Jeonju Hospital

Jeonju, South Korea

           Taeyeon was having a busy day at the hospital although it has past sundown. Leeteuk sat in their staffroom for thirty minutes waiting for her to pack up as usual but she was late. Nurse Hwang raised her eyebrows at him as she entered the room to change.

He bowed, “Evening, I’ll be excused.”

She gave him an eyesmile replying, “Ward 13, Level 5,” and winked.

He furrowed his eyebrows as the shorter woman pushed him out the door.

10, 11, 12…

“Thirteen,” he whispered under his breath. His lips formed into a smile as he saw Taeyeon’s back serving a patient. It was a teenage boy, who had an arm cast. She was putting the latter to sleep until she heard shuffling of footsteps coming into the room. Leeteuk called out to her from a distance. Taeyeon became shocked and looked around the area, before putting a finger to her lips.

“Visiting hours is over, Leeteuk. You can’t be seen here,” she undertoned before he brought her out onto the hall. He slowly closed the door and pressed a button on the lift.

          It was a month since they tied the knot and Taeyeon received news that she had been conceiving for seven weeks thus far. He hugged her immediately as he reached their bedroom and carressed her womb. “Its ours,” she smiled. He rested his head upon her belly, whispering a soft prayer and gave it a swift peck. When she watches him sleep beside her, tears began to form in her eyes at the thought of the man before her being a father to her child.

Park’s Corporation

Jeonju, South Korea

          Leeteuk walked out of his office in hand with Taeyeon when he noticed Dong Wook waiting by the door. Taeyeon notably decided to give the brothers their privacy. "I'll wait for you, here," she said, sitting at the lounge. As the latter sat in his office, he had considerably noticed his strained expression. "Brother," he greeted. Dong Wook sighed and passed a pair of plane tickets to him.

"I don't know how I must pass this, father needs us in the States. Only for a moment, or so. The resolution has to be fulfilled and we, as his sons have to stand by him. Especially you, you took a bullet." Leeteuk’s eyebrows furrowed at the thought of leaving his expectant wife behind.

"Oh, but my condition and Tae-"

Dong Wook nodded and rubbed his temples.

"I know, I understand. Jung Su its… inevitable you know how it works over there, there is no waver in time,” he insisted.

Leeteuk sighed and took the tickets before sending her home.

         That night after giving her a massage, he told her about his departure in the morning. Initially she was shocked but granted him permission anyways. Nurse Hwang stayed with Taeyeon for the rest of the nights retaining her duty as her caretaker once again.

En route to Seattle

          As the private jet landed, and the two brothers sat in their full uniform, Leeteuk was told that he had received a call. The car stopped at his request and over the phone was Tiffany, her voice perturbed.

"Yes, Nurse?"

"There is an emergency. Its Taeyeon."

“What? I just got off the phone with her hours ago. She is laying at home." His mind became distraught and he began to question her comfort.

She hesistated.

"Her baby is fine, it’s her eyes."

Ward 4, Jeonju Hospital

Jeonju, South Korea

          Taeyeon sat on her bed; it was always this ward that she had slept on for those years. It had stayed. Her eyes were temporarily blindfolded with bandages before she undergoes surgery. She heard footsteps and she wasn't sure of the timecheck.

It was Leeteuk. He was still in his uniform and military boots. His hands came over her belly and he kissed her lips. He had come in time, just.

"Taeyeon," he called, making sure not to awaken her.

She was awake and ran her hands onto his face, across his temples, the ridge of his nose. She brought him closer to her and kissed him. She missed the landscape of his body, the winding veins of his wrists. It felt the same when she was blind before. It was pitch black. No shades of gray, no colours.

He had so many questions. The doctor had told him of her slight migraine that caused her vision to blacken, before Taeyeon called in for complete blindness. She had told him of her migraine but he never thought she could lose her eyes again. How much could she have went through alone, he had to come back for his woman and their child.

Taeyeon woke up the next morning feeling Leeteuk’s head resting beside her, his hands around her waist. In her bandaged eyes, she attempted to touch his features. Instead her hands fell towards his shoulders, feeling his epaulette, military collar and badges on his chest, smiling at the way he returned and stayed with her the night before.

She recognised him as he held her hands. The twine of his hands is a road she have walked many times before.“Teuk,” she called, cupping his cheeks. “Tiffany says to bring you home before the surgery in a few days,” he told her.

          As they reached their villa, Leeteuk had to carry her upstairs before placing her on their bed. He slowly removed her bandage and dabbed a wet cloth over her eyes, blowing into the slight sting of medication the doctor had placed. Taeyeon cringed and slowly open her eyelids, only to find that she is unable to see anything. He saw her eyes well, and immediately hugged her, her hair.

“I’m afraid. I’m afraid I can’t see you anymore,” she cried, cupping his cheeks and kissing him all over. “What if I can never watch our child grow up? I can’t be able to look after for us, take care of us. Of all chances, I’m afraid our baby may turn out to be blind like me. What a terrible ordeal! I’m so sorry, I don’t deserve to bear your child, Leeteuk...” she sobbed.

He kissed her lips for her to discontinue, “No Taeyeon, don’t ever say that. We’ll get through this; I’ll make sure your eyes are healed. I love you,” he repeats. Even knowing him so well she becomes lost within, just floating in his vastness. He weaves his fingers into her hair, and she hears her name being whispered into the flyaway hairs at her nape, his voice were the only sounds of her sleep.

He watched her her belly, and how much love she poured with little touches; it was beautiful seeing the woman conceiving what was theirs and theirs together.

♦♦♦

          A few days later, Taeyeon was brought back into her ward spending a night there before undergoing surgery the day after. Nurse Hwang was walking by their hallway, and noticed the room door mid-opened. Their room was easily distinguished from the others as it was a private place, and had not been occupied by long-term patients other than Taeyeon and Leeteuk themselves.

She paused and looked into the room. Taeyeon slowly bend up from a chair and strode over to Leeteuk. She hadn’t her walking stick nor heard his voice speak yet, the way she walked over to his side was as if she could feel where he was sitting, her legs moved so gracefully.

Leeteuk watched her sit on her bed beside him, and she caressed his face. She placed his head on her lap, as he closes his eyes. Taeyeon came down to him, her fallen hair come over to cover his face. She placed her lips and whispered something into his ear. Tiffany could see how gentle his face became hearing her voice and how intimate they were. They didn’t mind the silence.

She left them in their privacy and sat back on her desk near to the room. Moments later, she heard a gentle voice echo through the hallway. It was Taeyeon singing. How can a person be moved to tears by something she can neither see, understand, nor hold on to, a mere sound that vanishes almost the moment it comes into being? Her voice was so delicate and she remembered how much she missed her voice. Once she told her, that she would only sing to the one she loves and there was no question to hearing it now.

Leeteuk slept with her in their hospital bed. As he woke up, he sees her gazing at him. He felt sad at the way Taeyeon hoped so much to see him, and he removed her hair that was covering her face. He kissed and told her he loved her into her ear while she was wheeled into the surgery room. It took hours but Taeyeon had come out after a successful operation. It was the second time, she opened her eyes into the world and she was glad to see Leeteuk again.

          Years later, after their first child, Taeyeon suffered complete blindness. It did not falter the way her life with Leeteuk was having, that life was beginning all over again with the autumn. They loved the same, and he took care of her as always. They were happy and thankful that for him through all the hardship and loss he met the one person to provide him strength from them all, how she mutually reciprocated and with their faults, the mere moment she shared to see the world, he changed her with his love.

He became her miracle.

He was the movement of that autumn.

Towards the sun her eyes gazed, her lids slightly twitching in time with the corners of . Warmth rested upon her cheeks and flowed down over her dark hair, creating a halo of dancing dust glimmering in the golden afternoon light. It reminded him of the force that held his fingers to her hands, temptation pulling them near but never close enough to disturb her perfection. The hair on her knees shined, budding out of the pores of her skin, and she grazed her fingertips slowly over them. He hadn’t stopped talking for a long time now, but he felt neither nervous nor ashamed that she did not respond. How beautiful she was, he thought, and he watched her laugh, neither nervous nor ashamed. Sometimes she would stare into his eyes unknowingly, her blank vision catching his gaze, which never lingered away from her eyes for even a moment.