The soothing hum of the engine…A breeze in the air crashes gently on Jongdae’s face…

Wufan is driving his brother, Jongdae, to the Han River Park as a way to celebrate with him.  He glances at Jongdae now and then, checking between the road in front of him and his brother; he can see that Jongdae is looking content and relaxed.  There is music blasting in his car, but he lowers it down so he can start a conversation with Jongdae. 

“Chenchen-ah, how was your exam today?  Did you do well?”

“Mm,” Jongdae gives a little grunt in reply.  “Yeah, I did.   The exam didn’t seem too bad, I thought it was pretty manageable…” Jongdae trails off.  He smiles to himself, and it does not evade Wufan’s eagle eyes.

“Jongdae, you’re smiling.  What’s up?”  Wufan has this curious tone in his voice as he his eyebrow and a smile creeps on his face.

Jongdae giggles, “There was a situation towards the end of my exam testing time, but it was all taken care of.  The situation in the classroom was that my professor had to leave early for a lunch meeting so he had his teacher assistant come supervise.  Zitao had came in when I was taking the test and I thought either it was Junghwan, the teacher assistant, or Zitao. Zitao was actually escorting me most of the day today.  And so when I heard several noises of door shutting and some kind of tapping noises, I didn’t think it was Zitao; I thought it was someone else, a student who was trying to cheat me off the test.

“It turned out to be Zitao after all, because Junghwan came in later and declared himself.  Apparently, he didn't know who Zitao was, until another acquaintance of ours came by, Sunwoo from last year.  With the confusion cleared up, I was able to finish my test.  Afterwards, Junghwan said that we didn’t need to worry about it, that it was just a misunderstanding.  Apparently, Sunwoo and Junghwan were part of a bigger group.  Zitao and I got to meet their hyungs, Shin Dongwoo and Jung Jinyoung.  They seemed nice,” Jongdae rambles on.  “We also met more new friends, through Joonmyeon-hyung.  I believe their names were Park Kyungsoo and Baekhyun – they’re twins, by the way – Lee Chanyeol, Jung Daehyun and Youngjae – also twins – Im Jaebum or JB, Bang Yongguk, and Song Jieun.”  Jongdae’s smile broadens.  “It’s quite a big social network we have, hahaha.”  Wufan chuckles with Jongdae as he makes a turn on the road that takes them to the Han River Park.

There also happens to be another motive behind Wufan surprising Jongdae and taking him out to the park and not home: Minseok has ordered Wufan to distract Jongdae for as long as he possibly can.  Minseok has forgotten one crucial ingredient to make sweet baozi for desserts: red bean paste; his actions have caused a delay of about an hour. 

A while ago…

Minseok had put the finishing touches on the dinner feast before he focused on the dessert part.  He left the dough to rise while he finished up cooking his meal, and that was when he realized, according to the checklist that he had of the ingredients to purchase from this morning, he did not buy the filling for the buns.  When the dough had risen and Minseok realized he forgot the red bean paste, he made sure the bowl with the dough inside was still covered to keep it from drying in the time that he was gone, so he could get the red bean paste from the nearby grocery store. 

Just as Minseok was leaving the apartment, he bumped into Wufan who came back from school.  Still running, he ordered Wufan to take Jongdae out and not to return until he got the call from the man himself.  Wufan cocked his eyebrow at the sight of his brother’s retreating back, wondering why his older brother was being in a rush.  He went inside the apartment and noticed several checklists on the table.  Most of the lists had been checked off, as they were recipes for the meal later in the evening; however, only one checklist had one box not yet checked off: red bean paste.  Wufan understood now why his brother was in a hurry and, glancing at the clock to read 1:55PM, he remembered that Jongdae would get out of class in five minutes.  He hurried down the stairs to get on his convertible BMW and headed to Jongdae’s college for a surprise visit.

Back to the present….

A cool breeze blows on Jongdae’s face, and a whiff of fresh water fills Jongdae’s nostrils.

Children are laughing and there are sounds of splashing…the car’s engine is turned off.

Jongdae feels Wufan’s hand resting on his hand, patting him.  “Chenchen-ah, we’re here!  Come on, let’s go.”  He hears Wufan gets out of the car as the door opens and closes, with the car shaking a bit from the loss of Wufan’s weight.  A few seconds pass before the door opens on Jongdae’s side, and he feels a hand cupping his elbow to lead him outside of the car.

The moment the brothers are outside of the car, Wufan locks his car with his remote before linking his arm with Jongdae and leading him to a bench near the river.  As they walk to the bench, Wufan asks Jongdae to continue his story.  Jongdae explains that he does not really know much about the new friends, but he does know for a fact that Daehyun and Kyungsoo are deaf. “But,” Jongdae adds, as they are walking, “Kyungsoo can talk really well, he wears hearing aids so he is capable to communicate with us, too.  They have this dual-sign language system where they alternate between American and Korean Sign Languages.”

Wufan raises his eyebrows in surprise as his ears perk up on the information.  “Oh?  Have you talked with them yet?”

Jongdae shakes his head.  “I’m not exactly familiar with the sign language, but Kyungsoo promises to teach me and Zitao anyway, while Zitao will teach the three of us Morse Code.  That’s the one that Zitao was using when I was taking the test and he came in to try to let me know that it was him, with the tapping noises.  We can use the Morse Code for emergency reasons or for fun.  It’s gonna be quite interesting to learn them.”

Wufan nods as he hums in acknowledgement.  Having arrived at the bench, he helps Jongdae sit down and sits down himself, sliding an arm around Jongdae’s shoulders.

Wufan takes a deep breath.  “Looks like you’ll be having quite a big group of friends for college and from here on out.  My baby brother’s growing up, and it’s time you’ve made connections with people out there to have a successful future.  You may become a mathematician, a math teacher, or maybe even major in another field and use your mathematical knowledge to solve mysteries and whatnot, but don’t become a hermit.”  Wufan jokes.

“Hahaha, I won’t, gege,” Jongdae smiles.  The two brothers leave their conversation in comfortable silence as they sit on the bench and appreciate everything in their surroundings that their senses can allow them to embrace.

People are passing by the brothers, often mistaking them to be a couple, with Wufan casually sitting with his arm around Jongdae’s shoulders, which makes Wufan laugh.  There are some familiar acquaintances like the one lady from the convenience grocery store who knows Wufan and his siblings due to their regular visits.  She nods her head at them and walks up to them.  “Aigoo, Wufan-ah and Jongdae-yah, it’s Auntie Hwakyung,” the lady says, as she identifies herself for Jongdae’s sake.  She joins them on the bench, sitting down next to Jongdae.  “What brings you here?  Such a nice day to be here, isn’t it?”

“Mhm, it sure is, auntie,” Wufan agrees as Jongdae nods. “Jongdae here had his math exam today and he thought he did pretty well, so I thought why not take him out and have a relaxation trip out here?”  Wufan smiles as Jongdae sighs happily, tilting his head almost as to rest it on Wufan’s shoulder.

“Omona, Jonggie-yah, come by our store sometime, and auntie will give you a special treat, okay?”  Hwakyung pats Jongdae’s thigh gently before she gets up to leave.  “You boys take care now, have a wonderful time.”

Later on, a family of four walks by, with two young talkative, noisy children following behind their parents.  The children suddenly stop in front of Jongdae and Wufan, watching the Lee brothers with curious eyes, wondering why the younger guy’s eyes look cloudy.  As the parents continue to walk on, they do not realize until a few seconds later that their children have fallen silent, and when they turn around, they see them standing in front of the Lee brothers.  The parents turn around and walk back to their children.  Pointing at Jongdae, the little girl begins to question her parents when she is gently shushed to respect the said blind guy’s appearance. Wufan mutters to Jongdae what is happening in front of them, describing two children and their actions when they saw Jongdae.  Wufan waves with his free hand at the children and the children slightly cower at his lanky being, hurrying over to stand between their parents.

Wufan is not surprised that to the children he looks like a giant with his eyebrows making him look scarier.  He immediately smiles to show his kind nature.  The children smile shyly and glance between their parents and him.  The little girl starts holding her casual dress by the lengths and starts twirling side-to-side, peeking up at Wufan.  Wufan cannot help but smile even more at the girl’s cuteness.

“Hey there, little girl.  How are you this fine afternoon?  What’s your name?”  Wufan glances at the girl’s parents, who nod at him to show that it is okay to talk to her.  The girl continues to twirl side-to-side, looking down.   She begins to pat down her skirt before saying, “My name’s Dayoung.  I’m fine, thank you, a-ahjusshi.”

Wufan raises his eyebrows in a pleasant surprise at being called ahjusshi.  He has momentarily forgotten that there is quite a huge between him and the girl.  He chuckles to himself, “Aigoo, you’re so cute.  You can call me ‘oppa’ if you like.”  Dayoung slowly shakes her head with a small pout.

Meanwhile, Jongdae continues to keep his head facing straight ahead, unaware of what is happening in front of him.  Yet he hears shuffling of shoes, the noisy children falling silent, and, when he feels Wufan shifting in his seat, he hears Wufan talking with a little girl.  He moves his head to face downward before putting on a smile.

“This here is my baby brother, Jongdae,” Wufan earns a light slap on the chest from Jongdae and he chuckles.  The girl peeks up at Jongdae before she stares up at him, almost entranced by the misty appearance of Jongdae’s blind eyes.

“MY NAME IS YOOGEUN, AHJUSSHIS!” The little boy runs towards his sister and the Lee brothers, startling the three of them with his loud, energetic voice.  The parents snicker at their son’s greeting.  The poor girl nearly jumps out of her skin when she hears her brother and whips around to glare at him.

“Heh, nice to meet you, Yoogeun.  My name is Wufan, and this is Jongdae, my brother.”  Wufan pats Yoogeun’s head, his eyes crinkling in amusement.  “You’re quite the energetic one.”

“AHJUSSHI, WHY DOES JONGDAE AHJUSSHI HAVE EYES LI-hmrergmmff!” Dayoung claps her hand to cover her brother’s mouth, as Yoogeun is about to ask why Jongdae’s eyes look so odd compared to Wufan’s eyes.  The parents’ faces drop in shocked horror at what their son is about to ask, and Dayoung mutters to her brother to be quiet and to be sensitive about other people’s feelings.  The parents rush over to apologize.

Jongdae and Wufan, upon hearing Yoogeun’s outburst, are not too fazed by the question.  They take it easily in stride, and when the parents come over to apologize, they shrug it off, telling them that it is okay for children to be curious about such things and show their determination to find out the answers.  The mother smiles sadly at Jongdae, and Wufan assures the parents that it is okay.

“Yoogeun-ah, you want to know why Jongdae ahjusshi’s eyes are like that?  Why don’t I let my brother tell you?”  Wufan gives Jongdae a slight shake with his arm still around Jongdae’s shoulders.  Jongdae turns his head to where he thinks he heard Yoogeun shouting.  He simply replies, “I am blind, Yoogeun-ah.  I cannot see what you see.”

“What do you mean, mister?  You have eyes, they help you see!” Yoogeun points to his own eyes and does a “peek-a-boo” gesture.  Jongdae chuckles, “Not always.  Imagine if you have a black paper in front of your eyes, so that you see nothing but black, and wherever you walk, the paper stays with you, blocking everything you see.  Or imagine if you’re in a dark room, with no light and you try to walk around, even with your eyes open.  That’s what it is like being blind.”

“Gosh, Jongdae ahjusshi.  That must really be awful for you.”  Dayoung exclaims in a hushed whisper.  Jongdae chuckles again.  “Not always,” he repeats.  “Even when my sight is gone, my other senses are much more sensitive than of a normal human being.  I have keen senses of smell, taste, and touch.  My sensitivity to hearing is quite extreme. My ears are very attuned with my surroundings.  One of life’s perks when you have a disability.”

“Whoaa…that is so cool.” Both Dayoung and Yoogeun watch Jongdae in awe, with Dayoung’s jaw dropped and looking at Jongdae in astonishment, and Yoogeun watching with eyes wide open.  Wufan snickers at how adorable the children are.  The parents look over their children with contentment at their respectable behaviors towards Jongdae.  Using this appropriate time to leave, the parents pat their children’s heads and coo at them that it is time for them to go home.  “Don’t forget your manners,” the father says lightheartedly, and the children do not forget to bow and wish the brothers a good afternoon.  Jongdae and Wufan wish the children to grow up healthy and well, and wish their parents happy times ahead for the family.

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