All I wanted to do was to sing one perfect line of the song "Perfect" perfectly for my girl crush, Lin. But as I stood on the stage together with my acoustic guitar and looked out into the audience, she wasn't there. I found out later on that night she was hit by a car on her way running to see my show. I was upset she wasn't there to see my first ever singing performance and how I messed up in the middle of the song because she stood me up. I was supposed to ask her to be my girlfriend after that, but when I found out why, I was devastated. My heart dropped on the floor with my knees as I break down on my bestfriend's arms. My family and friends was there for me through all the pains, but I never talked out my feelings with them. In fact, I gave up on speaking at all. It seems like my voice were the death of Lin, so I stop verbal communication. I never wanted to kill someone with my voice again.
Two years later...
I threw my backpack down onto my bed in my new apartment and placed my hands on my hips as I looked around. I had more space in my room than before and no idea on how to fill it up. I framed my thumbs and pointer fingers together as I pictured a blue print in my head, slowly turning around in a circular motion. Once my view landed on the window, I froze. Staring back at me through the gray curtains was a woman with the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. Her gummy smile shown as she was smiling brightly. Her brunette hair fell down over her bare shoulders, exposed from her black camisole. She lifted her window up and sat on what looked like a window seat from my view and waved at me. I felt my cheeks heated as I stepped forward and lifted my window up as well.
"Hi, there neighbor!" She spoke in a sweet and gentle tone that sent me into a trance of delight. "My name is Sarocha but you can call me Freen." She blushed.
Freen... My mind repeated. It sounds like 'Lin'. I shook my head as the memory of her flashed into my brain. Lin was gone... She was dead, Becky. I looked back up at Freen and smiled a little. I saw her raising her eyebrow, and I knew she was expecting me to say my name back.
"What's yours?" She tilted her head to the side.
I still didn't know how to reply and I'm afraid that if I speak, I would lose another sublime beauty. I don't want that to happen again so I lifted my hand and signed. Becky, my name is Becky. I saw Freen's eyes widened as her lips formed a small letter 'o', then without a word, she disappeared in my view. In my interpretation, she was upset to have a mute neighbor like me. It wouldn't surprise me if she left. All of my friends left me when I refused to communicate and Freen was no exception. I huffed a sad sighed as I turned my back to leave the window but to my surprise, a paper plane fly across my room and landed on the hardwood flooring. I turned to look back at the neighboring house and saw Freen back by her window with a sketchpad in her hands. She motioned the paper plane and even though I'm a little bit confused, I picked up the paper and read; 'I am no good at sign language, but I know how to communicate through writing :)'
I looked up at Freen with a genuine smile on my face and she smiled back. No one had been patient to talk to me before.
From that moment on, things began to change...
Freen always told me about her day. She never get tired in writing out everything she wanted to say to me and I did the same way to her. After Lin's departure, Freen became the closest thing I ever had. She never complain for the past six months of companionship she gets from the person who refused to talk, and it makes me feel guilty for her efforts to find ways to communicate with me when she could have slapped me into talking again. But she knew the reason why I refused to speak and she understand. It was the biggest reason why I fell for her; she was patient with me.
