Chapter 1: The night before the Stars.
The Last Dinner at Home
The last dinner was quiet, different from the rest of the dinner they've always had.
Not the kind of silence that felt peaceful, but the heavy, tight kind that stretched between every clink of cutlery. The news anchor's voice muffled on in the background, talking about the future of space travel," while Liliana sat at the table trying to swallow a bite of rice that felt more like a stone in her throat. Across from her, her mother busied herself with picking bones out of fish that no one was really eating. Her father kept his eyes on his plate like it might speak to him if he stared long enough.
Jayden was the first of the triplets to break the silence as usual.
"So," he said, his fork spinning in his fingers like a drumstick, " you're ready to kiss Earth goodbye and flirt with aliens or what?"
Liliana almost laughed. Instead, she gave him a small, grateful smile. Of all her brothers Jayden was the clown always cracking jokes when things got too serious. Sitting beside him, Jasper rolled his eyes and muttered, "Can you be serious for once?" And then there was Jeremy, the quiet one, who simply pushed his food around with a thoughtful expression, like he was somewhere else entirely.
Their mother finally looked up not at Jayden, not at the joke, but at Liliana.
"You don't have to do this," she said softly, like the words had been waiting all night behind her lips. You've already made your point. We know you're smart. You love the Stars. But you don't have to throw yourself into danger to prove anything."
Liliana lowered her eyes. She'd been preparing for this talk since she was fourteen.
"I'm not proving anything," she said, voice steady. "I'm just… going to where I've always belonged."
Her father's fork hit the plate a little too hard.
"You belong here. On Earth. With your family," he said, not angry, just tired.
"Space is no place for a girl to go wandering. It's not a dream, Liliana. It's a risk."
Liliana bit the inside of her cheek to keep restraine from snapping back. It had always been like this. Ever since she was a child sketching rockets on the backs of her schoolbooks, she'd been told to focus on real things. Safer things. Things girls were "meant" for. But the Stars had never felt like a phase, they felt like home.
Jayden cleared his throat. "She's not wandering. She's flying. Big difference."
Their mother shook her head , rubbing her eyes. "And if the ship fails? If you get stuck out there? What then?"
Liliana didn't answer right away. What could she say? That she'd rather die in the sky than Live on the ground with a caged heart? That the thought of spending her whole life without touching the Stars scared her more than the silence of space?
She simply said, "I know the risks."
Jeremy finally spoke, voice quiet but firm. "But do they know what they're risking by sending you up there?"
His words didn't feel like disapproval. More like fear. He didn't look at her when he said it. Just at the half empty cup of water in front him.
"I'll come back," Liliana promised, though part of her wasn't sure she believed it herself.
And for a moment, the room was silent again except for the soft hum of music playing on the tv.
*Gifts and Goodbyes*
Liliana folded her jumpsuit carefully, smoothing out the sleeves with slow, deliberate hands. The fabric didn't look like it belonged to someone like her, not the little girl who used to lie on the rooftop staring at the stars, not the young woman who fought through judgment and rejection to reach this level. And yet here it was, in her suitcase. And tomorrow, it would be wrapped around her body as she boarded into the very place that once felt like a fantasy. "I can't believe this, it must be a dream," she said and then pinched herself and felt the pain, "ouch I knew it, dreams can't be this real" she smiled.
A knock came at the door. Then it opened without waiting for a reply. As always, classic Jayden.
"We came bearing parting gifts like the three wise men," he said, stepping in dramatically with both arms raised like he was entering a game show. Jasper and Jeremy followed behind, quieter, but with small grins on their faces.
Liliana turned from her suitcase, her heart softening. I didn't realize this was a farewell tour."
"No tour," Jasper said, placing a small box on her bed. "Just three fathers who can't believe their baby sister is going to space."
Jayden handed her a small, worn bracelet, the kind kids make with strings and beads.
"Remember this?" he asked. "You made it for me when you were like ten. You said it had star power."
Liliana laughed as she took it, her fingers brushing over the faded letters: D + L = Superstars. Her heart tugged. " You kept it?"
"Are you kidding? I almost wore it to a movie concert with my girlfriend."
Jasper stepped forward next. He handed her a polaroid photo, a picture of the four of them, taken during one of their rare family beach trips. Liliana had forgotten this moment even existed. She was laughing in the picture, mouth wide, hair wild from the wind. Sand between her toes.
"I thought… maybe you'd want to carry something warm with you," Jasper said, not meeting her eyes. In case it gets cold up there."
She didn't trust herself to speak. She just nodded and pulled him into a hug.
Then came Jeremy. "Here," he said, pulling out a small journal with a navy blue cover and silver Stars embossed on it. "Write everything. Not just for us. For you. So you don't forget how far you came."
Liliana clutched it to her chest. Her voice cracked a little. " You guys are going to make me cry "
"Cry now," Jayden said, smirking. "Because once you get up there, you're gonna have to act like a cool space queen."
"Already am," she shot back.
They didn't stay long. The goodbyes weren't loud, just three long hugs, a few jokes and a final look from each of them that said everything words couldn't. After the door closed behind them, the silence in her room felt heavier than before.
She slipped on the bracelet and opened the photo again, pressing it to her heart. Then, still barefoot, she climbed out the window and onto the rooftop, the way she used to when she was a little girl dreaming of galaxies.
The Stars were bright tonight.
Liliana lay back against the warm cement letting the sky fill her eyes. Her fingers drifted toward her lips without thinking, a smile tugging at her lips.
She thought of Andrea.
Two months ago, he was just a name on a space mission file. Then he became the man who looked at her like she was made of light. The one who didn't treat her like the girl from Earth trying too hard, but like a partner. An equal. A wonder.
She remembered the night a week ago, that quiet, intentional moment where space felt far away and only their bodies, their hearts, were real. She hadn't thought about the future then. Just now. His hands, his breath. The way he said her name like it was both a prayer and a promise.
She blushed just thinking about it.
Her phone vibrated against her leg.
Andrea.
She smiled and picked it up without hesitation.
"Gorgeous" his voice came through, soft and familiar. " Couldn't sleep."
"Me neither," she said, eyes still fixed on the stars. "I'm on the rooftop. Where else would I be?'
"Looking at the stars before you join them huh. That's very on brand," he teased.
They talked for nearly an hour, about the mission, the checklist, the view they both couldn't wait to see, the passionate moment they shared together last week. It was Andrea that it brought up again, heaven knows how many times he mentioned it, who knows if this is not the 100th time he's bringing it up. "Oh Andrea stop it already, the walls, my bed and pillows, everything in my room already heard it a million times, now it's the stars"? She giggled, saying it like a typical African mom but feeling butterflies deep down.
"Alright, Alright, guilty as charged" Andrea replied of course in the sexiest way enough to melt Liliana. Let's buy a small luxury house . A dog . Maybe a wedding near the ocean
"So you still wanna get married on the beach?" you want the fishes to be the ring bearer or what? she asked, smiling.
Only if I get to marry you," Andrea said.
She covered her face, grinning like a teenager.
Eventually, the call got quieter, the way calls do when silence feels more intimate than just words. Just breathing . And waiting for someone to end the call first.
Finally, Andrea said, "I'll see you tomorrow,
Lian."
"You better," she whispered.
She hung up, pressed the phone to her chest and closed her eyes under the stars.
Tomorrow, everything will change.
But tonight, she had the Stars. And Andrea.