Pleasant Imagines (Jinjoo)

I hear you

Minju's POV

I've always wondered what it's like to live in silence. That feeling where you wouldn't have to care about anything, words people say won't affect you in any way.

Wouldn't that be peaceful? You can shut people out so you wouldn't hear a bunch of bullshit floating around especially when they're useless insults given to you or someone else.

There's this girl, she transferred to my school about two weeks ago. No one knows why she transferred.

At first, people asked but she blatantly ignores whoever is talking to her. The instant she did, rumours spread about her being ignorant, and not wanting to socialise with people. I don't blame her for not wanting to, this school's a little wonky.

Basically, she was the topic for the past few weeks.

I've never spoken to her because my group of friends told me not to. She's in my class and sits in the corner, always listening attentively.

That's until I found out she wasn't.

"Guess what I heard," Miyeon spoke while I looked up with chopsticks in my mouth.

"Ahn Yujin," she said.

"What about her?" Yena sips on the seaweed soup. We're currently in the cafeteria.

"I heard she's deaf." I think I might've bit on my tongue the moment she said that.

"Huh?"

"Yeah. That's why she hasn't been talking to anyone. She can't hear us." Miyeon shrugged, reaching for her little carton of milk. I'm not sure if she's speaking the truth or whether it's some rumour she got from others.

Miyeon loves to eavesdrop on gossip. She's our daily news reporter. Not the most credible.

"Are you sure that's not just some random information you picked up on the way?" Yena snickered. We can't really trust her on these things.

"Yeah, but it makes sense." Miyeon tried explaining.

"Wouldn't the tutor tell us if she's unable to hear?" I asked.

I mean, we should be made known of that fact the moment she came into this school. Now that brings me to the question of how she listens to class.

"There's something called hearing aids Kim Minju." Yena pointed her spoon at me as if I asked something stupid. "Maybe she just doesn't want us to know."

"Why wouldn't she?" My eyebrows furrowed.

"I don't know. You can go talk to her if you wanna know."

"You guys told me not to." I frowned.

"That's because we don't want you to get hurt. You know what Eunbi and the gang do to her." I may be clumsy but I know how to defend myself.

"She's an outcast Minju-ah. You don't wanna talk to an outcast unless you wanna be one." Yena agreed with her.

"Do they know about her?" I asked about Yujin being deaf. I really hate labelling her like this. Is there any other way I can, you know, address her?

"Obviously. They were the ones I heard it from." Miyeon finished up the last bit of her food, wiping her mouth clean with tissues. "I mean, what else can they pick on her for? Her height?"

"She's tall." Yena raised. She is tall and I see her standing up from her seat right at the corner of my eye.

Ahn Yujin. I'm not sure why she wants to keep that little secret of hers but she probably has a reason to. Although I can't come up with a possible one.