The pair was led to their table at the casual Italian restaurant Kyuhyun had suggested they go to. 

 

Sungmin struggled a bit as he was afraid he would hit someone or bump into a table as he walked to their booth. He tried to stay close, directly behind Kyuhyun. He had reached out his hand, letting his fingertips lightly graze the back of Kyuhyun's shirt as a guide. 

 

Sungmin had tried to be inconspicuous, but as Kyuhyun stopped short at their table, his hand slammed into his back. 

 

“Oh, sorry...” Sungmin mumbled, his head hung low as he clutched his cane to his chest.

 

“It's alright.” Kyuhyun chuckled. Their waiter left and Kyuhyun placed his hand on Sungmin's arm.

 

“Our seat is here.” Kyuhyun said as he guided Sungmin to one of the booths to sit. 

 

Sungmin sat down and folded his cane, placing it on his lap. He rested his hands on top of it, his head still hung low. 

 

Kyuhyun noticed how uncomfortable Sungmin looked, fidgeting his his head down. He picked up the menu and without any warning began to read aloud the meals and their descriptions. 

 

“I think the pasta with red sauce sounds good. Which do you like?” Kyuhyun asked when he finished reading the meals. He looked to Sungmin for an answer and smiled when he noticed the elder sat calmer with a small smile gracing his lips.

 

“I think the pasta with cream sauce sounded good.” Sungmin said with a confident nod.

 

“Great. See, there is a difference between helping you and choosing what you should eat, right?” Kyuhyun stated as he gathered the menus and motioned for their waiter.

 

“Thank you...” Sungmin mumbled, a light blush claiming his cheeks.

 

“You don't have to thank me. But you're welcome.”

 

The waiter took their orders and brought them glasses of water. The two sat in a comfortable silence, before Kyuhyun thought of something.

 

“Can I ask you a question?” Kyuhyun asked out of no where. He scrunched his eyebrows when he saw Sungmin tense.

 

Sungmin froze, panic rising in his chest. Here it was; it didn't take long—the questions that would bring up topics he hated thinking about, the questions he didn't want to address any longer. He had thought Kyuhyun was different. Maybe he had been wrong. 

 

“I guess...” Sungmin muttered defeated. He would need Kyuhyun's help to get home, the least he could do was remain civil.

 

“What's your major?”

 

“Excuse me?” Sungmin nearly choked.

 

“W-What's your major?” Kyuhyun repeated, a bit unsure.

 

“That's what you wanted to ask me?” Sungmin asked in disbelief.

 

“Umm...yeah. And what year are you?”

 

“Oh, okay.” Sungmin chuckled slightly—that hadn't been what he was expecting. “I'm majoring in education and I'm a 3rd year.”

 

Kyuhyun hummed in response. “Education? Do you want to be a teacher?”

 

Sungmin shrugged. “I figured I could teach people how to read braille. There's nothing else I can really do.”

 

“Oh, well, that's not true, but do you like it?” 

 

“I'm getting used to it.” Sungmin answered, ignoring Kyuhyun's previous statement. 

 

Kyuhyun cocked his head. “Getting used to it? Why don't you do something you like?”

 

Sungmin shrugged turning his head away from the sound of Kyuhyun's voice.

 

Kyuhyun took that as a hint to change the subject. 

 

“I'm a freshman majoring in Music Performance, if you were wondering.” Kyuhyun said with a proud smile on his face. 

 

Sungmin tensed, again, and Kyuhyun noticed; his proud smile melted quickly.

 

“Am I saying the wrong things?” Kyuhyun asked, a bit frustrated.

 

Sungmin remained silent, but shook his head. 

 

Kyuhyun sighed and placed his head in his hands. 

 

“...I'm sorry...” Sungmin mumbled just as the waiter came to their table with their meals. Once the waiter left, Kyuhyun turned back to Sungmin.

 

“Why did you apologize?” Kyuhyun asked, not even touching his silverware, yet. 

 

Sungmin shrugged again, feeling for his fork. 

 

“You don't have to apologize. It's my fault for saying the wrong things. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything.” 

 

“It's not your fault.” Sungmin said sternly. “You just...you just don't know what makes me uncomfortable.” He mumbled the second half.

 

“Why don't you tell me? If you help me understand, I won't make mistakes.” Kyuhyun said; sincerity was evident in his voice. 

 

“M-maybe...” Sungmin responded, taking a bite of his pasta as an attempt to end the conversation.

 

Kyuhyun seemed to get the hint as he too began to dig into his pasta. 

 

The rest of the meal went by in relative silence. It wasn't quite uncomfortable, but Kyuhyun had been hoping they would get along. He tried to think of ways to make the night not a complete waste, but it seemed that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

 

Little did he know that Sungmin had hoped for the same thing. And he, too, was thinking of ways to amend the night. 

 

Sungmin had panicked and tensed any time Kyuhyun mentioned something he didn't want to talk about. Why couldn't he handle it like a normal person? He had never talked to anyone except his family and the annoying people with the never-ending questions about his blindness and how much his life has changed since the accident. Why couldn't he let other people in? Would they only judge him for quitting, for giving up on what he had planned to be his future? Would they pity him? He didn't want pity, he didn't want anyone to think differently of him. He was determined not to be defined by his handicap; however, by trying to do that so forcefully, he accidentally caused people to do just that. Would things change if he talked about it with someone? Would Kyuhyun treat him differently?

 

He thought it strange that he thought specifically of Kyuhyun as his mind ran a mile-a-minute; however, he wasn't surprised. Kyuhyun was the only person to ever talk to him whose third remark wasn't about his blindness. In fact, even now, Kyuhyun had never really brought up his handicap. But would things change if he brought up the topic? Would Kyuhyun pity him or treat him different?

 

Their meal ended and Kyuhyun forced Sungmin to put his wallet away so that he could pay, insisting that it wasn't because he was “babying” him. Sungmin had smiled, even though his mind was still rolling. 

 

Kyuhyun kept a very light hand on Sungmin's lower arm as he guided the elder out of the restaurant. He didn't want Sungmin to think he was helping too much. 

 

They walked in a relative silence. Again, it wasn't quite uncomfortable; each was simply taking in the other's company. But as they got into the elevator, Sungmin broke the silence.

 

“It's Friday. Do...Do you have anything to do tomorrow morning?” Sungmin asked, poking the ground with his cane. 

 

“No, I probably won't get out of bed until 1pm. Why?” Kyuhyun said with a chuckle. 

 

“D-Do you want to come to my room now?” Sungmin asked timidly.

 

“And do what, exactly?” Kyuhyun asked with a laugh at the unintended insinuation of Sungmin's words.

 

“No! Not that!” Sungmin said, laughing as he gained his confidence back. “Just to talk...”

 

Kyuhyun hummed. “I'd love to.”

 

Sungmin unlocked his door and led Kyuhyun in his apartment. He made his way to the kitchen, asking if Kyuhyun wanted anything to drink, completely forgetting to turn the lights on as he had never needed to—it was always only him, never any guests that actually needed the light. 

 

“I'll just take a glass of water. Um, Sungmin, where are the light switches?” Kyuhyun asked, standing near the doorway, afraid to walk into a dark, unfamiliar place. 

 

“Oh! Um..I'm actually not sure...On the wall to your right, maybe.” Sungmin said, as he poured the two of them glasses of water, using his finger as a guide to how much to fill them. 

 

“Found it!” Kyuhyun announced in triumph after he found the light switches. 

 

“Good. I never use them, so I'm shocked they still work well.” Sungmin said as he carried the glasses of water to Kyuhyun in the hallway, using his elbow against the wall as a guide. 

 

“Thank you.” Kyuhyun said as he took his glass. 

 

“Do you want to sit down?” Sungmin asked, motioning to the couch. 

 

The two took a seat as Sungmin grabbed the remote control he always placed on the corner of the table in front of them. 

 

“Just for background noise...” Sungmin mumbled as he turned the TV on and turned the volume down very low. He hated being in his apartment without the TV on, without any sound to occupy his mind. 

 

“What did you want to talk about?” Kyuhyun asked as he ran his thumb along his glass of water.

 

“Um...I...well...” Sungmin didn't know what to saw. Was he really ready to talk to someone about everything? And he barely knew Kyuhyun, why was he thinking of speaking with a stranger about things he hated even thinking about? But Kyuhyun had been different, even from the beginning...

 

“Sungmin?” 

 

“Um, yeah. You can...I want to talk about...” Sungmin struggled, again.

 

He finally huffed, placing his glass of water on the table, before throwing himself back into his seat. 

 

“Ask me anything.” Sungmin ordered as he motioned to his eyes. 

 

“Huh?” Kyuhyun mumbled, confused by the elder's actions.

 

“Ask me about anything...my past.” Sungmin suggested.

 

“Anything?” Sungmin nodded. “Then, um...Were you...Were you born blind?” Kyuhyun may have had no filter, but he still understood that some topics were uncomfortable.

 

Sungmin shook his head, trying to keep tabs on his breathing. 

 

“No? Then...um...” 

 

“There was an accident. A car accident.” Sungmin answered the unvoiced question.

 

“How long ago?”

 

“About four years ago, now.”

 

“What...What happened?” Kyuhyun was hesitant, but curious.

 

“Do you want the long or short version?” Sungmin asked. 

 

“I already told you I have nothing to do in the morning. Long version.”

 

Sungmin chuckled with a nod, before he began his tale after a deep breath to settle his nerves. 

 

“You shouldn't be so shy, Sungmin!” Hyukjae said with enthusiasm as he drove the pair of them to their junior prom.

 

“I can't just not be shy, Hyuk.” Sungmin whined, wringing his hands on his lap. He stared out the passenger window at the bright, but half moon high in the sky. For a moment, his mind wandered away from the current lecture, as he thought how beautiful a night it was. 

 

“That Siwon dude will be there! Without a date, too, I heard.” Hyukjae said as he peeked at his best friend beside him. 

 

Sungmin looked to his lap this time, a blush creeping up his cheeks along with a smile.

 

“I heard that, too.” Sungmin mumbled.

 

“I could introduce you, if you want.” Hyukjae suggested. 

 

“No, no! I wouldn't know what to say.” Sungmin panicked. 

 

“Oh, please. You'll be fine. You'd think after being friends with me for so long that you wouldn't be this shy!”

 

 

It was then everything happened in slow motion.

 

 

As they drove, a car driving in the opposite direction veered directly toward them; there was no way they could have avoided a collision.

 

Hyukjae twisted the steering wheel hard, trying to avoid a head-on collision, instead, taking the full force of the crash into his driver's side door. 

 

All of the windows smashed as their car rolled over itself and down the little grass hill they were beside. The car only stopped rolling when Sungmin's door smashed into a tree.

 

The ambulance didn't get to them until an hour later, as everyone involved were unconscious. 

 

~A week Later~

 

Sungmin awoke to blackness. His eyes were open, but he couldn't see anything. He must have just woken in his bed in the middle of the night. He closed his eyes again to rest; however, his eyes shot open as a steady, rhythmic beeping made him realize he wasn't in his bedroom. 

 

He reached up and touched his eyes frantically, panic beginning to rise in his belly.

 

Out of pure ignorance of what to do, he let out a loud scream—one after the next—until people he couldn't see pulled his arms from his eyes and tried to calm him down. 

 

“What's wrong?! What's wrong with me?!” Sungmin repeated like a prayer.

 

It wasn't until the next day that he learned a blow to the back of his head during the car crash had caused him to loose his sight—permanently. 

 

He vomited immediately.

 

A few days later, the nurses deemed Sungmin mentally stable enough to learn of the outcome of his best friend. 

 

A female nurse wheeled Sungmin in a wheelchair into the room that held a still unconscious Hyukjae. The nurse, then, left him to be by himself. 

 

“Hyuk?” Sungmin mumbled softly. He knew the odds of his friend waking up in that moment were slim to none. 

 

It was then Sungmin finally cried, cried for everything. He cried for the new life he was dealt, for the fact that his best friend, the dancing machine of their high school, was now paralyzed from the waste down.

 

The nurse ended up returning to find Sungmin asleep in his wheelchair, his cheeks wet.

 

Hyukjae awoke within the next few days. However, it took another few days before the doctors would allow Sungmin to visit him. 

 

“Hyuk?” Sungmin mumbled as a nurse guided him with strong hands to a chair placed beside Hyukjae's bed. 

 

“H-Hi...” Hyukjae answered, turning away from his best friend. He knew it would look rude, but it didn't matter anymore, Sungmin wouldn't know. 

 

“H-How are you feeling?” Sungmin asked. He may not have been able to see that Hyukjae couldn't look at him, but he could sense the cold distance in his voice. 

 

“I'm okay. I can't...I can't feel my legs anymore.” There was bitterness in his tone, and Sungmin squirmed in his seat. 

 

“They said that would happen.” It was all Sungmin could think of to say. 

 

They were best friends—why was it suddenly so hard to talk to each other. 

 

“How...How is the weather?” Hyukjae asked, anything to avoid asking how Sungmin was—he could walk. You didn't need to see to dance; or at least, Hyukjae would have been able to find a way around that. 

 

“It's n-nice. Breezy, but nice.” 

 

“Is it cloudy? I hate cloudy days...” Hyukjae said without thinking—it seemed to be getting easier to talk with Sungmin.

 

“Um...they tell me it's sunny today.” Sungmin mumbled.

 

“Oh......” Hyukjae froze—so much for “easier to talk.”

 

“It-It's okay.” Sungmin said, his head held low. 

 

There was a silence, a silence louder than either of them had ever experienced. It was a silence filled with the sound of dreams breaking, goals crumbling through grasping fingers, futures loosing their brightness, and lives loosing their meanings. 

 

“I'm sorry.” Hyukjae said quietly.

 

“...It's not your fault.” Sungmin said. He had tried to be reassuring, but he wasn't confident in his own voice anymore.

 

“No matter who tells me that, how many times they tell me, I was still driving.” Hyukjae said sternly. 

 

Sungmin had no response. Originally he had just blamed life, blamed his luck for this horrid outcome. But then he moved onto the other driver; he, too, obtained serious injuries, but none as life changing as his or Hyukjae's. But he seemed to get no gratification from that either. It was then his mind grasped at the idea of maybe Hyukjae could have done something different—maybe if he hadn't turned the wheel, they would still have their normal lives? That wasn't as gratifying either...not until now. 

 

Maybe it was Hyukjae's fault...

 

That was the last time they spoke to each other. Sungmin not only lost his sight, and Hyukjae not only lost his ability to walk, they lost each other.