The Luster of Stars in Moscow
⁇ 5
Rafael crouches in front of Cheri.
Cheri shuffled away from him.
But the man scooped up Cheri's shoulder and pulled him to his feet. "Mikail! Why didn't you just take him?" He asked Mikail Volkov. But his gaze did not turn away from Cheri.
"From the airport we're straight here, really!" Mikail. "But since you're training, I don't want to interrupt. Usually you'll have horns if you're bullied."
"But he's different" Rafael argued. "Friends," he told everyone. "Include our new member, Cheri Dutchkova, 18 years old."
Cheri glanced—did not understand the meaning of "new member" he said.
"Cheri will be the lead in the marionette drama…"
The whole room started to get noisy.
"That's right," they grumbled. "He's a kid!"
"Wait!" Cheri interrupted.
New member?
Main cast?
"I came to Moscow to school—"
THE PLAQUE!
A hard slap landed on his cheek.
Cheri was flabbergasted while smothering his cheek with one hand. His eyes squinted and his pair of eyebrows intertwined with a shaken expression. He didn't expect Rafael to slap him.
Is he a psychopath?
"You're going to be an actress in my theater! Understood?" Rafael growled while glaring at him.
Cheri inched back away from him.
Being actress?
But does he need to slap me in front of a lot of people?
"I.." Cheri hissed raucously with teary eyes. "I want to go home" he said.
He's this weird! Her thought. Then he slid off the stage.
Rafael caught his waist.
But Cheri slapped him in the face. "Let me go!" hardiknya.
The whole room was shrieking and holding its breath. Looked in horror at Rafael's face.
"He dared to slap Rafael," a number of girls began to whisper.
Rafael tightened his jaw and raised his hand again, slapping Cheri once more.
Cheri was thrown to the floor.
Mikail groaned stifled while massaging the base of her nose and closing her eyes.
"The usual training has begun" commented someone behind Mikail.
"Well-yeah," Mikail muttered helplessly.
Cheri curled up with shaky shoulders as a result of holding back his annoyance. His sadness suddenly disappeared, changing into an explosive rage.
I can't believe he did it, his mind is inexhaustible. I don't know him. But why would he be able to go so far? My parents never hit me. Didn't he realize he was just using violence?
"Stand up!" hardik Rafael while leaving his waist. "Quick, stand! If I don't slap again!" threaten her.
Cheri shuffled up to sit up, but did not immediately stand up.
"I said, stand up!" Rafael repeated his orders.
"I don't want to" Cheri denied, throwing a face away from Rafael's gaze.
"How are you gonna get home if you don't move from there?"
Cheri finally raised his face. Staring at Rafael to seek certainty. But the man's pair of blue eyes looked flat and hard to guess.
"Just think again, who funded your flight? What's mother?" Rafael smiled wryly.
Cheri swallowed.
"I salute you a little" Rafael continued. "After causing the death of your father who became the backbone of your family, you can still make decisions as good as your stomach like this."
The entire room instantly fell silent. A sinister gaze rained simultaneously towards Cheri like a stampede of arrows.
Cheri smothered his mouth with both hands. So mean! Her thought.
"Well, yeah!" Rafael shook his hand while grunting and throwing his face with the dramatic-basic attitude of the actor. "You're the kind of person who could easily trade his own death for a ticket to Moscow for ballet school. But once you get it, you'll easily throw away your chance. That is you!" he sneered with a look of disdain.
Basic b a j i n g a n egotistical. Arrogant bastard is not careful! Cheri can't take it anymore.
"I don't want to learn ballet" Cheri said sharply. "But I don't want to have to deal with people like you!"
"I don't want to be a theater player!" cheri's toilet half rebuked.
"Shut up!" Rafael countered back while pointing the index finger at Cheri's face. "You don't think I knew ballet for you was more than a pretty accessory. For you ballet is not something worth exchanging for a big sacrifice. So the word go home can come out easily from your mouth!"
No, Cheri's mind is helpless. He's got it wrong. Why did he say that?
"Come, stand!" repeat Rafael slightly softened. But his gaze was getting more piercing. "Don't think your tears can fool me!"
Cherry did not react.
Out of his expectation, Rafael suddenly scooped up his body and pulled him to his feet.
Mikail finally intervened. "Just enough!" he said while seizing Cheri from Rafael's entourage.
"Don't interfere" Rafael shook his hand.
But Mikail reacted faster. He managed to free Cheri from Rafael's clutches and carried him out of the room. "This child has just arrived" he said as he walked to the door and did not look back. "Let him rest!"
Rafael finally relented. But his face was still as tight as his slap earlier. "Do you have to carry it?" He muttered half a growl, more to himself.
The base of the cold-blooded oppressor, Cheri grumbled in his heart. I hate him!
The atmosphere in the room turned mystical after Mikail's departure.
Everyone exchanged looks with tense looks.
Rafael let out a heavy sigh and slipped out the crowd. Then rushed out of the room following Mikail.
The entire room heaved a sigh of relief after Rafael's figure disappeared in the doorway.
A few hours later…
"Are you feeling calm?" Mikail asked Cheri who was curled up under the blanket.
Cheri did not answer.
Mikail sat curled on the side of the bed where Cheri lay, hugging her legs crossed in front of her chest. Dropped limp with the chin resting on the knee. "You want to know why he's after you?" Mikail asked again.
Cheri remained unmoved.
"Rafael found a hidden talent within you. Platinum talent as a theater performer."
Talent as a theatre player?
Cheri knitted his brows. But not looking.
"His genius instincts made him want you" Mikail added.
Cheri finally turned his head and pulled his body. "She doesn't understand me at all" he argued. "He only knows how to torture people!"
Mikail did not answer. He stood up and turned his back to Cheri, then walked slowly towards the door.
Cheri glared at him.
"Rafael seems to have come home" Mikail told him. "You just sleep here!" He said, sneaking out and closing the door.
Going home?
That meant…
Cheri bit his lower lip with a horrified expression.
This room…
Cheri looked around the room and researched every corner.
Rafael's room!
Cheri thought the room was still part of the theater's office.
How'this? He started to panic. I could get hit again later. It's not kidding. Anyway I have to go home!
He watched the door of the room with a worried look. Behind that door is Rafael, he thought. His gaze again roamed the entire room, looking for another way out.
Rafael had just entered when Mikail reached the bottom of the stairs.
"How is that kid?" Rafael asked as he threw his body onto the sofa near the stairs.
Mikail approached him with a short sigh. "The boy is sleeping" he told me. "He's a lot calmer."
"You must have been full to gossip me," Rafael replied indifferently.
"Your breakthrough was too sudden" Mikail said. "It looks like it's too heavy for him!"
"Most people are not ready to leave their comfort zone" Rafael argued. "If not given shock therapy, will forever remain limited, unable to surpass yourself."
Mikail turned to Rafael, but said nothing. He stepped slowly across the room, then stopped by the window and slipped his hands into his pants pocket.
"I won't stop forging him until the hidden talent within him comes to the surface" Rafael insisted. "If you can't bear to see it, I suggest you take a vacation to the Amazon jungle!"
"The boy.." Mikail suddenly screeched.
Immediately, Rafael jumped from his seat and lunged towards Mikail. "Oh, s h i t!" he strayed towards the stairs.