Don't Fall In Love | HeartLiming | GeminiFourth

Chapter 13: Heart's Li Ming (Epilogue)

2022

Heart had always been a well-behaved kid. Ever since he was a baby, he always listened to his parents and never acted out. He never had mischievous tendencies, never threw tantrums, and was never disrespectful to anyone.

After he lost his hearing in an accident, at the very young age of fourteen, he became even more obedient. He ate whatever his mother cooked for him, did whatever she told him to do, never left the house because she didn't allow it, and never met his friends ever again. Except for the countless alcohol bottles he raided from his father's collection, he was the picture-perfect child.

But no. That wasn't true. He wasn't perfect, and he wasn't a child. He was actually a shadow.

Heart never had a strong presence in their big, dark, and cold house anyway; but after becoming deaf, he wasn't even a real being anymore. He didn't exist. He was always forgotten between pages, always left behind closed doors, always pushed away like a meaningless thought. He was around, he was daily given the false hope of being cared for, by notes and by a few emotionless pats on his head, yet at the end of the day all he ever was a cornerpiece. Not recognized. Not seen. Not accepted.

His parents were used to him, but that was all.

Every passing day, it was the same pitiful story in Heart's life; until one day a random boy entered his house. He stood there in his high school uniform, holding a small bag of chicken rice, face red with anger and eyes blazing with the reflection of his boiling thoughts, screaming injustice. As if he was going through this exact thing every day. As if he already had enough on his shoulders. As if the world was too mean to him.

He was only a high school student. How could he be this tired already?

The boy stood there, leashing out to Heart and not holding anything back, and for the first time in his life, Heart saw the color red.

Heart knew he was being bratty, but he was used to getting away with everything at that point. It was one of the perks of being invisible. He would do whatever he wanted and nobody would notice. Also, he was scared of his father, those bottles were expensive. So he lied, blatantly, and somehow things got out of control. He caused that tired boy even more damage and caused him to carry even more burdens after that.

He started working at their house and while Heart was trying to stay watchful around him, things went in a different direction pretty quickly.

Heart didn't know he would have a friend in that boy. That boy, Li Ming. It happened so fast that Heart had no time to react, to take a moment and weigh everything in his head. One day he was fighting with him over spilled things and the next thing he knew, he was watching the front door, wishing it would open already and bring Li Ming back to him. He was a new air to Heart's stuffy days, he brought laughter back to his life, and he caused Heart to remember how things could actually be interesting.

Heart was deaf, but he felt like he was hearing again with him. Everything had sounds, everything buzzed and rang. Heart could almost reach the vibration in Li Ming's words, touch his laughs, hold his sweet nothings.

In those days, Heart was happy, so happy. He felt the bliss oozing from his skin. He saw the color orange for the first time.

Then, things started changing. Heart realized his heart was beating too fast around Li Ming. He suddenly found himself staring too intensely at Li Ming's beautiful, dazzling smile. He found Li Ming incredibly cute, especially the way he was struggling but never giving up on speaking in sign language. He kept trying to do well, do better and better. His attentiveness, his forwardness, his pureness... The way he never gave up, the way he always worked hard and gave his all to whatever he was doing...