Page 74 of Sunastara & the Venusian
Dear Phoebe,
Have you ever had a chance encounter that changed you, that upturned your every notion of why we exist on these spinning rocks so irrevocably that you knew, after meeting this other being, you would never be the same?
I have.
I’m going to tell you a secret. I stood outside the restaurant last night and watched you before I went inside. You were smiling, talking to the bartender, laughing. Seeing you for the first time altered me, like a star forming. For the first time in years, I felt alive. I was also indescribably nervous. You were so beautiful, so stunning. And I didn’t want to do or say anything wrong, anything that might keep me from being able to kiss you, at least once.
I don’t know if I will ever see you again. If our paths will ever cross. But wherever you are, I want to thank you for mending a fracture in my heart I’d feared was beyond repair. And I want you to know that when I look up into whatever night sky might spread out above me, I will never find anything as spectacular as you.
Yours always,
Freddie (this is my real name, by the way)
Tears,fat and hot, seared twin paths down my cheeks. “You wrote this? For me?”
Sitting up again, taking the digcard from my hands and setting it back on his nightstand, he said, “It’s true, Sunny. Every single word. There was something missing from my life, and for a man who loves puzzles, it was a tough one to solve. But it was you. You were the missing piece. And now”—he pressed my palm flat over his chest, right over his heart—“I’m whole.”
While he blurred through my tears, his heart beating under my fingers, I said, “I don’t deserve you.”
Taking my face between his hands, wiping my tears away with a gentle swipe of his thumbs, he held still while I reached for him, while I slid down onto him, and said, “Yes, you do.”
“Sunny, you look”—thesenator scanned me from head to toe, her head tilting, her eyes sparkling with amusement—“different. You look…”
“I believewell-servedis the descriptor you’re searching for, honey,” Lena said from her spot on their couch—yes,thatcouch.
I coughed, beating my fist against my chest.
“Are you all right?” Lena asked, fighting a smile.
“Fine.” I coughed again. “Just…choking on your words.”
With an abrupt, barking laugh, Sonia waved me into their suite. “What brings you to see us this morning?”
While attempting to compose myself, I said, “I have a question for you. If you aren’t too busy.”
“Is that Sunny?” Bursting from his room, Sai thundered down the hall, racing up to me and throwing his arms around my waist.
Although the instinct to pull back and run away still tugged at me, I pushed against it. Bending down, I picked him up, squeezing him as his feet dangled below my knees. “Good morning, Sai. Did you just wake up?”
He nodded while I set him back down. Then his head swayed to the side as his big brown eyes narrowed. “You look different today,” he said, sounding exactly like his mom. “You’re all…moist.”
“Moist?” I blurted out while Sonia snorted and Lena buried her laughing face in her hands, her shoulders shaking.
With a blush exploding over his cheeks, Sai shook his head. “No, not moist. Shiny, maybe? No, that’s not it either. It’s…glowing!” he crowed at last. “That’s it. You are glowing.” Leaning in close, he asked, “Were you and Freddie making out again?”
“Sai, mind your manners,” Sonia said, her voice low as she crooked a finger at him, summoning him to the counter for breakfast. After she served him a plate of crispy crepes folded into triangles and served with a jam that smelled like coconut, she kissed him on the head. Then she followed me out of their suite and into the hall.
“What is it you wanted to ask me?” she said over thewhump-whumpwhirring of one of the security mechs stationed outside their door as it floated closer.
Side-eyeing the heavily armored orb, I said, “I think you know that Tig has been working tirelessly to find whoever might be hacking our system. Although she’s had little luckon that front, she has done some research on your Proposition 2126.”
Sonia’s jaw set like it was cast in stone. “And what information did she find?”
“Not much,” I said. “That’s why I’m here. I understand that this is a sensitive topic, and I’m sympathetic to your need to keep certain things private. But you mentioned the proposition briefly the night I watched Sai. We were interrupted then.” I lowered my voice as several Delphinian wizards wandered by, their customary flowing robes replaced by striped velour tracksuits, of all things. “But I need to know, is the proposition why you’re being targeted?”
Crossing her arms tightly over her chest, she said, “I’m sure Tig has informed you of the mundane nature of the proposition.”
“She said its aim is to increase funding for deep-space exploration—similar to a bill that passed a decade ago without issue.”
