Signing // Mark ff

left out

They eventually fell into a routine of silently doing work until Kyungmi had a question about a problem she had to solve. However, after a presumably hard question, Kyungmi let her head fall heavily into the desk, scaring the shit out of Mark.

Kyungmi saw the way Mark jumped and let out a little laugh. "Sorry, was that too loud?"

Mark shook his head. "No, it just scared me." Kyungmi nodded and was about to finish what she was writing when Mark tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.

There was one question that was eating away at him. He was a curious person and couldn't help but wonder. "How did you become deaf?"

Mark quickly cursed at himself as he saw the way Kyungmi stiffened. "I'm sorry! That was an invasive question." Kyungmi sighed, shaking her head. Mark saw Kyungmi put her pencil down, walking over to his bed to go lay down with her back against the headboard. She looked at Mark expectantly, patting the spot beside her. Mark got the hint, going over to carefully sit beside Kyungmi.

Kyungmi stared down at her hands, making Mark worry. He tapped Kyungmi's shoulder to get her to look at what he was saying. "Are you sure you want to talk about it? It was something I kinda just said, I don't think before I talk." A soft smile grazed Kyungmi's face.

She took a pen and notepad that was on her bedside table and placed it in between the two. "It's okay, people ask me about this all the time, I'm used to it." Mark slowly nodded, partially confused as to why Kyungmi was writing like this, even so, he didn't question it and let Kyungmi start. "I was born with bad hearing so the doctors assumed that I was going to lose my hearing eventually, they just didn't think it was going to happen that quickly."

As soon as Kyungmi wrote something down she looked straight at him. Mark knew that it was because she had to see what he was saying, but it still made him feel kind of special. "When did it happen?"

"Around grade 7." Mark winced, that's a terrible time to lose something so important. Going into a new school with completely new people was already hard, but doing that without your hearing must've been nearly impossible. "But, I was lucky enough that Renjun and Chenle were in most of my classes, so they helped a lot."

Mark nodded. "When did those two learn sign language? They both seem really good at it."

A warm smile made its way onto Kyungmi's face. "When my hearing was getting really bad my doctors recommended that me and my family go to sign language classes. Those two heard about it and decided to join us. I honestly don't thank them enough for that, it's probably the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me."

Kyungmi spoke so highly of her friends and it made Mark's heart melt. And the fact that Kyungmi was writing this all down instead of texting it made it feel more intimate, Mark loved the feeling.

He looked at Kyungmi for a second, debating on asking another question. He wasn't sure if this was pushing the boundaries they had but he decided to ask anyway. "Was it ever... hard? Like, did you ever feel bitter or sad about everything?"

Kyungmi didn't look taken aback or offended by the question, she kinda just stared at Mark before scribbling something down. "I was frustrated. Being 13 and not being able to do anything freely was annoying. It felt like I had gained freedom just for it to be taken away." Kyungmi remembered the day that she woke up and heard nothing. "My parents always tried to let me do what I want, but being young and unable to hear wasn't the best combination."

Going somewhere completely new without being able to hear didn't exactly set her up for success. She saw all her friends go out after school and make new friends while she had to stay at her lunch table and watch it unfold. Yes, she had Chenle and Renjun, but she couldn't help but feel jealous.