Astronomy // Duty After School

Chapter Forty.

"Keep it there," Yeon-ju whispered as (Y/n) removed the ice pack from her side, halfheartedly flailing the hand previously holding it. Chun-ho was right, (Y/n) had to admit. The walking had reset any progress she had made when she was sitting in the Seolbonggwan lobby. She as running off pure delirium now: Short of breath, in desperate need of a break, and waiting for the pain medicine to kick in and make her more delirious.

"It hurts."

"It won't hurt if you let the ice numb your side," Yeon-ju said sternly.

"Not that. Well... Yes, that. But I'm talking about an ice burn," (Y/n) huffed, blowing on her fingers. Despite being cool, her breath was a lot warmer than the outdoor air. "An ice pack on top of this temperature?"

"It wouldn't be a problem if you'd take my gloves," Jang-su piped up. (Y/n) pretended not to hear.

"I feel this wind is making me have selective hearing..."

"What wind?" Bo-ra muttered. (Y/n) looked around at everyone before turning back to Yeon-ju with a soft flattering look, holding the icepack behind her back and leaning closer to the girl.

"It seems I'm the only one blown away by your beauty—"

"Goodbye," Yeon-ju dismissed, pushing away (Y/n) away by the face. She turned forward with a faint blush coating her cheeks. (Y/n) continued to stare adoringly until Jun-hi lightly tugged her arm and pointed down a street filled with vending machines.

"We're already having hot chocolate at the shelter," Bo-ra objected.

"Yeah, the very hot chocolate we didn't even get to have last night," Jun-hi moped.

"Mm... All right," (Y/n) nodded.

"If she does it, you guys aren't even going to think about bothering her until tomorrow," Yeon-ju stated. (Y/n) waved her hand dismissively, walking off and over to the nearest vending machine. She removed the mangled decorative bobby pins from her pocket and kissed them goodbye for real that time, making a few people snicker. She was silent as she kept her ear close to the lock, listening closely for the pins to click into place so she was able to turn the two pins and unlock it. When the time came, she pocketed the pins, stood up, and opened the vending machine with her foot before grabbing two drinks and shuffling out of everyone else's way to get to Ae-seol. She gave Ae-seol her favorite drink, which Ae-seol gladly accepted. Chun-ho was in absolute disbelief that his platoon had resulted to, in his eyes, stealing. With much persisting, he eventually caved.

"Fifteen minutes," Chun-ho said. "That's all you get." Seeing that Ae-seol was distracted with setting down their box of military rations, (Y/n) strode off to take a look at the other vending machines. She knelt down to open another machine that had hot packs inside. She took a few hot packs and wounding walking around to unlock any other machine the class was pleading for. Given that there were plenty of drinks to go around, most people wound up grabbing a few and placing them in their vests.

"You fuckers better not steal my fucking drinks again," Hui-rak said scathingly. Jun-hi and So-yun scowled at him.

"We didn't do shit!"

"Noisy as hell," Bo-ra muttered, frowning. Her expression immediately turned more pleasant as (Y/n) passed her, So-yeon, and Ha-na. "Want one?" she asked, offering the chips she was holding. (Y/n) gladly accepted and strode off, covering her mouth as she chewed. When she got close enough, Ae-seol opened her arms for (Y/n) to practically collapse and take a rest.

"You should probably go to the infirmary when we get there," Ae-seol commented.

"Tomorrow. I just want to shower and go to bed," (Y/n) mumbled.