When the photoshoot was done, Raiquèn was immediately showered with compliments from her brother. Good thing her Aunt told her to change back since it was already getting late and they needed to head home.
"Little angel! You looked dazzling earlier!" Anna complimented as she helped Rai change back into her clothes.
"Thank you!" Rai giggled like the child she was, still feeling the adrenaline from the photoshoot.
'So that's how it feels…' she smiled sweetly at her reflection.
I'll work hard to become a star in this life… she thought proudly, gathering all her courage and confidence.
"All done now, little angel," Anna said, pinching both her cheeks lightly.
"Thank you, Ate Anna!" Raiquèn replied happily before heading out of the dressing room.
"Hm?" She paused in the long hallway. To her left, her Aunt was still talking with the staff, but she couldn't spot her brother, Ryo.
Then—a faint click of a camera shutter echoed from the right corner of the hall. It caught her attention.
Curious, she followed the sound, step by step, until she reached a wide glass wall. On the other side, dozens of lights and cameras were directed toward the center of a studio.
"Woah…" her eyes gleamed brightly at the sight.
'I wonder whose photoshoot this is…' she thought, gaze still fixed in admiration.
"Oh…" A figure appeared—another child, a little taller than her, slowly walking into the spotlight.
The kid had pastel light-blue hair, though Raiquèn couldn't quite see her face yet. She wore a delicate blue dress with a ribbon tied neatly into her hair.
"What a beautiful hair color…" Rai mumbled, unaware she had spoken aloud.
She couldn't hear what the staff inside were saying, but she assumed the girl was another model like her.
Then, when one of the staff moved aside, Rai finally caught a full glimpse of the child—and her eyes widened at the angelic sight.
Her heart skipped a beat. Even though the girl looked only a year or two older than her, Rai still couldn't believe what she was seeing.
The child lifted her head, and that was when Raiquèn truly saw her—
Eyes that did not belong to this world.
One shimmered like molten silver, cool and timeless, as if it held the quiet wisdom of the moon.
The other glowed in amethyst hues, soft yet powerful, like a secret gem hidden in the earth waiting to be discovered.
Together, those two colors clashed and harmonized, an impossible contrast that somehow felt like destiny itself had painted them.
Raiquèn felt breathless, her small chest tightening.
How can someone my age… look like that?
The pastel blue hair framed her delicate face like strands of dawn sky, while the ribbon tied upon it only made her seem more ethereal, more untouchable.
For a fleeting moment, Rai thought she wasn't looking at a child at all, but at something divine disguised in human form.
She pressed her palm lightly against the glass.
An angel… she thought. No, even angels could envy her.
So this is beauty… not the kind that smiles for cameras, but the kind that makes the heart stumble.
It reminded her of something she once read long ago in her other life—that philosophers believed beauty was not invented, but remembered, as though the soul had seen it before. And staring at this stranger, Rai almost believed it.
She smiled faintly to herself, cheeks still warm from her own photoshoot.
If I wish to be a star… then she is the sky that holds them all.
"What are you doing?" the sudden familiar voice startled her.
"Geez, brother! Stop sneaking around me!" she grumbled, puffing her cheeks.
Ryo only laughed, slipping his hands into his pockets before following her gaze.
"Oh! The genius child actor!" he suddenly blurted out, as if recognizing a celebrity.
"Child actor?" Rai repeated, tilting her head.
"Hm? Are you curious about her?" Ryo teased, already fishing out his phone. "Well, I think her name is… wait."
"Seriously, hermano?" Rai furrowed her brows at the silly sight of him hurriedly typing.
"What? Her name is long, and hard to pronounce—she's mixed, you know," Ryo mumbled in his defense, eyes glued to the screen.
A moment later, he triumphantly declared, "Here we go—Yeira Inès Lefevre Monteval. Her older sister's a renowned model. Just a little older than me, I think."
Rai blinked, letting the name roll through her mind like a soft melody.
'Yeira Inès Lefevre Monteval…'
The syllables felt like threads of music weaving into the stranger's image. Elegant, delicate, foreign yet complete—almost as though her name itself was a crown.
Even her name sounds beautiful… it suits her perfectly, Rai thought, her chest tightening with a quiet awe.
"Ah? If she's an actress, then why is she here?" Rai tilted her head, her voice carrying both wonder and confusion.
"Hm? Well, sometimes actors do modeling too. Maybe it's for her own photoshoot… or something business-related." Ryo answered casually, patting her head in that brotherly way that always made her pout.
"Let's go, Rai. Aunt is waiting for us." He reached for her hand, warm and steady, guiding her forward.
But Rai's steps faltered. For one last time, she turned her gaze through the glass wall.
There—bathed in the glow of the spotlights—the girl in blue seemed less like a child and more like a vision the world had been holding its breath for. The lights bent toward her as though they existed only to worship her presence.
Rai's chest fluttered with a strange, weightless ache, like a melody that longed to be sung yet had no words.
She's so resplendent… almost unreal. I wonder if a girl like me could ever stand close enough to call her a friend.
Then, as if the universe itself conspired to test her heart, the girl in blue lifted her face. For the briefest heartbeat, Rai swore their eyes touched—like two wandering threads brushing in the loom of fate.
Her breath caught, sharp and fragile, and she jolted as though the moment itself had burned against her skin.
"Huh? What's wrong, Rai?" Ryo looked down, concern etching his features.
Rai shook her head quickly, cheeks warm. "Nothing, Brother. I just… felt cold."
"What? That's no good. Let's hurry— I don't have a jacket with me." Ryo squeezed her hand and urged her along.
Rai let herself be pulled, but her eyes lingered on the floor, her thoughts tangled.
Did we really… lock eyes? That's impossible. I must be imagining things.
Yet even as the hallway stretched before her, her heart refused to let go of that sight.
Even so… she's still so impossibly pretty.
That night, Rai lay tucked beneath her blanket, the glow of her brother's tablet lighting her small face. Her fingers—tiny and clumsy—tapped against the screen as she whispered to herself.
"What was it again… Yeira… uhm… Monteval?"
She typed carefully, one letter at a time, until the name appeared. The search bar blinked, and in an instant, dozens of articles filled the page.
Her wide eyes sparkled as she scrolled.
"The Genius Child Actress Who Captivated Europe"
"Yeira Inès Lefevre Monteval: A Star Born from Grace"
"The Little Girl Who Outshines the Stage"
"Critics Call Her the Real Talent of the New Age"
Each headline felt like a spell, drawing Rai deeper. She clicked one, reading words she barely understood but still felt. Phrases like "natural prodigy," "haunting beauty," and "a presence beyond her years" lingered in her mind.
Her chest tightened with something she couldn't name—part admiration, part longing, part ache.
"She's really… amazing," Rai whispered into the quiet of her room, her voice both soft and reverent.
"She's just a year or two older than me… yet she's already achieved this much," Rai whispered, her voice almost lost in the glow of the tablet screen.
Her thumb scrolled further until a small thumbnail caught her eye.
"Hm? Is this… a clip from a series she acted in?"
With a careful tap, the video began to play.
On the screen, Yeira appeared—not as the girl Rai saw earlier through the glass wall, but as someone entirely different. She slipped into a character as though it were second nature, every gesture fluid, every word carrying weight beyond her age. It was as if the art of performance wasn't learned, but woven into her very soul.
Rai's eyes widened, transfixed. The world around her seemed to fade until only Yeira's voice and movements filled the silence of her room.
"Wow…" The word slipped from her lips, soft and awed, her golden gaze reflecting the light of the screen.
Her heart swelled with something new, a fragile dream taking root inside her.
"I think… I want to be an actress too," she murmured, almost as if afraid the thought itself was too daring to say aloud.