They became attached to one another somehow, someway. L.Joe made sure Naeul didn’t get involved in any trouble and Naeul kept L.Joe good company. It became a regular thing, almost a habit. But L.Joe knew to keep his distance. He was the kind that would drag anyone close to him into his mess of a life. He was a thug or gangster but just a troublesome person who didn’t know how to back down when he needed to. His personality and behavior got him into fights and trouble with the authorities. And he didn’t want Naeul anywhere near that.

So they always hung out on Naeul’s way home from school. She stopped by the garage and just hung around, listening to funny jokes and stories the boys told, listening to them work hard on a couple of cars, or just resting with L.Joe in the break room.

“How come I’m the one always talking?”

“I’m a better listener than a talker.”

“But isn’t it boring just listening to me talk about my life?”

“No.”

“It’s like I’ve told you my entire life story and you haven’t said a word.”

“You haven’t told me everything and I do talk.”

“Whatever. And you only ask a few questions here and there.”

I wish I could tell you about myself. But I can’t. It’ll hurt to just think about what my life has been like and to think about leaving me if you hated hearing about it.

“How did you become blind?”

“Another question? Don’t you want to talk about yourself?”

“No. Now, answer my question.”

“Let’s see, where do I start? Well, for one, I wasn’t born blind. I had 20/20 vision when I was little. I think it was when I was in fourth grade or maybe it was fifth grade. I still have trouble remembering. Anyways, around that age, my family was involved in a car accident. We were on our way home from the mall or was it the zoo? Whatever. Well, someone crashed into our car from the side and caused me to lose my vision. My father still has trouble with his arms. And my mom…my mom passed away. I wish I could say that she didn’t have to suffer but I can’t. The accident took a huge toll on my family. I think I can’t remember the details because I don’t want to remember anything. I think that’s what the doctors told me or maybe they said I had some kind of amnesia.”

Naeul grew quiet and L.Joe regretted asking about the topic. He hadn’t realized that she had gone through so much in one day. But he what he couldn’t understand was why she was always so happy when she had a reason to hate the world. He couldn’t comprehend the idea of her forgetting that the world caused her to lose her vision and her mother. He didn’t know if she had forgiven the world or hadn’t even thought about being so angry.

“Well, that’s my story on how I became blind.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Why? It’s not your fault. Things like this happen.”

“Why are you always smiling when you’ve been hurt so much?”

“There’s no reason why I shouldn’t smile. Being sad and letting the accident control my life isn’t going to do me any good. Sure, I was sad when I was little because I lost my mom and my vision but I learned to move on and learn that life will never be perfect. Bad things will happen but so will good things. I just like to look on the positive side of things or else I’ll be stuck in one place forever.”

L.Joe stared at Naeul in admiration and with hope. He hadn’t thought about moving on like her because he was so busy being angry and resentful. He wished he could live like her but he knew it would be hard with his habit of rejecting almost everything.

Maybe this is why I’m always with her. She shows me there’s more to life than what’ve I’ve seen. She helps me cope. She helps me feel like not everything is worth hating. She’s not worth hating. She’s just loveable. Really, really loveable.

As he stared at her blithe expression, he had the urge to tell her about everything. His family. His friends. His life. His hatred. His newfound passion. His newfound fascination. His newfound love.

Yes, maybe he was in love with her. Maybe he was falling for her every second he spent with her. And he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t stop himself from admiring her and thinking about her. He just wanted to cherish her and protect her from the pain that he saw and felt.

I’ll tell later on, when the time is right. I’ll tell her everything.

<< >>

“You are cordially invited to Jung Naeul’s graduation celebration. What is this?”

“You just read it out loud.”

“You’re inviting us to your graduation party?”

“Yup. It’s kind of formal but not really.”

“You really want us there?”

“You guys will make it tolerable. It’s going to be so boring.”

“It’s a party. How is it going to be boring?”

“My dad’s inviting ‘important’ people and they’re just snobby a bore.”

L.Joe couldn’t contain his laughter as she exaggerated how bored she would be. He wanted to go just for her but he didn’t want to at the same time. He was afraid of making a fool of himself with his friends. If important people were going to be there, he didn’t want to mess anything up.

“Please! L.Joe, I need you to come. I’m going to die if you guys don’t show up.” How can I say no to that?

“Fine. We’ll be there.”  I just hope we don’t ruin anything for you.

Naeul was elated and she couldn’t hold herself back from tackling him with a hug. He almost fell back onto the table he was sitting on but he steadied them. His heart was pounding and he didn’t know whether to hug her back or not. But slowly, his arms came up and they wrapped themselves around her waist.

<< >>

All eyes were on them as they walked through the front yard. People whispered rude questions and comments about them but stopped when Naeul approached them. She grabbed ahold of L.Joe’s hand, clumsily if you asked, and led her friends toward her personal table. They stood around the small thing and looked around at everyone else who was just standing at their own tables, looking at the six them with curiosity. Naeul asked a server to bring them over some refreshments. She wanted them to have a good time because they were her only hope from saving her from boredom.

L.Joe looked around and coincidentally locked eyes with a group of boys he hadn’t expected to see. They walked over with a look in their eyes that caused L.Joe to worry.

“Hey, beautiful.” L.Joe clenched his fists as one of the boys wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek. To his pleasure, she twisted away in disgust and discomfort.

“Long time, no see, Lee Byunghun.” Crap. He remembers me.

“We haven’t seen you since you quit school.”

“I heard you joined a gang.”

“He wishes. Look at him, sees too scrawny.”

“How did you even get invited to Naeul’s table?”

“How did you even get into this party?”

“He probably fooled Naeul about who he is.”

“What’s going on?” This isn’t how I wanted to tell you.

“So, tell me, Byunghun, how exactly are you doing?”

“ off.”

“Naeul, are you goin-” Damn it.

“You know L.Joe?”

“L.Joe? Is that your gangster name?”

“I’m not sure what’s going on but you need to leave.”

“You heard her. Get out.”

“I’m talking about you and your friends.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“L.Joe and his friends are more than welcome to stay but I will not have rude and snarky guests at my party. Leave. But before you do, apologize to L.Joe.”

“No way, we would rather just leave. Let’s go.”

How rude of them to insult L.Joe like that. I hope they get what they deserve. Rude punks.

L.Joe excused himself and asked if he could use the restroom. Naeul heard his footsteps tapering away and felt horrible. She hadn’t meant to invite such obnoxious people and hurt L.Joe. She didn’t even know about their connections. But somehow she felt like it was her fault and that she needed to make things right. Naeul called over some of her close girlfriends and asked them to keep the rest of the boys company while she went to go take care of something.