The Luster of Stars in Moscow
⁇ 85
Nine years ago…
At first, it was a coincidence. It all started when Rafael learned that he had a twin brother named Valentin.
At that time, Rafael was fifteen years old. Soon, he would bear a very heavy burden as an only child. Because Rafael is the heir to the leading financial group in Russia.
Her father fell ill…
Her mother had been dead since she was three years old.
Approaching his fifteenth birthday, Rafael is haunted by feelings of despair and uneasiness, at the thought of the only sibling he has never seen, his twin brother who was removed only because of the issue of heir dispute.
Rafael can't take it anymore, wants to meet his siblings.
Armed with little information about where his twin brother lives, Rafael flees the house and decides to find his own sibling.
Entering a slum on the outskirts of a small town outside Moscow…
The awkwardness started to happen.
A lot of people think Rafael is Valentin. Everyone he passed greeted Rafael in various ways with many nicknames satire.
From their appearance, Rafael finally finds out that his twin brother is living a wild life.
Then when he passed in front of the supermarket, two salesmen and police came to ambush Rafael.
"He's a thief who likes to start fires!" The salesman told the police.
Rafael stutters in confusion.
Even when the police rushed him to the police station, Rafael was helpless, even in self-defense.
A few hours later, a middle-aged man came to the police station with a face of wrath. Then he approached and beat him.
If the police didn't arrest him, I don't know what would happen to Rafael.
Rafael cries after learning how his siblings were raised.
But suddenly a boy appeared at the police station and broke up.
Everyone simultaneously turned to the door and was dumbfounded.
Rafael also gasped.
The boy had the exact same face as Rafael.
He's my twin brother, Rafael realized.
"You are all fools" he continued, grimacing.
His foster father stared at the two in turn.
The policemen also observed them with their eyebrows interlocked.
The boy stopped laughing, then stepped into the room. "I'm Valentin!" He told the police. Then he looked down and watched Rafael's face sitting on the floor.
Rafael looked back at him, and at that very moment, Rafael could see the bright eyes of his brother.
There came an idea in Rafael's mind.
You and I are from one cell, he said in his heart. Destined to separate into two. Is it impossible to reunite the lives of two separate people?
Rafael began to make plans.
On his fifteenth birthday, a party will be held at night.
That night was the night that would decide their fate.
Valentin slipped in through the gate. His face was colder than usual.
"Nobody saw you, right?" ask Rafael.
Valentin just shook his head.
"Wick on that shirt!" Rafael instructed as he pointed at the new clothes he had prepared for Valentin.
Valentin glanced at the clothes without interest.
"I'm sorry," said Rafael. "Because there's a party tonight, so we have to wear formal clothes."
Valentin finally accepted the outfit and changed it to a new outfit.
Rafael was wearing his shirt. "That's my shirt!" his protest.
"You know the story of the Prince and the Beggar?" Rafael asked with a smile. Then turned around while trying to button up Valentin's musty shirt.
Valentin frowned with a sullen face.
"When they realized their faces were so similar, at a lavish party, the prince and the poor young man exchanged clothes and swapped places" Rafael explained.
Valentin snatches Rafael's collar and uncovers the end of his shirt. "What the fuck?" he growled while staring at the sign on Rafael's waist. "You even made the same birthmark as me! What exactly are you planning?"
"We will change places" replied Rafael.
"No!" Valentin protested. "Do you know because of this, my father came to know that I'm actually the son of a rich man! Today he's coming to blackmail your family!"
Rafael sputters spontaneously.
Then suddenly Valentin groaned while bending his stomach.
"You why?" Rafael asked worriedly.
"I had a fight with my father" he replied, frowning. "Say, I can't be greedy."
Rafael pulls Valentin to the couch to sit him down. But Valent rebelled and pushed him until Rafael fell and lay on the floor.
Then somehow, Valentin had ignited a fire at the end of the paper roll he had obtained recklessly and thrust it into Rafael's face. "You rich kid, what's so good about swapping places with me?" ask with a suspicious look.
"I—" Rafael stammered at the fire in front of him. "I just feel guilty about you, Val.." she explained stammering. His gaze could not escape the growing flames in front of his face. "You're suffering just because your birth time is a little different from mine."
Valentin snorted in response to Rafael's explanation. Then swung the fire in his hand in a threatening manner. "You want this ill-fated me to be a subsidiary of the company because you want to atone for your sins?" Valentin grinned with a reproachful expression. "Don't joke! After all that part is not in the story of the Prince and the Beggar!"
The fire in his hand went out.
Then Valentin made a new scroll from Rafael's book, thicker than before, then burned it again.
Rafael watched him with a helpless expression.
"You don't think you're gonna get caught? Huh uh?" Valentin growled as he put his fire again in Rafael's face.
"Know I don't care!" tukas Rafael. "Even if I die as Valentin, even if they don't like it, the Moscovich family will accept you as Rafael Moscovich!"
Valentin spontaneously freezes. Next to his eyebrows raised high.
"I gave myself to you, Val!" rafael.
Valentin did not react.
"As Rafael Moscovich, I have never suffered in the slightest" Rafael said. "Now, dad might die. One day, I will accept his entire legacy and I am forced to live as a puppet controlled by a large corporation. But you, despite being an heir, you can't be controlled by them. Because you're so much stronger."
Valentin gulped and inched back a few steps. "Basic stupid! What are you talking about!"
"I want you to be happy, Val. From the beginning, we should not be separated!" Rafael insists.
"Stop talking nonsense! Where there are people who.." Valentin paled immediately, then grimaced and screamed in pain. Fire fell from his hands, then was thrown and burned the velvet carpet in the middle of the room.
"Val—" Rafael scatters towards Valentin and catches his body as Valentin staggers and collapses. "What's going on?"
Valentin held onto his stomach and gasped. "Damn it," he said. "My stomach hurts after being kicked by my father…"
"Val.." Rafael shook his brother's body in fear.
Valentin trembled and paled.
Meanwhile the fire had spread throughout the room and started to surround them.
"Wake up!" pekik Rafael. "The fire has surrounded us!"
"I can't" whispered Valentin growing weaker.
"I'll take you out" said Rafael.
"Don't!" Valentin held his hand. "Maybe if I move, I'll die."
"But the fire—"
"Indeed from birth, I've had bad luck."
"Val!"
Valentin twitched and shook violently, then stopped moving.