The smell of syringes, alcohol, and all sorts of chemicals made me dizzy. I hate hospitals, for the reason that they hurt you instead of help you feel better. Not only was it full of sick people, their choice of fashion and interior designs were not really his taste. The halls were all white and people who were running and dashing through them were also in white, or sometimes in teal clothing with flu masks over their mouths and surgical caps over their crowns. It was making me lightheaded and uncomfortable.

“Yonghwa. Not only do you fail your classes, you also cause trouble! This is the last straw! I will not have you soiling our family name!”

Yonghwa’s dad was the director of a hospital, Sunghyeon Hospital, the biggest in the area, and the most successful. His friends would be jealous of his life since his family was technically rich, but he wasn’t. His parents would all be out during the day, and come back at night to work yet again. They never get tired of working.

He didn’t do anything nor say anything as his sorry excuse of a father scolded him over and over again. He was used to it, his teachers would scold him, his friends, and even his girlfriend. “You just need to get used to it,” he would always tell those said people whenever they would ask if he ever get tired of being scolded, excluding his parents and teachers of course. Respect in any Asian country was a strict thing that you could never wiggle your way out of.

“Go talk to your teacher tomorrow! I can’t have you failing when you’re about to graduate!” His dad slammed the door to his room. Yonghwa still had the blank expression that he wore when he first stepped into this god-forsaken house hours ago. He never really cared whether or not people care about him. But needless to say, he wished somebody did cared about him. That was his only wish. But all he could do was dream.

He grabbed his report card and crumpled it. He loves to play basketball, and that was the only thing that made him calm. He loved it more than his girlfriend of 7 years. He didn’t even know how his girlfriend keeps up with his attitude.

Standing 14 feet away from the trash bin, he shoots his ‘trash’ into the bin, right where it belongs. Numbers on paper mean nothing to him. But he had to follow what his dad says, if he wants to stay under the same roof with him. He had no choice.

The next morning, he immediately went to the teacher’s lounge to talk to his homeroom adviser. The teacher immediately knew what he wanted to talk to him about.

“Since your dad is a director of a hospital, volunteer. I will at least bring up your grades to a pass if you volunteer for 4 weeks. Enough for you to graduate.” He folded his arms across his chest and stared at the boy from his chair.

“That’s all?” Yonghwa expected something more rough like “You will take a make up exam on this date,” or like one time, his teacher actually asked for money if he wanted to pass his class.

‘. He should be stripped off of his credentials.’

He nodded. “Yes, easy isn’t it? I don’t really want to make it hard for you, as I want you to graduate on time. I already talked about it with your father and he agreed. You’ll be starting later, after school.” He swiveled his chair to face his table and continue his ‘work.’

“Okay…” was all that came out of Yonghwa’s mouth. He never really liked hospitals but hey, it’s easier than studying and taking exams.

And that was why I was now walking through these halls.

The hot nurse that was trying to flirt with me earlier was now guiding me to the patient that I was going to be taking care of for the next 4 weeks. They said it was a she so this was going to be easy.

As much as you think Yonghwa was a , he wasn’t. On the outside, he was cheerful and was the class clown. He was also seen as a playboy, as you saw from the nurse flirting with him. But on the inside, he was rotten. He didn’t trust anybody: His ‘friends’, his teachers, his girlfriend, and as much as it hurts him, his parents. But there was one person he could trust: his grandfather.

His grandfather was four scores and six years old. 86 years of living and he was still as cheerful and optimistic as he was when he came out of his mother’s womb. It wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t trust anybody else; it was their fault. But his grandfather was feisty. He didn’t give up on his only grandson and that was what made Yonghwa open his heart to the old man. And he didn’t regret it. He was a nice man; he never let Yonghwa down even once. He was always there for him and they had each other’s back. It was cliché and stupid to say, but they were best friends.

“Here she is Mr. Jung. She has everything that she needs to keep her occupied and all you need to do is keep her company. And…” The nurse came closer to me and started sliding her forefinger on my chest.

“And if you ever need anything, just call me.” She said in a very seductive voice. As much as I didn’t care about this , I was somewhat getting .

“Sure…” I smiled at her. But in my head, all I wanted to do was to just get this over with and this nurse was making it more annoying than it already is. The nurse finally left.

‘Seo Joo Hyun’ it said on the nameplate outside of the room. That was the name of the girl that I was to spend two hours, everyday, for the next four weeks.

I opened the door and the room was covered in white, the same as the hallways that it was nauseating. I scanned the room and he saw Joohyun. She was sitting down on her bed, hands in prayer position, and she was facing outside the window.

And what you didn’t expect was she looked like a goddess. She had pale white skin, straight black hair, somewhat chubby cheeks and she was draped in a white hospital gown. As much as the gown was in the way, she still looked like a goddess.

As if on cue with my first step in the blank room, her head turned around to look at him. Only problem was, her eyes were closed. Is she asleep? I thought.

“Hmmm?” Even though all she did was hummed a hmmm at me, her voice was still heavenly. And I couldn’t help but bask in her beauty and innocence. But even though she was beautiful, I didn’t really fell that fast for her.

Beauty is only skin deep, I reminded myself.

 “Oh, I’m the volunteer assigned to you.” I carefully walked near the girl and took the nearby chair to sit beside her bed.

She still didn’t open her eyes but you could see that she was waiting for me to introduce myself as she creased her eyebrows in curiosity and titled her head. She knew I was on her right and she waiting for me to continue on.

“Jung Yonghwa.” I said as I reached out my hand for a handshake. But then, I remembered that she was blind so I retreated my hand back.

All she did was nod back at me. Seo Joohyun was a blind girl and was also mute; hence she couldn’t see and talk back. But she could have conversations with people. The nurse told him that she had a sketchbook where she would write down everything she wanted to say. She was always holding on to it. It was actually in her hands at the moment.

“So… What do you wanna do?” I didn’t really know what she could do with her impairment and a room with just a table beside the bed, a few books laying around, and a sketchbook. Maybe she draws but I crossed that off since she was blind. That, and reading too. As I was thinking of something to do, she grabbed the marker on top of the nightstand and started scribbling something down on her sketchbook.

I noticed her writing something down, and read as she wrote it.

“Ho….w…a…bout…w…e…jus…t…ta…lk…? How about we just talk? What do you want to talk about?” This girl was intriguing Yonghwa. She could have just told him to either do nothing, or maybe go outside and walk around. She was mute and she wanted to talk.

Do you go to school?

”Yes, I do.”

Is school, for you, fun?

“No, it’s not.” She turned her head to look at me and titled her head.

Why is that?

“Cause it’s boring. You do nothing but sit eight hours a day and listen to teacher talk about how boring their lives are rather than math problems and English grammar.”

But then why do you still go?

”Cause I’m forced to. Yah! You’ve been asking too much about me. Oh, how old are you Joohyun?”

She started scribbling yet again on her sketchbook.

16, I guess I should call you oppa? Yo…Yo~ng oppa? I can’t think of a nickname ^^ Plus, I’d prefer if you call me Seohyun. There’s too many Joohyuns that it’s becoming common.

“Mwo? Yo~ng? Ahahahahaha aigoo… You’re so cute Seohyun.” This girl is really interesting. And never have I laughed sincerely like this. I guess I might enjoy being her volunteer more than I ever expected.

Three weeks have already passed and Yonghwa learned a lot about Seohyun. He learned how she lost her sight and her voice. She was involved in a car accident at a young age, involving a bus and a few cars. That was the accident that physically got rid of her eyesight. She had been one of the survivors but what she saw then and there traumatized her that she refused to talk, and even if she wanted to, her mind told her not to.

He also learned how she totally loves gogumas, Keroro, reading and how she’s good at playing the piano.

He remembered the day when she told him how she loves gogumas, and Keroro. He asked her who would she pick, gogumas, or Won Bin and she picked gogumas. Yonghwa even asked the same question again, but instead of gogumas, it would be Keroro. And guess what her answer was? He was laughing really hard that day. And what made him stop laughing was her pout. Her cute little pout. From that day on, he couldn’t stop daydreaming about her pout and would do anything to see it again, even if he would almost everyday.  Well, aside from her smile of course.

Though the last two would require her eyesight, it didn’t stop her from doing so. For reading, she had sometimes had Yonghwa read to her some of her books, and in the process, Yonghwa began to love reading that he would accompany her to the bookstore and buy a few books that she recommended herself.

He was a fan of rock, and the Beatles, and when Seohyun played the piano on the 8^th day, he couldn’t help but fall in love. With the piano, and to whom the hands belong to itself. From then on, he began listening to classical music such as Mozart, Chopin, and Vivaldi.

And as much as he learned almost everything about her, she also learned a lot about him. She learned how he plays the guitar, how he loves gold and silver, and how he loves Bon Jovi. They even argued who was better, Bon Jovi, or Ban Ki Moon. In the end, Seohyun, or Ban Ki Moon, won.

They also learned about each other’s pasts, personality, and the wounds that they both carry.

Seohyun had previously been an A+ student when she used to go to school. She had friends that helped her, but she didn’t trust them enough to be called her ‘real friends.’ They always asked for her homework, so she could copy them. They always wanted to be in the same group as her in class, so they would get an A+ for sure, and they never really hang out with her outside of class. But she had one, a real friend that is. Her name was Kim Shin Ae. She was the only one who stood by Seohyun, and all those years of elementary. But one day, she disappeared out of Seohyun’s life. She never showed up to school, she never texted her anymore, and when she called her parents, that was when she found out the truth. Her friend had died. She had committed suicide.

On the day that Seohyun found out about her friend, she couldn’t help but cry and be angry at her uselessness. Shin Ae would always smile when she was with Seohyun. She would tell her of some of her problems, but never did she mention about thinking of suicide. When she asked her parents what the reason was, they said it was because of her, Seohyun. And when she asked them what did she do, they said that Shin Ae had a crush on a guy, who was in love with Seohyun. She couldn’t help but cry when she heard that. Why was it that Shin Ae didn’t say anything? They were best friends and she never said anything. Seohyun felt so useless. The following day, she visited Shin Ae’s grave and cried all day long in front of it.

The next few days, the story behind Shin Ae’s death circulated the school and everyday, the bullying that she would receive from her classmates escalated. It escalated until she couldn’t take it anymore. Until she herself, wanted to commit suicide as well.

And that was when the day the accident happened. In a corner of a busy road in Seoul, Seohyun was planning how she would kill herself. As much as she wanted to die naturally, she couldn’t take it anymore. She wanted to end her life early. And when the signal for the cars went green, she immediately rushed into traffic and closed her eyes as tears started to fall. All she could hear were metals crashing and screams, while she could feel… Nothing.

She couldn’t feel anything. And then, when she woke up, as she opened her eyes, all she could see was darkness. She sat up, and heard her parents crying and shouting and apologizing. She could hear them loud and clear, but why couldn’t she see them, and why couldn’t she talk?

As she faced the direction of where her parents’ voices were coming from, tears formed and fell from her eyes, grazing her chubby cheeks. She wanted to scream, she wanted to scream out loud of how hurt and scared she was. She couldn’t see, she couldn’t talk… She was scared. She tried to touch her eyes, to see if it was there and when she felt them, her hands and fingers couldn’t stop trembling. Was she blind? Did she go deaf?

“Honey… I… I… You’re… blind… and deaf.”

She went ballistic when she heard that. She couldn’t stop throwing and pushing things off of tables and her bed, she tried to scream, but nothing came out. Her tears couldn’t stop falling from her now cold blue-iris eyes. She lost all hope of ever having a happy ever after from then on.

And ever since then, I’ve always been in the same hospital, in this same room, and in this bed.She wrote as wet drops trickled down her cheeks. She couldn’t help but cry as she tried to reminiscence on her past.

Yonghwa couldn’t help but cry along with the girl. He had known what it was to feel all alone and scared. But he had no right to say that since he could see, and could talk. All he could do was brush away her tears and cup her face in his warm hands. And he did so.

“Don’t worry. It’s not your fault. I may not have the right to say any of this, but it’s going to be okay. It’s okay.” He said as he pulled her head to rest in his chest. And as if all the weight on her shoulders that had been accumulated in the past few years were removed, she cried her heart out in Yonghwa’s embrace.

“Just cry it all out.” He said as he caressed her back as she cried in his arms.

“It’s going to be all right. I’ll be here with you.” Yonghwa raised Seohyun’s head to look at his, and even if they both knew that she couldn’t physically see, they both could see and understand each other’s soul. He then kissed her forehead, as if it’ll make a chunk of her sadness melt away, and it did.

They spent the rest of the evening in each other’s arms.

“I see you’ve been doing your volunteer work very efficiently. Don’t forget, you need to graduate so that you could take over my business.”

All his father ever wanted from him was the fact that he was going to take over his business. He never even asked Yonghwa if he wanted to take over or not. It was as if the second he was born, his father decided that it was his destiny to take over his company.

People, and his friends have said how lucky he was to have been born in a rich family, and to be given the freedom that every teenager so desires. He would just laugh at them, his friends thinking that he was modest, when in fact it was the opposite. On the outside, he would just smile and laugh with them. However, on the inside, he would laugh at them, for how stupid they easily assume your family was.

His father never really gave him the freedom he wanted; he just chose to rebel against him. Hence, failing his classes and getting in trouble. It wasn’t that he wanted his father to notice and look at him for once, or maybe it was? He just wanted his father to give him the right that he was born with, even if it wasn’t stated in paper or in the law.

“No”

His father turned to look at him, as if what he didn’t hear him loud and clear.

“What was that?” He asked in a smile so creepy, that it could even beat the sight of a bloody corpse. But Yonghwa didn’t flinched. He had made his resolve.

“No. I don’t want to take over your business and will never.”

Yonghwa could see that his father was shaking in anger and frustration but he decided not to move, to prove to him just how serious he is in his answer.

His father angrily marched towards Yonghwa and looked at him in the eyes.

“And what the do you mean by that?”

All Yonghwa did was stare at him for the next few minutes, and his dad got the message.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

His dad slapped him, punched him in the face and kicked him when he fell to the floor.

“AND WHAT KIND OF IS THIS?! YOU WILL BE TAKING OVER THE COMPANY AND THAT IS THAT! NO QUESTIONS! IF YOU SAY NO ONE MORE TIME, I WILL NOT HESITATE TO THROW YOU OUTSIDE AND LET YOU STARVE TO DEATH!!” His dad opened the door and slammed it shut.

Yonghwa tried to get up but what his dad did to him left him with a bruise in his face, and a broken ankle. He walked over to his bed and sat down to look at his ankle. It was swollen, and blood was actually dripping from his mouth and lips. He grabbed his handkerchief from his pocket and spat the metallic taste of blood onto it.

As much as Yonghwa didn’t want to take over the company, he didn’t want to starve to death either. He kicked the trashcan across the room in frustration and brushed his hand through his hair. He plopped down on the bed and felt as if the only route to take was either to follow him… Or suicide.

Seohyun had ecstatically been waiting for Yonghwa’s arrival. He said that they would visit the bookstore today and Seohyun had been wanting to read this one book that Yonghwa recommended her.

She asked one of the nurses with her outfit and all through out the time she was with her, the nurse couldn’t help but giggle at Seohyun. She looked at her in confusion as to why she was giggling and she said that Seohyun was so cute.

She asked how and she replied, “Well, cause I’ve been a nurse her for over 4 years now and this is the first time I’ve seen you fluster over what to wear for your date.” The nurse emphasized on the ‘date’ word and Seohyun could only blush and deny that it was a date. The nurse kept on teasing her and complimenting how her date was so lucky to have a girl as a girlfriend as beautiful as Seohyun.

Seohyun grabbed her sketchbook and wrote, But I’m not his girlfriend, and we’re not going on a date. We’re just going to the bookstore.

“Aigoo… This little girl. You should put a yet in there. You’re not yet his girlfriend, from what I see. Hehehehe, and going out all alone with a boy to anywhere is still considered a date, little missy.” She said as she closed her makeup kit and gave Seohyun a last look.

“Omo! You look so cute! I bet you your boyfriend’s going to have his jaw drop when he sees you!”

Seohyun tried not to deny her anymore, not that she finally accepted it, but she was tired of saying that she was wrong. But she guessed that deep inside, she had wanted the nurse’s words to be true.

The nurse then left and Seohyun sat on the chair where Yonghwa would always sit whenever he came to visit. She tried to think about the nurse’s words. It bothered her still, in a good way though.

She blushed as she remembered when Yonghwa would always hold her hands really tight, whenever he would hug her, and the time when he kissed her forehead. She guessed that she did feel something for the guy, but wasn’t sure if it was love as she hadn’t fallen in love before.

Just then, she heard and felt a presence inside the room and her head perked up to be only greeted by a slap. The person then grabbed her hair and pulled her to stand up.

“YOU! YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT YONGHWA SO STOP STEALING HIM AWAY FROM ME YOU ! HE DOESN’T LOVE YOU OKAY? AND HE NEVER WILL! I’M HIS GIRLFRIEND AND NO ONE ELSE WILL EVER BE!”

All Seohyun could do was pinch the hands that were grabbing her and cry out in pain as the girl pushed her to hit the table and the bed, making the things on her table crash on the floor and break and for the bed sheets to get disarrayed. But to no avail, the person was still grabbing and pulling on her hair and threw her on the floor. Tears fell even more from her eyes as the girl threw stuff at Seohyun, and one of them was her precious sketchbook.

“AND FYI, HE WON’T BE COMING HERE ANYMORE. HE SAID THAT HE DIDN’T WANT TO SEE YOU ANYMORE! YOU HANDICAPPED !” And the girl ran out of the room, not without slamming the door.

Seohyun’s tears couldn’t stop from falling. Not only did her head hurt from all the pulling, but her heart also hurt from the girl’s words. He never mentioned anything about him having a girlfriend. And what hurt the most was that, almost everything that the girl said was true. She didn’t know anything about him, aside that he’s a high school student that love guitars, Bon Jovi, and gold and silver. All she knew was how he teases her almost everyday, and how he always compliments her of how she seems like a goddess. How he would always laugh and his laughs bring a smile to her face. And how his touches made her squirm and have butterflies in her stomach.

She never knew of his worries, his wounds, his past. She never knew that he had a girlfriend, she never knew of the reasons why he should feel down. She only knew of things that were happy. And she felt really guilty and bad.

Seohyun knew that this kind of love wasn’t supposed to be. She doesn’t really know who he was, and if she even has a place in his heart. After all, she was just an obstacle that he needed to get over with to get on with his life. She broke down.

The nurses hurriedly went to her room when they heard somebody screaming and a door slamming. When they reached Seohyun’s room, the scene was very depressing. The bed sheets were halfway to the floor, things were scattered all over the room, broken glass, and a messy, crying Seohyun on the floor. Her dress that was all prim and ironed a minute ago, was now messy and folded and wet from all her tears and her makeup looked all watery from all the crying and wiping that she did.

“Oh dear, what happened? Who did this to you?” The nurse who had earlier helped her out took her in her arms and embraced her.

“Sshhhh… It’s all okay. Don’t need to worry.” Those same exact words were the words that Yonghwa used to tell her, but after what happened, she didn’t want Yonghwa ever telling her all of that, or even meeting her. She had just had her first heartbreak and boy, was it messy.

The next three days, Yonghwa never showed up, not that Seohyun ever cared. But there was a piece of her heart that hoped that he would. But still, from three days ago, she learned that she shouldn’t expect anything in this world. She had completely learned not to trust anyone anymore. That if she expected more than she was given, it would lead to her getting hurt and was she ever tired of getting hurt over and over again.

The usual nurse then came in with her lunch. And as soon as the nurse fixed the overbed table in front of her and put her tray on the table, she left. But not without asking Seohyun if she was okay. Seohyun didn’t answer back, not even a nod. She wanted to tell the nurse that she was, but then, she would be lying. The door then closed and tears started to fall from Seohyun’s eyes.

Seohyun then tried to look for her sketchbook from the bedside table and started scribbling something down. Her sketchbook had been her bestfriend ever since her parents gave it to her, saying that she could still talk by writing in the sketchbook. But this sketchbook was a special one. It acted as her diary. She had wanted to keep it so that when the time comes that she could see, she could try and reminiscence back on her past. And how ugly her writing would look when she was still blind.

Hey… Did you know? I had my heart broken for the first time three days ago. He was my first love, and I guess, I should have seen it coming. I never really knew anything about him at first. All I know was he loves playing the guitar, admires Bon Jovi, and would love to see me in a gold, sparkly dress…

Tears started to form from her eyes yet again and some fell on the sketchbook and smudged the writing. But they were still readable.

I also know that he loves teasing me, as he does it everyday. He also loves to laugh at almost everything I do. He also loves ddukkbokki, which became my favorite after I learned that it was his. But that was it. I didn’t know that he had a girlfriend, or anything about his family or his personal life. I guess… I didn’t mean anything to him.

Seohyun looked up at the ceiling, as if preventing her tears from falling down but failed to do so. She continued writing on the back of the page.

But even if I had my heart broken, and had almost gone bald ^^
I can’t help but say that I still love the guy. He had never made me feel so happy to be alive, in all those years that I lived in the darkness. He was the one who pulled me out of my shell, and even though I can’t see anything physically, he helped me look at this disgusting world in a new light. That even though life won’t always go the way you want it, it’s still beautiful. That the world is beautiful.

And I guess, I should thank him for that. Thank you Jung Yonghwa, for making me feel happy for the whole three weeks that I spent with you. Thank you for the care that you gave me. And even though I know you won’t love me in return, I want to tell you just how much I love you and how much you mean to me.

But with how much I love you, I wanted to hate you as well but I couldn’t. And this is all I could say…

"If you were planning on leaving me from the start,
then you shouldn't have made me fall in love with you at all."

I just hope that you too, find your happiness and if your girlfriend is the girl for you, I hope that you won’t ever let go of her. I want you to be happy with the girl you love, and no ill feelings okay? Even though your girl almost killed me kekeke.

Love,

Seohyun

Tears of joy and pain once again, fell from her eyes. She had a sad smile one as she closed the sketchbook and put it inside the drawer of the table. She couldn’t help but laugh at how her diary entry looked like a letter, instead of an entry.

I guess it might be helpful in the future for when I finally get to see, she thought. But she knew she was just giving herself fruitless hope.

9:17pm

Seohyun was already asleep when somebody came in and quietly closed the door.

“Seohyun?”

She knew that voice all too well. But she wasn’t ready to meet with him.

“Seohyun, are you awake?” The voice asked as he went near the bed and sat down beside her. He opened the lamp and looked at Seohyun’s back, which was facing him.

“Seohyun… I know you’re awake. I know you too well out of everybody else.”

Tears fell from her eyes for the umpteenth time again.

“I missed you, did you know that? Hehehehe… My dad… I… He wanted me to take over his business, but I didn’t want to.” He started off, hoping that Seohyun would try looking his way, but didn’t. She didn’t flinch.

“I answered him back and even beat me up. He threatened me that he’ll abandon me if I don’t. I didn’t have a choice. He grounded me, which was why I didn’t come the past three days. I talked to the nurses to not bail me out so don’t worry about them. You know at that time, I felt as if the world was unfair. How the world was dirty and ugly, and how I wanted to leave this world. I thought of committing suicide, just like you back then Hyun.”

Tears started to fall from Yonghwa’s eyes, and Seohyun’s started falling some more.

“I really just wanted to die. Nobody never really cared about me. My friends, my teachers, my relatives, my girlfriend, and not even my parents.”

Seohyun was shocked at what he said about his girlfriend not caring about him. She was about to sit up when he started talking.

“I heard that my girlfriend came to confront you days ago, and I wanted to apologize. And don’t believe anything she says, she just wants me to stay with her because I’m going to inherit my father’s business. I broke up with her that same day that she hurt you.”

He rested his chin on the edge of the bed and reached out his hand to play with Seohyun’s hair.

“But then, as the thought of suicide came to mind, you did too. I remembered how you wanted to do so too years ago. Now I know how you feel. You just can’t take it anymore. It’s as if you want to give up and just be… free of your problems.” He emphasized on the word.

“But then, as much as I wanted to leave this world, I didn’t want to either. You wanna know why, Hyu~n?” He playfully called out her nickname and to his surprise, she turned around to face him, her eyes red and puffy from all the tears she cried today, and days before.

He smiled as he wiped away a stray tear from her cheek and cupped her face in his right hand.

“You wanna know why?”

She nodded.

“If you want to, you have to do me a favor first.”

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and disbelief. How could he be so playful at the time like this?

“Come on now Hyu~n. It’s a simple favor. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time now. And I wanna do it with you.” She blushed and he noticed this and decided to take advantage of teasing her.

“Ayeeeee… You byuntae… I wasn’t talking about that. What were you thinking?” They both sat right up and Seohyun punched Yonghwa’s arm.

“Ouch! That hurt.” He said while soothing that place where the girl just punched him.

“Anyways, here, I want you to wear this. I’m taking you somewhere.” He handed her a paper bag. She couldn’t see anything but she knew they were clothes, as she guessed from what he said.

“Okay, I’ll get out while you get dressed, okay? If you’re not finished in 10 minutes, I’ll barge in here and help you out.” The door quietly closed and Seohyun grabbed whatever was inside the bag.

The bag had a dress with frills in the end and in the inside that helped make the skirt poof a little, and a pair of 4-inch heels. She got undressed and put the dress on, but she couldn’t reach the zipper. She then knocked on the door, indicating Yonghwa to come inside.

“You finished?” He blushed when he saw her back facing him. She was pointing at the zipper at the back and he quickly helped her out with it. He then went inside, as the nurses kept on eyeing him. She put on her heels and turned around to face him.

There was silence.

Even though she couldn’t see, she knew that he was awestruck at what he saw, and he was. Yonghwa couldn’t even begin to describe just how beautiful Seohyun was in the white dress, and matching heels that he bought for her. She proved to be a goddess in the dress she was wearing. A smile erupted on his face as he grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her out of the room.

“I won’t tell you where we’re going.” He answered since he already knew what she wanted to say.

“Uhm, I’ll be taking her out for a while, if that’s okay.” Seohyun could guess that Yonghwa was talking to the head nurse, as patients aren’t allowed to leave the hospital without permission.

“Just take care of her. And please be careful.”

We were on our way out when the head nurse shouted something.

“And don’t come back until you do the deed, Mr. Jung!”

“Ahrasso!” was his reply.

And as if he could read her mind, he answered, “Don’t worry, you’ll find out later.”

He guided her to the passenger’s seat of his car and went around to get into the driver’s seat.

Seohyun already had her seatbelt already and she was glaring at Yonghwa, as if knowing that he didn’t put on his seatbelt as usual. Yonghwa noticed this and laughed while putting on his seatbelt. She had already known how he would always forget his seatbelt whenever they would go out to go to the bookstore or just outside.

“Ahrasso. I have it on now, happy?” She nodded and that made him chuckle.

Seohyun tried to figure out where they were through the sounds and noises around her.

“We’re in an amusement park. I’ve always wanted to go here.” He said as he looked at Seohyun. She was also looking back at her with those eyes of hers that always caught him, and his heart, off guard.

“I’ll tell you later after we ride a few rides here.” Yonghwa started pulling Seohyun in almost every direction. They rode almost all the rollercoasters available, and they even went inside the haunted house. Yonghwa wanted to scare Seohyun but to his disadvantage, he forgot that she couldn’t see and that Yonghwa was the one who got scared instead of the girl. Seohyun couldn’t help but laugh everytime Yonghwa would scare and hide behind her.

“God, was that scary…” He said while wiping away the sweat on his forehead. Seohyun couldn’t stop laughing at how funny he sounded back there.

“Stop laughing! I’ll kiss you if you won’t stop!” He threatened, and that stopped her from laughing.

“That’s good. Want to ride the Ferris wheel?”

She nodded vigorously, hinting that she wants to ride it so bad.

“Okay, here.” He reached out for her hand and tightly squeezed it as they made it through the crowd. They tried squeezing in every direction and eventually, Yonghwa lost Seohyun’s hand in the crowd.

“Seohyun!” He started to look around.

“Seohyun! Where are you?! Seohyun!” He continued shouting while frantically going about the park. Leaving a girl in an amusement park was a bad idea, more so when it was a blind and mute girl.

Seohyun turned her head in every direction, trying to look for Yonghwa. She tried to listen for his voice, hoping that he was looking for her. Just then, she bumped into somebody.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know somebody was behind me.”

She bowed at him over and over again, showing that she was sorry.

“It’s okay agashi. It seems that you’re blind, and mute?” She nodded.

“Oh, that’s too bad. Anyway, here have a balloon. It’s on me. What color?”

She waved her hands in front of her and shook her head.

“It’s okay. I at least want to make you happy here. Color? Oh, I forgot, you can’t speak. Okay, I’ll just say the color and nod if it’s the color you want. Pink?”

She shook her head.

“Red?”

Another no.

“Blue?”

No.

“Yellow?”

She first pondered on it and nodded. Yellow was not only a happy color, but she remembered how Yonghwa liked gold, and thought that yellow was the closest that could ever be to gold.

“Here.” The man took Seohyun’s hand and put the balloon’s string in her hands.

She bowed, expressing her thanks to him.

“It’s okay. Oh, are you lost? It seems that somebody’s looking for you, and I just guessed that it’s you, cause a lady like you can’t be left alone. Enjoy your night agashi.” He bowed and carried his strings of balloons along with him.

“Seohyun! There you are! Aish! Whenever you get lost, didn’t I tell you to don’t move from where I leave you? Aish!” He yelled at her and all she could do was whimper. He thought that he was being too much and held her other hand in his.

“I was worried. I’m not mad… Well, kinda. But you shouldn’t move from where you are next time, okay? Geez… I almost had a heart attack when I lost you.”

Seohyun blushed and couldn’t help but smile. She knew why she had fallen in love with him and she couldn’t be happier than being with him, holding hands.

“O..O..ppa... Yo...Yo~ng...oppa" She called out his name.

Yonghwa thought he was imagining things. He thought Seohyun just called out his name, not really knowing how her voice sounded like but what she said next made his eyes widen in shock.

“Yo…Yo~ng oppa… Sarang…hae…” He turned around to see her looking at him.

“Seohyun…”

She nodded. “I can talk now, oppa…” She blushed and smiled at him.

“Seohyun…” He couldn’t contain the happiness he felt from not only the fact that she could talk, but at what she confessed earlier on.

He grabbed her other wrist and pulled her towards him, sending her lips crashing into his. He didn't care whether there were people who could see their intimacy. All he cared was to show her how much she meant to him; how much someone could ever mean to him, and how he wasn't going to let her go anytime soon.

Her knees went limp and her mind stopped working.

Moments ago, she was struggling to get out of his grasps, now; she was even answering his sweet kisses back. Her hand unconsciously let go of the balloon she was holding and both her hands went to the back of his neck, pulling him closer and into a deeper kiss.

From then on, both realized just how much they fell in love with each other for the last four weeks they spent.

“Seohyun… Saranghae…. Nado saranghae.” He said after they took a break from kissing. Tears were forming in her eyes, and his as well. He couldn’t help but smile, flashing her his toothy grin. He kept on showering her with butterfly kisses all over her face.

“Oppa…” She giggled. “People are looking…”

“Let them look. I don’t give a damn.” He snuggled into the crook of her neck and took in the scent of the love of his life, Seohyun. Never was Yonghwa this happy, ever. Even if the whole world were to turn all against him, he would never get angry at whatever they throw at him, just as long as she was with him, his life was complete.

And Seohyun was the same. In all those years that she felt guilty and had lived in the darkness, she had never thought that she would be given the chance to be happy in her life. She thought that she would live in darkness her whole life, punishment from Shin Ae. And now, she couldn’t help but cry as Yonghwa said that she loves him too. She couldn’t be any happier.

“Oppa… I know I love you and all, but this is embarrassing.”

“Aish… Now you’re saying that you’re embarrassed of me Seo Joo Hyun? That fast?” He joked as he pulled her towards the Ferris wheel. There was no line so the two got on as soon as they got there.

Yonghwa sat beside Seohyun and hugged her really tightly as their box started to get high up in the air.

“You know Seohyun, I’ve never been this happy in my whole life, I’ll tell you that.”

“Op-“ He cut her off by pulling her into a kiss, with the flashing and beautiful lights of Seoul in the background, setting a more romantic mood now that they were kissing.

She couldn’t be any happier either was what she was going to say. She tilted her head to the side, giving Yonghwa more access to . Her hand instinctively went to the back of his neck and pulled him closer. He bit her lower lip, asking for permission of her to open and she did. His tongue explored , as both savored the taste of the other. His hands began to caress her back up and down while her right hand went down to cup his face and brought it closer to hers. And inevitably, he began to pull her even closer to him. They broke off the kiss to let the other breath a little.

“Yong o-“ She was yet again got cut off by Yonghwa. And again, the cycle repeated with them sharing another round of passionate kissing.

“Sorry. I just can’t help it.” He panted from the lack of air. Yonghwa would have kept on kissing the girl in front of him if it weren’t for his body needing air. God, he would do it every second of every day for the rest of his life if he could.

“I’ve been wanting to kiss you for so long and you even confessing that you love me too is too much. God, I could die right now, did you know that?” Yonghwa cupped Seohyun’s face and brought her forehead to his. He stared into her eyes as she did too. Both couldn’t help but fall in love with the other all over again. He then grinned and started kissing her, for the fourth time tonight.

“Oppa… Too much kissing.” She giggled as she pushed him away from her face.

“Eyyyyy… You’re my girlfriend now, which means I can kiss you whenever and wherever I want.” He didn’t forget to emphasize on those two words as he wiggled her eyebrows at her.

“Ah! Byuntae oppa!” She said as he slapped his arm but he ignored it as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

“Seohyun-ah... Saranghae. And I always will. I won’t let you go, and I don’t plan on letting you leave me. I don’t care even if you get tired of me, I still won’t let go of you.” He kissed her nose and buried his face in her neck while pulling her closer.

“Nado saranghae oppa. And same here. Even if you tell me that you hate me in the future, I’ll keep on telling you how much I love you. I won’t stop telling you how much I love you even if you get tired of it.” She giggled while wrapping her arms around his neck. He leaned back and looked at her.

“Aish… There’s no way I would ever get tired of hearing you say those words. And I hope that you won’t ever get tired of me kissing you too.” He grinned.

“Aish oppa…” She pulled his shirt and kissed him. This time, it was her who took the initiative. Yonghwa grinned in the kiss and pulled her even closer.

“Omo, uri Hyunnie is finally growing up. I can’t wait for when we get in the bed after this.” He wiggled her eyebrows at her.

“Aish oppa!” She slapped his arm again.

“I love you Seo Joohyun.”

“I love you too Jung Yonghwa.”

The next day, Yonghwa couldn’t help but grin all the time. He had planned on going over to Seohyun at the hospital and propose to her. He had only been with her for four weeks but those four weeks helped him realize just how much he loves her, and last night was a confirmation of his feelings being returned. It’s as they say,quality, not quantity.

He quickly grabbed the velvet box and stuffed it in his pockets. He quickly grabbed the bouquet of roses that he bought and gave himself a last look in the mirror. His dad had let him off as soon as he agreed to taking over his company last night. He thought that as long as Seohyun was beside him, he would do anything. Even agreeing to become his dad’s puppet.

He hurriedly went down the stairs and into his car. He drove off with a smile plastered on his face as he looked at the bouquet of flowers and with the thought of her face as soon as he was on her knees, proposing.

As soon as he got to the hospital, he jumped out of the car and grabbed the bouquet of flowers and went inside. He immediately went to Seohyun’s room but before he opened the door, he let out a deep breath.

“You can do this Yonghwa. Hwaiting!”

The door opened and his smile turned into a frown.

The bed was nicely cleaned and Seohyun was nowhere to be found. All that was left of her was her sketchbook that was on the table. He placed the bouquet of flowers beside the sketchbook. He took it and opened it to the very last page.

Hey, did you know? Yong oppa confessed that he loves me too last night. I was really happy. Super happy. I’ve never been this happy in my whole life. And more that I could finally talk. I could just tell him just how much I love him everyday! Though I think that he’ll get tired of it eventually.

He laughed. “Pabo… I told you already I won’t get tired of that.”

But then, as much as I love him and would love to stay with him. I can’t… So, Yong oppa, as you are reading this, I might not be here anymore. All I could say is sorry, and I love you. Sorry, since I can’t be with you anymore. Not that I want to oppa… It’s just that, I’m forced to leave you. And I love you. I really do oppa. If God made me choose between you and breathing, I would choose you instead. I love you oppa. I really do. I love you a whole lot. And I hope that you try and forget about me from now on. As much as it hurts me to leave you, I can’t help it. Just try and be happy, for me? Find a girl to be happy with and have babies with her. I love you Jung Yonghwa and always will.

Love,

Seo Joohyun

Yonghwa couldn’t help his tears from falling on the sketchbook. He also noticed how Seohyun was crying while writing this, some of the words were grazed with dry water in them, with droplet shapes.

“Pabo… Pabo… PABO!!” He cried and cried and cried. His tears couldn’t stop from falling. Just when he was happy and felt like he could try living again, the only reason he had to ever be happy again left him just like that. He just felt as if he had lost all hope of ever being happy again, now that Seohyun was gone. He couldn’t help cry even more, as he remembered how happy he was last night. He didn’t even care as nurses who passed by Seohyun’s room would stop to look at him with sad faces as the door was open.

“If you were planning on leaving me from the start, then you shouldn’t have made me fall in love with you at all…” He wiped the tears from his cheeks.

Just then, his dad came in and closed the door, leaving them alone in the room.

“Yonghwa… She’s gone. She…” He paused.

"No no no no! What the hell do you mean by she's gone?! Where is she?! TELL ME!!!" He stood up with tears still trickling down his cheeks while glaring at his dad. He just couldn’t accept the truth that his dad was telling him.

“She died last night.”

“No! She didn’t! SHE DIDN’T!” He said as he ran out of the room and out of the hospital. He wanted to die. He couldn’t take not living without her anymore. She was the only reason he smiled in life. She was the reason why he thought he could continue living on. She was the reason why he began to believe in something as stupid as hope. But now… Now that she was gone, all of those disappeared and all he could think off were to just end his life, here and now.

He ran out to the streets with the green light still on. He closed his eyes as he looked to the sky with tears falling down on his cheeks. He could hear the sounds of car honks and of tires striding along the road, the driver hitting on the breaks, but not on time.

Don’t worry Seohyun, I’m coming.

A/N: Too much senseless kissing, obsessed suicide freaks, , s, swear words, and lovey-dovey moments. And that is all I'm going to comment today. I have been typing this up all night, my back hurts and I'm sleepy. Will fix later on, and will update epilogue later when I wake up. Mornight peeps :) Peace yo!

EDIT:

“But then, as much as I wanted to leave this world, I didn’t want to either. You wanna know why, Hyu~n?” He playfully called out her nickname and to his surprise, she turned around to face him, her eyes red and puffy from all the tears she cried today, and days before.

He smiled as he wiped away a stray tear from her cheek and cupped her face in his right hand.

“You wanna know why?”

She nodded.

This scene, there was suppose to be a different one after this. I never really planned on having Yong ask Hyun a favor to know his answer. But I have planned it where Yong was suppose to confess to Hyun at the amusement park. So hence the favor thingy. I had to prevent him from confessing at all costs, even though I haven't planned out how he was going to confess. Wanna know the answer if you haven't known already? It was suppose to be like this:

"You wanna know why?"

She nodded.

All he could do was smile as he remembered the reason why he even asked that question. He had planned everything that he was going to say from the start, even before he came to her room, but never did he imagine that he would be confessing it here.

He playfully grabbed a strand of her hair and played around with it. He brought it near his face and kissed it, but not without inhaling her scent first.

"You."

Or something like that, actually. It should have been. "Reason why I didn't want to leave this world? It was because of you."