The Luster of Stars in Moscow
⁇ 63
"Cherry!" Mikail scooped up Cheri's body and enveloped the girl with her long coat. "You're okay, right?" He asked worried.
Cheri did not answer. His pair of eyes widened to look at the bodyguards who were gnawing at Valentin. They beat up that guy like they're bullying a criminal.
No, Cheri's mind was shaken. Handling like this…
"However," hissed Cheri on Mikail. "Do you need to do that? That's Rafael's body."
"Remember, Cheri. Our goal is to capture him" Mikail said.
"But—" Cheri stuttered, not continuing his words as Valentin's body fell on the floor in a stupor.
"Turn the car under the building, then quickly bring a stretcher and sleeping pills!" Mikail shouted instructing at someone in her phone line.
Cheri closed his eyes tightly. Grimacing in deep regret. This way of handling is completely wrong, he said in his heart.
Then with no thought and full of risk, Cheri rushed towards Valentin and exposed the crowd of bodyguards.
"Cherry!" Mikail flinched and ambushed the girl's shoulder.
But at the same time, Valentin suddenly rises to grab Cheri's body and pulls him as a hostage.
Mikail and her bodyguards stuttered.
Valentin put a dagger around the girl's neck. Then drag her out of the room and take the girl to the elevator.
Mikail groaned and slapped her fist at the table.
Arriving in the elevator, Valentin lowered the knife from Cheri's neck. "Don't forget what I said earlier" he whispered. "Beware of Mikail. He's a spy for the Moscovich family."
Cheri stuttered and gulped. Then look back and look up. Staring into Valentin's eyes, looking for reassurance.
"I came to say this" said Valentin. The look on her face was flat and her gaze felt soft.
Cheri was stunned in a concerned look as the man frowned holding onto his stomach. "Sial," grunts. "It hurts a lot" he said.
When the elevator opened, Valentin turned Cheri's body to its original position and draped his knife again around the girl's neck.
The Moscovich family bodyguards were waiting for him in front of the elevator on the ground floor.
Mikail emerged from the stairs shortly afterwards, followed by three bodyguards who had stood guard around Cheri's room.
Valentin pushes the girl towards Mikail.
The man caught Cheri.
Simultaneously, he also darted towards the exit and managed to escape.
Cheri froze in Mikail's arms, staring blankly at the exit with an erratic feeling.
What does it mean to be careful with Mikail?
And…
The Moscovich family…
Which one is actually right?
Who am I supposed to trust?
Mikail is Rafael's right-hand man. And he never disappoints Cherry.
What to watch out for?
Whatever the man's been doing all this time, it's all for the sake of protecting Cheri. Mikail couldn't have harmed him.
But the way of handling like that…
"Cheri, are you okay?" Mikail asked worriedly.
He was very worried about me, Cheri thought.
Then the man hugged her and took the girl back to her room.
"Are you hurt?" Mikail sat Cheri down on the sofa by the fireplace, then crouched down in front of him and looked up at the girl with an anxious expression.
Cheri shook his head with a face expression still shaken.
Mikail hugged him and rubbed the girl's head. "I'm sorry," he said. "I promise I won't let you be in any more danger."
Cheri was still unmoved in an incomprehensible worry.
Everything in him felt safe in Mikail's arms. But her little heart was tempted to find out the truth about this man.
Come to think of it, I don't know him very well other than as Rafael's right hand.
Rafael has trusted him wholeheartedly. But can this man really be trusted?
Cheri suddenly remembers Mikail telling him about her being saved by the Moscovich family. Then Rafael's parents put him by Rafael's side.
Perhaps Mikail's loyalty had not been to Rafael. But on Rafael's parents.
Valentin's words may have a point.
And if that's true, it means Mikail might not hesitate to betray Rafael for the Moscovich Corporation.
He remained on guard all night, while some of the bodyguards hunted down Valentin. Some of them stayed outside the building.
Cheri changed his clothes and prepared to go to sleep.
But the sound of a phone call made him rush to the phone table.
"Cheri—"
This sound…
Cheri was stunned with a palpitating heart.
The man in the line is Rafael, probably Valentin. But, ah, it's the same.
The man used the same body. The tall figure that Cheri admired.
"Cheri, do you hear me?" The voice in the phone line sounded calm like Rafael's personality.
"Ah, yes!" Cheri answered stammeredly.
"Listen," said the voice in the phone line. "I'll help you."
Cheri knitted his brows. "Raphel?"
"Yes" replied the man.
"Are you really Rafael?"
"Yes." Yeah."
Cheri's smile warmed up.
"Stay practicing Joan at the Tsar Dramy. Can, right?" pinta the man was beyond Cheri's expectations.
Cheri suddenly hesitated. If he really was Rafael, then why would he have told him to stay at Tsar Dramy?
It's the enemy's nest!
"Wait for me and trust me" said the man again, sounding more like a warning than a request.
"But—"
Call has been cut off.
Cheri froze in new worries that squeezed him.
But then another call came in after he put down his phone plane.
"Rafael," Cheri immediately replied, a little too excited.
"I'm Cyzarine" said the voice across broke Cheri's heart.
"Oh, hai—" Cheri's smile instantly vanished.
"Can I go to MoscovArt Theatre now?" ask Cyzarine.
"MoscovArt Theatre?" Cheri stuttered again, stung by a feeling of worry.
"It's important" he said.
"But—"
"Ah, yes. I forgot you left." Cyzarine cuts fast. "Then meet me at the Coffee Shop near the MoscovArt Theatre. You know the place?"
"Yes" replied Cheri.
"Alright, we meet there in ten minutes."
Eleven minutes later…
"You're late" greeted Cyzarine with a grin. The girl sat at the corner table with a cup of coffee in front of her eyes.
"Sorry" said Cheri. He had to wait for Mikail to let his guard down before sneaking out.
Cyzarine lit a cigarette and flicked a finger at the waitress to order another drink. "You want coffee?" He offered after the waiter approached them.
"I'll order some tea" Cheri said to the waiter.
"Sesha told me, she said last night at the MoscovArt Theatre office there was a call from Rafael," Cyzarine told me after the waiter left their desk. "Say, Joan's training begins, I'm sure the MoscovArt Theatre will win despite competing with Tsar Dramy, because I'll come back and take the lead."
Cheri's eyes spontaneously widened. "really?"
"Yes" Cyzarine answered, exhaling cigarette smoke from his mouth. "That's why Sesha asked me to return to the MoscovArt Theatre. And. well, if that's true, I'd like to go back there."
So the phone was also…
Cheri.
"She called me and said the same thing, she said keep practicing Joan at Tsar Dramy because I'll definitely save you" Cheri told a spirited story.
"It turns out he's still missing" Cyzarine commented, twirling his eyeballs. "The evidence of his dual personality is still not healed" Cyzarine added.