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หน้าหลัก / A Lonesome Light Seeking the Star / Chapter 3

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Chapter 3

ผู้เขียน: Sugar-free Americano
The awards ceremony was three days away.

The doorbell rang in the afternoon. It was an express parcel delivered from overseas.

The parcel was not sealed. I immediately recognized the framed gold-embossed certificate it contained.

International Star Registry.

Longitude: 18°36′56″E, Latitude: 38°47′01″N.

Lyra.

There was fine print written in cursive right underneath the coordinates.

[Mia Ambrose.]

It was registered on the same night Elias gave up on taking the picture of the comet, so he could capture what would turn out to be his work “Light” instead.

A small card handwritten by Elias was attached to the bottom of the certificate.

[Stars can live up to a billion years. This is my gift to you that will last a lifetime and many more, eternally.]

I stared at the card without a word.

He spent a fortune to buy the naming rights to a star, which he named after Mia.

Right next to Vega, the brightest star, somewhere in the Milky Way.

I had folded a thousand and ninety-six origami stars for him, and yet he never opened a single one of them.

The origami stars and the real stars in the universe did not hold the same weight.

I placed the certificate in its original state at the center of his desk.

When he returned in the evening and saw the framed certificate, his expression stiffened slightly.

He immediately grabbed an album and set it on top of the frame before quickly changing the subject.

“The organizers asked me to prepare a five-minute acceptance speech. Write a speech for me since you don’t have anything else to do at home.”

“What kind of tone do you want the speech to be in?”

“I want to talk about the photographer's perseverance and tenacity in absolute darkness. Talk about all the difficulties I had to overcome to purge all light pollution.”

I grabbed a pen. It was not a difficult speech to write at all.

Because I was the one who stood with him in the darkness for the last five years. I was the one who had my light extinguished by him.

The next morning, he printed his itinerary for Frotner and pasted it on the whiteboard.

“I’m going to be flying to Frotner after the awards ceremony.”

I was in the middle of packing clothes into my suitcase when I paused and asked, “Frotner?”

“Yes. I’m going there to catch the last window of the aurora season.

“I’ve been planning the trip for three months with Mia. There's a fantastic observation point where there is zero light pollution.”

That was my destination as well.

“How long are you going to be there?”

“Ten days.”

I looked at the last item in his travel itinerary. It was highlighted in red.

[Portrait shot for Mia under the aurora borealis to feature as a continuation of the “Light” series.]

“Elias,” I called out with my back facing him.

“You told me we would go to Frotner to see the aurora together.”

He was packing his equipment when he stopped mid-gesture.

He stated with a sharp frown, “Charlotte, why are you bringing this up now?

“It's going to be -4°F at night in Frotner. It’s going to be torture for your hands if you go with me.”

“Isn't Mia afraid of the cold, too?”

“She's a professional assistant! You can’t compare yourself to her! Could you stop causing me trouble at a time like this?”

“Alright.”

I turned away from him.

Then, I pulled out a twenty-inch travel luggage from underneath the bed.

I chucked my passport, visa, and several thick sweaters inside.

Though our house was large, my belongings barely filled half of the luggage.

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  • A Lonesome Light Seeking the Star   Chapter 10

    One month later.My solo exhibition “Vantablack Night” debuted at Reksyavik National Art Center.There was not a single unnecessary source of light installed in the hall.The only visible light came from the giant panels of photographs depicting the galactic arrangement.Among the visitors were academicians from international observatories as well as editors-in-chief of notable magazines.Elias was present as well.He bought a regular ticket and was mixed among the crowd.His right hand was wrapped in a thick layer of bandages.I heard rumors that he ended up sustaining irreversible nerve damage in his right index and middle fingers after long-term exposure to the extreme weather.He would never be able to press the shutter button with his previous extreme precision.Then, he walked to the far end of the exhibition hall, which was the main section.He stood before the picture, not of the vast expanse of the galaxy, nor that of luminescent aurora.Instead, it was a black-and

  • A Lonesome Light Seeking the Star   Chapter 9

    The next morning.Elias had Mia sent away.He scrapped all of his original plans for his shoot. Then, he made the troublemaker, who had been causing light pollution for him, take the flight back home while he stayed in Reksyavik by himself.Sometime in the afternoon, I was just walking out of the darkroom when I spotted Elias standing in the snow outside through the floor-to-ceiling window.He was wearing a thin black overcoat without gloves on.His arms were hanging limply by his side.He seemed to be deliberately exposing himself to the climate to punish himself.He wanted to experience the pain I had to endure years ago when I had to shovel batteries out of the snow with my bare hands for him back in Kansius.I stared at him silently for a full minute with my cup of coffee in hand.Then, I turned around and returned to my workstation.He ended up standing in the snow for four whole hours.At one point, even the security guard had had enough and proceeded to chase him away

  • A Lonesome Light Seeking the Star   Chapter 8

    I returned to the campsite to recalibrate the equatorial mount.Finally, the headlights were switched off, plunging the landscape into obliterating darkness again.However, Elias was still there.He stood a couple of dozen meters away and watched me through the faint glow of the stars.I ignored him and continued operating the equipment.Mia could not handle the cold anymore and started tugging at Elias’ sleeve.“Elias, let's go home. It's so cold here, I can't stand it anymore.”Elias shrugged off her hand.This was the most brutish he had ever been to her in five years.“Get back in the car if you can’t handle the cold.” His voice was glacial.Mia was taken aback.She was used to Elias coddling her, as the way he had showered her with affection at the awards ceremony.The shock of it made her burst into tears.“Why are you yelling at me? You were the one who insisted on bringing me here!“You told me I was your light at the awards ceremony.“You said I was worth you br

  • A Lonesome Light Seeking the Star   Chapter 7

    I stared at the columns of light shining across the campsite.Then, I clicked the stop button on the shutter release with a rigid expression on my face.Two hours of exposure, ruined just like that.The three assistants immediately turned on their walkie-talkie and started cursing away.“Ms. Meville, that car parked over there is committing a severe violation!” One of them shouted.I calmly motioned without the slightest inflection in my voice, “Head over there and talk to them. Tell them they can either turn it off or leave the observation site.”Two of the assistants went off with a flashlight in hand.I slowly approached as well.Meanwhile, Elias yanked open the driver's door of the SUV.Mia, who was in the passenger seat, was overcome with tears.My assistants cautioned Elias in a stern, authoritative voice.Elias barely registered a single word they said.He was looking past their shoulders and fixed his eyes on my approaching figure.I was wearing a black coat design

  • A Lonesome Light Seeking the Star   Chapter 6

    Frotner, Akurei.Gusts of frost slashed against my cheeks like razor blades.I stood in the middle of the snow with a winter coat on while I gazed at the heavy-grade equatorial mount.Three foreign assistants assigned by the magazine to help me were standing behind me attentively.I was not wearing gloves.Though my fingers had turned swollen and purple under the extreme -4°F temperature, I continued to operate the equipment swiftly.In thirty seconds, I was finished with the alignment.In another twenty seconds, the lens was focused and locked.I issued the order, “The exposure will take two hours. I will need all of you to stay fifty meters behind and make sure all light sources are turned off.”The assistants immediately obliged and retreated into the darkness.After so many years, I had returned to the front lines.Meanwhile, on another hill blanketed by snow, a short distance away, Elias was also setting up his equipment.His movements were abrupt and seemingly agitate

  • A Lonesome Light Seeking the Star   Chapter 5

    Thirteen hours later, the plane landed safely at Reksyavik Airport.The editor-in-chief of the magazine met me at the exit and carried my luggage.Then, he handed me a black case containing photography equipment.It contained a brand-new, unopened Hasselblad medium format camera along with a complete set of top-of-the-line lenses made for astrophotography.He welcomed me fervently, “Welcome back to the team, Charlotte.” I took the case from him.Though my knuckles were throbbing slightly from the cold, I held onto the case with a firm grip.Meanwhile, back home, Elias opened the front door and stepped into an eerily silent house.He immediately noted the absence of the usual warm smell of food. All that was left was a stuffy room that felt uncomfortably chilly.He switched on the living room light.Three glass bottles neatly arranged on top of the cabinet came into view.The bottles were empty. The origami stars they once contained were nowhere to be seen.A key was set ne

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