BEFORE Astrid could even turn around. Someone had already hugged him from behind. The person behind threw his body at him with so much force that it almost felt like a cannon ball had hit him.
He didn't have to fully turn around to see the person behind. He just had to turn his gaze down a bit to know who it was.
What he first saw was a head full of silver hair. The eight-year-old boy raised his head and his sapphire blue eyes twinkled as he looked at him.
"Brother Aster, I missed you!"
Astrid unknowingly smiled. Although he quickly noticed the gaze of the people around focusing on them, and they would most likely recognized, or at least have a clue as to which family he was from, in a minute or so, he didn't care as much as he should have.
He crouched down a bit and gave the boy a quick, tight hug. "It's been too long, Nikki." He let go of the other and he acted like he was measuring his height. "Did you get taller?"