Almost blind | Haobin

6| i don't remember |6

Something about this meeting made Ricky feel an unexpected sense of ease. He couldn't quite say if it was the relief of finally finding help, or the comfort of meeting someone who shared, even in a small way, a piece of his pain. Explanations flowed more easily; it felt less like talking to a therapist and more like opening up to an old friend..someone who saw through the walls he'd built and made him feel safe.

"How are you guys doing?" Gyuvin asked softly, settling back into the chair across the small, cluttered table. Papers and paints lay scattered, and a box of lollipops sat on the edge, likely meant for younger patients. "You disappeared after that...and no one really heard much about you."

Gyuvin was right. After that terrible incident, the day both of their sons fell from that treehouse, their lives turned upside down. Ricky's mind was haunted by the memory of that night.

The memory haunted him like a shadow he could never outrun, lurking in the dark corners of his mind and waiting to strike each time he closed his eyes. He didn't want to think about it, yet it clawed its way back, relentless and ruthless, trapping him in a cycle of dread. He could still recall the peace of that night, the quiet comfort of lying beside his husband under the shelter of their tent, wrapped in warmth and the lullaby of the night, crickets chirping, leaves whispering in the wind.

But then, like a nightmare ripping through a dream, Hanbin's scream shattered the silence. It was the kind of scream that turned his blood to ice. Ricky was on his feet before he knew it, his heart hammering in his chest as he ran toward the source of the scream, his phone's flashlight barely piercing the darkness.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw when he reached them. The sight hit him like a punch to the gut, leaving him breathless and numb. The once-green grass was stained dark and wet, soaked with blood that glistened under the cold moonlight, a grotesque contrast against the soft earth.

Some of it smeared across Hanbin's face. And there, lying beneath him, was his precious son, on the cold ground, his small body unmoving, as though even his last breath had been stolen. The weight of it crashed over Ricky, a tidal wave of fear, grief, and helplessness that swallowed him whole.

Time blurred after that. They moved from one hospital to another, each place blurring into the last. Ricky and Jiwoong clung to hope, yet they were terrified Hao might never wake up. And then, in a split second, everything changed when Hao finally opened his eyes and shattered them with a simple, broken whisper.

"Dad, I....can't see." Those words became a haunting refrain in Ricky's mind, even as the years passed. Almost a decade later, the memory still stung, filling him with helplessness he could neither shake nor soothe. His healthy, vibrant boy, now lay tied to a hospital bed, robbed of the vision that had once lit up his world.

For Ricky, life shattered that day into pieces no doctor could put back together. Hao had suffered terrible injuries-a few broken bones, but worst of all, a severe concussion that robbed him of half his sight. Ricky could still feel the cold sterility of that hospital hallway, where he sat huddled in Jiwoong's arms, clinging to hope and whispering silent prayers for a miracle.

But when the doctors finally stepped out, Ricky already felt the weight of what was coming. Their faces bore a quiet sorrow, the kind that told him everything he needed to know. Their words hung heavy in the air, filled with the kind of sadness that no skill or science could ever cure.

The doctors explained there was nothing more they could do. Hao was now half-blind-one eye lost entirely to darkness, the other left painfully fragile, as if one wrong move could shatter what little vision remained. Ricky felt a desperation clawing inside him; he would have done anything, given every penny to fix it.. but the damage was big. That brutal fall, that sickening impact against the hard ground, had stolen a part of Hao's world forever. And now, all that was left was to learn to live with the loss, to carry this wound that could never truly heal.