It was sunny and the trees outside were gently bending with the soft spring wind. She could see, not far away from her, a shadow lying on the soft grass. She walked toward it, her feet melting on the ground at every touch. As she got closer, she could see that the shadow was in fact a person. Curious, she got closer and looked over his shoulders.

“What are you doing?”

He had his eyes close, and without opening them he made a dismissive gesture of the hand.

“You’re blocking my sun.” he said.

She took a step back and asked again.

“What are you doing?”

He smiled at her.

“I was looking at the sky.”

His voice… So deep, but at the same time so smooth. It was like warm waters running over her bare skin. She turned to the immensity of blue above her.

“What is there so special about the sky?”

“It is the same color as your eyes.” he said getting up.

“And so?” she asked confused.

“I like to look at it so I’ll remember your eyes, and I’ll be able to recognize it anywhere.”

She hits him in the arm, playfully, laughing.

“You’re so cheesy!”

He laughs too, and the colors of that beautiful sunny afternoon started to fade away…

***

In Ha woke up in her bed, still hearing the echo of his laugh. It was the same dream again, the one that she had from time to time. A perfectly normal scene, that could’ve been a beautiful memory, but it wasn’t. She didn’t know the boy from her dream, and as much as she tried to remember his face it would always fade away when she woke up. Then it couldn’t be a lost memory anyway because of one little detail…

She looked at her clock; it was showing 7:23… it wouldn’t be long now. The girl closed her eyes again and counted. Five… Four… Three… Two… One…

The door of her room opened and two shadows walked into her room on the sly, getting closer to her bed. But she was used to it and she could hear them from miles away. Before they could jump on her, she opened her eyes and turned her bed side light on. Instead, they were the ones jumping surprised.

“Jesus! You scared me!!!!”

“How does she do to always know?”

“Her ears my friend… best ears ever!”

She laughed while getting the little pad note next to her. She wrote something quickly, with precision, like she did a million times.

“And because every morning it’s the same thing.”

The two boys smiled at her.

Jun and Min Ki her two best friends. And yes… the little detail that wouldn’t have been possible outside a dream was to hear In Ha’s voice. She was mute for over 10 years now, even if her earing was in perfect shape, she was unable to speak. Post traumatic choc, the doctors said, after her parents died in a tragic accident. She didn’t know if it was that or not, and why she wasn’t able to speak after all that time, but when she tried it was as if someone was holding her vocal chords and she would begin to suffocate… It wasn’t that she was unable to produce any sounds since when she laughed she would hear a bit of her voice; it was just the words that became impossible to form. So now she always had a note pad next to her to communicate with everyone. After the accident In Ha was adopted by her parent’s best friends and grew up with their two sons, who soon became like brothers to her. And even if they were all grown up now, the boys still liked to like a little girl.

“Come on, noona, let’s go eat! I can already smell mom’s delicious pancakes! I’m starving!” said Min Ki.

Jun and In Ha shook their head before the unfailing appetite of the younger boy. She turned to the oldest and did some signs with her hand, he laughed.

“Yes, I agree! Then let’s make sure that he won’t eat everything!”

Min Ki frowned.

 “It’s so unfair that you know sign language!”

“Well, you would know it too if you weren’t so lazy to learn it.”

“Why should I? Noona can hear what we say and she can always write it.”

She wrote something quickly and smiled at Min Ki while showing what she wrote.

“And that’s why we can always say secrets that you can’t understand.”

“That’s so unfair!!!! I always knew he was your favorite anyway!”

Then Min Ki got out of the room pouting like a little kid. Jun turned to her.

“You shouldn’t like that, he will end up thinking that we really say secrets behind his back…”

“Serves him right.”

“Someone is moody today.” he said raising an eyebrow.

She gesticulated again, saying that she just didn’t have a good night sleep. He nodded, understanding and pressed her to come down eat breakfast, before leaving the room.

Her two friends were everything for her. Of course she had other friends but they were her brothers and best friends, and having them had always been enough. Jun was the oldest and maybe the wisest. He was always calm but that didn’t stop him from being very witty and very good in using sarcasm. That was why he and In Ha got along so well. He was the closest to her and they were what people called, real best friends. Even before her parents accident Jun and her were always together, It was rare for one of them to be apart from the other. Because their parents were so close, they managed to have their kids the same day; In Ha and Jun were born the same day with only a few minutes apart, so they grew up together almost like twins, but Jun always liked to act like her big brother.

Min Ki was the two years younger, making him the maknae. He had always been the most immature of the three but was the liveliest. Nothing could stop or kill his good mood, and he lightened up a room when he stepped in it. He could sometimes be a little childish but was always caring and trustworthy. The three of them always had a good relationship even if siblings rivalry existed sometimes, they would always end up in a good way.

They all went downstairs and came into the kitchen to find a tall and slim women indeed cooking pancakes.

“Morning mom!” the two boys shouted.

She turned to them and smiled at In Ha while reading her good morning on her pad note.

“Good morning kids. So did you two succeeded in scaring her?”

“Nope… She is definitely too good for us.”

“But you’re not going to give up are you?”

“Never!” they both answered in a same voice.

In Ha sighed and shook her head, while taking her place on the kitchen table.

“They failed again?” said another voice coming in the room.

A man in his almost fifties arrived and went to kiss his wife on the cheek. Then he turned to In Ha and ruffled her hair.

“Well I have confidence in In Ha-ah and her super powers, she will always hear them coming.”

The girl smiled at the man brightly.

Lee Eun Jung and Lee Dong Chul, her parent’s best friends. They have known her since she was born and when her parents died they insisted in adopting her, while they already had two kids to take care of. In Ha owed them everything and she was really thankful. Of course after the accident and her losing her voice, it was pretty hard, for everyone, especially since the trauma didn’t stop there and the girl lost all her memories from before that age. But all she knew after that was the warmth and the happiness of a family, that’s what the Lee’s were for her. The girl felt guilty, she had lost he