Time flies when your head is literally in the clouds 24/7. D-day was approaching quickly and the crew at the Aurora camp ran on a rigorous schedule. Commander Bae Joohyun happened to be close with the other Joohyun at the camp, Junior Commander Seo Joohyun, who happened to be the second in charge at the fifth division, where Yeri and Lisa had been assigned. Anybody that knew Yeri and Lisa knew that it was only logical that they would be assigned to the strictest and most organized officer in probably the history of Aurora—not even Wendy could compete against Seo Joohyun’s track record at the academy. “God knows those two need a babysitter,” Joy had said months ago as she rolled her eyes, when their class had officially been allocated to their respective divisions. What nobody had expected was for the two little demons to actually befriend Junior Commander Seo, they somehow respected her and her authority, despite the endless shenanigans they pulled on a daily basis. So, while Commander Jung Jessica oversaw the fifth division as a whole, it was pretty much implicit that Seo Joohyun had been bestowed the task of mentoring the two young cadets. They had potential, they just lacked direction.

So their group had grown in the last couple of weeks, suddenly there were two seniors eating with them during lunch and dinner, Joohyun and Seohyun—as Seo Joohyun liked to be called, to avoid any confusion—had seamlessly joined their table. Meanwhile, Joy had nothing but gratitude for Joohyun after Wendy’s accident and something told Wendy that Jaehyun had huge crushed on Seohyun, so she was sure it would prove to be a fruitful strategic alliance.

“Wen, look who’s there,” Joy whispered as they all ate at the cafeteria on a Thursday afternoon, only ten days away from the launch of the Aurora 8.

Wendy almost chocked on her food but tried to disguise it as an absentminded cough as she gulped down her entire cup of water, she hadn’t seen that face up close in almost a month. She realized she had missed her, despite the drama that had enveloped them last semester. It wasn’t that woman’s fault, Wendy reasoned. Wendy should’ve ignored her hormones and listened to her wise friend's advice in the first place.

“Oh, it’s Jess,” Joohyun noticed, waving in the direction of the approaching woman. “You know her?” she asked once she noticed Wendy’s fixed eyes.

“She was my student mentor when I transferred here. Both of us transferred from North America to Korea so the administration probably thought it would be a good idea to match us up,” Wendy commented casually.

Joy snorted knowingly, adding, “You are probably already aware of this little fact, but Wen is actually very accident-prone.”

Wendy cleared loudly, visibly uncomfortable with that line of conversation.

Joy didn’t seem to care, though, as she nonchalantly explained, “She almost got run over by a delivery motorcycle. Blame her repressed hormones.”

“Joy,” Wendy hissed with a reproachful expression.

“My bad,” Joy replied with a muffled snicker, while Mark looked at the exchanged with a worried expression.

“Hey Joo, hey Seo,” Jessica amiably greeted the two once she reached the table before turning to her right, “Hi, Wannie. How’s it going?”

“Hi,” Wendy greeted back shyly. Jessica brought back bad memories but Wendy had to remind herself that it wasn’t her fault and she would always be a respectable figure, a caring friend too. “Good, just really busy, like you, probably,” she mumbled, not everyone at the table knew the full story between them and she didn’t feel like dealing with it on this particular Thursday.

“It’s been a while,” Jessica commented with a wistful smile. “Wanna go for a walk? And maybe some ice cream from our not-so-secret spot, too,” she added, squinting at Lisa and Yeri. The two girls had followed Wendy during one of her mentoring sessions and discovered what Jessica had found during her first year at the academy and later shared with Wendy: that the academy’s cafeteria staff the ice cream machine for personal use at lunch every now and then, so if you sneaked up on them and tried to confront them, you could exchange your silence for a double cone.

Wendy grinned wistfully, it certainly had been a while. Jessica reminded Wendy of her older sister Sarah, who used to buy her ice cream after school during primary school. She had always enjoyed her mentoring sessions with Jessica, even though most students at Aurora thought mentors and mandatory sessions were lame and a waste of time. But then again, most students didn’t feel like outsiders like Jessica and Wendy did—and probably like Mark and Johnny felt too. “Sure, I’m done with my food and I’ve been craving for some chocolate ice cream lately,” she said, shuffling away to return her food tray and waving at her friends.

“There’s an ice cream parlor at the academy?” Seohyun asked incredulously at the group in front of her.

“Oh, grandma, so old and yet so innocent,” Yeri replied, wrapping an arm over the older girl patronizingly.

“They still seem close,” Joohyun noted distractedly, her eyes following the two disappearing figures.

Joy observed the girl in front of her with a curious expression. “It’s a long story, you should probably ask Wendy if you wanna know more, but you could say Jessica was Wendy’s first friend at the academy,” she explained.

“And a certain someone got Wendy so blind and that she almost got killed… and expelled, too.” Lisa muttered with a smirk as she sipped on her lemon juice.

It was Joohyun’s turn to choke on seemingly nothing in particularly but she wasn’t able to mask it as skillfully as Wendy had. “She what?” the older girl exclaimed, disbelievingly.

“Like Joy said, long story,” Mark pointed out immediately with a tense laugh.

Joy glared at the amused girl, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation. “Lisa, here, needs to learn that snitches get stitches,” she scolded with a sinister look.

“So, you pretty much dished on half of the story before, but I mention Wendy’s life and suddenly I’ve crossed some unspoken line?” Lisa retorted, utterly bewildered.

Joy simply rolled her eyes in return, crossing her arms with displeasure.

The tension between the two got so dense that nobody noticed the young woman next to them that could barely hold herself together, still fighting a fit of coughs.

— — —

Dinner was quiet that day, with the Aurora launch day approaching, everybody was putting in extra hours and effort, but there certainly was something else permeating the air. A nebulous tension tinted the atmosphere, ominously present, but not quite palpable.

“Friday’s almost here,” announced Jaehyun, trying to lighten up the mood.

Seohyun nodded with a satisfied grin. “Yes, I can’t wait! I’m going to hit the library on Saturday to freshen up on stress management. Changmin and I think it will be very useful up in space.”

Jaehyun seemed perplexed. “You’re close with Commander Shim?”

“He’s my #1 at Aurora,” Seohyun replied mechanically, as if it didn’t take much thinking.

This exchange seemed to get Joohyun’s attention. “Hey! What about me?” she asked, slightly offended.

“You’re my #2, of course,” Seohyun deadpanned. She was known for being very rational and pragmatic, nobody was actually surprised by her tactless reply.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Joohyun said, nodding. She seemed to be deep in thought as soon as the words had left her, something in the horizon capturing her attention, or maybe something beyond that.

The rest of the dinner consisted of Mark, Jaehyun, and Seohyun trying their best to make some small talk, but their futile attempts garnered nothing but monosyllable answers from the rest of the table. Each of them lost in their own thoughts, except for Johnny who was fast asleep in the corner, splayed over a nearby bench.

After dinner, they split into their usual two groups. The Commanders heading senior staff residences, while the cadets headed back to the dorms.

“Wait, aren’t you coming over to watch Frontier Legacy with us?” Wendy asked Joohyun, noticing how the woman bid farewell, following Seohyun close behind.

“I’m actually kind of tired. Maybe another day?” she offered with an apologetic grimace.

Wendy gave her an understanding smile, oblivious. “Oh, sure. We should all get some rest,” she replied, waving goodbye.

As the group of cadets headed back, Joy seemed to fall behind, walking uncharacteristically slowly for her usually resolute demeanor. Wendy simply matched her pace, her mind lost replaying their previous t