untitled

ONE.

Jung Hoseok heard the world with his own two eyes. But never with his ears.

And never with his mouth would he utter a sentence, it was his hands that would often show what he was trying to say. They did the job most of the time, since it seemed to him that his mouth was as useless as the ears on either side of his head.

Hoseok had learnt how to sign when he was twelve. Up until the age of eleven he'd been using a small whiteboard to communicate with his friends, and he'd carry it around with him anywhere -- even to sleep.

Of course, with the way it's been phrased you'd think that he had a happy childhood despite his disability to listen nor speak. He'd sure to have had friends who enjoyed playing with him -- which he did, but even at a young age Hoseok had grown to know that none of the kindness they shared with him had been sincere.

He'd seen the way their parents had urged them to talk to him, and then he'd see the behavior they'd given him in exchange. A little unheard giggle perhaps, here and there from little Hoseok. But only an insincere smile from the reluctant company in front of him.

That often happened at the age of ten for Hoseok, and he couldn't really find it in himself to complain or tell his mother. He hadn't really known what being insincere was.

But he found out anyway at the age of eleven.

It was a new class again, and he'd ran off before the opening ceremony to find his friends from the year before. He'd remembered them writing something about meeting first before attending the ceremony together on his whiteboard -- he'd happily agreed, of course -- but an hour later he found them seated on each of their seats, their little mouths letting out roars of laughter.

Hoseok had pretended to be mad that day. Maybe he really had been, but he tried not to show it. He'd thought that maybe if he acted like he was mad then they'd apologize and him and them would be friends again.

But they never did, and they hadn't been friends ever since.

Of course Hoseok had been the one to initiate it. He'd stopped pretending to be mad altogether, and focused on trying to be happy instead. He'd tried to make new friends, but everyone else seemed to already have their own group of old friends. He'd gone home almost every day with his whiteboard clean and untouched. Other than talking to his favourite teacher, and the class rep who was assigned to write extra notes for him, he didn't really have anyone else to talk to.

So Hoseok spent most of his free time in school eating alone. He'd read before classes start and the rest of the time would be spent 'sleeping'. It continued for the rest of the year, and into the half of next year.

At the age of twelve he made a new friend. His name was Jimin.

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author's note:

no changes here! hope you enjoyed nonetheless <3