Between the clouds of Jupiter and the silence of the stars, two souls destined for solitude discover, in a brief gap, a way to reach each other

And a shy silence returned for a moment — not the awkward kind, but the gentle one that quietly filled the space between two people still discovering one another.

“Can we go for a ride in your starship?” she asked, unable to hide her excitement.

Dorden hesitated for a brief moment.
“Well… we’ve got a small problem. A certain someone…” he said, glancing at Mr. Key, who replied with a tight-toothed smile and blinking eyes, “…ate all the supplies we were using as fuel. That’s how we ended up stranded on that asteroid.”

“Drama, drama, drama… We could look at it another way,” the little monkey shot back.

He leapt from Dorden’s shoulders onto Darla’s bed, puffed out his chest, and projected his voice with theatrical grandeur.

“A certain precious someone,” began dramatically.

“Oh man… Here we go…” Dorden sighed, dropping onto the bed with his arms crossed. “The speech.”

Mr. Key shot him an offended glance, then cleared his throat with exaggerated importance. He straightened his posture again, lifted one tiny finger into the air, and resumed in an even grander tone.

“…after a great adventure, was struck by an immense hunger. Naturally, nothing could be fairer than a proper meal as a reward for such tremendous effort. After all, this magnificent physique cannot survive on a mere two-hour fast.”

“You had eaten half an hour earlier,” Dorden cut in, indignant.

“Pay him no mind…” Mr. Key said to the princess. “Now then, where was I? Oh, yes. Due to a small mishap — caused by his captain, of course — this great hero mistakenly swapped the supplies… and thus, under great emotional turbulence, they crash-landed on an asteroid within its vast belt.”

“Bravo! Are you done?” Dorden teased.

“No! Now comes the best part… And that is how our lonely Captain Dorden started falling…”

Dorden shot him a warning look.

“What? I just said falling! He fell. Didn’t you say it yourself? We fell onto that asteroid. And Darla… you should’ve seen it — what a fall that was. Falling where, exactly…?”

Dorden’s stare sharpened.

“Anyway…”

Mr. Key cut himself off, breaking into a provocative whistle, a smug expression on his face.

“Oh, come on… I like him. He’s so cute. You were just a little hungry, right, Key?” the princess said with a smile, drawing an enchanted look from the monkey, who nestled into Darla’s largest plush and stretched with exaggerated delight.

Darla pouted slightly, her lips forming a small, adorable protest. But as she processed the information, a realization dawned on her.

“Are you crazy? You threw yourself onto an unknown planet with no fuel? How were you planning to get back? What made you do that?” she asked, looking at him in disbelief as her playful tone gradually gave way to genuine concern.

Dorden looked away, hesitating for a moment longer. How could he possibly tell Darla that her beautiful eyes and enchanting smile were the reason behind such madness?

“I just… did,” he replied, drawing a surprised laugh from her.

“Captain Dorden… Captain Dorden… Always chasing adventure, aren’t you?” she teased. “But maybe I have something that could work as fuel…”