Chapter 40

A week & a half later, Tiffany, with the help of Sunny, was discharged from the hospital & brought home, a new apartment for her & Sunny to live in that was a little ways away from the SKY campus. Tiffany smiled as she felt the handle of the door to her new home, a place where she didn’t have to fear or be sad, “Go on, open it.” Sunny coaxed. Tiffany opened the door & took her first step inside. She bent down & slowly took off her easy spirit getcity metallic flats & then dug her feet into the soft carpet. She held her hands out & felt around the open space, “Take three steps forward & then turn right.” Tiffany did as she said, “One. Two. Three.” She smiled, “Right.”

“Eh, oops sorry. Take five more steps & then turn right.” Sunny said apologetically. Tiffany turned around & stuck her tongue out at her, “How are you going to take care of me when you can’t even get my direction right?” Sunny ran up to her & grasped her hands, “I’m sorry, dear. I’m new to this, too. I keep on hoping that you will gain your sight again. This is a temporary job to me.” Tiffany patted her hand, “Thanks, Sunny.” She pulled her towards the right, “Here you go. Let’s keep on walking. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Now, turn to your left.” Tiffany felt her foot hit a solid door. She reached out to open the door in front of her & felt it open with a click, “This is now your room. Isn’t it beautiful? I will tell you how it is.” She led Tiffany over to the bed, “This is your four poster cherry-wooded bed with a canopy that matches your bedspread.”

She went on to describe what was in the room, the desk, the lighting, the armoire, the walk in closet & her own private bathroom, “Can you imagine how it looks like?” Tiffany grinned brightly, “I can see it vividly in my mind. It’s almost as if I’m seeing it with you.” She lightly sniffed the air, “It smells wonderful in here, just like roses.” Sunny nodded her head, “Yeah, I know that one of your most favorite things in this world are roses so I had some sheer rose embroidered pink curtains made for you. This room is as girly as they come. All hues of pink, your favorite color.” Tiffany felt the bedspread on the bed beside her & carefully sat down, “It feels like Chinese silk.” This brought tears to her eyes as she now knew what Sunny modeled the room after.

Sunny bit her reddish pink lips as she found out that Tiffany had noticed finally, “I’m sorry, Tiffany. If you really hate it, I can change it in a heartbeat.” Tiffany wiped away a tear, “No, I love it. Even though...Even though Jejung Oppa & I aren’t together anymore, this rose pouch of ours is still with me & will be with me until the day I die.” She patted the pouch securely tied to her waist, “My sight might be gone but my memories will never fade because they are locked tightly within my mind whenever I feel these rose petals near & I smell their sweet fragrance.” Sunny reached out & hugged her tightly. Tiffany patted her arms, “Thank you Sunny, for everything. I don’t know how I will ever repay you.”

“Just as long as you never give up on our friendship & on regaining your sight is payment enough for me. Besides, I have been meaning to move out for some time now anyway. My house is just so far away from campus that it takes about an hour each morning to get here so I prefer this so much better & plus, it’s time that I started gaining some of my own independence, rather than rely on my parents for everything.” Tiffany nodded, “That’s true but I know that you moved out mostly because of me.” She turned her head around the room, feeling the change in what she felt whichever direction she turned to, “I love this room.”

“Yay, I did well. Okay, now.” Sunny said, as she pulled Tiffany back up again, “Let’s go check out the rest of the apartment.” It was a four bedroom apartment & there was a bathroom in both, Tiffany & Sunny’s rooms while another one was shared by the other two smaller bedrooms. There was also a living room, a dining room & kitchen, plus a small laundry room. Overall, it was a heavenly place for Tiffany to live in, who had lived in much worse surroundings like the shack her stepfather owned. As she turned in for the night, climbing underneath the covers, she prayed silently as she did every night for her friends & most importantly, her Jaejoong Oppa, “I miss you, Oppa.” She whispered tearfully, as she cried herself to sleep once more.

A couple of miles away, a guy leaned down to give his date for the night a kiss when he heard the silent cry in his heart. He shook it away & bent down towards the girl who had her lips puckered up & eyes closed. A wave of nausea overcame him as another face appeared in its place, one that didn’t have heavy makeup. He felt the rose pouch next to his side & a memory resurfaced in his mind. It was one of when they were laughing as they played on the slides in roses park. When they had reached the bottom of the slide, Tiffany had tipped her head up & he had shared one of many passionate kisses. He knew then as he had every other night that there wasn’t another person he wanted to kiss, “When will you get out of my mind?” He asked, surprising the girl in front of him.

“Jejung Oppa, did I do anything to disappoint you?” She ran her perfectly long manicured nail along his black fitted short sleeve shirt & flicked open three buttons. Jejung grabbed her hand to stop it from progressing any lower, “Please don’t do that?” The girl pouted & Jejung wanted to laugh at how ugly her heavily red glossed lips were, “I have to go now. Talk to you later. Have a great night.” The girl continued to pout but managed a smile as she reached up to his face & give his cheek a kiss, leaving a big red lipstick mark on it, “Bye, sweet Oppa.” & she walked into her house. Jejung waited until she was safely in before he left & took a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe the stain away. He stopped abruptly when he saw the handkerchief. A flashback came back to him during christmas time when Tiffany had given this handkerchief to him with their initial sewn on the bottom while a pair of roses were stitched on. He sighed & put it away, taking out a tissue to wipe the mark instead. He looked up into the sky to see the brightly glowing stars, “I miss you, Miyoung.” He shook his head, wishing that he could forget her.

After spending another sleepless night, Jejung got up at eight & stretched himself. He leaned over to his side to get off his bed & his eyes fell on the side where Tiffany used to sleep when she was living with the Kim family. He smiled briefly as he remembered the times they spent in his bed, just holding each other comfortably. He missed her warm kisses on his cheek every time she got up. Blinking rapidly to will those thoughts away, he got out of bed, flinging the covers to cover Tiffany’s side. He went to go freshen up in the bathroom & then went downstairs for breakfast.

His mother & father were already at the dining table by the time he got down. He smiled & walked over to his mother to give her a kiss on the cheek, “Good morning, mom.” Mrs. Kim smiled affectionately back at her son, “Go sit down & eat a good hearty breakfast. Today’s a big day for you, remember?” Jejung chuckled as he grabbed a piece of toast & started lathering jam all over it. He bit into it & closed his eyes to savor the taste, “Delicious.” He looked to their cook who stood outside to see if she needed to make anything else, “This is wonderful, Micha.” He said. Micha smiled & bowed, “Thank you, young master Kim.” Jejung looked up to see his father with his bifocals on his face, frowning over some piece of paper he was reading.

“What’s wrong, dad? What’s on that sheet of paper that you are reading?” Mrs. Kim glanced up & got up to look behind her husband’s shoulder, “What’s wrong, Yeobo?” Mr. Kim looked up to stare into the worried eyes of his wife. He the paper at her. She took it & read it through. Once she had finished, she put a hand to . She directed her shocked expression to her son, “Jejung, what is the meaning of this?” Jejung stopped his fork in mid-air, “What?” Mrs. Kim practically stabbed the paper through with her nail, “This is a letter from the hospital, telling us to confirm our payment for a certain somebody’s stay at the hospital.” Jejung shrugged, “Wasn’t me.”

Mrs. Kim walked over to her son & jabbed him in the chest, “Of course, it wasn’t you since you have been here all along.” She grabbed his head & forced him to look down at the letter, “Ouch, mom, that hurts!” He cried out, looking at his dad for help but found none, only disappointment & sadness in his eyes. Jejung glanced down at the letter & his heart stopped when he saw whose name was on there. He looked up at his mom who appeared to be fuming, “What is this meaning of this?! Why didn’t you tell us that Tiffany was feeling sick & was in the hospital?! Is she okay?! Is that why she hasn’t been around lately?!” Jejung looked away & shook his head, “I don’t know how she is. We broke up a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t have the heart to tell you guys because I know how much you dote on her.” Mr & Mrs. Kim both gasped.

“Tell me that what you said is a joke.” Mrs. Kim said, grasping the back of the chair next to her for support, “Jejung, now, why would you ever want to break up with her after all that you have been through together?” Mr. Kim asked. Jejung gave him a small smile, “We just discovered that we don’t match at all. We are from two different worlds with really different perceptions of living.” Mrs. Kim shook her head, “Still, even if you two broke up, I would think that your friendship still wouldn’t break.” Mr. Kim nodded his head along while Jejung shook his head again, “We are just too different. I don’t know what’s happened to her since we broke up & frankly, I don’t really care.” Jejung got up from his chair, not finishing his breakfast, shocking both his parents with his words, “I will see you guys at the graduation. I’m off to run some errands before the graduation ceremony. Bye.” With that, he was out of the house in a few seconds, leaving his parents gaping after him.

No sooner had he left, Mr & Mrs. Kim made up their minds & called the hospital, “Hey auntie, uncle, were back.” The main double door opened & in walked Keunsuk & Sooyoung, looking bright & cheery. Mrs. Kim looked up at them & put a finger to her lips to shush them. Keunsuk looked at Mrs. Kim in surprises. The hurt look on her face was unmistakable just like the one seen on Mr. Kim’s face. Mr. Kim nodded his head sadly as he spoke with Tiffany’s doctor over the phone, “I understand. Thank you so much.” He practically dropped the phone as he went to hang it up. Mrs. Kim didn’t waste another minute as she started shaking her husband, “Yeobo, what is it? Why do you look as pale as a ghost?” She waved her hand up & down in front of his eyes, “Can you see or hear what I’m saying, Yeobo?”

Keunsuk & Sooyoung gasped as they saw a rare tear slip from Mr. Kim’s eye. Keunsuk took the letter in Mr. Kim’s hands & proceeded to read it with Sooyoung beside him. Sooyoung put her hand to just like Mrs. Kim did earlier, “Oh my gosh, Tiffany.” Mr. Kim nodded sadly, “Yeobo, what’s wrong with her? Why are you looking at me like that? Tell me.” Mr. Kim sighed ever so cautiously, “Tiffany, she’s…she was brought into the hospital a couple of weeks ago due to a severe beating from who knows.” All three of them gave anguished cries for Tiffany. Tears fell from the two women’s eyes, “Is she okay now though?” Mrs. Kim asked. Her husband shook his head again, “Miyoung, she’s...she’s unable to see now. The last beating included a beer bottle hitting her hard against the head, pushing the previous extreme blood clot in her head out towards the nerves again.” He sighed again, unable to look up at the people around him for what was coming next, “She’s...She’s blind.” Loud tortured gasps could be heard.