Kyungsoo had been taught the standard English alphabet when he was young just as any other child had, but he quite often forgot what some of the letters looked like as he’d never seen them, making his writing difficult to read. This was apparently the case during the morning on New Year’s Day, when Kyungsoo was at school. Mrs Shin called him to her desk after break to tell him that he needed extra lessons in writing as she struggled to understand his work. A few other students heard what she said and felt the need to laugh; it would have bothered Kyungsoo if he wasn’t used to it by then. Mrs Shin asked the class if anyone wanted to help him write, and Kyungsoo didn’t need to see to know that they were all disgusted by the thought of it.

Once Kyungsoo had returned to his seat by the window, Mrs Shin announced that only Kyungsoo and Jongin would need to come back to school every day until the end of the Christmas holidays, which was only a week away. She told everyone that two weeks after school started again, there would be a celebration as it would be the school’s fiftieth anniversary. She mentioned that there would be a song writing competition, and the winner would perform their song at the celebration. Being a very proud teacher, Mrs Shin wanted (and expected) everyone in the class to enter the competition. She wrote all this information down and handed the note to Jongin so that he could understand what she was saying. After she’d explained everything, she said that they could begin writing their songs then and continue until the end of the day. No-one seemed to notice the hurt, lost look on Jongin’s face.

“I want you all to work in groups for this. It’s an excellent teambuilding exercise.” Mrs Shin was obsessed with teambuilding. She said it was important to learn to get along with other people, even if you were slightly introverted. Kyungsoo was more than slightly introverted – he was afraid of people, though he felt closer to Jongin. Jongin was also extremely introverted. It wasn’t difficult for him to make friends; he just didn’t want to make friends. He preferred to be alone. It wasn’t long before everyone was in a group… except for Kyungsoo and Jongin. No one ever wanted to work with them. “Well, I suppose you will have to work with Jongin then, Kyungsoo.”

“How will we communicate?”

“I’ve asked the technician to bring something for you. It only just got here. For now, move your seat to Jongin’s table, please.” Kyungsoo complied, without speaking another word. As he began to wonder what the technician was bringing to him, he heard the door open and someone walk in. The technician was there with a laptop in his hands. He gave it to Mrs Shin, who asked if it had been properly set up. The technician nodded and promptly left the room. Mrs Shin brought the laptop over to where Kyungsoo and Jongin were sat, and placed it on the table. “Kyungsoo, you will be able to type on this as it has a braille keyboard and Jongin can communicate with you as it repeats whatever you type into it.” She typed this into the laptop as she spoke it and showed Jongin the screen. He nodded to show he understood, and so Mrs Shin returned to her desk, leaving them alone.

A while passed and neither of them typed anything. Kyungsoo didn’t know what to say, and Jongin just wanted to be alone. Eventually, Kyungsoo typed “Jongin”. Jongin didn’t respond for quite a while, but then he saw the harsh look Mrs Shin gave him.

“Who are you?” He typed, as no one had actually introduced them.

“I’m Kyungsoo.”

“Why did you write on my hand earlier?”

“I wanted to thank you for the scarf and gloves.” Jongin was shocked at this – he had no idea Kyungsoo knew he was the one who had given them to him.

The bell for lunch rang before they even started discussing song writing. Jongin left quickly, as if he was afraid that Kyungsoo would follow him again. Kyungsoo was called to Mrs Shin’s desk again. “Kyungsoo,” she began. He heard her opening one of the drawers underneath her desk. She produced an envelope from the top drawer and placed it in Kyungsoo’s hands. “This is a letter to your father.”

“What does it say?” He asked innocently.

Mrs Shin sighed, as if she didn’t really want to answer but knew she had to. “We would like you to transfer to another school…”

Kyungsoo’s plan to wait for Jongin was immediately abandoned. If he was going to be transferred, he was going to talk to his stranger first. He wanted them to become friends, and even though the odds weren’t in his favour, he wasn’t about to give up. “I’m being expelled?!”

“No, no, no, it’s nothing like that. We just think you’d be more… comfortable… in another school. It’s a school for… visually challenged students… like yourself.”

“I’m sixteen. I’m only going to be in school for another two years, so why now?”

“Kyungsoo, please don’t make this difficult. It’s in your best interests. You should go for lunch now.”

Knowing there was no point in arguing, he did as he was told. He had just reached the door when he stopped, turned around, and said “What about Jongin?”

“What about Jongin?” Mrs Shin repeated.

“He’s deaf, so why doesn’t he have to go to a school for… people like us?”

“That’s not really any concern of yours, Kyungsoo.” She said sternly.

“But it is!” He protested. He really did consider Jongin his responsibility; he really did consider him someone he needed to protect. He could feel the sadness radiating from him every time they were close.

 “It is not. Now leave, Kyungsoo.”

 “Wait! I want to be able to talk to him. Can you… Can you help me?”

She could sense the desperation in his voice. “You really care about him, don’t you?” Her voice was much softer than it had been a mere moment before. Kyungsoo nodded enthusiastically. “I’ll see what I can do. But now you really must go to lunch.” Eventually, Kyungsoo complied and left the classroom.

Well, he left the classroom, but he didn’t go to lunch. He went straight to the art block, where he knew Jongin would be. At the time, Jongin was sat by the window at one of the tables, painting the rainbow he could see from where he was. He didn’t notice Kyungsoo for a while – to be precise, he didn’t notice him until a hand suddenly touched his painting (luckily not on a part of the page that had already been painted). “Jongin-ah, are you there?”

Setting his paintbrush down, Jongin stood up from his seat, moved closer to Kyungsoo, and took hold of both his hands to let him know he was there. After a few moments, Kyungsoo took his hands away and moved them up to Jongin’s face. He was surprised that Jongin didn’t leap away in disgust and fear, as that’s what he’d experienced previously.