wild eyes • seulmin

love in color

Seulgi sighed for the nth time and pressed the call button to try one more time. But once again the call ended up being led to voice mail. She pouted and put her phone in her pocket, deciding to get herself some ice cream.

She walked around the mall for another hour, checking her phone from time to time but Joy still didn't call her back, nor sent a message. "Why are you like this. You want to go to the cinema but don't come. Fine. Then I will just leave", Seulgi mumbled to herself and frowned looking down at her phone.

When her petite body bumped against someone she quickly looked up in a panic. "I'm so sorry I shouldn't be looking at my phone and focusing more on the street and the real world around me."

The person turned around and smiled, his eyes disappeared as he did. He had beautiful, full lips. His cheeks were a little bit chubby, probably why his eyes formed into thin lines when he smiled. His hair seemed fluffy. He wasn't much taller than Seulgi and when he chuckled, Seulgi felt like shivering. It seemed so familiar yet so strange.

"It's okay, don't worry.", he said with a voice that was not usual for men but still, it was very manly Seulgi thought. "You seem to be in a rush", he smiled softly.

"Not really..", Seulgi rubbed her nape, a light blush spreading on her cheeks. "I was just ditched by my friend and now I am left alone."

"What a coincidence. My friend didn't bother showing up as well."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Seulgi chuckled nervously. "So uh... I will just leave then.."

"Wait... Uh... How about we spend some time together? Maybe they will remember us in the meantime."

Seulgi bit her lip. Should she really spend her time with a guy she just randomly met? Should she trust someone again? But this wasn't the same thing, right?  Fuck it, she thought and nodded. "Sure why not", she smiled. "I'm Seulgi!"

"I'm Jimin."

Seulgi froze. "J-Jimin?"

"Yeah why?", he asked, carefully studying her reactions,  pretending not to know anything.

Seulgi chuckled nervously, shaking her head. I'm being stupid. How many people share the same name. Stop being so pathetic. He isn't your Jimin. There are tons of Jimins living in Korea.

"Seulgi? Are you okay?"

"Huh?", she blinked, looking at him with a slight confusion written on her face. Jimin chuckled, making Seulgi shiver once again. "You just drifted off. Is everything okay?" Seulgi smiled. "Y-Yeah... It's just an old friend of mine who had the same name. I was just thinking about it."

"Oh. What happened to that friend?", he asked carefully, forming his hands into fists after he stuffed them into his pockets.

"He died." To me at least, she thought.

Jimin's eyes widened. Was she really thinking like that about him? He nodded slowly. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's fine. I'm over it. Anyway...", Seulgi cleared her throat. "What should we do?" Jimin hummed looking around. "We could randomly go into any shops and you know just spend some time. Maybe your friend will call in the meantime." Which I doubt, he added in his thoughts.

Seulgi quickly agreed, and they walked to the nearest shop looking around at the many clothes and dresses hanging around. Seulgi's eyes widened when she saw a red dress.

"Do you like it?", Jimin smiled who noticed  Seulgi's admiring eyes. "It seems perfect to dance to a tango." Seulgi's head quickly turned to Jimin. "I love dancing."

"Oh really? Me too. How come?", he asked, smiling as he remembered her shyness on the rooftop back then in Busan. "You know, I used to be blind... A few years ago. And my ..friend", she sighed looking at the dress, pretending to be checking the fabric, "he kind of taught me to feel the beat back then."

"Feel the beat?"

"Yeah, since I couldn't see the steps, he taught me to feel the rhythm instead."

"Can I ask you something? If it is not too personal of course", he rubbed his nape.

"Sure, shoot." She smiled holding the dress up.

"You said you were blind... How... You know... How can you see now? And uh... Do you remember anything from the times you were blind? People say that even when you are blind, you still can see. That sounds ridiculous but you know what I mean, right?", he gulped nervously, really wanting to know how she got her eye-sight back.

Seulgi chuckled when she looked at Jimin who obviously was really careful in choosing his words so she wouldn't be hurt. But thinking about his question suddenly changed her mood. She was thinking about the morning she woke up alone. After that night, she wanted to change. After the news that Joy had told her, she wanted to change. She didn't want to be taken for granted anymore. She wanted to judge people by their actions not only with her feelings. Like everyone does, she wanted to see if someone is lying by studying their actions, their movements, or their facial expressions.

But she couldn't tell him that. He was a stranger after all.

"My Grandpa found that article one day. He asked me if I would like eye transplantation", she lied. Seulgi asked Joy to do some research if there was such surgery and when they found something, she told her Grandpa. But she didn't lie. She just changed the truth a little bit.

"It was really risky back then. The doctor told me that I either can see again and live a normal life like everyone my age... Or my body doesn't accept the transplantation and I made up my hopes for nothing."

"I'm glad that the first option succeeded", Jimin smiled genuinely.

"And back to your question if blind people can see. Well, kind of..", Seulgi looked up, thinking hard. "The way I could see was by touching the things in front of me. Like I could draw a face in my head and just imagine what the person looked like. Some people have special, individual features, and like that, it was easier to do recognize faces."

Jimin watched how Seulgi put the dress back on the clothing rail. She sighed looking at her watch. "I think my friend won't come after all. And it's late. My Grandpa will be worried.." Seulgi fiddled with her fingers. "Oh, yeah sure.." he cleared his throat. "S-Seulgi.."

"Yeah?", she looked at him with sparkling eyes. "Can I .. you know, meet you again?", he blushed, looking at his feet. "I want to know you. It sounds weird I know, and you probably don't want to give a stranger your number-"

"I would love to", Seulgi suddenly bubbled along. "I mean... They say don't talk to strangers but I think every friendship starts like that, am I right?"

Jimin smiled weakly. She was still the same kind-hearted girl after all these years. "Yeah." Seulgi grabbed his phone and quickly typed in her number. "See you", she breathed out, blushing and left with quick steps not even turning around once.

Jimin looked at her and sighed. "I will see you. And this time I promise to make it all right, Seulgi."