Playlist                                                                                                                                                      "If you judge people, you have no time to love them." 

She could feel them; their eyes all around her, glued to her and emanating distaste and the like. This continuous feeling, however, slowly became something she was, in an odd sense used too. Though in the least bit content with it, she learned to ignore it. And accept it.  But even still, all she wished for was someone to come, and to just, take her away.

When she first arrived to the school, it was obvious to even a passing bystander that her time there would not entirely be "well spent". 

The reaction of other students to her was a conglomeration of negativity; some hated her, some feared her, some envied her, and some viewed her with some pointless deep seated animosity. 

There was even a small populous who believed she was something preternatural, her outstanding beauty being a factor to their strange thesis. 

She had dark eyes, dark hair, and yet the fairest of skin. It was a contradiction really, or at least thats how the other students saw it. After all, she was the first Oriental at St. Viqtorique's Academy. And frankly one of very few in the whole country of Saubre. But it was not just because of her contrasting feature's that she was treated with such negativity. No, though it was a time of ignorance, at least one person would have liked her, if only for her one thing. She was mute. Yes, she was mute, in a time before it was completely understood, she was mute.

To those surrounding her, the expressionless countenance she dawned day by day seemed more, and more painted as the days went by. 

The way she silently floated down the hallways with such unprecedented grace, sent shivers down their spines. 
None had quite the wherewithal to approach her, let alone to attempt to draw even the tiniest of syllables from her seemingly undisturbed lips.

None, till now.

Behind closed curtains, with its genesis masked by darkness, a story slowly began. The cog wheels turned, and the clock began to tick. The poor players time to strut and fret their hour upon the stage has come to an end, and it is now time for the curtains to rise. It was now the Knights turn to take stage.

And with one simple sentence, one inconceivable notion, with one quiver of the lips; it all started.

   "Lovely weather we have here today," he said under his breath.
Little did he know, that on the other side of the pillar he stood against, rested the silent girl who had been the talk of the school. 

Believing the voice was directed to her, she peaked her head from behind the pillar, to spot its source of origin. It took only a split moment for their eyes to meet, but for what seemed an eternity, their gazes were locked. He grew entranced by her beauty, and she by his knightly charisma.

For a moment, it seemed her lips formed words. But no such sound surfaced.
At a loss for words himself, he hopelessly repeated what he said earlier, "Lovely weather we have here today."
Her eyes followed his lips as they moved. After a moment, she focused back on the hazel set that traced her every feature. She gave a small smile, and nodded her head in compliance.
It only took a second for him to realize what no one else had;

This girl, this oriental girl, was not some type of demon or conspirator. She was not some perfect and flawless being. She was human like any other. She had an eye smile that despite her silence, made her appear drunk on laughter. Her eyes showed impeccable kindness, but glowed with loneliness. She, like all of mankind had her own mark, or rather marks of imperfection, and they were perfectly her. This was Choi Jin Ri and she was human, and all it took was one simple line to prove. 

For a while the two sat in silence. However, at one point something possessed him to speak again. With every syllable pronounced she would watch his lips with great intensity.
   "Min ho Choi, my Father was from the orient, but my Mother was a loyal citizen of our Great Saubre."
After blundering over his words he couldn't help but think of how much of an idiot he was.
But Jin ri just smiled, then kindly nodded her head as if to tell him, "not in the slightest."
She could feel it again. The intense and strange glares. He could feel it too, and he immediately hated it.
His eyes met her gaze, and he knew that she wanted to be saved, that she needed a knight.
Min Ho placed his hand before her, and after she hesitantly accepted the contact, he whisked her away. 

---

After fleeing for quite a bit, they stopped. They arrived to a place she had never seen, a spacious botanical garden, on the edge of a large pond. She found it completely, and utterly, beautiful.
He saw her wide eyes and couldn’t help but chuckle, “I found this place during my first year. Whenever I was displeased with something, or I just needed a moment away from it all, I came here. It was, it is my own personal haven in a way."
Her eyes dropped, and an unconscious pout was formed.
"You can come here any time you want though," he blurted.
His voice faded as he continued "It can be your haven too."
"I feel like such a fool in front of her," he thought.
Immediately, her eyes lit up, and she smiled once again.
"But maybe I'm not doing as bad I think."

---
Mark of Imperfection
---

In Min ho's eyes, their meeting had been fate, though to his closest of friends it was not of the pleasant kind. Even still, he was not phased. 
He had hoped for so much to come from this, when he just thought of her, he could barely contain himself. As they sat in the academy's picnic area, his friend Aiden could not help but compare him to a lowly school girl, acting solely on some strange idolatry. 
Though it had already been a week after their meeting, she hadn't even gone to the lengths to thank him for his patronage, Aiden added.
All of their companions laughed, and as they turned to see Min ho's reaction, it was only then that they noticed his absence.
He did hear what they said, however, and when he happened to gaze up, and see Jin ri's passing figure, he had but only the wit to follow.
Soon enough, he had found himself surrounded by the musk roses that lined the path to the Botanical garden. He wondered how they would look, placed in her hair. It had to be somthing of beauty.
For a moment he stopped and wondered, had she decided to take him up on his offer and adopt the little haven? Or, was she possibly there to see him? Both ideas went to steer his heart into a high-speed race inside of his chest. 
Determined to find the answer, he continued his way down the path leading to her. He spotted her small physique placing a letter with about six others at the foot of an apple tree. He wondered what she was doing as he took a loud step towards the younger. The fragile figure was startled and dropped the papers all about. 

"Sorry," was all he could mutter as he watched the flustered figure race to tidy up. Once that was done, her lips curled into a slightly awkward (and hesitant smile), her countenance changed as if she had just given herself a motivational speech, and she quickly; and contentedly, approached the older.
Once she reached him, however, her confidence faltered and she just shyly passed him the letters.
As he looked over them, he noticed one dated for each day since their meeting. They were mostly consisting of questions for her new found knight.

"From where in the Orient did your father come? Is it really okay if I come here? Why did you help me?"

After reading over the letters, he contemplated his own questions for her;
When and why, did she leave the orient. Was she okay with coming here?

But most of all, he wanted to know why she never spoke. But, he knew right away (as many others did). It was not much of a subject for discussion (after all she'd need to speak for a proper one), and she would tell him only if she wished.

But, after abandoning all those thoughts, he answered her various questions.

"If she wasn't mute," he thought, "It'd seem she'd be quite the chatter box."
The two, soon took seat on two large stones as Min Ho continued to answer away.
Time passed with great haste, yet the (in sense) one-sided conversation seemed to have lasted forever.
Once the bell to signal classes to reconvene sounded, their expressions dropped. They wanted to stay, but alas they could not. Before they split their ways, however, Min Ho presented the idea that they should meet again the next day, around the same time. The younger grinned and bowed slightly a countless amount of times. It was obvious that she was probably hoping for that outcome anyway.

Days passed, then weeks, and then months, then years, and it seemed that they were spending more, and more time together. For ease of communication, she even began to bring a pencil and notebook with her at all times.
He told her stories of the adventure's he has gone on with his companions, while she wrote of the wonders of the orient. And as coincidental as it may be, it was revealed that Min ho's father had come from the same country as Jin Ri. From time to time he would even speak in her mother tongue, but all it got were a few silent laughs from the receiving end.
Though people of the outside world, his friends, and their peers, had distrust in their unprecedented friendship, neither cared one bit. 
After all, the two were all ready becoming something else.

"You don't love someone because they're perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they're not." 

--A/N--

Mian this chapters really short! (And poorly written) But I put my all into ch.2 so please wait (Ill update tomorrow)