02

"underneath it all time still goes on and on and on."

Doctor Eunwoo Jung came in minutes later, though it was an agonizing time for Kyungwon, who had resorted to counting the tiles on the ceiling. Doctor Jung had a professional presence and it unnerved Kyungwon. Professionalism and the real world always made Kyungwon seem a little on edge, even when she knew people were just doing what they were trained to do. The doctor smiled at Kyungwon, clearly a little stressed from the day already. Her sandy blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she carried a small clipboard with her.

“So, you’re here for a photoreactive keratectomy?”

“Uh, I think so...the PRK, yes.”

Doctor Jung smiled as the assistant from earlier came in with a sheet of paper, whispering and pointing to places on the paper. Doctor Jung dismissed the assistant with a thank you, asked her to get more materials. She checked off some things on her clipboard and wrote them down, then pulled up a rolling doctor chair up to Kyungwon.

“Ms. Kang,” Doctor Jung started. “This is a very short procedure, but you have to remember for two days you will not be able to open your eyes. After those two days you still have to keep your eyes closed. Recovery is four days in total. In that time you should have no phones, computers, televisions. None of that artificial light. After those four days you’ll have perfect vision. Simple as that. I’m going to put drops in your eyes and we’ll set off to work. You have to look at the laser and not move. I’ll repeat myself again: stare the laser dead on and do not move. Otherwise this will be quick and relatively painless.”

Kyungwon nodded, trying to listen intently, but her mind kept wandering back to the prospect of not opening her eyes for four days. Maybe she’d stay in bed all day, just have the radio play until Minkyung came home and gave her food. Her side of the bed wasn’t too far from the bathroom so there would be no problems about showering or brushing her teeth. But two days sounded like a lot without vision. Would Minkyung take a day off for her, let alone two? After all, Minkyung always talked about how much she would love a day off from work. Though taking care of your girlfriend wasn’t much of a day off. Kyungwon liked the idea of no television, no phones. Just her and Minkyung.

“Alright, Ms. Kang,” Doctor Jung said, lowering the seat so Kyungwon laid nearly horizontal in the seat. “Here’s to getting perfect vision!”

After many eye drops and anesthetic, Doctor Jung had cut the top layer of her cornea and pried her eye open, then finally focused the laser on her eye. No one told Kyungwon that staring into a laser would be so beautiful. The laser hit her eye the way the sun did on a bright day, but it was more focused and intense. The colors were beautiful, spots appearing as if she looked in the sun too long. Different colors danced in her vision, and it took all of Kyungwon’s willpower not to move her eye, and continued to keep her gaze focused into the laser. After both eyes had been treated, the laser shut off and she was instructed to close both of her eyes and to sit in the room, completely dark, for another ten minutes. Kyungwon did so, and let her mind wander to where she’d like to go out to dinner once she was alright, and maybe about getting a side job so Minkyung wouldn’t have to be the only adult in the relationship. Even so, Minkyung never once complained about the relationship and how things were. Even though Kyungwon’s earlier worries were completely valid, she didn’t know if Minkyung felt the same way. After all, she was so busy that she probably didn’t even notice the unbalance in their relationship.

Ten minutes wasn’t long enough for her to be left alone with her thoughts, but she guessed it was enough once the door opened, the scenery of darkness changing as light spilled in. Kyungwon could only detect differences in light with her eyes closed. She turned, instinctively, towards the light source with her eyes still closed, until she felt a hand cup her face.

“I guess you were right, I do like es. You really thought you were going to commute home alone in this state?”

Kyungwon recognized the voice the second it started to fill the room. God, she loved that sound so much. “Minkyung! What are you doing here?”

“Well, they called me because I’m your first emergency contact, darling. Of course they don’t let anybody walk on the streets by themselves after something like this. I talked to Doctor Jung. I really didn’t think that your recovery would be four days,” Minkyung started, placing her hand on Kyungwon’s forearm to get her to stand up. “But I guess that if that’s the rule, we have to stick by it. Besides, you’ll spend most of that time sleeping.”

Kyungwon bit back a smile. Okay, she did think that she was going to go back home alone, but she thought that maybe someone would help her along the way and take pity on her. Having Minkyung there was a nice surprise, but it brought back her thoughts of earlier that morning. She stood, letting Minkyung grab her hand as she led her out into the hallway.

“Don’t even think we’re going to be taking that subway either,” Minkyung scoffed, her high heels clicking against the floor. “We’ll take a cab or something back home. I can’t believe you still use the subway.”

“College gives me a free card to use,” Kyungwon mumbled, willing herself to open her eyes, but they were shut. “Also making conversation with cabbies makes me sleepy.”

“Doesn’t everything make you sleepy?”

“Well,” Kyungwon paused for a second. “You don’t.”

Minkyung let out a small laugh, and Kyungwon could imagine her shaking her head. “Please. You’re too much.” Minkyung squeezed Kyungwon’s hand, leading her back out to the waiting room, where sounds erupted onto Kyungwon’s ears like fireworks all at once. It was loud, and because of her temporary loss of vision, too much for Kyungwon in one moment. Luckily it didn’t last too long and Minkyung led her onto the elevator.

The waiting room was nothing compared to the city streets. The sounds of the city erupted all at once in Kyungwon’s head the moment they stepped outside. Every sound, from the smallest sneeze to a ‘thank you’ twenty feet away was deafening and overpowered Kyungwon’s senses. It was the morning buzz of the city continuing by them, not willing to stop for an overly sensitive girl. All at once it felt as if the world condensed all of its sounds into Kyungwon’s head and put them on full blast for all of her to hear. The one hand that was not holding Minkyung’s hand hit one of her ears in an attempt to cover the sounds, but it was no use. Kyungwon was drowning in the sound of the city and without the visual aid of her eyes, she had no idea where it was coming from or who was saying things. Bodies brushed by her, hitting her slightly as Minkyung led the way through the people. She tightened her grip onto Minkyung’s hand and let her push her body closer to Minkyung. She never would have admitted it, but fear started to grip her heart. She hated not knowing things or what was happening around her.

She was trying so hard to block out all the sound that she didn’t realize that they had stopped at the curb at the sidewalk, that it was Minkyung’s voice trying to whistle for a taxi. She didn’t even realize that they were stopped until she felt a light push into the taxi cab by Minkyung, which Kyungwon happily fell into the slightly stinky seats. She sunk into the seat as Minkyung closed the car door and told the taxi driver their destination, the sound from the outside dying down in Kyungwon’s head, leaving a throbbing pain.

“I have a headache.” Kyungwon voiced matter-of-factly, touching a finger to her temple to soothe the throbbing.

“You’re so sensitive,” Minkyung muttered, though Kyungwon couldn’t find any sarcasm or biting tone to her remark. “We’ll be home soon and you can take an aspirin.”

“Are you going to go back to work?” Kyungwon asked, looking at where the sound of her girlfriend’s voice came.

“Well, if you think you can manage by yourself, yes. Honestly, I don’t want to,” Kyungwon perked up at the comment, “but if I don’t work, who will?”

Kyungwon let the comment wash over her, silence blanketing the two. Kyungwon opened and closed , but opened it again to say, “Do you want me to get a job?”

Minkyung’s voice was full of certainty. “Goodness, no.”

“Do you think that I let you do everything in the relationship?”

“What do you mean? You always choose the restaurants. Honestly, Kyungwon, you have to expand your palate.”

“I don’t mean that,” Kyungwon huffed impatiently, slightly frustrated at Minkyung’s density. “I mean the important stuff. Paying the bills. Being employed. Being the adult in the relationship.”

“Oh,” Minkyung mumbled. “I guess I never really thought about it. You’re in school, after all, I don’t think that—”

“Don’t you think that you should be with someone who’s more of an adult than me? Someone serious and who also helps pay the electricity bill and helps out more. Someone who’s better. More fit for the world you live in.”

Minkyung laughed, pushing Kyungwon on the shoulder playfully. “Goodness, who are you talking to? Your mother? No, Kyungwon, I do not think about that kind of stuff. Just because I grew up quicker than you doesn’t mean you have to grow up fast as well. My salary is more than enough for two people. Hell, we could go on vacations every weekend and there would still be enough. You help out by being you, Kyungwon. You remind me what it means to be our age and not to be so focused in the business world. You’ve always been in the world I’ve lived in, and for me I don’t think there’s anyone more fit for me than you.”

Kyungwon felt her mind quieting as Minkyung spoke, relaxing into her seat, though not fully. She had a small nagging feeling that Minkyung wouldn’t hold that opinion forever.

Two days without opening her eyes were nice for Kyungwon, since one of her hobbies was sleeping. Minkyung decided that even though work was important, she would still find a way to make sure Kyungwon got fed proper meals and none of the instant meals Kyungwon resorted to like the stereotypical college student. Minkyung would come home and make lunch for the both of them, delighted to talk to Kyungwon about other things than what happened at work, though she did tell Kyungwon about the smaller things at work, such as coworkers having parties they were invited to or new interns who spilled coffees over themselves in fear of Minkyung. Kyunugwon happily listened to the stories and liked Minkyung’s visits during the day. It made everything less lonely. Though the silence made Kyungwon wish she had a pet. On the third day, Kyungwon kept banging her legs into things, and willing herself to keep her eyes closed at all times was difficult. Thankfully the next day would be the start of the weekend, so she would have Minkyung free all day.

“Are you excited to wake up tomorrow and know you’ll be able to open your eyes in the evening?” Minkyung asked, placing more Chinese takeout chicken on Kyungwon’s plate.

“Well,” Kyungwon replied, thoughtfully munching on a piece of fried chicken, “that means I have to go back to school the next day because I'll have my vision back.”

“No sleeping in classes now,” She could hear the smile in Minkyung’s voice.  

“No sleeping.” Kyungwon agreed, nodding vigorously. “I’m afraid to say it but I think I’m a little sick of sleeping right now. I just want to get back to a normal life and catch up on my work.”

“Who knew eye surgery could change a woman so much?”

Kyungwon smiled, wishing she could roll her eyes and let Minkyung see. They continued their conversation well into the night, and the girl who was so tired of sleep finally slept three hours later, surrounded by tresses of mahogany hair.

The fourth day Kyungwon woke up to hearing the shower on, and rolled around in bed. This was her final day of boredom, and she hoped it passed quickly. Before Minkyung left for grocery shopping, she requested that she turn on the bedroom radio to her favorite morning talk show. Minkyung obliged, but also remarked how dumb she thought the radio show was. It was called Don’t Tell Me!, and was a trivia show recorded in front of a live studio audience. The contestants didn’t play for money but for fun. Kyungwon secretly wanted to be a contestant and played along, blurting answers out loud regardless if they were correct.

Minkyung decided to start cooking once she came home with the groceries, which Kyungwon didn’t complain about. Minkyung loved to cook. That was one of their many differences between the couple.

After a blueberry pie, some sort of French potato casserole (“I learned the recipe when I went to school in France,” Minkyung told Kyungwon when she asked) and Kyungwon’s requested pizza had all been made and eaten through the day, Kyungwon told Minkyung she was ready to open her eyes. She heard Minkyung’s happy tone as she led her to the balcony, the orange evening sun radiating on Kyungwon, dancing happily on her skin. The breeze from the nearby harbor ruffled Kyungwon's pajamas.

“Oh, it’s so beautiful out, with the sun and the water...” Minkyung said, her voice hushed. Her anticipation was hardly contained. “I think you’d want to see it.”

Kyungwon opened her eyes.

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