Seunghyun's Story
My Heartbeat
Mr. Choi who is not accepting the results. "There has to be treatments for my son...I will pay anything...anything."
Dr. Park looked at Mr. Choi "I'm sorry but there are no treatments to help."
"We will take the test results to another doctor and see what he has to say."
"You can do that Mr. Choi but I'm sorry but you will most likely get the same results from any doctor you go to. What you need to do now is teach your son sign language. Here are some pamphlets from some highly recommended schools" Dr. Park took out a few pamphlets from his desk drawer.
"Sign language...my son....never..." Mr. Choi almost looked disgusted by the option.
"Mr. Choi your son needs to learn how to deal with his new life. He needs to learn how to get through life with his disability."
"Our son does not have a disability. OUR SON WILL NOT BE LABLED AS A HANDICAPPED!"
Mrs. Choi who was still taken by the bad news tried to calm down her raging husband. The doctor who was sitting in his chair expressionless, he did nothing but try to encourage Mr. Choi to choose the right path with their son.
After they were released from the hospital Seunghyun was taken out of school and was immediately home schooled by his wife. Mr. Choi who was embarrassed by his son's disability sent Seunghyun and his wife to the country side to their large estate and demanded that he learn how to read lips. He wanted his son to be able to get by in society and blend in to the point that no one would even think that he was deaf. That is just what his wife did they both kept Seunghyuns disability a secret. Seunghyun was placed hours upon hours in front of the computer where he had to repeat words over and over and over again. Seunghyun didn't understand why he had to look at those people and repeat what he saw on the screen. He became so difficult at times that Mrs. Choi didn't know what to do. One week Seunghyun went on strike and refused to talk for days, his mother would try to make him talk she did everything...she even bribed him with ice cream but it didn't work. She was starting to go crazy in the big house that the two of them lived in.
One day Seunghyun who was still on a vocal strike went to the fridge and tried to reach for the ice cream. Just before he reached the box his mother intercepted taking the ice cream and looked directly at him.
"Seunghyun say 'I want ice cream.'"
"ggggrrrraaaaaaahhhhhh" and Seunghyun tried to grab the box.
His mother once again lifted the box higher than Seunghyun and tried to stay patient "Say I want I cream."
"Grrrraaah aaaaaaAAAAHHH"
"Say. I. Want. Ice. Scream" She literally pronounced every syllable and Seunghyun resisted once again.
Mrs. Choi who has been close to snapping finally did. She took the growling Seunghyun by the shoulders and looked directly at him. "Yaaaahhh do you want to die...LETS BOTH DIE TOGETHER."
Mrs. Choi grabbed her son by the wrist and dragged him outside past the backyard toward the cliff that overlooked a small village. The whole time Seunghyun had been struggling trying to get out of his mother's grasp but failed. They both reached the edge of the cliff and Mrs. Choi pulled Seunghyun close, Seunghyun looked up at his mother's face, seeing the tears falling down her cheeks but also slight derangement he gave in "Ummma I want ice cream!!" he screamed.
Hearing his voice so clear not even tone deaf, her breath caught and she looked down at her precious son.
"Umma I want ice cream. I don't want to die Umma. Please." Seunghyun begged his tears slipping down his cheeks as well, his mother bend down and hugged him "I'm sorry Hyunnie I'm sorry...I don't know what happened to me...I'm sorry..." She apologized hugging him tighter, hugging her precious baby.
"We can do this Umma I love you and Appa...we can do this. I promise to be a good boy."
After that moment of insanity Seunghyun realised that all of the pointless computer programs worked, he was able to read lips. As weeks went on Seunghyun became more aware of things and life started to become easier for him. Seunghyun daily repeated words, sounds, and copied mouths to make sure that he remembered everyday. Everyday in his house he found a new sound to remember life started to become exciting. Even behind his parent's back he learned sign language as well using some computer programs. For the next 15 years Seunghyun lived with his mother at the mansion in the country side learning. His father would come only on special occasions to make sure that he was making progress. With his father being gone for so long and only being around his mother he figured that it was normal but never questioned it. For some reason he always felt that he was being judged by his father that he always had to excel beyond the average and that is exactly what Seunghyun did. He grew up with the best tutors and studied hard year round. He even was able to get into Seoul University where he received a Bachelors in Business and Botany. He also recived a MBA from Harvard in Business. Most of Seunghyun's life was very academic but one thing he always loved was going to the garden and getting away from everything. With plants he felt like he was at home. He loved that he could talk to the plants and they would never talk back and everytime he would take care of the plants they would grow beautifully. Seunghyun's sanity was working at the nature garden and working as a director gave him the privilage to work amongst some great people everyday.
Before Seunghyun had started work at the Garden his mother gave him a watch so that no one would notice his disability. The watch was gold with a black face a sparkling diamond at the twelve and golden hands. The unique thing about the watch was that it could be programed to alert him of everything that was going on around him. If his phone rang he would see his watch blink and vibrate and 'call' would appear on the black face in bright red letters, he would then look at his special phone, the phone would write out everything the caller was saying so with Seunghyun's blue tooth he could respond. If someone entered his office the sensors by the door would cause his watch to alert him. With that watch Seunghyun blended in perfectly at work...or so he thought he did....
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