Prologue

My name is Ji Eun and I’m turning 18 this upcoming December. I have

long, black wavy hair and bigger eyes than most people. I have a small
straight nose with small but proportionate lips. Ha, just kidding. Who
knows what I look like. I was born blind because my drunk dad hit my
mom’s stomach with a chair during one of his tantrums, causing
damage to her while she was pregnant with me. But I’m fine being
blind, I’ve come to appreciate my surroundings with my five, no four,
senses.

I have no friends at school because for some reason, people nowadays

think that if you have some sort of disability, you’re a freak. But who
cares about them, if they don’t care about me than I don’t care about
them. After my dad found out I was born blind, he took off with half
my family’s savings and ran off to who knows where. Why? I don’t
know why but I can take a guess. My mom told me it’s not because of
me, but that’s her job, to keep her precious child from being hurt from
the truth. But I can tell she’s losing it. How-she sits in our one room
apartment and does nothing but eat and sleep. How do I know that if
I’m blind? Easy-all I hear is the creaking of her bed or the clanking of
the dishes in the kitchen every day.

So to sum up my life, it’s a boring pathetic one. But perhaps if I wasn’t

born blind then it wouldn’t be this way. Who knows though, maybe
one day I’ll find my one true love and all that crap. Yeah, right. No one
wants to be friends with a blind person, so why would anyone want to
date a blind person. Yeah, I hate my life.
Until he came along.

Chapter 1

“Watch where you’re going! Oh wait, that’s right. You can’t because
you’re blind,” Soo Ah sneered at me.

Soo Ah for as long as I could remember was a total snob. She became
my neighbor when we were five years old and ever since that one
incident, I hated her with all my soul. While I was walking to my class
during sophomore year, yes even though I’m blind I can still attend
school but just a different system, she tripped me because she thought
it would be funny. I obviously couldn’t see what she was going to do so
I couldn’t avoid it. I fell flat on my face, bruising my knees. I got on my
knees and searched for my books with my hands but she kept kicking
them around whenever I touched them. She didn’t stop until it was a
minute until the bell rung and nobody stopped her because she was
the girl with all the power. I ended up being late to my class and got
detention because my teacher didn’t believe what I told her. No one
ever did.

I kept walking, ignoring Soo Ah’s comment. I’ve come to memorize the
whole school’s structure because that’s what you have to do when
you’re blind. You have to remember where everything is or else you’ll
get lost for an hour, and trust me, I know.

Soo Ah kept throwing insults at me, but like I said earlier, if they don’t
care about me, I don’t care about them. I was heading outside for
lunch and went to this one specific tree where I’ve always sat since
elementary school. No one ever came near it because I always sat
there, but I didn’t mind the lonesome quiet. I preferred it to the loud,
noisy cafeteria where they sold artificial food.

I reached out, looking for the trunk and sat at the base, leaning against
it. I took out my lunch that my mom packed for me everyday. It was
two rolls of kimbab with a bottle of water like yesterday, the day
before that, and the day before that too. You get the point. I was on the
last roll when I felt a presence in front of me. Whenever you’re blind,
your senses heighten up to the extreme, I guess to make up for the
loss of sight or something. I looked straight, wondering what the heck
did they want. I waited, not saying anything, wondering if they would
go away. But a little part in me wanted whoever it was to stay, giving
me company for once in my life.

I could feel them just standing there, not moving. It was about five
minutes until whoever it was said something.

“So you’re the blind girl. Huh, prettier than I expected for someone
who can’t see herself. What’s your name?”

I sat there, motionless, not even breathing. It was the voice of a male, I
would guess around my age because it was deep. Those few words
kept playing itself over and over again in my head. Prettier than I
expected. So I was pretty? Huh, wish I could see so for myself.

“My name is Park Ji Eun. And what’s yours?”

He didn’t say anything for a while. He just sat down in front of me,
staying still. He finally spoke after I started to eat again.
“My name is Soh Ji Hoon. May I have a piece?” he asked.

I held the foil the kimbab was in to the general direction his voice was
coming from, not sure how far or close he was. It was only three
seconds until I felt him grab one, so I’d say he was a foot in front of me.

Why is he here? Soh Ji Hoon is a new transfer student from America

that everyone was talking about. They said he was charismatic, tall,
and good-looking but how would I know? I could only guess and
imagine what he looked like.

“Soh Ji Hoon. Hm, why are you here? I’m pretty sure by now everyone
has told you I’m blind and therefore a freak. What do you want?”

He hesitated but answered faster than before.

“Everyone kept saying you were a freak and so I wanted to see so for
myself.”

I didn’t show it on my face, but that hurt. Usually I would ignore those
comments, but it hurt because it was from someone I thought would
be my friend. Wrong again, like always.

“So I’m a freak, whatever. Now that you’ve seen me with your own
eyes you can go along with your happy life,” I sneered, masking my
hurt with anger.

Soh Ji Hoon didn’t move though. He just sat there, quiet and unmoving.
What was wrong with him? Why didn’t he get up or retort back with
an insult? But secretly, I liked that he was here, giving me some sort of
company. It was pathetic, but I took what I could get.
“Those kimbab are good. Who made it for you? Your mother?”

“Yeah my mom made it for me. You can have the rest, I’m full.”

I handed the kimbab to him and he took it without hesitating.

“Thanks,” he mumbled and started eating.

It was quiet for quite some time but I didn’t mind. It was comforting to
know that there was someone beside me, another person to talk to.
Sort of.

“Would you like me to describe myself? I know you can’t see me so I’m
pretty sure you’re wondering what I look like.”

What the heck. That was really random, but yet, dead on target. I was
curious to how he looked like. Maybe he had blonde hair since he was
from America, I heard that was what Koreans did when they lived
there. Maybe he had a feminine face since people said he was good-
looking. Maybe he wasn’t actually that tall. But the thing is…even if he
told me to the deepest point of detail as to what he looked like, I still
wouldn’t know. I never knew what a color looked like or how tall is
tall and all those other things. I was born blind, so how would I know?

“It’s all the truth so you won’t have to wonder if I’m making anything
up to make myself seem better. I have naturally black hair that’s
around a normal guy’s length and a straight nose that my mom always
says other people envy but whatever. I have a strong jawline and I
guess you could say I’m not really buff, but I’m not scrawny either.
Somewhere in between. I’m 6’3 and have fairly big eyes that are really
dark brown to the point its black.”

Why am I talking to a guy like this? Someone who other people

considered “popular”. There must be something that he wants, but
what?

“Ji Hoon…why are you really talking to me? If you get caught talking to
me than you’ll suffer in humiliation for the rest of the year.”

I have no freaking idea why I said that. It just came out of my mouth of
its own accord. What the heck…

“I’m talking to you to prove others that you’re not a freak. You’re just a
girl who can’t see, but that doesn’t make you different or a freak.”

….Ji Hoon may not have known it, but those words gave me hope. Gave
me hope that I could live normally like the others one day, having
friends maybe.

“Oh…thanks…can I ask you a favor?”

I really hoped Ji Hoon would do it for me. No one else would talk to me
and my mother became wasted and useless so I hardly talked with her
anymore so he might be my only chance. Oh hopefully God will be
kind enough to grant me this one small favor.

“Depends on what it is?”

“Can you describe to me what I look like? No one ever talks to me and
my mom’s wasted and useless so I hardly talk with her and my dad
ran off when he found out I was blind.”
I couldn’t see it, but in his eyes was a spark of pity. Pity for a girl who
had nothing and yet still lived and endured the treatment that she
didn’t deserve. A girl who knew what nothing looked like, not grass,
trees, humans, not ever herself…

“…alright. You have waist long straight dark brown hair, sort of like
my eyes. I’d estimate that you’re 5’6 and you have a petite body with
small hands. Your eyes are dark brown and almond shaped. They
aren’t big but they aren’t small either. You have average sized lips and
you have one dimple on your right side. You have natural blush
because you’re blushing as I speak.”

I could tell he was smirking at the end because his voice changed
pitch. Huh…so that’s what I look like…I don’t really know what the
color of brown is or how tall 5’6 is and all those other stuff, but it was
nice to hear anyways. Nice to hear a voice besides my own…

“Tell you what, Ji Eun. I’ll be your friend if you do me favor just like
you asked me a few moments ago.”

A friend? Him? I was really going to have a friend by doing a favor?

That simple?

“What is it?”

“Promise me to never cry or feel sad for me.”

What kind of favor is that? To never cry or feel sad for him? Why
would I even do that in the first place? But that’s fairly simple so yes! I
finally got a friend! How could it be that simple?
“Um okay? I promise to never cry or feel sad for you?”

Ji Hoon smiled a sad smile at the girl, feeling a deep sense of sadness
for her. The girl couldn’t see his smile, but that was okay. It was okay
because from now, he wouldn’t leave her side. He wouldn’t leave her
side ever again. Not again like last time…

Forgive me…Ji Eun…please forgive me…

Chapter 2