Astronomy // Duty After School

Chapter Twenty-Eight.

"These TMP classes are making me a bit ill..." Yu-jeong murmured, holding her stomach as the four girls and two boys headed to the dining room. "I don't think I'll actually be able to snap someone's bone back into place..." (Y/n) couldn't wait to get back to their barracks as she wanted to do nothing more than lay around.

"You won't be thinking about that at the moment, though," Yeon-ju said. "If there was a situation where one of us broke a bone, I bet the first thing you would want to do is make sure they're not in pain." (Y/n) side-eyed them. "What's that look for?"

"What look?" (Y/n) asked, feigning innocence.

"You've broken a lot of bones, (Y/n)," Yu-jeong commented. Bewilderment crossed Yeong-su's and Yeong-hun's faces.

"I wouldn't say a lot," (Y/n) said. "I've broken three, but I've had more fractures. There are mats at my gymnastics gym, but that doesn't completely erase the risk factor if you don't know how to land properly."

"Three?" Ae-seol repeated. "I thought you only broke your arm in two different places..." When (Y/n) refused to answer, Ae-seol nodded. "Na-ra thought you might have broken your ribs."

"Hey, don't go around telling everyone that," (Y/n) frowned, choosing to avoid Yu-jeong's and Yeon-ju's shocked expressions.

"Hey! Sobong (Y/n), you should know better than to ignore those kinds of injuries!" Yu-jeong fumed.

"I'm not ignoring them," (Y/n) denied. "The medic knows."

"But we don't," Yeon-ju said. "What if you passed out and we didn't know what the reason is?"

"...Can that happen?" (Y/n) asked, finally showing the same amount of alarm the others held.

"Yes! It hurts to breathe, doesn't it?" Yeon-ju said. "And when it hurts, you tend to do it less!

"It's embarrassing to go to the infirmary so often," (Y/n) mumbled.

"You could develop pneumonia."

"What?!"

"By not taking pain medicine, you're preventing yourself from breathing deeply," Yeon-ju explained. "And that raises the risk for pneumonia."

"Gosh," (Y/n) muttered, growing stressed. "I'll be right back." She turned and abruptly headed back to the infirmary to get pain medicine in hopes it would kick in before their nighttime training. She was given a little container that (Y/n) usually associated with a sauce container, but she pocketed it nonetheless, wondering what she would need to swallow the pill with that day (just water never seemed to work for her). By the time she joined the queue, she found that the group she was originally walking with already at the front of the line. She took a peek at what was being served, already feeling awful over the fact she doubted she would be able to stomach much. She had to force herself to eat for the others' sake as they were always so quick to question her whenever she didn't eat. She was, at the very least, able to avoid most questions by eating her entree, even if nothing else was touched. Most days, she would find herself in the bathroom, throwing back up her food out of nausea from her tough experiences, ones that she was struggling to cope with. It was a phase and it would pass, she would tell herself.
(Y/n) felt like she was an out-of-body person, merely watching herself take her dinner tray and thank the employees as she slowly made her way to the group she always ate with, passing most of her classmates in the process. She set her tray down and sat down beside Ae-seol, merely staring at her food for a long moment, unable to focus on whatever Yeong-hun and Yeong-shin were talking about prior to her arrival.

"Is porridge easier for you to eat?" Ae-seol asked, picking up (Y/n)'s bowl of rice and dishing the broth of (Y/n)'s portion of kimchi jjgae into the rice. "That way you can also use it to just swallow your pain meds," Ae-seol said pleasantly, mashing the rice and broth combo. She got a spoonful of porridge and added (Y/n)'s pill to it so the girl wouldn't see it until after she swallowed. "Open—" Ae-seol grew nervous the second she caught sight of (Y/n)'s teary eyes while she held the spoon out. "Ah... What is it?" (Y/n) wordlessly took a bite of the food Ae-seol was offering her. As she swallowed, she took the bowl and spoon from Ae-seol, trying not to bawl her eyes out. She locked eyes with Yeong-shin.