, so deeply hidden that he seemed to have grown numb to its presence. Like scar tissue that had formed over an old wound, he'd learned to live with it, to forget it was even there.
Ziyan realized he was staring and quickly tried to collect himself, though his pulse continued to race traitorously in his throat.
"Umm...My name is Ziyan. I am one of Rowan's friends," he introduced himself.
Instead of responding, Astra turned away, tilting her chin upward to gaze at the moon hanging low and full in the night sky. It was as if she hadn't heard him at all, as if she had seen nothing. The night breeze stirred her hair, sending silver strands dancing in the moonlight.
Ziyan forgot to breathe.
The moment stretched on, and he forced himself to look away. He exhaled slowly, trying to bring his racing pulse under control. When he managed to look at her again, he noticed she had wrapped her arms around herself. Without thinking, he shrugged off his jacket and gently draped it over her bare shoulders.
"Thank you sir but there is no need fo-" she began, her fingers moving to remove it, but he caught her hands, holding them in place.
"Keep it on. It's cold out here," Ziyan responded, quickly releasing her hands when he realized he was still holding them. "And there's no need to call me sir. It makes me sound like my father. Ziyan is fine."
Something flickered across her face, too quick to read, and was gone before he could even be sure it was real. She didn't respond, just let the jacket settle around her shoulders.
Astra was too drained to even care about anything at the moment.
Ziyan moved to stand beside her, mirroring her pose against the railing. His eyes fixed on some distant point in the darkness, thoughts clearly churning behind his composed expression.
"Are you not happy with their marriage?" he finally asked.
"Why wouldn't I be happy?" She turned to look at him, her gaze a blank stare.
Ziyan met her eyes, brown meeting silver, and a shiver ran down his spine that had nothing to do with the cool night air. It wasn't their unusual color that caught him off guard, he'd seen plenty of people with striking eyes before. Though, her eyes were probably the most beautiful he'd ever encountered. No, it was what lay behind them that gave him pause. There was something in that silver gaze that felt... wrong.
They were empty.
He shrugged, looking away, not being able to hold her stare for a longer time. "I was just asking. You didn't feel like you were enjoying yourself back inside."
"I am not good with crowded places," she responded to him, looking back at the moon.
"Oh,"
The silence that followed was almost painful. Several times, Ziyan opened his mouth to speak, only to close it again without uttering a word. It was mortifying, really. Here he was, heir to Ellington Industries, someone who'd been groomed since birth to take over one of the largest corporations in the world. He'd spent years shadowing his father, sitting in on high-stakes negotiations, meeting with people who could buy and sell small countries. He had never once felt so utterly tongue-tied around anyone. Yet here he was, standing next to a seventeen-year-old, struggling to piece together a coherent thought.