Jiyong closed the door of the counselor's office behind him. He squeezed his temples hard, feeling exhausted. He shook his head at his foolishness. What made him open up to that old man? Now, the old man is probably going to call him back for further consultations. However, he had to admit, in some strange ways, he was glad he could tell someone exactly what he felt. He had been keeping those thoughts inside him for way too long. 
    
    He stepped out and headed in the opposite direction from the other students. He was going to skip classes. He climbed the stairs, two at a time to the top, dark level. He pushed open the heavy, paint-peeling door and stepped into the rooftop. He closed the door and sat beside the door, leaning back.
    
    Jiyong sighed and closed his eyes, letting his thoughts wander for a while. When his thoughts landed on suicidal which always happened one way or another, Jiyong would reach deep inside his jeans' back pocket and pulled out a bottle of sleeping pills. He stared at the pills in fascination. How easy it was to take away his life. By popping a few pills, he would be gone, erased and no one would even notice. They would probably gasp in horror and exclaimed how nice of a guy he was when they never even spoke more than two sentences. 
    
    As much as Jiyong desired to be dead, he knew that this was the last resort. He understood perfectly that this was not a game. He could not get a second chance. He would only swallow those pills when he truly wanted to be dead. As for now, he had to grit his teeth and bear with it.   

    He played with the bottle, twirling it around and spinning it. Suddenly, the door was pushed open, startling Jiyong which made him drop his bottle of pills and it rolled down. Before he could get up and start chasing the bottle, another girl did it for him.
    
    "Oh my!" She exclaimed. She quickly ran after the bottle of pills. Jiyong was about to call her back when he noticed that she was clutching something that seemed like a voice recorder. He squinted after her. 
    
    She stopped the bottle with her foot and sighed in relief. She squatted down, picked it up and beamed at him. Jiyong was about to grin back at her but he stopped himself. That was so not like him. He cleared his throat and walked over. He muttered his thanks and reached out to get his pills back. But, the girl pulled her arm back and gave him a cheeky smile. 
    
    "I will only return your pills back if you help me do something." 
    
    "No."
    
    She pouted at the immediate refusal. 
    
    "Well then, I think I have to report this to the principal. Imagine what kind of trouble you will get into when the principal finds out what you have."
    
    "These are just ordinary sleeping pills. And I am diagnosed with insomnia. So, your threat does not scare me one bit."
    
    He reached over and snatched the bottle back. He turned his back on her and walked off. 
    
    Seoni stared at his back, thinking furiously what could make him stay. She had no idea why she wanted him to help her so desperately. Was it the deadness of his eyes? Did she think she could get him to help her and himself too? 
    
    "Oh come on! Can't you do just one favor for this girl who is turning deaf soon?" 
    
    The truth, she decided, she would tell the truth. 
    
    Jiyong stopped short in his tracks. Did he hear correctly? 
    
    He turned around and was surprised to see obvious relief in her eyes. She waved the gadget she was clutching. So it was a voice recorder, he thought. 
    
    "A few months ago, I had high fever. And I was rushed into the hospital. The doctor there found out that I had inflammation of my cornea and he diagnosed me with Cogon Syndrome. But instead of affecting my eyes, my ears were affected. Slowly, my hearing is disappearing. I decided that I wanted to collect all the sounds and listen to them one more time before I become completely deaf."
    
    As she was talking, she walked slowly, step by step towards the young man. 
    
    She took his hand- the one that held the bottle of pills and moved it a bit, causing the bottle to jiggle. Seoni looked up at him and pleaded earnestly.
    
    "Would you help me?"
    
    He had relented ever since she called out after him.
    
    He shook the bottle of pills hard. 
    
    "Alright but only this time."
    
    She grinned and pressed 'Record'.
    
    He shook the bottle hard again. Seoni then passed the voice recorder to him and took the bottle to rattle it. He grinned as she started moving her body to the sounds of the bottle. 
    
    By the time Jiyong pressed the 'Stop' button, they were already on the ground, laughing hard. The girl stopped laughing slowly and smiled at him. He, suddenly feeling conscious of himself, cleared his throat and shoved the voice recorder back to her. 
    
    "What's your name? I'm Seoni Lee."
    
    "Kwon Jiyong." 
    
    She leaned on the wall and repeated his name. 
    
    "Kwon Jiyong. Kwon Jiyong. Kwon Jiyong."
    
    "Aish why are you repeating my name?"
    
    "I never want to forget how your name sounds like." 
    
    Jiyong grew silent and then, he reached over and grabbed her voice recorder. 
    
    He held the voice recorder and pressed 'Record'.

    Eyes on Seoni, he said, "I'm Kwon Jiyong. Kwon Jiyong, you hear me? Kwon Jiyong. You can never forget how my name sounds like." 

** How was it? :) Please comment and show me your love! ^^