A few months passed by and things really were different. L.Joe was no longer L.Joe but Byunghun. He was just Naeul’s boyfriend. He was an employee at her father’s electronics company. And he was happy.

Naeul was a full-time student at KAIST. She had moved in with Byunhun after persuading her father because frankly not being with him drove her crazy. She needed him to hold her, kiss her, lie with her as she fell asleep. He was all she could think about, all she could see in her dark world.

“I’m home. Naeul, where are you?”

“Kitchen!”

“What are you doing here?”

“Cooking for you, of course.”

“Homework?”

“Finished just before you came home.”

Byunghun hugged her from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder as she breaded the chicken. He was glad to have her live with him. It was less lonely and there was something to look forward to at the end of a hard day.

“What did you do today?”

“I thought of you.”

“You should be working, not thinking of me.”

“What about you?”

“…I thought of you.”

Byunghun scoffed and kissed her cheek before heading to their bedroom to change. As he put on a more comfortable shirt, he stared at the picture on her vanity table. It was of her and the two men in her life. He had always wondered why she kept pictures when her disability prevented her from seeing them.

He went back to the kitchen and found her standing in front of the counter with a glass of white wine in her hands. She smiled and handed him one when he approached her.

“What took you so long?”

“I was just thinking.”

“About what?”

“Naeul, haven’t you ever thought about getting your sight back?”

“Not really. I don’t mind.”

“Don’t you want to see me? Our children? Our grandchildren?”

“Children? You want to have kids?”

“Not now but yes.”

She hadn’t thought that far ahead. She knew that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him but she had never even thought about having children. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to but the thought never crossed her mind. And now that he mentioned it, she truly began to wonder about her sight.

She wanted to see her children. She didn’t know if they would be embarrassed to have a blind mother. But if they did, she wanted to fix it before they were born. She wanted to be able to read to them. To see the pictures they drew. To watch them grow up. To watch them smile and cry. To watch them create their own little family. And of course, she wanted to see Byunghun. A part of her had always wondered what he looked like. She tried to visualize him by touch but it was difficult.

“The doctors told my dad that I was too young for them to tell if I could get my vision back.”

I wonder if they can fix it now. Or is it too late? What if they can’t do anything because my eyes are too damaged?

<< >>

“Miss Jung, just lie on your back and stay still. It’ll take a few minutes to complete the scan so bear with us.”

Naeul did as told. She was nervous to be alone at the hospital but she needed to know if she could ever see again. She was prepared to hear the worst or the best. Thoughts of seeing Byunghun and her future family caused little butterflies to flutter around in her stomach. Within those few minutes, she just thought about the possibilities.

When she was called into the private office, she became jittery. Now, everything seemed impossible. She thought about hearing that the doctors couldn’t do anything for her. She didn’t want to hear it but she knew she had to if that was the case.

“Miss Jung, we looked over the scans a few times just to be sure and I believe that we can operate. But the problem is that it may not be successful. The cornea is damaged and operating on it might not cause you to regain your vision. We’re willing to do whatever we can but I have to tell you not to get your hopes up.”