The writer of my star

Tomas

It was the big family dinner. Like always, Tomas sat in one of the corner seats hoping to be not disturbed so much. Seeing his predicament, his mom smiled warmly at him like she always do.

This was his mother's family dinner. His maternal uncles, aunts, grand parents and all the cousins and their children were there. They usually have it at least once every few months and his mom made him attend it every time.

There was all the kids playing around him, sometimes they tugged his shirt gesturing to join them in their small games. He wanted to go, but had to keep face among all the adults. He knew he would have a blast with the kids as soon as the dinner was over. Besides his mom's perusal, the kids were the one reason he used to attend the big family dinners.

The dinners were usually filled with talks of business and money which he didn't quiet care for. They also didn't care for his stardom and sooner or later, they would have expected him to join the business too.

He sat silently, moving the fork and knife as the dinner was being served hoping nobody asks him anything.

"How long are you going to do this? Do you make a lot of money doing cinema?"

He knew it was directed at him and he knew it was his grandfather asking the question.

"I don't know, papi. I am doing fine."

He crossed the fingers under the table hoping not to be bothered again. His mom came to his rescue asking something else and his cousin winked at him and he winked back.

Luna, his cousin and he were of the same age. She was practically his twin sister. After his parent's divorce, his mom moved back to her family home where his grand parents, uncle and aunt and their children lived. Luna was his uncle's youngest child and they got along pretty well from the moment they started living together. They used to sleep in the same room till they were teenagers.

***

He was playing with the children outside when he heard his uncle talking to his mother.

"Didn't he meet his father this year? Is he planning to visit?"

"Yes, he is planning to visit sometime next month. He had been busy with the shooting and stuff these few months."

He wasn't sure whether he was visiting his father or not. He moved back to France after he divorced his mother. After his remarriage, he used to visit every year for a month till he started acting. He felt like a stranger whenever he was with his father's new family. He didn't have anything against them, his step mom and his half siblings were nice to him. He just felt like he didn't belong there. He felt like an intruder that they couldn't just get rid off. They walked around him trying to make him more comfortable and he felt all the more like a stranger with them.

He was woken up from the train of thoughts when one of the children fell on the ground running around. He quickly picked him up and he saw the kid beginning to cry with quivering lips. He just wasn't sure whether to cry or not, trying to comprehend what just happened to him. He laughed a little and calmly told him.

"Ayy, it's okay baby. Don't worry, uncle will hit the ground and the ground will pay for what he did".

He saw a small smile erupting at the corner of his lips. He sat down and slowly hit the ground making the child to stop crying.

As soon as he sat down, the kid moved out of his hands and started running again. Before he got up, another kid was climbing on top of him, pulling on his hairs.

He saw his mom smiling and rolling his eyes at him affectionately. Luna used to play with them too but he didn't see her around now.

"Where is aunt Luna?"

He called out to one of the children and they pointed towards the grand father's office.

When he went inside, she was sobbing slowly. He didn't understand what made her cry. Seeing him, she quickly wiped her tears and his grand father stopped talking. He didn't know what made her cry and why his grand father looked so angry.

He went out and waited for her to come out.

When she came out, her eyes were red from crying and he held her hands tightly dragging her across to the garden. She dragged herself behind him, asking him to stop and trying to laugh off what just happened.

"Why the fuck are you crying? What did grand dad say?"

"It's nothing. He came to know about Max and I".

"What the fuck? How did he know?"

"I don't know. Someone must have seen us somewhere. I don't know if papi send someone behind me also."

Max was Luna's boyfriend for 3 years. Max used to be her father's secretary. After they started having a relationship, he joined another company as to not arouse any suspicions.

Tomas knew it would be a big problem when they find out about Max. But he just let Luna to
decide for herself. His grand dad or uncle couldn't imagine their precious daughter being with someone not their status.

"Papi is asking me to meet someone. He is saying he will arrange and let me know. If I decide to go against him, I will have to go out of our home".

She started weeping again. Tomas could understand her pain but he didn't know what to say. He knew this was going to happen someday but he never anticipated it to happen today. All he could do was hold her close to him and pat on her back as she wept through his shirt.

After a while, she got up and smiled looking at him.

"It's okay. I will just listen to Papi now and meet the guy he arranges. I will play with it for a while and decide what to do with it slowly. I knew this would happen. If I denied, Max will be in trouble too. He is just starting his career".

All he could do was looking helplessly at her. Thinking of Max and her, he suddenly thought of Roy. The thought of him made him feel so tired and drained of energy. He wanted to hold on to Luna and cry like she did now. But he couldn't. All he could do was sit there silently, looking at the settling sun thinking about the fireflies.