Sori woke up early so she could go get groceries before it got busy. After losing her hearing, she felt extremely anxious in crowded places. But she knew if she didn’t push herself, she would stay in the house all day, crying.

When she got back she found someone leaning against her door.

“Let me take those for you, Kim Sori.” Haejin said with a smile. Sori shot him a dirty look “How did you find out where I lived? Did my parents find out and tell you. You know what, I don’t even care, just leave me alone you creep!” she demanded, incredibly annoyed.

Sori opened the door of her apartment and shut it before Haejin could come in. “Mom must of told him to come and bother me” she said, setting her groceries on the counter.

Sori was getting annoyed of Haejin. He was pounding on the door, making the door shake “why won’t this freak leave!” she yelled, opening the door “Lee Haejin! Why won’t you leave me alone, huh? You know that I wouldn’t fall for you even if hell froze over, so why don’t you just knock it off!” Sori yelled in rage.

Lee Haejin took something out of his pocket. It looked like a very expensive golden bracelet. It was studded with diamonds and could probably light up a room. “Won’t she feel touched that I’m spoiling her even though she’s deaf?” Haejin thought.

“This is for you, even if you don’t like me yet, I want you to have it” Sori pushed his hand away, giving Haejin an dirty look.

“Do you seriously think this kind of works on me? Ya, Lee Haejin, you must be really slow and delusional.” Sori said letting out a laugh. Before Haejin could talk back, Sori continued, “I know what your game is. Your dad wants you to marry me so he can be a business partner with my dad. I know very well that you don’t actually like me Haejin, you’re only angry that I keep rejecting you. Once a girl gives in to your sick games, you use It as a trophy and then move on to the next one” Sori spat.

A sudden pang then swept Sori’s right cheek.

Sori was in disbelief at what Haejin just did. “did, did you just hit me?” Sori said with clenched teeth, her hand on her cheek while she furiously looked at Haejin straight in the eyes.

Suddenly, someone took Sori’s hand and pulled her behind him. “Jinyoung?!” Jinyoung had witnessed Haejin slapping Sori and rage began to fill his whole body. He couldn’t hold himself back. “What do you think you’re doing!?” Jinyoung raged. Sori was staring at Jinyoung, still in shock.

“Who do you think you are? Mind your own business” Haejin roared.

“Who I am doesn’t matter, what matters is that if I catch you laying a finger on Sori ever again I’m going to beat you to a pulp” Jinyoung said, pushing Haejin and sending him to the other side of the hallway. Jinyoung then turned around and took Sori into her apartment, locking the door behind him.

“Jinyoung, what are you doing? I can handle things on my own!” Sori said, upset. She wanted to teach Haejin a lesson herself.

Jinyoung looked down, and scratched his head. “What did I just do? Was it really my place” he thought. Sori looked at Jinyoungs distressed expression. She didn’t know why Jinyoung was doing all of this for her, but for some reason, it felt different from when other boys would try to help her. This time it felt sincere, she felt touched, but she didn’t want to show it. She felt like she was protecting herself when she didn’t show people her true feelings because she feared that they may have a hidden agenda or that they may leave her someday.

“Do you want to go get some fresh air with me? I’ve been wanting to take a walk in the park for a while but can’t bring myself to do it since I’m not familiar with this area yet.” Jinyoung looked up at her, surprised at her sudden invitation and quickly nodded his head in agreement. Is she mad at me, or not? he thought, confused.

Sori and Jinyoung walked side by side, the afternoon heat settling in. Sori appreciated being outside since she barely went out ever since she got checked into the hospital. Now with her hearing gone, she felt even more scared to. Although she felt thankful that the pain was gone, her heart still wrenched in pain since she was unable to hear what was going on around her.

She couldn’t hear the birds chirping, or people chatting. She couldn’t hear dogs barking, or children laughing. Sori put her hands in her pockets and took a deep breath, trying to forget about her disability for a second. But she couldn’t, it was a part of her now.

Sori, caught up in her thoughts, didn’t realize Jinyoung's eyes stuck on her. “What is she thinking about...?” he thought. Jinyoung noticed that Sori was about to bump into someone in front of her and quickly grabbed her arm and pushed her closer to him.

“Huh” Sori said, snapping out of her thoughts “You were about to bump into someone” Jinyoung alerted. He felt his heart beat quicken as he looked down at her so he swiftly stepped to the side before she would feel uncomfortable.

“Let’s sit down for a bit” Sori suggested, walking to the bench beside them. As they sat down, Sori looked at Jinyoung curiously and thought about what Dongin told her “I think he likes you!”.

“Why does he keep showing up? What if he does like me? but why? It would only trouble both of us” Sori thought. “Jinyoung-ssi, after today… let’s not meet like this again” Sori said. Jinyoung’s expression looked hurt. “I just think it would be best... you’re a celebrity after all…and I’m really not in the mood for any more stress in my life.”

Jinyoung didn't say a word and got out his phone instead.

“Why can’t we just be friends?” Sori looked up at Jinyoung after receiving his text. She felt frustrated, she wanted to keep seeing Jinyoung but she was afraid of embracing a new friendship in her life. She was still fearful to open up to him, after all, what did she know of Jinyoung? And what did he know of her?

“You really want to be my friend? What if I’m secretly a sasaeng fan who pretended like she lost her hearing and rented out that hospital room so I could see B1A4? Did you ever think of that?” Sori joked. Jinyoung laughed at her and shot her a smile

“I just know” he mouthed to her. Sori gave Jinyoung a short smile that made his heart beat unsteady for a moment.

“How’s rehab going? You’re not giving them a hard time, are you?” Dongin wrote down as Sori was cutting an apple.

“Well…I wouldn’t say a hard time, more like a few tips?” Sori said, handing Dongin a slice. “tips, which translates to yelling at them in Sori language” Dongin said shaking his head. “Please, just listen to what the nurses say, they know what’s best for you,” Dongin wrote down.

“Alright, I’ll try Dongin-ah. I just don’t see the point. I can speak fine now after speech therapy and nothing seems to be changing after all of these check ups. I just hate going there. I’m constantly reminded of my condition and I hate it! All I want to know is if my hearing can improve but all they reply with is “if you keep coming to rehab and work hard, you may improve” what kind of ambiguous response is that?” Sori groaned.

“You have nothing to lose by doing it, you should try your best just for the satisfaction of knowing you did everything you could” Dongin wrote.

“But I’m scared of receiving nothing after trying my best” Sori confessed, stuffing an apple in .

“Anyways, Jinyoung keeps popping out of nowhere. I really don’t know how to react to it. Why is he so worried about me? Is he worried I’ll spread some bad rumor online or something?” Sori mentioned, changing the subject.

“He's visiting you?! That’s great to hear!” Dongin chimed.  “Great? Come to think of it, how did he get my address?” Sori asked suspiciously.

“You’re treating him well, right?” Dongin asked in anticipation, ignoring Sori's question.

“I told him that we shouldn’t meet anymore” Sori replied.

“What!? Why would you do that!” Dongin whined. Sori was shocked at his reaction.

“Why do you care so much? I know you like B1A4 bu-" Sori stopped talking to look at what Dongin wrote down.

“He’s a good guy Sori, he even comes to visit me sometimes. Stop being afraid of how people will hurt you and start living your life. I told you before, you can’t have all the answers.”

Sori smiled at him “I’m trying Dongin-ah, I’m trying.”