Love Is Blind, But I'm Not (chap. 8)
Hyomin walked out from the bookstore after she finished her shift for that day. Having to face hundreds of books every day, she barely can focus her eyes on the road properly. This was nothing compared to when she fell asleep in the bus on the way home a few weeks ago and missed the bus stop where she should get off.
“And till now the driver just can’t stop smiling seeing my face.” She walked on the pedestrian path and waited at the zebra-crossing to cross the road. Waiting for the sign to turn green, she hummed herself a lullaby.
“I should get my boss something for her birthday, maybe I can get a raise after that. I wonder what she would love to have?”
And as the green sign showed up, slowly she walked her way to the opposite side, when a loud honking sound suddenly woke her up from her daydreaming segment.
“Watch out!!”
And as she saw a truck was coming into her way, a sudden force threw her to the side of the road. A young man saved her life that day.
“Are you okay, Miss?” and as she saw his face, her eyes turned big.
“Lee-khun??”
***
“Thanks for saving my life. I owe you one.” Hyomin shyly expressed her gratitude toward Sungmin. Sungmin smiled, and shook his head.
“It’s nothing. Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital?” Hyomin nodded. “I’m not injured, there’s no need for that.”
And they were sipping their own drinks, when Hyomin broke the silence.
“So...you didn’t leave Korea, after all?” her eyes were looking at Sungmin’s calm face. She examined every parts of it, and found that the man that saved her life was beautiful. So beautiful.
“No. I’m still a student, plus, I still need to take care of my company. I can’t just leave it into other people’s hands just like that.” Hyomin suddenly remembered reading a newspaper about Sungmin’s dad.
“I’ve heard about your dad. My condolence. It must be hard on you.”
“Thanks. But I’m not sad about it. In fact, letting go of Kyuhyun was harder.” Hyomin gasped. She completely forgot that this man was his brother’s lover. Was?
“How is he? Is he doing fine?” he didn’t look into Hyomin’s eyes when he asked. His fingers were rubbing each other, and his eyes turned sad.
“He’s doing great. His university entrance exam is coming up in less than a week, and he is working hard right now to get into the university that he choose.” Sungmin gave out a radiant smile after listening to Hyomin’s words, as if he was content that he could hear news about his beloved.
“That’s good. That’s really good.” And the silence were hitting them, again.
Being a sister, Hyomin realised that she’s not supposed to like the feeling of having a coffee with this man whom his brother loves, but her heart told her the opposite. She suddenly managed to figure it out, why Kyuhyun could fell in love with this guy.
His beautiful eyes, his sexy lips, his smooth face, his soft voice and gentleness, his sincere concerns for other people; all the things that cannot be hate by anyone.
All the charms that could not be resisted came in a package with a beautiful man. Suddenly, she felt a slight of greed, like she couldn’t let go of this man. Not to Kyuhyun, not to anyone.
“Umm...I think I better get going. I need to take care of something. Nice talking to you, Hyomin-shii.” Sungmin was ready to start his walk when Hyomin stood up.
“Wait! Lee-khun!”
“Yeah?”
“I...I can help you if you want to meet with Kyuhyun without breaking the promise that we made.” Sungmin rounded his eyes. He just couldn’t believe what he just heard.
With a blushing face, Hyomin gave a suggestion.
“You can pretend...to be my boyfriend.”
***
His eyes were refusing to be shut that whole night. His brain was processing like crazy about what Hyomin suggested that evening.
“Be my boyfriend, and you can always watch how Kyuhyun is doing. He never saw your face before, so it would be impossible for him to recognize you.” Sungmin smiled, sarcastically.
“As if he never heard of my voice before this. It’s impossible, Hyomin-shii. Stop giving stupid suggestions.” He tried to walk away, but Hyomin ran and grabbed his arm.
“There’s a lot of people who owned almost the same voice, Lee-khun. All you have to do is change your name in front of him. That’s all.” Hyomin sat him back down onto the chair. Sungmin melted a little bit to the temptation.
“But...Hyomin-shii, why are you doing all this? You were the one who told me before that our love is forbidden? You’re the one who gave the idea to leave Kyuhyun!” Sungmin asked, confused by Hyomin sudden suggestion. Of course, he would be lying if he said that he never wanted to see Kyuhyun. He has been longing to see him and hear news about him in all these time they were parted. He thought he could get the news from Hyori before this, as she worked for him.
But as soon as he distanced himself from Kyuhyun, Hyori resigned from her work as his secretary, and they moved to another place, as the house they were living in was provided by Sungmin’s company, and non-employee cannot live there. Hyori said that she can never work with Sungmin anymore after she found out the relationship between his little brother and Sungmin.
So he totally lost his only source to Kyuhyun. And after almost a year apart, the chance that Hyomin gave was like the rain that he waited for after a long drought.
How could he not be disturbed by a chance like that?
But the condition was ridiculous. Pretend to be the sister’s boyfriend when the one that he is in love with is the brother? That would be just too cruel. To Kyuhyun, and to himself.
“Why don’t you see this as a way of me thanking you for saving my life?” Hyomin’s words did contain some meaning that only she could understand. And Sungmin was even more confused.
“I need to calm myself. I’ll go there and relax for a while.”
***
The simple, double-storey house was filled with the laughter of a child inside it. The trees around it gave a peaceful feeling to anyone who saw it.
“Is this the right address?”Kyuhyun asked. Donghae nodded his head. Since Kyuhyun never been out from Seoul before this, he felt responsible to accompany him. They planned the trip to Busan to see the family of his donor, back at school, and unfortunately, they have been eavesdropped by...
“Kyu! Donghae! You guys are so fast!” the fat boy was running hysterically towards them, while Eunhyuk, who was forced to be the fat boy’s ally were walking slowly behind him, exhausted.
“I know about Donghae...huh...but...huh...I didn’t know you were fast too, Kyu.” Eunhyuk slid his body, fit enough to stand in between Donghae and Kyuhyun. “Oh, I didn’t tell you? I’m the champion of Paralympic for sprinting, five years in a row.” He grinned, showing his white teeth.
And everyone was smiling stupidly listening to his self-praising. Even they are not his childhood friends as Donghae, but they know that Kyuhyun is a man full of self-esteem. Being friends with him for the last few months, they have seen him saying out loud anything that made him upset, blatantly scolding teachers who showed disrespects towards the students, trying his best in any competition held, and most important of all, coldly rejecting all the girls who were confessing to him!
“Just find another man. I’m not the one you should be in love with.” And Donghae was surprised for how cool his once a blind man buddy could be.
“You know what? Maybe it was a good thing that you were blind before.” Donghae told him one day.
“Why?”
“Because if you weren’t, I won’t get the chance to be a famous guy at all!”
As they arrived at the front of the house, Kyuhyun knocked the door, nervously. After a few times knocking it, a woman, in her thirties opened the door, with a confused face, looking at the four strangers in front of her.
“Lee Ri In-shii?” Donghae asked, as Kyuhyun couldn’t open his mouth. The woman smiled, and nodded. “May I know who you guys are?”
Her radiant smile somehow comforted Kyuhyun inside. He gained his strength again, and this time, introduced himself directly. As he bowed,
“I’m Cho Kyuhyun, the lucky receiver to your husband’s sight.”
***
She put down the cups of tea in front of them, inviting them to drink it. She was smiling since Kyuhyun’s self introduction before this.
“I never thought my husband’s eyes would be owned by someone as handsome as you, Kyuhyun-shii. I’m sure he’s glad to know that.” She told him as she hold a baby in her arms. The baby girl was laughing when Donghae and Eunhyuk were teasing her.
“I think I’m the one who should be glad for having you husband’s kindness. It was because of him that I get to see what I’ve been missing since eleven years ago.” Kyuhyun’s kind words silence his three friends. They were surprised that a sarcastic man like him could be so polite in front of a woman.
“He always said that he wanted to help people. Actually, it was our dream to help unfortunate people together. In fact, we first met on a voluntary work in China, seven years ago. Maybe it was my destiny to have a good husband as him.” Kyuhyun smiled, imagining about the first meeting that Ri In told him.
She met her beloved and saw him with her eyes. But he fell in love with his beloved voice. It was different. But it still share the same result; they fell in love.
As they were talking, a young boy, around five years old entered the house. His face were small, and he got a pair of beautiful eyes, and his lips are special, as the upper one were curved so deep, that he looked so gorgeous.
“What a pretty looking boy.” Kyuhyun praised, as he smiled towards the little boy. Donghae, however, felt like he has seen someone that looked just like this kid.
“This is my first son, Seunggi. Seunggi-ah, this brother here, he’s appa friend, Mr. Cho Kyuhyun.” The little kid walked towards him, and analyzed his face anatomy.
“Hyung, I think I’ve seen you before. But I don’t remember where.” Kyuhyun laughed, and hugged the boy. “How come? This is my first time coming to your house, kid.” He ruffled the kid’s hair, and suddenly, he felt the same feeling that he had when he did that to Sungmin.
Donghae was still trying to figure it out, who was the person that look similar to that kid, but he just didn’t get a clue. Well, maybe it was just a coincidence. After all, seven people in this world have the same face like us.
***
They spent the night at the house, since there were no more train tickets back to Seoul at night. Ri In cooked delicious meals, and they were having barbeque outside the house, despite the cold weather. And Kyuhyun was so entertained by the cuteness of Seunggi, doing this and that energetically only to impress the hyungs.
After that, they cleaned up, and headed to the guest room that Ri In has prepared for them. And when they were just about to turn off the light, a sound of a car came in, and they heard Ri In’s delighted voice, welcoming the late night visitor.
“What a surprise!! I didn’t expect you to come today!” but they couldn’t hear the visitor’s voice clearly, as Shindong (who has already fell asleep) were snoring like a pig.
The next morning, they woke up early, and were preparing to leave, when the sleepy looking Seunggi came and invited them to breakfast. “Umma told me to wake hyungs up, too, but it seems like I only need to take you guys to breakfast.” And then he yawned. The four friends laughed to see that.
When they reached the kitchen, delicious smells were wrapping the place. Shindong couldn’t help it but flew himself onto the chair and started to swallow up all the food he can grab. Donghae smacked his head, embarrassed to Ri In about his friend’s disrespectful behaviour.
Kyuhyun was laughing and let out a piercing word towards Shindong, but he didn’t seem to be bothered by Kyuhyun.
“Shindong is the only person in the world who can eat the whole food without munching them and still alive till this day.” And Ri In just couldn’t help but laughed together with the four friends.
“Ri In-shii, we heard a car parked near the garage last night. Are there any other guest here beside us?” Ri In seemed to be surprised at first, but then she smiled.
“No, it wasn’t a guest. It was my little brother-in-law, these kids uncle. He always visits us every time he’s free.” Ri In put a pancake onto each plate, and asked them to eat it together with her.
“So, where is he? Or has he gone home?” Eunhyuk asked with his full mouth. Donghae pinched his shoulder, as a sign to not to speak with your mouth full.
“ No, he’s not. He’s still asleep. I can wake him up if you wanna meet him.” She was about to stand up when Kyuhyun told her not to.
“It’s fine. He must be dead tired, driving alone all night to come here. Just let him sleep.” Donghae nodded, and add,
“We’re leaving after this, anyway. There won’t enough time, so it’s fine. Speed it up, you guys!”
***
They grab their bags, and walked down the stairs. The room where Ri In’s brother in law was sleeping near the stairs suddenly attract Kyuhyun. He wanted to see, just how does the man looks like?
A strange feeling was inside him. And his curiousity grew. And as his hand was on the doorknob, Donghae called for him. “Yah~~Cho Kyuhyun! We’re gonna be late!” and his hand loosen the grip. He smirked as he answered the nagging Donghae.
Just what kind of coincidence that I was hoping for? That Lee Sungmin is the one that sleeping in there?
They thanked Ri In for such a nice hospitality they had, and hugged Seunggi. “This won’t be the last time. I’ll come and visit here whenever I have the time.”
And as Ri In waved at the boys, who looked smaller and smaller from the distance, a sudden yawning from behind shocked her. An average-height young man walked out of his room, wearing a cute pair of pink pyjama, scratching his belly and covering his mouth as he yawned. Ri In smiled as she saw her brother-in-law.
“Ah, you’re awake? You just missed my guests, especially the tall one, Sungmin-ah.”
---------
Chapter 9
Chapter 7
“And till now the driver just can’t stop smiling seeing my face.” She walked on the pedestrian path and waited at the zebra-crossing to cross the road. Waiting for the sign to turn green, she hummed herself a lullaby.
“I should get my boss something for her birthday, maybe I can get a raise after that. I wonder what she would love to have?”
And as the green sign showed up, slowly she walked her way to the opposite side, when a loud honking sound suddenly woke her up from her daydreaming segment.
“Watch out!!”
And as she saw a truck was coming into her way, a sudden force threw her to the side of the road. A young man saved her life that day.
“Are you okay, Miss?” and as she saw his face, her eyes turned big.
“Lee-khun??”
***
“Thanks for saving my life. I owe you one.” Hyomin shyly expressed her gratitude toward Sungmin. Sungmin smiled, and shook his head.
“It’s nothing. Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital?” Hyomin nodded. “I’m not injured, there’s no need for that.”
And they were sipping their own drinks, when Hyomin broke the silence.
“So...you didn’t leave Korea, after all?” her eyes were looking at Sungmin’s calm face. She examined every parts of it, and found that the man that saved her life was beautiful. So beautiful.
“No. I’m still a student, plus, I still need to take care of my company. I can’t just leave it into other people’s hands just like that.” Hyomin suddenly remembered reading a newspaper about Sungmin’s dad.
“I’ve heard about your dad. My condolence. It must be hard on you.”
“Thanks. But I’m not sad about it. In fact, letting go of Kyuhyun was harder.” Hyomin gasped. She completely forgot that this man was his brother’s lover. Was?
“How is he? Is he doing fine?” he didn’t look into Hyomin’s eyes when he asked. His fingers were rubbing each other, and his eyes turned sad.
“He’s doing great. His university entrance exam is coming up in less than a week, and he is working hard right now to get into the university that he choose.” Sungmin gave out a radiant smile after listening to Hyomin’s words, as if he was content that he could hear news about his beloved.
“That’s good. That’s really good.” And the silence were hitting them, again.
Being a sister, Hyomin realised that she’s not supposed to like the feeling of having a coffee with this man whom his brother loves, but her heart told her the opposite. She suddenly managed to figure it out, why Kyuhyun could fell in love with this guy.
His beautiful eyes, his sexy lips, his smooth face, his soft voice and gentleness, his sincere concerns for other people; all the things that cannot be hate by anyone.
All the charms that could not be resisted came in a package with a beautiful man. Suddenly, she felt a slight of greed, like she couldn’t let go of this man. Not to Kyuhyun, not to anyone.
“Umm...I think I better get going. I need to take care of something. Nice talking to you, Hyomin-shii.” Sungmin was ready to start his walk when Hyomin stood up.
“Wait! Lee-khun!”
“Yeah?”
“I...I can help you if you want to meet with Kyuhyun without breaking the promise that we made.” Sungmin rounded his eyes. He just couldn’t believe what he just heard.
With a blushing face, Hyomin gave a suggestion.
“You can pretend...to be my boyfriend.”
***
His eyes were refusing to be shut that whole night. His brain was processing like crazy about what Hyomin suggested that evening.
“Be my boyfriend, and you can always watch how Kyuhyun is doing. He never saw your face before, so it would be impossible for him to recognize you.” Sungmin smiled, sarcastically.
“As if he never heard of my voice before this. It’s impossible, Hyomin-shii. Stop giving stupid suggestions.” He tried to walk away, but Hyomin ran and grabbed his arm.
“There’s a lot of people who owned almost the same voice, Lee-khun. All you have to do is change your name in front of him. That’s all.” Hyomin sat him back down onto the chair. Sungmin melted a little bit to the temptation.
“But...Hyomin-shii, why are you doing all this? You were the one who told me before that our love is forbidden? You’re the one who gave the idea to leave Kyuhyun!” Sungmin asked, confused by Hyomin sudden suggestion. Of course, he would be lying if he said that he never wanted to see Kyuhyun. He has been longing to see him and hear news about him in all these time they were parted. He thought he could get the news from Hyori before this, as she worked for him.
But as soon as he distanced himself from Kyuhyun, Hyori resigned from her work as his secretary, and they moved to another place, as the house they were living in was provided by Sungmin’s company, and non-employee cannot live there. Hyori said that she can never work with Sungmin anymore after she found out the relationship between his little brother and Sungmin.
So he totally lost his only source to Kyuhyun. And after almost a year apart, the chance that Hyomin gave was like the rain that he waited for after a long drought.
How could he not be disturbed by a chance like that?
But the condition was ridiculous. Pretend to be the sister’s boyfriend when the one that he is in love with is the brother? That would be just too cruel. To Kyuhyun, and to himself.
“Why don’t you see this as a way of me thanking you for saving my life?” Hyomin’s words did contain some meaning that only she could understand. And Sungmin was even more confused.
“I need to calm myself. I’ll go there and relax for a while.”
***
The simple, double-storey house was filled with the laughter of a child inside it. The trees around it gave a peaceful feeling to anyone who saw it.
“Is this the right address?”Kyuhyun asked. Donghae nodded his head. Since Kyuhyun never been out from Seoul before this, he felt responsible to accompany him. They planned the trip to Busan to see the family of his donor, back at school, and unfortunately, they have been eavesdropped by...
“Kyu! Donghae! You guys are so fast!” the fat boy was running hysterically towards them, while Eunhyuk, who was forced to be the fat boy’s ally were walking slowly behind him, exhausted.
“I know about Donghae...huh...but...huh...I didn’t know you were fast too, Kyu.” Eunhyuk slid his body, fit enough to stand in between Donghae and Kyuhyun. “Oh, I didn’t tell you? I’m the champion of Paralympic for sprinting, five years in a row.” He grinned, showing his white teeth.
And everyone was smiling stupidly listening to his self-praising. Even they are not his childhood friends as Donghae, but they know that Kyuhyun is a man full of self-esteem. Being friends with him for the last few months, they have seen him saying out loud anything that made him upset, blatantly scolding teachers who showed disrespects towards the students, trying his best in any competition held, and most important of all, coldly rejecting all the girls who were confessing to him!
“Just find another man. I’m not the one you should be in love with.” And Donghae was surprised for how cool his once a blind man buddy could be.
“You know what? Maybe it was a good thing that you were blind before.” Donghae told him one day.
“Why?”
“Because if you weren’t, I won’t get the chance to be a famous guy at all!”
As they arrived at the front of the house, Kyuhyun knocked the door, nervously. After a few times knocking it, a woman, in her thirties opened the door, with a confused face, looking at the four strangers in front of her.
“Lee Ri In-shii?” Donghae asked, as Kyuhyun couldn’t open his mouth. The woman smiled, and nodded. “May I know who you guys are?”
Her radiant smile somehow comforted Kyuhyun inside. He gained his strength again, and this time, introduced himself directly. As he bowed,
“I’m Cho Kyuhyun, the lucky receiver to your husband’s sight.”
***
She put down the cups of tea in front of them, inviting them to drink it. She was smiling since Kyuhyun’s self introduction before this.
“I never thought my husband’s eyes would be owned by someone as handsome as you, Kyuhyun-shii. I’m sure he’s glad to know that.” She told him as she hold a baby in her arms. The baby girl was laughing when Donghae and Eunhyuk were teasing her.
“I think I’m the one who should be glad for having you husband’s kindness. It was because of him that I get to see what I’ve been missing since eleven years ago.” Kyuhyun’s kind words silence his three friends. They were surprised that a sarcastic man like him could be so polite in front of a woman.
“He always said that he wanted to help people. Actually, it was our dream to help unfortunate people together. In fact, we first met on a voluntary work in China, seven years ago. Maybe it was my destiny to have a good husband as him.” Kyuhyun smiled, imagining about the first meeting that Ri In told him.
She met her beloved and saw him with her eyes. But he fell in love with his beloved voice. It was different. But it still share the same result; they fell in love.
As they were talking, a young boy, around five years old entered the house. His face were small, and he got a pair of beautiful eyes, and his lips are special, as the upper one were curved so deep, that he looked so gorgeous.
“What a pretty looking boy.” Kyuhyun praised, as he smiled towards the little boy. Donghae, however, felt like he has seen someone that looked just like this kid.
“This is my first son, Seunggi. Seunggi-ah, this brother here, he’s appa friend, Mr. Cho Kyuhyun.” The little kid walked towards him, and analyzed his face anatomy.
“Hyung, I think I’ve seen you before. But I don’t remember where.” Kyuhyun laughed, and hugged the boy. “How come? This is my first time coming to your house, kid.” He ruffled the kid’s hair, and suddenly, he felt the same feeling that he had when he did that to Sungmin.
Donghae was still trying to figure it out, who was the person that look similar to that kid, but he just didn’t get a clue. Well, maybe it was just a coincidence. After all, seven people in this world have the same face like us.
***
They spent the night at the house, since there were no more train tickets back to Seoul at night. Ri In cooked delicious meals, and they were having barbeque outside the house, despite the cold weather. And Kyuhyun was so entertained by the cuteness of Seunggi, doing this and that energetically only to impress the hyungs.
After that, they cleaned up, and headed to the guest room that Ri In has prepared for them. And when they were just about to turn off the light, a sound of a car came in, and they heard Ri In’s delighted voice, welcoming the late night visitor.
“What a surprise!! I didn’t expect you to come today!” but they couldn’t hear the visitor’s voice clearly, as Shindong (who has already fell asleep) were snoring like a pig.
The next morning, they woke up early, and were preparing to leave, when the sleepy looking Seunggi came and invited them to breakfast. “Umma told me to wake hyungs up, too, but it seems like I only need to take you guys to breakfast.” And then he yawned. The four friends laughed to see that.
When they reached the kitchen, delicious smells were wrapping the place. Shindong couldn’t help it but flew himself onto the chair and started to swallow up all the food he can grab. Donghae smacked his head, embarrassed to Ri In about his friend’s disrespectful behaviour.
Kyuhyun was laughing and let out a piercing word towards Shindong, but he didn’t seem to be bothered by Kyuhyun.
“Shindong is the only person in the world who can eat the whole food without munching them and still alive till this day.” And Ri In just couldn’t help but laughed together with the four friends.
“Ri In-shii, we heard a car parked near the garage last night. Are there any other guest here beside us?” Ri In seemed to be surprised at first, but then she smiled.
“No, it wasn’t a guest. It was my little brother-in-law, these kids uncle. He always visits us every time he’s free.” Ri In put a pancake onto each plate, and asked them to eat it together with her.
“So, where is he? Or has he gone home?” Eunhyuk asked with his full mouth. Donghae pinched his shoulder, as a sign to not to speak with your mouth full.
“ No, he’s not. He’s still asleep. I can wake him up if you wanna meet him.” She was about to stand up when Kyuhyun told her not to.
“It’s fine. He must be dead tired, driving alone all night to come here. Just let him sleep.” Donghae nodded, and add,
“We’re leaving after this, anyway. There won’t enough time, so it’s fine. Speed it up, you guys!”
***
They grab their bags, and walked down the stairs. The room where Ri In’s brother in law was sleeping near the stairs suddenly attract Kyuhyun. He wanted to see, just how does the man looks like?
A strange feeling was inside him. And his curiousity grew. And as his hand was on the doorknob, Donghae called for him. “Yah~~Cho Kyuhyun! We’re gonna be late!” and his hand loosen the grip. He smirked as he answered the nagging Donghae.
Just what kind of coincidence that I was hoping for? That Lee Sungmin is the one that sleeping in there?
They thanked Ri In for such a nice hospitality they had, and hugged Seunggi. “This won’t be the last time. I’ll come and visit here whenever I have the time.”
And as Ri In waved at the boys, who looked smaller and smaller from the distance, a sudden yawning from behind shocked her. An average-height young man walked out of his room, wearing a cute pair of pink pyjama, scratching his belly and covering his mouth as he yawned. Ri In smiled as she saw her brother-in-law.
“Ah, you’re awake? You just missed my guests, especially the tall one, Sungmin-ah.”
---------
Chapter 9
Chapter 7