บท 5: THE TOWNSEND FAMILY

THE moment Astrid stepped out of the shower, the water droplets still sliding down his body quickly disappeared, even his wet hair dried up with just a blink of an eye. He must admit that this technology was really convenient. He didn't even have to use a towel or a hair dryer. This was probably one of the things he loved in the Interstellar era – the convenience that these technological devices brought.

He walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped on his waist. He opened his closet and took out the clothes he had already set aside last night. He wore a light-blue dress shirt and tucked it in a black denim pants then paired it up with high-cut black leather boots. The fashion in this era was very avant-garde. But Astrid still preferred the simple fashion from his last life.

He walked towards the full body mirror and looked at his reflection. The teenager staring back at him had short black hair and about 178 cm in height. His skin was white and looked very delicate. His body's frame was more on the slender side. He had pinkish lips, a small straight nose, and a pair of black phoenix eyes.

He looked almost exactly as he did in his last life. He was just a bit more handsome in this life. Probably because of his parents' genes. But compared to his twin brother and their parents, he definitely got nothing on them. The irony of it was, his parents named him 'Astrid' which meant 'beautiful' in some ancient Earth language. He not only had to adapt to such a girlish name, he had to do that knowing its meaning.

Well, his parents probably did think he was beautiful. Because in this Interstellar era, having both black hair and black eyes was very, very, very, rare. The appearance of the Empire's citizens leaned more on the Westerner's and European's side. So, him having black hair and black eyes was very eye-catching. Not to mention, his features were more Asian-like. Especially his phoenix eyes.

So, in the eyes of these Interstellar people, he was very beautiful. But in his eyes, he just looked like an ordinary handsome guy. You know, one of those you could pass by the streets and think 'oh, that guy looks cute', but after a few minutes, you would quickly forget about them. That type. That's why he couldn't help but cringe whenever he heard a compliment about his so-called 'beauty'.

Astrid went out of his room and walked towards the dining area. There, a petite woman with long ice-blue hair braided behind her back was busily arranging the dishes on the table. When she heard his footsteps, she raised her head and her pair of sapphire blue eyes bent into crescents when she saw him.

This woman was Emmaline Townsend who his father fondly called 'Emmy'.

She walked up to him and kissed his cheek. "Good morning, my beautiful baby."

Astrid only smiled helplessly. His mother had always been very touchy. It was her way of showing affection. At first, it always startled him. But after 18 years, he already got used to it. "Good morning, Mom."

Emmy looked at him from head to toe, as if thinking. "Are you sure you're going to wear this set of clothes for your graduation? It seems a bit, I don't know, underwhelming?"

That's right. Today was his and his twin brother's graduation from secondary education. In this era, people have to study six years of primary education, then six years of secondary education. After that, they could apply to a university. There's one university for every possible career out there. Unlike the universities in his last life which catered to a lot of majors and degrees, universities here were fairly different. They catered to only one specialized degree. Like there's a whole university only dedicated to engineering and another dedicated to medicine, something like that.

"Mom, this is fine. You know how I like things simple," Astrid said before his mother suggested that he wore some elaborate dress or something.

"But it's just such a shame. These clothes simply don't highlight your beauty."

"Emmy, just let our son be," said a gruff voice.

Both mother and son turned their heads to the direction of the voice. There, standing by the door of the dining area was a big bear of a man. He had shaggy brown hair. His left eye was covered by an eyepatch while his right eye showed an iris teal-gray in color. But despite the imperfection, he was still one heck of a handsome man.

This big man here was his father – Gage Townsend. He was a farmer. But Astrid knew that he wasn't always that. That eye patch covering his left eye was quite a big evidence of that. With how advanced the medical technology of this era was, they could easily regrow missing limbs and stuffs. So, the fact that his father's eyes wasn't healed meant that he was in a situation where he wasn't able to get immediate medical attention. In this war-free time, Astrid had always wondered what kind of situation that must have been.

"Oh, shoo, you always contradict me," Emmy said, pretending to be mad.

Gage only grunted. How could he let his beautiful son wear something that would make him even more beautiful? Wouldn't those wolves that were circling around him just increased in numbers?

He sat down at the head of the table and asked, "Where's Reas?"

"Here," suddenly said by a lazy voice.

Walking inside the dining room was a tall teenager, probably about 190 cm in height. This was his twin brother Andreas or Reas as they so fondly called him. He had the same ice-blue hair as their mother and a pair of teal-gray eyes which he obviously got from their father. He perfectly inherited the good looks of their parents, resulting to a super handsome specimen.

There was this lazy atmosphere around him. As if he couldn't be bothered to raise a finger and work. It's probably true most of the time. But when it came to things that mattered, really mattered, he always managed to push through.

Whenever Astrid stood amongst this family of his, he always felt like a Chinese cabbage surrounded by three beautiful flowers.

When people saw the four of them together, they always wondered if he was a child of this family. After all, he didn't look like any of them. If he had no memory of the time he had given birth to him and his twin, he might have also thought that way.

A doctor said that his appearance was due to how he was born – like his mother giving birth instead of being made in a lab like everyone else. This triggered a certain recessive gene which led in him having black hair and black eyes. Which actually sounded quite stupid, in all honesty.

He wasn't really interested on how it happened. It didn't matter anyway since he knew who he was. He was Astrid Townsend – the eldest son of Emmaline and Gage Townsend. And that's all that mattered.

"Come, let's start eating breakfast," Emmy said pulling both her sons towards the table.

Then the four of members of the Townsend family began eating breakfast.