Cheer Up

The following day, Astrol arrived late to school wearing her school hoodie, it's hood covering almost half of her face. She had her head hung low the entire time since she entered her class. Mr Jang, their class mentor, had noticed something was off with her, but when he asked Astrol what the matter was, she just brushed it off and told him that she wasn't feeling well.

Nari had been observing Astrol since she walked into the class, and noted that she hadn't spoken or moved at all. It was like she was glued to her seat or something. She'd tried talking to her during the course of the day, but Astrol had only nodded and kept quiet while listening to her most of the time. She knew that Astrol didn't take yesterday well judging from the way she stylishly adjusted her hood every now and then, hoping that she wasn't being obvious. Nari felt annoyed with herself that even now she couldn't do anything to make Astrol feel better. She couldn't even imagine how much Astrol probably cried to be hiding her face like that, though she acted so unaffected before them the other day.

"*Sigh*, I can't just sit here and watch her like this", Nari muttered to herself. She stood and decided to take Astrol with her to grab some snacks since it was already break time. This time around she was going to make her feel better for sure. However, when she was only a few desks away, Astrol abruptly stood and hastily left the class, leaving her staring after her in surprise.

...

It was break time but Astrol could only curse at the time. The day was going by slowly and it was really annoying her. She had cried a lot last night, so her eyes were terribly swollen when she woke up. She had no other choice but to come to school wearing her school hoodie since it was baggy and the hood was big enough to hide her eyes. She thought about wearing shades but that would've been way too obvious. She also tried using concealer but her eyes were just too swollen to be hidden with make-up. At least the eye drop Nanny Yu gave her helped with the reddish color of her eyes.

Astrol didn't want her friends to see her like this, she didn't like this vulnerable side of her at all. She didn't want them getting worried over her, which was why she quickly left her class the moment she saw Nari approach her. She had to get away from her because she knew Nari wouldn't hesitate to know exactly what happened with her the other day, and the worst part was that Nari wouldn't be interrupted by teachers or lessons this time around, so she would take her time questioning her and scolding her for not saying anything.

Once she was out of the class, she saw that other students had started to leave their classes as well. She hastily left the school building for fear that she would run into Xander and Bora. Outside the school building, Astrol looked around for a place where she could be alone, a place where her friends wouldn't find her for the meantime until she pulled herself together. Then she could have the conversion with them without letting them see how affected she was. She didn't want to have to break down again before their eyes.

Astrol could see her friends seemingly looking for her in the crowd of students, so she just ran along in any direction. She was afraid that her friends would find her soon, and ended up taking a turn to the right. She went down a few stairs before slowing down once she was sure that she was out of sight.

She'd never been to this part of New Dawn before, so she just strolled around until she stumbled upon a pathway that led out to an open area surrounded by lots of trees and greenery.

New Dawn was a school with lovely topography and a healthy natural environment. One of the major reasons she considered the school's scholarship among others she had, aside from the fact Nari and Bora were going there, was because of the greenery surrounding the school. Astrol had never fully explored New Dawn due to how huge the school was, so she was actually a bit excited to have discovered this pathway. As she strolled deeper, she realized that she had in fact seen this place before. She'd seen it before amidst other areas from her classroom window, but she didn't think that it was part of the school since there wasn't any building in sight. It looked like she was wrong apparently.

Astrol soon reached the end of the pathway and was amazed at the scenery before her. It was like a mini garden. It had so many different flowers, trimmed grasses, and a small body of water. She quietly walked inside the garden and sat down. She was feeling comforted already, it'd been so long since she had last been surrounded by such greenery. She hadn't changed much from the little Astrol of years ago. She still had an undeniable love for nature. Nanny Yu had seen that and had thought of grooming a little garden in their compound for her, but she couldn't afford all the expenses that came with it alongside putting food on the table.

She pulled down her hood and felt a bit better as she breathed in the still familiar scent of flowers and grass. However, the heaviness in her heart remained and she felt like it wasn't going to disappear anytime soon. She released a deep sigh as she sat there staring at the distant wilderness. "Astrol?", she heard someone call. Astrol's brows furrowed as she tilted her head slightly drawing her hood back over her head to check if someone had actually said her name. Wasn't she alone?. Astrol ended up gasping at who she saw. 'Him again?! What is he doing here?', she thought inwardly.

Kim Minho had been laying down on the grass for some time, and busied himself with staring up at the sky when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He creased his eyebrows wondering who it was, but then he presumed that it was probably one of the crazy four since they were the only ones that knew about this place. He then heard the person sigh and rose his head to see exactly who it was that came, and was surprised seeing who it was that sighed.

He couldn't quite see the girl's face but he had a feeling that it was her, so he called out her name to confirm, and when she turned slightly and froze, he knew he was right. Somehow her meeting him like this in this sort of place seemed somewhat familiar. "Are you following me around now!", she hissed at him. This prince really meant what he said about pestering her earlier, and after yesterday, she really wasn't in the mood to be around any royal at all.

"I'm supposed to be your friend not your stalker remember?", Minho said with a lifted eyebrow and Astrol just sighed again. She realized that it was stupid of her to make such assumptions. After all, why would a prince like him waste his time on someone like her anyway. "I come here often ever since I found out about this place in grade 11. I thought that I and the guys were the only ones who knew about this place but I guess I was wrong", Minho explained. "Oh, I guess I'm the one intruding then, so I'll leave", Astrol said in a downcasted tone as she rose to leave. "No, stay. I was about to leave anyway", Minho said, and Astrol just sat back down as she continued to stare into nothing.

Minho noticed that something was wrong with her mood that day. She seemed pretty upset from how she spoke, and he didn't like the way she kept her head low like that. Normal her would've been glaring at him and not silently staring at nothing. It seemed like Astrol also liked the place, so he couldn't let her leave like that. He stared at her back for some time before he stood and left.

Astrol heard him leave, so she pulled her hood back a bit to feel the wind on her face. After some alone time, she heard footsteps getting closer and she frowned slightly but was quick to pull her hood back to its original position. She felt the person crouch down beside her. "Here", she heard Kim Minho's voice say, and was surprised that he returned. She looked down to see what he had dropped on the ground, and saw various big stones gathered together which made her frown deepen even more.

"Whenever I'm really upset, I gather stones like these and throw them into the water one at a time. It helps clear my head and helps release frustration or pent up emotions too. It's a method I came up with so I'm not sure if it'll be of help to you, but I suggest you try it", Minho spoke as he dipped his hand into his left pocket and took out a cream. "This is a chilled cream I got from the nurses office", he started, placing it in front of her, "It'll help get rid of the swellings so you wouldn't have to hide behind that hood anymore. Okay I'll leave now, cheer up okay?", Minho encouraged before he stood and left for the second time.

Astrol just kept on staring down at the things he'd dropped off for her. 'Did he really leave just to go get all this stuff for me?', she thought confused. She couldn't think of a single reason why he would do such a thing for her. She also remembered him saying something about being really upset. Him?, upset?. Didn't he have a pretty good life already?.

Astrol let out a big sigh, she felt like her head would burst from trying to understand the actions of this prince. In the end, she decided to try what he'd told her, and was surprised that she actually felt better and light-hearted.

Kim Minho was watching her from a distance, and smiled seeing that she took his advice. He felt weirdly satisfied seeing her more at ease. He glanced side long at her one more time before leaving to give her some privacy.