It took Donghae a few seconds to react from the sudden surprise greeting, and when he did, he sounded confused.

“Wait, what?” he asked, half-alarmed, half-surprised, but overall, confused.

We laughed when he was unable to realize that we just surprised him when his idea of coming to the cafeteria was to see a delusional Im Yoona, which fortunately isn’t true.

“Welcome back Hae,” I said as sweet as I possibly could. “Welcome back to Seoul International School. We missed you a lot, and that’s why we planned to surprise you upon coming back.”

“Yoona? Is that you? I thought you’ve gone mad!” he exclaimed with Sunny laughing loudly beside him. “What’s the meaning of this, Lee Sun Kyu?” he asked Sunny in her real name.

Sunny pouted. “Hey, don’t call me that. The whole ‘Yoona’s gone mad’ was only a ploy to get you to the cafeteria. Yoona had never gone crazy, God forbid.” Sunny laughed again at Donghae’s clueless expression.

Slowly, his face lit up as the pieces of the puzzle started to fit together, finally understanding. He laughed; his face turning to the slight tint of red, embarrassed. “Wow, I never expected– This is so surprising–” he stuttered, and then laughed. “Ah, what I mean to say is – Thank you, guys,” he said, bowing in appreciation.

We cheered and each gave Donghae playful slaps in the back and high-fives. I smiled when I saw old friends reunite, playing and fooling around as if nothing ever happened between them. However, my smile gradually faded when I saw Kyuhyun’s face surface from the sea of people who welcomed him. I bit my lip and took a few steps backward, hoping he won’t notice my diffident expression. He gave Donghae a pat on the back, and then said,

“Welcome back, Donghae. It’s good to see you after all this time.”

“Kyu? Is that you? It’s nice to hear your voice again, old friend,” Donghae said, smiling.

Kyuhyun chuckled before answering. “Yeah, it is. We should get you a seat. We don’t want having our newly-arrived guest standing at his own welcome party! Come on, we prepared a special table for you!”

I wasn’t sure if Kyuhyun was sincere with his words or not. With our little episode last night, I doubt he’ll be that close with Hae as he originally was. There’s now a barrier between us, creating a rift between me and Hae, and him. I don’t know why he’s pretending like that rift doesn’t exist.

“Here we are, Hae,” Kyu coaxed, letting Hae sit on the chair we prepared for him. I approached the table, unaware of what else to do.

What I didn’t expect was to see Kyuhyun take Donghae’s hands and say, “Take care of Yoona, Donghae. She loves you, and I know you do too. Don’t let her love go into vain; you’re very lucky to have her.”

Kyu gave him a reassuring shake, and then left, leaving a slightly confused Donghae behind. Kyuhyun saw me staring at him, and he tried to smile. “He’s all yours now, Yoona. I hope you guys have fun,” he said, sarcasm coated with sincerity – two paradoxical pairings. I tried to return a smile to him, but I’m afraid all I gave him was a perplexed expression. Pulchritudinous as he is, I knew there was underlying pain beneath that wry smile of his.

“I’m sorry,” I said, affixing my gaze downward.

He nodded once and then left agitatedly, leaving me and an empty chair beside Lee Donghae. I composed myself, trying to clear my mind from all the worries that clouded it. I sat down beside Donghae, patted his hand to signal that I was beside him. He was about to speak, but I silenced him for the little program we prepared for him was about to start.

“Hello, ladies and gentleman! We are here this lunch hour to welcome our old friend, Lee Donghae!” Taeyeon’s voice resonated from the speakers.

The crowd cheered relentlessly, waving banners and throwing already-grounded confetti back up in the air. I laughed; the guys were really supportive in our plans. They seemed to be really enjoying themselves. Well, that, or they’re really happy that lunch hour was extended. Either way, they were really happy.

“Now everyone, please hold your applause!” Taeyeon ordered, flashing one of her striking smiles, and the crowd immediately obeyed.

“Donghae, I know this is too sudden for you, especially since you never expected a surprise, and was greeted by some cockamamie story which Sunny conjured about Yoona getting crazy –” she paused as soon as the crowd began to laugh.

Out in the back, Sunny protested. “Hey! It was the best thing I could think of!” she said, shrugging her shoulders and laughing at the same time.

Taeyeon laughed out in front and continued, “But we would really like to hear from you. How do you like our little surprise? Do you have anything to say to us?”

Donghae hesitated beside me, slightly embarrassed. I gave him an encouraging shake. “It’ll be fine,” I told him. “Now’s the time to open your heart and spill all those chained emotions. You’ll do great.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubR-W6LgnIs

Listen to this guys, a soothing melody to fill in the mood.

Hae smiled at my direction and mouthed out thanks. Taeyeon then graciously handed the microphone to him and persuaded the audience to give him a round of applause before he starts.

      “Uh, everyone, thank you very much for all of this,” he paused, and then cleared his throat. “I’ve never expected to be welcomed by such an eager student body,” he said, smiling and gesturing at his invisible crowd. “Ever since I became blind, I thought my life would never be the same again. I thought I had lost a great deal of friends, I thought a huge portion of my life had been chunked away and lost forever. However, I return here to find out that I was wrong after all.”

He smiled, and then stared at the ground. Everyone was silent, with all eyes affixed on him while the mellow background music played on. He paused, and then wiped the corner of his eyes with his hand. A split second later, from the corner of his glasses rolled down a tear which he wiped away before it could reach his cheek. When he spoke again, his voice was rich with emotion.

“I’m so happy to be greeted again with old friends, with smiles and cheers, and with –” he paused to chuckle, “confetti.” A unanimous laugh broke out, and then he continued. “Even if I lost my sight, I don’t need eyes to feel the spirit of welcome you showered upon me. I am really grateful for everything, really. No words would suffice the b gratitude to all of you. I would also like to thank two special people, who became my eyes when my own sight failed me – Cho Kyuhyun, and Im Yoona.”

     A round of applause followed, and I bit my lip, letting his recognition obsequiously sink through me. I glanced at Kyuhyun, who was smiling and nodding in approval. I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt erupt from within me – not because our names were said in succession, but for the fact that it brought too many “happy-together” memories with Kyuhyun.

Donghae smiled and concluded his little speech with a metaphor that wrought both pain and pride: “Kyuhyun, Yoona,” he said, addressing us both, “thank you for being there for me when the world had fallen on my shoulders; thank you for lifting the sky off my back and making me stand again. If it weren’t for you two, that same sky would’ve crushed me to dust by now.”

I clapped, disrupting the momentary silence that followed after Donghae said the last word, and everybody followed. After mere seconds, every person in the cafeteria gave him a standing ovation. Donghae bowed humbly, and then sat back in his chair while Taeyeon graciously retrieved the microphone from him.

Wiping obvious tears in her eyes, Taeyeon, obviously moved by Hae’s little speech, invited everyone to clap once again before calling out their attention. “You heard the words from no other than Lee Donghae himself, the man who surpasses even the blackest of darkness!” More applause, cheer and smiles were heard and seen.

“Now that the formalities are over, everyone, please use the remaining time to enjoy the rest of our extended lunch hour! This is Kim Taeyeon signing out!”

     Donghae chuckled and looked at my way, “You really outdid yourself this time, didn’t you, Yoona?”

I blushed, knowing that I have pleased him excessively today, which was good. Frankly I felt filled-up and giddy inside. “WE only did that for you, Hae. I wanted to see that smile on your face reappear today, regardless of what happened.”

Donghae smiled and chuckled, “Then I’ll have to say that your plan is a huge success, Yoona. I feel happy, flattered, and special. And it’s all thanks to you.”

I giggled. “No problem, Hae. Now let’s eat! You must be hungry after that long trip!”

     I led Donghae to the buffet out in front guiding him with the food, while he adamantly insisted that I wouldn’t tell him what the food was, but rather, he would guess it by smelling. Laughing at his somewhat impossible plan, my laughter was short lived when he got all the names of the food right. I guess that’s what should we expect from a straight A student from a blind institute.

     After eating our sumptuous meal, Donghae his chops and gave his compliments on the food, commenting that they were very delectable. While we were in the middle of a random topic, slow music began to resonate from the amplifiers set out in front. A smile lit up Hae’s face, and I had to ask why.

“This is the song my mother and father always danced to when I was young,” he remarked, swaying his head to the slow melancholic waltz. What I didn’t expect was for him to ask me to stand up and dance with him. I hesitated, not because I couldn’t trust a blind person do dance without stepping on my feet, but because I couldn’t trust myself to dance without falling on both feet.

     Donghae reassured me that everything would be fine, and taking his word for it, I stood up and led him to an empty space in the cafeteria. Smiling at me, he took out a confident step and danced to the ballad. I was unsure at first, stepping once or twice in his feet, but he didn’t mind. He just kept dancing while whispering instructions which I tried to follow out, but still ended up stepping on his feet. In this case, I began to question who was blinder. Hae never stepped on my foot, not even once. Yet I on the other hand, with perfect vision kept stepping on the feet of a blind person. I had to chuckle at the irony of things.

After a few steps and twirls, I finally seemed to be getting the hang of it. Confidence was still not at its peak, but at least I could dance without falling, which was remarkable progress for someone like me. I was so caught up with our little ballad; I failed to notice the small crowd of people who began to encircle us, watching us with curiosity and awe. I also failed to hear the cafeteria door slam open and see a fuming Jung Jessica step in the cafeteria. I only noticed, when she snatched me from Hae’s arms, and greeted me with a slap on the face.

The music stopped ultimately.

“You sneaky little brat, first causing all these ruckus by making Donghae blind, and now you attempt to reconcile with him with your mediocre ways of throwing a party?”

I faced Jessica slowly. All at once, all my previous fears of Jung Jessica dissipated and were replaced by something else. Chagrin. All I could feel now was extreme vexation coursing through my blood, blazing through my eyes. It was the first time that I felt such anger towards someone.

“Yes, it was me. It was my fault that Donghae ended up this way – don’t try to stop me Donghae, I don’t need your interference yet,” I said as Donghae tried to speak up.

Jessica tilted her head, waiting for me to finish.

I stared at her with seething eyes, and continued, “It was my fault. But at least I wasn’t the type of person who lay around, distracting herself, drowning myself with endless tears which don’t even solve the problem. No. I acted out. I didn’t just stay around and watch the person suffer because of what I’ve done. I had to make amends, I had to help out in any way that I can, I had to ease the pain of the person I afflicted. Even though it wasn’t enough, but at least I tried my hardest.”

I took a step closer to Sica and glared at her. I didn’t even notice that I was taller than her until now. “But what did YOU do, Jung Jessica? You lied down, you abandoned him. Instead of helping him get through this, you lay waiting and crying trying to distract yourself from the reality that already slapped you smack dab on the face. You blame others, and make them feel bad just so you would feel better.” I shook my head, taking another step towards her. “You’re not a heroine, Jung Jessica. You’re just a bully.”

Tears of anger and shame brimmed up her eyelids, and before I could protect myself, her hand landed once again on my face, with enough force to knock me off my feet. “Shut up, just shut up, okay?! You think I couldn’t see through your charade, but I can! I know you’re trying to take Donghae away, but you can’t! Donghae loves me, okay? Me!” she said, choking on her tears.

I lay in the ground for a while. As much as I would like to say a lot of insults towards her, I can’t. The words seemed to be caught up in my throat, and I couldn’t dislodge them; an awkward moment passed before someone spoke again. And when someone did, it wasn’t either of us – it was Donghae.

“Jessica,” he called in a tone that was hard to distinguish, it was velvet to the ears, but somehow, there seemed to be impending ominousness concealed behind the enticing voice, like a vampire calling out to its next victim. Jessica looked up, and Donghae fired her a stare that was colder than anything I’ve ever seen before. I couldn’t even find a right adjective for it.

“I never said that I love you,” he said without the least bit of remorse.

COMMENTS are very much welcomed, guys. Tell me how you like the conflict so far!