moons of jupiter | stray kids af

o6

Jang Jiu, the only astronaut yet to board the Chronosaurus, steps out of the shower with a towel wrapped around her head and her pink robe hugging her body. It's been a few weeks since the launch on earth, meaning the ship would be arriving soon and she's just wrapped up her last day of training for some time off.

Leaving mars was still unbelievable to her. She was born and raised on the red planet and it's safe to say that mars wasn't as exciting as everyone thought it was, compared to earth that seems to have its little heavenly nooks and corners. Jiu saw them all on the internet and even though she knows her destination isn't earth specifically, she hopes that she will see many of the kind.

"Finishing off?" Daniel Kang asks her when they meet in the lobby soon after. Seeing him, Jiu straightens her shirt and dusts off invisible dirt off her thighs.

"Yes sir," Jiu answers with a smile, "I was just heading back home."

Daniel returns the gesture, "it was your last day of training, was it? You've come far."

"Yes it was, thank you," the girl replies with a small grateful bow, "thank you for giving me this opportunity."

The man in the suit waves his hand, "it was nothing, Jiu. It was all you, after all you were a great contributor to the planning of the ship itself, therefore it was only fit for you to experience it as well."

Truth be told, Jiu didn't know the ship she helped design would be something used for a historic milestone. All she knew was she was needed for her expertise in blue-printing a rough image of what her dream ship is and so she assumed it was just another task her department gave every month or so to see improvement on skills from their staff. She paid no mind when she began getting called to the meeting rooms to be interviewed — she never bothered to find out what exactly she was interviewed for, just as long as it's over and done with, then she was fine with anything, really.

"I will do my best, sir," Jiu tells the man.

"I know you will," Daniel checks the watch on his wrist, face twisting. "Oh, I have to get going, Jiu. I'll see you soon, hopefully?"

"Of  course, have a great day, sir," Jiu smiles at the man and watches as he goes on to continue his day.

Returning to her cabin, she kicks her shoes off and let her toes curl on the carpet. The cabin was a simple, smart space. Astronauts don't really need fancy things anyway, therefore the cabin isn't very big. As Goldilocks from one of the earth books she read would say, just right.

The lights are bright and bluish, to contrast the red world outside so the eyes wont tire out. By the entrance was a small hallway, leading to a cozy sized living room and a small kitchen at the back. A bathroom, complete with a bathtub, shower, sink and a perfectly working toilet. A study where her dad puts most of his work, where her mum has paper files towering on the corner desk. There were three rooms; one for her, one for her parents and one guest room. Jiu never found the use of that guest room, who would have guests in mars? Rich people holidaying from earth maybe, but they'd usually stay at hotels. So instead, she's turned the room into a sort of space where she could relax.

And her parents were never home. Both always so busy with research, work and everything that comes in between. Her grandfather lives in a different housing complex so the cabin was empty, most of the time.

Jiu flops down on a kitchen stool, eyeing the surface of the island carefully. There, of course, was a plate of boiled chicken breast and broccoli with this sauce on top of it, wrapped in cling wrap. The obnoxiously coloured sticky note on the top read 'we'll be back late, xx ma + pa'.

Sighing, she unwraps the plate and places it into the microwave to heat the food up.

She then strolls over to the fridge pulling out a small carton of milk. Mars milk don't have the same taste as the one on earth. Her father's colleague had brought some over some time ago back when he returned from his trip to earth. Maybe it was just in her head, the thought of actual earth milk made it different to ones on mars, but it somehow tastes sweeter and she wishes she could have it everyday.