Happy Birthday, Stardust

"Do your parents really look like that?" Haoran asked in amazement after as he laid eyes on the initial sketches made by Mr. Neville after Emma had explained in detail how her mother and father looked like. The girl said that her mother's hair color was platinum, similar to hers, and their eyes were both light blue in hue, like a dazzling topaz.

She had mentioned that her father was handsome and tall with short silver hair and had a unique pair of heterochromia eyes, each of which had both blue and green colors. Mr. Neville's hand skillfully worked with his pencil, line by line drawing on the canvas curves that later formed the two faces Emma had been dearly missing.

"Are you sure your memory is accurate?" asked Haoran again. "I mean, the last time you saw them was... How long ago was it again? Twelve years ago? Or even longer?"

Emma shook her head. "I don't know how to explain it to you, but last night, I dreamt of my parents. I clearly saw their faces and felt their love for me, so there's no way I'll ever forget my mother and father's faces again. I've longed for them for a dozen years. I can't be wrong."

In the end, the young man nodded. He looked back at the sketch in Mr. Neville's hands and frowned. He knew that Emma wouldn't lie to him. What for? After all, there's no reason for the girl to lie about her parents' appearances.

When she had described her parents to Mr. Neville, Haoran could also imagine what Emma's father and mother looked like. He guessed that Emma and her mother had a very similar appearance since they both had beautiful, platinum-colored long hair and a pair of light blue eyes. This showed that Emma's physical characteristics were inherited from her parents.

Before today, Haoran had thought Emma had a genetic disorder that made her appear different from most humans. He had assumed that she had lower melanin levels than the average person. But now, he could see Emma's appearance was a genetic inheritance from her mother.

Haoran could only accept, albeit almost unscientifically, that she and her mother had such a unique look. The mother's side might have experienced a genetic disorder before that persisted even today.

Yet, this notion was overthrown when Haoran saw how Emma's father also had an unusual face. Haoran's little heart began to wonder. He felt it's too much of a coincidence for two unique people like Emma's father and mother to meet, fall in love and then get married.

"Do you know which country your parents are from?" Haoran asked her again.

Emma shrugged. "No. I don't know. What's clear to me is that we once lived in a rural area in France."

"Oh, I see." Haoran could only nod. The idea to create a picture of the girl's parents was a good one. With that sketch, he'd be able to pay people to track down Emma's mother and father around the world using face recognition technology.

Mr. Neville did live up to his reputation as the best portrait painter in Paris. Within an hour, Haoran and Emma were already staring at an almost finished sketch. Closely following the girl's instructions, the two beautiful faces were now transforming into a lifelike black-and-white portrait.

The shape of the eyes, noses, and eyebrows—everything was drawn so accurately. Even though the sketch was still in black and white and hadn't been colorized yet, people could see how the two mysterious people looked.

Kaoshin Stardust had short silver hair framing his perfect face. His expression looked calm, but his gaze made him seem like a mysterious man with a thousand secrets. His face was very handsome with a pair of deep eyes, each of which had two colors; blue and green.

Arreya Stardust was very much like her daughter, it's just that Arreya appeared the mature version. But the main difference was that Arreya had a pair of eyes that radiated happiness, unlike Emma's, which were tinged with sadness.

As Haoran examined the portraits, he felt like he's looking at illustrations of a novel about elves. Haoran nudged Emma softly and whispered into her ear. "You don't look like a human. You and your parents look like beautiful elves."

Elves? She frowned. She knew what Haoran had meant, but he used the word elves without much thought. Of course, he had meant to say that they looked different from ordinary humans. Still, Haoran had no idea Emma also possessed powers that regular humans didn't have in general. And this fact made the girl nervous. Even now, Haoran could see that she's different, and he's right. Because no regular human would be able to read minds and fly in the air.

'So, who am I actually?' she asked herself.

'Why did my mother and father deliberately leave me here alone?'

"All right! Since Mr. Neville had successfully drawn the sketch for us, we can let him work on the rest and come back here tomorrow," Haoran said. "Now, we both need to eat."

Emma nodded.

"Wait a minute." She pulled up her cellphone and took a picture of the sketch before placing her cellphone back into her pocket. "I just want to see my mother and father again tonight."

"Of course. Don't worry, tomorrow afternoon, we'll come back here and take the finished painting," Haoran said.

"Thank you," Emma said to him. The girl then bowed slightly to Mr. Neville and said, "Merci beaucoup, Monsieur[1]."

Mr. Neville nodded and smiled. "Au revoir, Mademoiselle[2]."

***

With the first mission accomplished, it's now time for Haoran to take Emma to dinner as planned. They hailed a taxi to the Eiffel Tower where Haoran led Emma to a restaurant at the top of the tower.

"Dinner here is superb because we can see the spectacular view of the city of Paris from the high ground," Haoran said with a proud smile. "I wanted to book this whole place just for the two of us, but that's too over the top for two teenagers. I don't wanna attract too much attention. So, let's just eat with other people for now. Later, in a few years, once we come back here, I'll book the entire Eiffel Tower just for you."

Emma looked at Haoran with an astonished face. She knew Haoran was from an affluent background and could do whatever he had said. Booking the entire Eiffel Tower for a date just for the two of them? It's a piece of cake for him! Thankfully though, Haoran didn't do that, and she felt grateful. She didn't like to attract unnecessary attention.

A waiter escorted the two to one of the best tables in the restaurant. The waiter then pulled out a tablet and asked them for their orders.

"We're not going to drink alcohol, so there's no need for the wine list," said Haoran as he returned the wine list menu the waiter had placed in front of him.

Emma was confused at Haoran. She knew the legal drinking age limit in Singapore and France was 18 years old so this meant Haoran could already drink wine. He's two years older than Emma after all.

"You're already 19 years old. So, you can already drink, right?" the girl said in puzzlement. "You're not like David, Dinh, Eric, and Alex, who have to fake their age to be able to buy wine."

He looked at her with an amused expression on his face. "Sshh... Don't speak too loudly about my age. Yes, I'm of legal age to drink, but you're still 17 years old. You still can't drink wine and I don't want to drink by myself. What if I got drunk and you take advantage of me? I can't take the risk..."

"Eh? What did you just say? Did you really think I would want to get you drunk and take advantage of you! Are you for real!" Emma hit the young man's shoulder exasperatedly. Haoran just laughed at her reaction.

"Haha! Why not? I'm a good catch. If you take advantage of me, you'll get a handsome boyfriend who could give you whatever you want in life because of his massive wealth." He kept laughing, so Emma kept on hitting his shoulder. "Ouch... hey, hey, why are you beating me? I'm only stating a fact—"

"You!"

"Hahaha, I'm just kidding." The young man swiftly caught her right hand, which had been hitting his shoulder, and held it with both hands before smiling sweetly and kissing it gently. "Happy birthday, Stardust."

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[1] Merci beaucoup, Monsieur = Thank you, Sir (French)

[2] Au revoir, Mademoiselle = Goodbye, Miss (French)