CH 5 ;

"The new transfer student from California will be joining us with effect from today." Mrs Kim announced, much to the anticipation of everyone. You rested your head on the table and started to feel amused at every little thing happening outside the classroom.

It sounds absurd, but you could really start praying for yourself to grow wings and fly out of the classroom if this period were to get any more boring than it already is, you thought as you started to build sandcastles in the air as you watched the birds outside, flying around everywhere as if to make you jealous that they had endless freedom.

With Mrs Kim's only sentence being spoken, the class broke out into a fit of commotion about how Byunghun had managed to get into the school so effortlessly and whether he would be handsome or hot or cute. The teenage girls were using their mobile phone's front camera function as a mirror to fix their hair before Byunghun walked into the class.

"He's freaking hawt!"
"Ya, is my eyeliner okay?"
"Is he like, out of some manga book?!"
"Damn, tell me he's not human."
"Ya! I asked whether my eye liner is okay or not!"
"Oh just look at him! Your eyeliner might as well start melting now!"
"Oh shut up!"

"You'll take the seat next to Haneul." Mrs Kim pointed to the supposedly empty seat beside you. You instantaneously returned to Earth from daydream land upon hearing your name being mentioned, afraid that you were caught once again for not paying attention in class.

You looked at Mrs Kim blankly for a few seconds before catching up on what she had just said moments ago.

Wait, what?! Lee Byunghun, sitting beside you?! Oh, not like you were going to start fangirling over this new sensation that hit your school ever since it was rumoured that he entered the school almost effortlessly.

Of course, you did feel envious of him. You went through two rounds of audition and only ended up in the waiting list. No doubt, you got lucky because someone withdrew from the school and you filled up the vacancy.

Sighing, you unwillingly took your schoolbag off the seat to your right, placing it underneath your table. You hated putting your bag under the table. It was extremely troublesome when you have to take out or keep a book, which was the very reason why you made use of the empty seat beside you to put your bag.

Well, that shall now become history. 
You sank into your chair, looking at your bag under the table hopelessly and apologetically. I'm so sorry you have to sit there from now on, my poor, innocent bag... You talked to your bag sacarstically in your head as Byunghun walked down the row towards you, the girls' heads all moving towards whereever he was going.

The girls shot you either glares, looks filled with jealousy, or just unreadable, priceless expressions. They were simply throwing daggers at you. You shrugged it off. Not like Byunghun sitting beside me means he's my husband, right? Just get a life, you people... 

"Okay. Let's start on our lesson now!" Mrs Kim placed the cap of her whiteboard marker on the teachers' desk before turning her back to the class to write down notes on the board while explaining the theory of whatever she was writing.

You tilted your head to the right to look at Byunghun as he settled down in his seat, taking out two textbooks, in which one was specially made in brai-

Wait. What?! Your eyes widened to the size of saucers as he flipped open the textbook. You saw protruding little dots all over the book. It was written in braille, the language that the blind uses. Was Byunghun blind?

"Annyeong, I'm Choi Haneul." You blurted out randomly in an attempt clear your doubt in which Byunghun is blind. You cringed and cursed yourself at the awkwardness you had brought upon the both of you.

"I'm Byunghun." He turned his head, looked straight into your eyes, and resumed to copying down notes on his notebook.

He just looked straight into my eyes... He doesn't look blind... His eyes look so mysterious, so full of emotions...

Unknowingly, you continued to watch him as he copied down Mrs Kim's notes on a notebook in words, in which everyone uses, while using his left hand to graze over the page on the textbook written in brail.  

Is he blind or is he not?! What is with him using both braille and normal language at the same time? For heaven's sake, is he training himself to multi-task or what...

Snapping out of the mini debate on whether Byunghun was blind or not, you heard mumbles and gossiping starting to spread rapidly around the class like wildfire.

"He's copying the notes on the whiteboard, why would he be blind?"
"Well you never know..."
"Maybe he's learning brail or something?"
"Impossible..."
"Is he really blind?"
"It's a waste... He ain't bad looking at all ... Why is he blind..."

From the second Byunghun took out his textbook specially customized for him in braille, the people around him started to gossip in low volumes, and word somehow spread so quickly to the ends of the class in a matter of a few minutes.

Byunghun had not completely settled down on reading letters written in ink, so he decided to bring along his custom made textbook. 
He was already immune to all sorts of gossips due to the way people treated him back in America, so the small chitter chatters about him being blind were of no impact on him at all. It was not like he could go against what they are saying- He was blind before, and it was an undeniable fact; a cruel reality.

You tried but failed pathetically at trying to pry your eyes off him. This guy beside you... He is not just any guy - He's different. You did not know in what way was he different from others, but he was just... So unique, so indescripable.

You realised how perfect each of his facial features were as you took a closer look at him. Without doubt, he is flawless. However, there was this one particular feature that drew you to him. It made you curious; It made you want to know him more. It made you want to gaze into them for hours because of the mysterious and deep emotions it gave off. Because it was filled with so much emotions, mostly made up of hurt, emptiness, hatred and loneliness, it made you want to defend him so much. He looked fine on the surface, but that one particular feature gave him away.

That Pair of Eyes...

It was that pair of eyes that attracted you to him.

It was that pair of eyes that made you want to know him more.

It was that pair of eyes that made you want to scream at the class to stop gossiping about him.

It was so cruel- This highly judgemental world is so cruel.

When Byunghun first stepped into the class, girls could start drooling all over their tables. Within a few minutes, just because Byunghun was using a textbook written in braille, they were starting to judge him.

How can this world be so cruel, unjust, and judgemental?

Lee Byunghun does not deserve such treatment just because he took out a book written in braille. Can't people see that he could actually see? Were they themselves blind? Was it not clear enough that Byunghun could see the notes on the board and copy it on his notebook?

No.

Lee Byunghun deserves none of this.

A/N;

Thank you so much for the 40 subscribers and 4 upvotes! 고마워 and  사랑합니다 for all your support! ♥ I hope you all are enjoying this story ^^ Do leave comments if you have any, so I'll know how I can improve and what my readers think about this story ~ ^^ 

(He likes to close his eyes to take photos nowadays, eh? xD This vain granny...)