Prologue My name is JiEun 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 JiEun. 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 SohJiHoon. 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? SohJiHoon 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. SohJiHoon. 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. SohJiHoon 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 goodlooking. 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? JiHoon 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. .JiHoon 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 JiHoon 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, JiEun. I ll be your friend if you do me afavor 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? JiHoon 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 JiEun please forgive me Chapter 2