“do you think he's still going to wake up?”
“the school nurse stated earlier that he'll wake up sooner or later.”
“is he asthmatic or something?”
“or maybe he has a history of heart failure?”
“what the fuck? he just passed out due to exhaustion.”
“right... stop jumping to conclusions!”
too noisy. taerae thought. the bickering sounds like a group of mosquitoes buzzing around, and it's certainly annoying him. he tried to discern who is whom by using his sense of hearing (because he cannot open his eyes for god knows why), yet he eventually failed. it's not like he can't distinguish other people's voice. his ears are in good condition and is highly functional (thanks to his love for music); thus, he can easily determine who is who through their talking voice. however, the ringing sound (he doesn't know where is it coming from) hinders him from using his sense of hearing. the vibration is too loud, making him temporarily deaf. all that he can hear are muffled noises.
“hello?” he blurts out but didn't hear his own voice. he repeated himself again and again, yet he didn't hear any single sound coming from his own mouth.
okay, now is not the time to panic. taerae told himself.
who is he kidding? who wouldn't freak out when you suddenly lose your ability to see and hear? the darkness and the deafening silence (although not a total silence; it's more like using a damaged earphone and hearing nothing but broken sounds) terrify the shit out of him.
before he totally loses his mind, taerae tried to recall what had happened earlier, which resulted to this phenomenon, to make sure that his memories are still intact. well, fortunately, he can still vividly remember the event before the disaster. he was forced to represent his class on the three-legged race. they won the first found and eventually paved the way for the championship game. then he got paired up with junhyeon for the last game. they played, and the rest was history.
taerae assumes he collapsed to the ground as soon as they arrived at the end goal. he didn't even know if his team won because of the sudden darkness that engulfed him.
but, it does not make sense. he basically passed out due to exhaustion, yet how come he cannot hear nor see anything? did he bash his head on something? well, fuck, he doesn't have any single clue on what's happening to him.
taerae cleared his throat desperately, “h-hello?”
the muffled voices became louder. it's still inaudible, but his hearing somewhat improved a little. his ears catches someone saying “he's awake!” or something among those lines.
“i can't really hear anyone of you right now nor see. can someone call the nurse or something? i'm really freaking out.” he tried his best to stay calm although he's a little shaken and close to exploding the fuck up.
after how many minutes, taerae felt a light tap on his ear, which is probably the nurse—he assumes. after a series of whatever the nurse is doing to him, he eventually regained his sense of hearing. unfortunately, his sight resides in the darkness.
“can you now hear us, mr. kim?” a soft voice—surely coming from the school nurse—appeared out of nowhere.
“uh... yes? but like, i can't really see anything.” he tried to compose himself but failed.
“oh. don't worry. this is only a temporary peripheral vision loss.” the nurse explained to him in a calm manner.
“how many minutes it'll take?” taerae assumed that the question came from park hanbin.
“it'll only take 30 minutes as long as he'll rest and stay here for the meantime.”
after a series of questions, the school nurse excused herself from the group. taerae, on the other hand, heaves a sigh of relief.
“hey, taerae, can you hear us?” a voice asked, probably jeonghyeon.
“yeah...” taerae answered nonchalantly.
“do you want us to go or would you like someone to accompany you here for like the rest of the day?” they way park hanbin conveyed the query to taerae sounds like a parent worrying about his child's well-being—which is sweet, taerae thought.
“i'd like to be left alone... i guess.” taerae answered. well, he'll take this opportunity and sleep until the end of the day. plus, he doesn't want his friends to miss the sports fest. they're very enthusiastic about it—except for taerae. it'll be a shame if they'll waste their time talking to him.
“alright then. we'll visit you later and bring you snack.” it was keita who said it.
each of them bid goodbye to taerae. after leaving the clinic, everything went silent. he's not used to it—the silence. his family are very loud, his friends are loud, even the people surrounding him are loud. but for the first time, taerae finds himself enjoying the peace and quiet atmosphere. eventually, he drifted off to sleep.
___________
a sweet, peach smell alerts taerae's attention. the distracting smell of perfume spreading around the room awakened taerae from his deep slumber. at first, he was thinking that his dream seemed to be the reality due to the addicting scent (he's dreaming about a peach tree). but then, he realized he's sleeping... it's all delusion.
eventually, he slowly opened his eyes. his vision's back, although a little blury. taerae was met with a white ceiling (probably because he's in the clinic, and most clinics have white ceiling).
“you're awake.”
is he still dreaming?
the voice sounded like a mellifluous melody in his ears, like rustling leaves in the middle of autumn season. not too loud, not too quiet. it was soft—too soft like it's going to melt. he tried moving his head, as if finding the person who called him.
to his surprise, he saw the man whose face bathe in sunlight.
“rise and shine, lovely.”
___________
a/n: i decided to continue it. hi?
YOU ARE READING
head over heels . . . JUNRAE !?
Fanfiction"do you have a crush on the class clown?"
