CHAPTER FOUR
REALIZATION hit kihyun hard.
it wasn't until he drove home after his shift that night, when he was laying in bed, staring at the dark ceiling, that his mind started to reply everything changkyun confessed to him hours ago. it was the 'i miss seeing her' that made the boy almost fall from the bed. because how can you miss seeing someone if you're blind- unless, changkyun wasn't actually born blind and something happened to cause the disability.
now, he was sitting on a chair behind the counter, eyeing the clock on the wall next to him, expecting nayoung and changkyun to arrive any second.
within a matter of moments, the sound of people giggling drowned out the radio playing, and kihyun had his gaze on the two who were approaching him.
he bit down on his bottom lip, trying to ignore the curiousity tugging on his tongue. he wanted to ask changkyun how he became blind, but the boy only told him barely twenty-four hours ago, and he didn't exactly want to seem like he was intruding into his personal life. would it really be rude for wanting to know how it happened? kihyun let a quiet groan slip past his lips, wishing he'd just stop overthinking every single thing.
he turned the music down, and the boy's giggles ceased, along with nayoung's, his head turned in the direction of where kihyun was sitting. the dark haired boy's heart pounded against his chest, palms already clammy from his anxiousness. the girl held changkyun's hand, like always, guiding him over to a bench. she looked at the boy one more time, before walking over to the counter.
"he told you?"
kihyun slowly nodded, filtering the right words to say through his brain.
hesitantly, he asked, "he wasn't born blind, was he?"
nayoung shook her head, eyes flashing with an emotion kihyun couldn't quite decipher: "no, he..." she paused, letting her eyes glance over her shoulder. placing the palm of her hands on the counter, she said, "he should be the one to tell you. it's hard for him to trust people, but i can already tell he's opening up to you more."
kihyun watched as changkyun peacefully sat there, fingers tracing over the material of nayoung's bag.
"i should go. but one more thing," she spoke, drawing in kihyun's attention. "all he needs is caring people in his life, i hope you can be one of them."
"i will be."
and with that, nayoung left to practice, along with changkyun.
kihyun stayed sitting at the counter for another hour, already done with the cleaning hours before hand- most of it was done out of boredom, the other part was in attempt to distract his mind. fingers bouncing up and down on the counter top, the boy was in the middle of having a mental pep talk. he wanted to sit with changkyun again, speak to him, but for some reason he couldn't get his legs to comply.
he was terrified to blurt out the wrong thing, terrified he'd screw up and make changkyun feel uncomfortable. despite that, he needed to push his feelings aside, and be a good friend for the other because that was what he deserved.
well, he didn't know if they were friends yet, but it was a nice thought.
trying to ignore all of his fears, he slowly started walking over to the skating rink, praying that everything would work out fine.
stepping down the stairs, he realized changkyun wasn't sitting in his usual place. instead, he was skating and he looked incredible. kihyun's full attention stayed on the boy, watching as he attempted jumping into the air. changkyun ended up stumbling a bit when he landed, but nayoung was there to help him. the song playing sounded familiar, kihyun remembered the other saying this was his favourite performance of nayoung's.
with quick movements of his feet, changkyun successfully did a spin on the ice.
by now, kihyun had his hands resting on the railing, admiring how effortless the boy made the trick seem.
"come skate with us, kihyun!" nayoung called out.
the boy nervously scratched the nape of his neck, not too enthused about the idea of wearing boots with blades, skating across rock-hard ice. that whole scenario in his head screamed bruised body for a month.
"i don't know..." he shrugged.
nayoung dragged her skates across the ice, stopping at the wall. changkyun carefully made his way over, too.
"no one else is here, you're not going to get in trouble. and we're not going to tell anyone," she looked to changkyun, which the boy just nodded his head, gaze hovering somewhere above kihyun.
"but i don't know how to ice skate," kihyun admitted.
one minute, nayoung was standing upright, perfectly calm, then the next, she was on her knees, laughing too loudly at what kihyun said. changkyun had a hand covering his mouth, yet kihyun could tell he was only trying to suppress his own laughter.
the girl held a hand up as if it'll help her catch her breath, "you work at an ice skating rink, but you don't know how to skate? how ironic."
she giggled some more, not caring about how exaggerated she was actually making it, although kihyun did find it sort of hilarious.
changkyun's fingers ran along the railing until they met kihyun's.
"maybe another time?" he smiled.
it was like kihyun's entire soul turned into static, and all he could do was mutter a simple, "i'd really like that."
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a/n: happy 2 years with monsta x!
