“Shh! What the hell? Stop stomping like an elephant or you’ll get us in trouble!”

“Stomping? You’re the one who’s stomping!”

“Guys, quiet down your voices, or else the others will wake up!”

Yorch slowly roused from sleep the moment he heard people shouting in whispers. Others might sleep through various kinds of sounds due to them being heavy sleepers or the simple fact that they are exhausted from the day’s work, Yorch is not like them. He’s a light sleeper and one who gets bothered by even the slightest or softest of noises. 

None of the noises he heard were anywhere near soft at all. 

Emitting a soft groan, he pushes himself up on his right elbow and uses his left hand to wipe the sleep off his eyes. At first, his view is blurry, but when his eyes have adjusted to the dim lighting in the room (thanks to the light from the moon), he notices that some of his fellow nurses, all in their pajamas, are trying to exit the room quietly. He grunts under his breath as he fully sits up on the bed and squints a bit to finally see who are planning to leave their quarters at night. All of them are new nurses and he spots Nurses Aera and Sangwon with the group. Their backs are turned to him, but when he coughs a bit they both turn to see that he’s awake and looking straight at them.

“Yorch!” Aera exclaims in a hushed voice. She quietly rushes to Yorch’s bed and takes a seat by his feet. “Do you wanna join us?” She asks him, clear anticipation brimming in her eyes despite the dim room. 

“Where are you planning to go?” Yorch asks in the same hushed voice as hers. He glances at the other nurses who were still sleeping soundly beside him. 

“The others woke us up and asked if we wanted to join them out for a night walk around the garrison.”

“It’s past ‘lights off’. We could get in trouble if we get caught. You know that they're strict with the new people in the garrison.”

“Come on, Yorch,” Sangwon whispers, walking toward them before leaning on one of the metal poles that is attached to the top and bottom bunks. He is equally excited as Aera. “This might be the last time that we’ll be able to go out walking at night. Tomorrow, we’ll be busier than ever since it’ll be the first day of visiting the town. I’m sure we’ll be tired after a whole day of nonstop work.”

Yorch bites a small part of his bottom lip, his gaze falling on the other nurses who are standing by the exit. Some have their blankets wrapped around their shoulders. He thinks hard for a moment. 

First of all, he’s pissed that his sleep has been interrupted. Second, if ever they get caught, they’ll be in serious trouble. 

Third, that’s an ‘if’, though. They’re all careful and they know the area already. And he knows that he’s capable of taking care of himself. It will be nice to do something against the rules. 

And it won’t hurt…right?

“Would it be safe?” He asks to be sure.

“Of course!” Sangwon answers. “It’s just going to be a walk with the others. So are you coming? We don’t want to keep them waiting for us.”

Yorch then says with more resolve, “I’m in. Let me grab my jacket real quick.”

—---------

The garrison brings a different feel to one at night. The wind is cool that it makes the hair on Yorch’s arms tingle and rise despite having a jacket on him. The quiet seems deafening and he’s not used to not seeing soldiers run past him, chanting as they do so. All military jeeps are parked so he also doesn’t hear the roaring sound of their engines coming to life. 

They all still had to keep their voices hushed since the sound echoes more across the sky even if they talked in their normal tones. 

“Isn’t this exciting?” Aera whispers to the two nurses on each side of her as they walk with the group across the open field where all soldiers gather early in the morning and before the lights off. Some of the grass tickled some open areas of their feet since they are all in their slippers.

“We’ve always seen the field filled with busy people but now I just realized how wide it is,” Sangwon whispers. He then looks up and gasps, “Damn, you can even clearly see the stars from here!”

Yorch follows, looking up to see for himself. He finds the sky littered with a lot of bright, twinkling dots of stars. It’s like when he would lie awake in bed and think of the constellations above him. Now he could see them again without any imagination needed. He continues to gaze at the sky in awe and a small smile forms on his face. “They look beautiful,” he comments quietly. 

Aera also has taken the time to look up. “I’m glad we went out tonight with the others. We’ve all been so cooped up with work that we never took the time to look at the stars…”

Sangwon says, “I’m glad you decided to go with us, Yorch. I’m sure Lieutenant Choi has been giving you additional stress, so you need this.”

“Tell me about it,” Yorch mutters. “I can’t believe that we’ll be seeing her around more in a few hours and from then on. I despise how cocky she is.”

“She does know what she’s doing,” Aera says.

“But that’s still not an excuse for her behavior.”

“Oh, it never is. It can be an explanation though.”

Yorch bites back a demeaning comment he wishes to make. Still, a stupid explanation if that were the case.

All of a sudden some of the nurses before them start to run back to where they came from. “Hurry, hurry!” They heard them say in haste. Yorch freezes in his spot and watches them in shock. 

“What’s going on?” Aera asks. 

Sangwon then points to a ray of light flashing from before them. “Someone’s there!”

Before Yorch and Aera could react and follow Sangwon as he runs away, a loud sound of a whistle rings above the air followed by a booming voice shouting, “Halt!”

Yorch and Aera stop and gulp down a huge lump down their throat. 

Aera asks him in a hushed voice, “How in the world were we caught?! We were all quiet!”

“I have no idea!” Yorch replies in the same hushed voice. Slowly they turn and find themselves before the presence of the…

Yorch couldn’t help it. He rolled his eyes and audibly huffed out an annoyed breath. 

Of course, it had to be the Maverick. She lowers the flashlight and saunters to them. In her other hand, she carries a lit cigarette and places it between her lips to inhale on it before pulling it out to breathe out the smoke that has circulated in her lungs already. A smug smile is plastered on her face. 

Aera starts, “L-Lieutenant Choi–”

“What are you two doing out of your rooms?”

“S-Sorry, ma’am, we will go back–”

“We wanted to walk around,” Yorch interjects, his voice monotonous and straightforward. Aera widens her eyes in horror at the man and how he spoke back to the lieutenant. “Is there anything wrong with walking late at night?”

“Yorch–”

“There is something wrong if there are rules to follow, pretty boy,” The lieutenant drawls out. She raises an eyebrow at him. “And I’m sure that there is a clear rule when it comes to curfew.” She takes a long drag of her cigarette and exhales out the smoke right at the nurse’s face. 

Yorch winces and scowls at her. 

“That didn’t have any rule though,” she continues and breaks off into even a cockier smile. As if her smug smile wasn’t enough to push the message across. 

“Ma’am,” Aera steps in, “we are very sorry, ma’am.”

Lieutenant Choi raises a hand at her. “Enough. None of you will face any punishment tonight, but as we work at the town in a few hours, I expect you and the rest of the nurses to contribute more work than the soldiers.” She watches Aera’s expression shift to one of surprise. “Oh, I’m sorry, were you not made aware that I also saw the rest of the nurses with you? Newbie, they don’t call me maverick for nothing.” Then she spins on her heel and walks away from them without another word. 

Yorch swears under his breath and watches her leave, anger brewing within him. 

“...I completely understand you now,” Aera speaks at length from beside him. “She really is a pain in the neck.”

“Welcome to my world,” Yorch adds.

—---------

A few minutes before…

“Hey,” Lieutenant Choi says the moment she enters her office to find Sergeant Min sitting before his desk, working on the reports assigned to him. She saunters over to him and drops a sealed brown envelope at the exact spot where he is currently writing notes on. “Juliet sent a letter.”

His eyes go wide and stop working to take hold of the letter in front of him. “This is from Seungwan?”

“I came from the hospital and the moment she saw me, she rushed somewhere and came back to hand that letter to you.” The lieutenant proceeded to take off her greatcoat and hang it against the back of a vacant chair.

He reaches over the end of his desk to grab a letter opener sitting idly on top of a stack of finished documents he needs to submit. Just as he was about to tear the envelope open with it, he pauses to throw a pointed look toward the lieutenant. “Also, please don’t call her Juliet, ma’am. All the more she’ll get shy around you when she finds out you called her that again.”

“Then don’t tell her I said that, sergeant. Plus you're a walking Romeo with all those words and poems that no one understands," Lieutenant Choi says matter-of-factly and shows a knowing smirk at him. 

"Ma’am, I am simply using the things I learned from my degree." 

"Then why did you become a sergeant again?”

"It's the most practical thing to do now, ma'am." 

She shrugs. “True,” she says in assent. “Still, a lot of wasted time and bullshit for that writing degree if you were only going to end up as a sergeant then.”

"Hey. Don't forget that I'm still older than you."

"Rank matters more in this world, sergeant."

Sergeant Min murmurs, “Yeah, sadly.” Then proceeds to read the letter his lover wrote for him. 

With curiosity getting the best of her, the lieutenant finds herself leaning to his side to also take a look at what is written in the letter.

The sergeant instantly folds the letter closed and holds it against his chest. “Hey!”

“What? I wanted to read too!”

“It’s not your letter, ma’am!”

“What is there to hide? Don’t you just keep on proclaiming your love for each other?”

Sergeant Min grimaces. “You make it sound cringe when you say it out loud.”

“I’m simply saying the truth here!”

“It’s not that, ma’am. I…” His voice trailed off and he bites his bottom lip. “I’m serious with her,” he admits at length. “I want to marry Seungwan when the war is over and I want her to know that I’m serious about this decision.”

“...That’s actually really nice of you.”

The sergeant rolls his eyes. “You’re just saying that.”

“Well, I mean it. I do have to admit, it is nice to think of our lives after the war. What we will be doing, who we might be with.”

“Let me ask you this,” the sergeant says, “And I expect a serious answer. Do you think of getting married, lieutenant?”

“Hmm,” the lieutenant hums. “You want a serious answer?”

“That’s what I just said.”

“Yeah, I do think of marriage sometimes.” Lieutenant Choi leans against the sergeant’s desk and looks up at the ceiling as she thinks. “I won’t deny that there are days when I think of writing something between the lines of love to someone else…but it’s also those days that I remember I’m already married.”

“Huh?” Sergeant Min voiced out his sheer confusion. “Preposterous. Married to who?”

She then looks back at him and a wide grin spreads across her face. “To the country.” 

He scoffs, “You’re just kissing ass now.” He shakes his head and returns to reading the letter in his hand. The lieutenant takes this moment to grab a cigarette and lighter from her pocket. She lights it and takes a drag of it, savoring the menthol sensation it brings down her throat and to her lungs. 

“I like messing with you, sergeant.”

“Hey,” he suddenly says, his voice turned all serious. She sees him look out his window. “Do you see those walking outside?” He points at a group of people in white walking on the field. 

The lieutenant could tell who those people were by what they were wearing. “Nurses. Definitely the newbies.”

The sergeant faces her. “Aren’t you going to do something about it?”

She dismissively waves a hand at him. “Ah, let them do it. I’ll punish them once we reach the town in a few hours. I’ll make sure they’ll do a lot of laborious work.”

“Suit yourself,” he muttered and returned to looking at the window. After a few moments, he speaks again, “Wait, isn’t that your pretty boy?”

This time, the lieutenant takes a look out of the window. “You’re right.” She could see him look up to watch the sky from where she was standing. “It is pretty boy.” A thought comes to her mind and she finds herself smirking at it. Without any hesitation, she grabs her greatcoat from the chair and proceeds to put it back on. 

“Now you’re going to do something about it?”

“I can’t help it. I like pissing him off.” She places her cigarette between her teeth and throws a mock salute at the sergeant before leaving his office. 

“Lieutenant, you’re definitely going to fall for him in the long run!” He called after her.

Lieutenant Choi wanted to burst out laughing. As if that’s ever going to happen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

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