w  a  r  r  i  o  r | {04} 

“Your father’s deaf.” Sehun says. He looks up at Miyeon who is stirring her food around. “He’s deaf.” He says again.

Miyeon looks up; this is the first time she’s heard about this. “What?”

Sehun scoffs. “Noona…really? You really didn’t know?”

She shakes her head. “We never talk anyway.”

Sehun sighs.”Miyeon, you really should do something about your father. He’s all you have.” He reminds her.

Miyeon puts her spoon down and stands up. “I don’t have an appetite.” She mumbles.

Sehun gets up and reaches for her arm across the counter. “I promised Zitao I would sit here until you finished.”

“Where is he anyway?”

Sehun shrugs and checks the time. “He said he went out to get something.” He eyes her father again. “But Miyeon, really…”

Miyeon turns around and leaves for her room. “I don’t want to talk.”

Sehun sighs in defeat. “She’s so sensitive when it comes to this…Why?” He follows her down the hall just to stop and stare at the few hanging portraits on the walls. Her mother seemed like a nice person, his father once looked like a happy man as well. He eyed the man standing next to Miyeon and scratched his head. Every time the boys asked about him, Miyeon never answered. Who was he?

***

Zitao walked into the living room and bowed when her father turned around. The elder nodded and waved his hand.

“What’s that?” Sehun asked.

Zitao took the book out of the bag. “There’s a bookstore I passed by when I was walking Miyeon here. He’s deaf…I’d like to communicate with him.” Then he eyed the book and looked up. “Or I could’ve asked Miyeon to teach me-“

Sehun shook his head. “She didn’t know he was deaf until today.” He said quietly.

“What?”

“Remember? Messy family status? She has a bad relationship with her father.” Then Sehun pointed to her. “Look how young she looks here….this was years ago.”

Zitao turned to look at whatever Sehun was paying attention to. “Is that her mother?” He asked.

Sehun nodded. “She doesn’t look like Miyeon at all; I guess she resembles her father more.”

“Who’s that?”

Sehun shrugged. “No one knows.”

“I’m going to ask-“

Sehun held him back. “No don’t-“

“Calm down, it’s a simple question.” Zitao said as he left for her room.

Sehun stood there defeated. “She’s not gonna tell him anything.” He mumbled.

Zitao peeked into Miyeon’s room to see her sitting there fumbling with the strings of his hoodie. “Miyeon…”

She looked up and sat up as he closed the door. “Where’d you go?”

“I went to get something.” Zitao said. “There’s a family portrait on the wall. Who’s the guy standing next to you?”

Miyeon stared at Zitao for a moment before giving in. “My older brother. He died.”

Zitao was taken aback by how blunt she was about this topic. “O-Oh…”

“My mother left years ago. Is there anything else you want to know?”

He held his hands up and shook his head. “I didn’t think you’d tell me but okay.”

Miyeon hugs her legs and pulls his hood over her head. “Aren’t you going to ask me how my brother died or something?”

Zitao shook his head. “You can tell me another time-“

“His name was Jongin.” Miyeon sighed. “Kim Jongin.”

He sat there and listened carefully as she continued.

“He liked the color blue a lot.” Miyeon said. “His favorite food was pizza and he loved to dance.” She whispered. “…I miss him.”

“What about your mother? What was she like?”

Miyeon shook her head. “I don’t like talking about her.”

Zitao nodded and ran his fingers through his hair. “I understand.” He said. “Get some rest.”

“What’s that?” Miyeon asked as she eyed the book he was holding.

“A book on sign language.” Zitao said. “Your father can’t hear and the only way anyone can communicate with him is with this.”

Miyeon looked at him. “Am I a bad person?” She asked.

“Why would you be?”

“I honestly didn’t know he was like that until today.” Miyeon said quietly. “I knew he was in a wheelchair and all but I really didn’t know he was deaf…I just…I thought he ignored me all these years and it’s one of the reasons why I resented him for so long.” She mumbled.

Zitao stood up and pushed his chair away as he sat next to her on her bed. “Minseok says you had a lot going on in your life for a long time. You focus on yourself a lot but hey, are you sorry for being human?”

Miyeon nudged his shoulder and rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” She mumbled.

Zitao flipped the book open and turned to the first page. “It’s not too late to learn.” He said.

Sehun opened the door slight and peeked in. He saw Zitao sitting next to Miyeon, they were reading that book he brought together and for the first time in a while, they didn’t bicker or scream at each other.

He remembered how they were like just a week ago; Miyeon was wrestling Zitao and the boys sat on the side. They sat and watched, their heads turning from one side to another as they rolled around the field with their arms around each other’s necks.

“Let me win!” Miyeon screamed.

Zitao wrinkled his nose. “You think I’m gonna let a girl win?”

“I’m stronger!”

“I’m stronger!”

“I’m a professional you punk!”

“Shut up and let go already dammit!”

The boys only watched with a poker face as they continued to insult each other as they flipped and flopped around the field.

“You’re adopted!”

“You’re ugly!”

“You’re crazy!”

“I make more money than you!”

“You’re scared of kids! What a loser!”

“You can’t even shower alone! What an idiot!”

The most bizarre thing about the two was that after the wrestling ended (which well, it only ended when Chanyeol got up to pry each other off one another), they stood up and high fived each other saying “Good fight!” or “Let’s beat each other up again tomorrow!”

Sehun chuckled and closed the door. “Wow…they’re uh…they’re one hell of a couple aren’t they?” He said quietly. “So Zitao is the person who will crack her shell…Interesting.”

He looked up from the television program he was watching when he heard a unfamiliar sound. Something so new to him it was almost mind-blowing.

Miyeon laughed. 

[a/n]: aw look at zitao and miyeon hittin' it off! 

comments are much appreciated!