━ 𝘁𝘅𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀

blind

"Darling, trust me on this," Yeonjun mumbled, placing Soo-ah's hands on his broad shoulders before his arms snaked around her waist. "Is this okay?" He asked, planting a chaste kiss on her forehead. The girl nodded, a faint smile on her lips as she tried her best to look in the direction of his voice. After he made sure she was alright, he pressed play on the MP3 player on the coffee table before they were swept up in the music. He held her close to him, guiding her around the living room as their feet brushed the cool marble floor. "Soo-ah, I love you." Yeonjun's sudden confession made Soo-ah's heart flutter. Though it wasn't the first time he said that to her, it made her happy every time she heard him say it. For it was he who showed her how someone like her deserved to be loved too.

Kang Soo-ah was born sightless and grew up to the whispers and judgment from the people around her. Ignorant comments like "it's over there" or "I can't imagine how it is to live blind" were aplenty and Soo-ah could only nod and force a smile whenever someone said something like that. But the only comment that bothered her the most was one made by a classmate of hers years ago. Soo-ah couldn't remember in what situation did the classmate say what he said, but she would always remember that one line he told her. "Who would want to end up with a blind girl like you?" He had mocked her, and she remembered being stunned at the statement as she hadn't thought of it before. Naturally, this made her wonder if what that classmate said was true. Do blind people not deserve to be loved like any other person? Would she ever be loved by someone like those romance novels she read?

It was at her lowest point when her boyfriend appeared, giving her the slightest bit of hope in love. They met in middle school around a decade ago but didn't start dating until five years later, after graduating high school. Yeonjun was her classmate in her second year of middle school. After being bullied for the whole of the previous year, she was honestly not expecting anything good to happen but he entered her life and their first encounter was a moment she would never forget.

A decade ago

Soo-ah could hear sniggers from the tables near her and sighed. Not another day of being mocked as usual. She found it hard to adjust in the class, and even harder to ignore the constant remarks made behind her back, though it was as if her classmates thought she was deaf too and decided to talk about her right in front of her face without caring if her feelings were hurt. "Isn't it our next lesson soon, go prepare for it then. Y'all should learn to shut your mouths and stop talking shit about others." Someone spoke up from behind Soo-ah, causing her to be taken aback. Rarely did anyone speak up for her on her behalf and she instantly felt grateful to whoever it was. "Are you okay?" The voice asked and Soo-ah nodded slowly. "Who are you...?" She asked uncertainly, instantly feeling bad that she didn't even know his name. "Oh, I'm Choi Yeonjun, I sit behind you during English lessons," He replied, smiling warmly even though he knew she couldn't see him. "Ah...thank you for speaking up for me earlier," Soo-ah said, managing a grateful smile of her own. "No problem, you shouldn't take their words to heart though," He added before returning to his seat behind her as their English teacher walked in for lessons.

After that time when he spoke up for her, they began to talk more and hung out together often. Some people judged their friendship and thought that Yeonjun was dumb to be spending time with someone who couldn't even see him but he didn't care about any of that and was always quick to defend Soo-ah against all the horrible comments. "Why do you want to hang out with someone like me? You get judged for it more often than not and I feel like a burden to you sometimes," Soo-ah asked him one day as they were sitting on a grass patch in front of the flowing river. "It doesn't matter to me if you're visually impaired or not, you're still the Kang Soo-ah I befriended. The judgment doesn't get to me and I don't want you to be affected by it either. And you're not a burden to me, don't ever say that again, okay?" Yeonjun replied, placing Soo-ah's small hands into his large ones as she nodded.