“Kim Sori” Mrs. Kim yelled anxiously. There was no reply.

“Ya, Kim Sori!” she repeated.

Sori looked at her, water filling her eyes. “speak louder! Why are you talking so low!” she yelled. Although she knew, it wasn’t that her mom that was speaking quietly, it was her ears that now couldn't hear.

Her moms face froze in shock. Her disappointed face shot a bullet through Sori’s heart. Mrs. Kim turned around and left the room. Sori couldn’t stop bawling, her cries echoed throughout the hospital.

The doctor followed Mrs. Kim outside to explain her situation. “Unfortunately, Sori has lost her hearing, although she seems to have some residual hearing left so she should be able to speak fine with speech therapy” he explained. “Whatever, what I want to know is if this is her permanent condition!” Mrs. Kim asked, annoyed. “We don’t know yet… we can only tell after a few weeks. She will also be asked to come to the hospital regularly for tests and rehab.”

“Sori, please stay still we have to do some tests on you” they said, holding her down. Sori could understand by their body language, but She didn’t care and continued to scream in agony.

“Sori, please stay still” the nurse said trying to calm her down. “Don’t touch me!” she pushed away the nurse and jumped out of the hospital bed. She began to run away, in search for a place where she could hear. She ran outside in her hospital gown, people all staring at her. “What is she doing” someone said. “Is she crazy?” said another. She fell to the floor sobbing in disbelief “I-I just want to hear…something…anything. Why can’t I hear…” she wept.

“Sori-ssi!” the nurse yelled picking her up. “What are you doing here, please come inside” she said, leading Sori inside the hospital. “I don’t need your help, I can go inside by myself” she said pulling the nurse away. Sori didn’t like depending on people for anything, especially when she needed it the most.

Sori spent the rest of the day alone, lying in bed. If I cant hear anyone then there’s no point in seeing anyone either, she thought. She began to hate having company because it only made her feel worse about her condition.

The next morning, Oh Dongin came into Sori’s room with dark chocolate chip cookies. He heard from the nurses that she was now hearing impaired. Instead of giving her a pity fest, Oh Dongin wanted to continue to treat Sori just like before.

“Sori-ah wake up!” Oh Dongin called, shaking Sori’s arm. “Oh Dongin…. I’m not in the mood” Sori said, half awake. “Sori-ah! I brought cookies!” he said holding one out in front of her. “I’m not hungry” Sori replied. “Sori ah!” he yelled, continuing to shake her arm. Sori got up in anger “Oh Dongin! I-" she stopped by the sight tears falling down Dongin’s face.

“Oh Dongin, stop crying. You can’t cry!” she said, trying to hold back her tears. “Please just eat some cookies with me” Dongin pleaded, holding out a cookie. Sori smiled for the first time since her surgery. “Alright” Sori said, finally getting out of bed.

Sori put her hand on so she could control the volume of her voice “Oh Dongin, I’m going to get discharged soon” Sori revealed. She began to write something down on a piece of paper. “This is my new address. I’m moving out of my parent’s house, I don’t want to see them anymore. I’ll still be visiting the hospital regularly, though” she explained

“I understand, but, are you sure you’ll be alright living on your own?” Dongin questioned. “Don’t worry, I’d rather struggle living alone than suffocate living in my parents house.”

Sori got up to go to the bathroom. On her way there she bumped into someone. She saw a CD in his hand and her heart began to sink.

“Sori-ssi” Jinyoung said, grabbing her arm delicately. “Are you okay? How was your sur-" before he could finish, Sori pushed him away and ran into the bathroom. The CD dropped to the floor. She didn’t want him to find out about her condition. Just leave me alone and remember me as a girl who can hear, she thought.

“Sori-ssi!” he kept calling from outside the bathroom.

“Jinyoung…stop..” Oh Dongin called, walking towards him.

“W-why?” he asked nervously.

“Because…. she can’t hear you” Dongin revealed, looking down in sadness.

Jinyoung felt a jolt in his heart at the sound of those words. He kept staring at Dongin, as if to wait for him to tell him he was joking. “i-is she doing alright?” Jinyoung was barely able to bring the words out of his mouth. “She’s devastated… I was afraid of her going to sleep, because I thought she wouldn’t wake up from all the pain she was feeling. I think it’s best to just give her some space for now” Dongin suggested.

“I’m here to visit Kim Sori” Haejin said, looking annoyed as he usually did when he wasn't busy putting on a show.

“A nurse already told you, she’s not accepting visitors!” Nurse Jung repeated. “Do you know who I am? I’m her fiancé, how can she not let me visit her!” he yelled.

“What..?” the nurse said, confused “on her papers she never put that she was engaged. I’m sorry but either way, I have it written right here that I shouldn’t let you in, Lee Haejin.” The nurse stated. “What!?” Haejin yelled. He was appalled by Sori’s actions. That girl thinks she can get away from me that easily?

“I don’t need your permission” he declared, marching to Sori’s room, Nurse Jung quickly followed behind. “Haejin-ssi, please follow the rules, Haejin-ssi!” the nurse yelled. Haejin finally arrived at Sori’s room to find the door locked.

“YA! KIM SORI” he yelled. “Open the door or else you’ll regret it” He yelled even louder. “You can yell all you want but she won’t hear you. She’s hearing impaired” Nurse Jung alerted. “What?” Haejin exclaimed in disbelief. “Hearing…what? What do you mean, she’s deaf?” he asked, eyes wide open, shaking Nurse Jung for an answer.

“No one told you? I thought you were her fiancé?” Nurse Jung said, rolling her eyes. “I think you should leave, Lee Haejin” the nurse coldly suggested.

With that, Haejin left feeling rather frustrated. She’s deaf? I’d rather her be mute was all Haejin thought. That and the advantages he could have over Sori’s disability.

“I’m here to see Kim Sori” Jinyoung stated.

“I’m sorry, but Kim Sori was discharged this morning” Nurse Jung revealed.

“She’s no longer here?! Where did she go?” Jinyoung had showed up to the hospital 1 week after his first visit. He couldn’t handle not seeing how she was doing for another day. Every day all he would think about was her. What is she doing right now? Did she eat? Is she sleeping well? Is she lonely? Was all he thought.

“I’m sorry but I can’t tell you that” the nurse replied when someone suddenly tugged the end of Jinyoung’s sleeve. “Oh Dongin!” Jinyoung said with a smile. “Jinyoung hyung, Sori left this morning, I’m worried about her...” Dongin pouted, extremely concerned about his one and only friend.

“Dongin-ah, do you perhaps know Sori’s phone number?”

Dongin reached into his pocked, in his hand was the paper Sori used to write down her address. Below it, Dongin wrote Sori’s phone number. “Here, that’s where she lives and her phone number. Jinyoung, you’re a good guy, right?” Dongin protectively asked. Jinyoung crouched down in front of Dongin and held his hand. “Don’t worry Dongin-ah. You can trust me, I promise,” Jinyoung promised warmly.

“You like Sori, don’t you?” Dongin suddenly questioned, raising an eyebrow. Jinyoung avoided Dongins gaze. “Hyung! If you like Sori you have to tell me so I can give you my blessing! If you don’t receive my blessing then you can’t lay a finger on her!” Dongin said proudly. Jinyoung let out a short laugh.

“Alright, alright. I like her,” Jinyoung said softly.

“What? You like who?” Dongin said putting his hand behind his ear.

“I like Kim Sori” Jinyoung declared.