Hwasun One shots

Senses

Kim Yongsun was born blind, and she thinks it probably ruined her birth mother's life (whoever that was) more than it did her own. According to Wheein, she had been abandoned in the woods at birth, but luckily the bandit had found her and decided to take her in. Yongsun's more grateful to her than to anyone in the world, because she learned the hard way that no one wants a blind daughter.

Wheein never minded though. She taught Yongsun everything she could about how to survive in the world, vision or not, helping Yongsun realized that her blindness didn't necessarily make her reliant on anyone else. "All your other senses still work. Well . You're not going to have any trouble; I'll make sure of it."

So from the time she could walk, she learned how to navigate herself with minimal struggle, first inside their small cottage and then in the woodsy area surrounding it.

Sometimes she wished she could be normal , but for the most part, being blind didn't feel like an inconvenience as her birth mother must have thought it would be. Rather, it was just the way life was for her.

"What if it wasn't?" Wheein had asked her one day, her voice full of excitement.

"But it is..." Yongsun said, chuckling nervously. "I know you're really optimistic, but some things just can't be fixed."

"Well, yes..." Yongsun offered the woman a smile, hoping it would bring back the cheeriness in her voice. She didn't like to see Wheein upset. Or well, hear her upset. "But, Yongsun-ah. Haven't you heard any stories? About soulmates?"

Yongsun turned her head away. She had heard a few things. It was mostly legend, but it was said that some people born without one of their senses have a soulmate in the world, also missing a sense. The stories say that when these people find each other and fall in love, sealing the act with a kiss, their missing sense would be restored.

Not only did most of the world dismiss it as fiction, but it was incredibly rare, with only a few examples of people who had this experience. Even then, there was no way of knowing if they were valid accounts of real people. No one had ever met any of them.

Yongsun laughed uneasily. "You never know, I guess. But I think I'm just blind."

She could imagine the frown forming on Wheein's face, but Yongsun didn't want to dwell on the possibility. Even if it were true and she had a soulmate out there, how would she even meet them? Who's to say they would even fall in love? Her birth mother had kicked her to the curb, so why should she hope for some elusive soulmate to want her?

But a part of her still hoped.

Hyejin never thought there was anything wrong with her until she was about seven, old enough to ask questions but still young enough to be outspoken and get away with it.

She knew food was a source of energy and that being hungry sucked, but she couldn't understand why anyone would willingly put some of these foods in their mouth. Some were unnatural colors, some felt like slime, others were too hard, and many more were just... unpleasant.

She could bear some of it, but it was almost impossible watching some of her mother's dinner guests eating plate after plate of some of these options. There was not a single thing Hyejin could find appealing.

One day she'd had enough.

"Why do you keep eating that stuff?" She asked a guest at one of her mother's parties. This particular dish was bright orange and mushy. Sweet potatoes, it was called, and it was decidedly her least favorite food.

"It tastes delicious," the man answered. "Haven't you ever tried it?"

"It's terrible. It feels like mud."