Unable. Disable. Enable.

Shhh

In this universe where you gain a disability such as deafness, mute, paralysis on a certain body part once you reach 13 years old if you're unable to find your soulmate was a really hassle for those like Baekho. For 12 years, he was gifted with sharp hearing and that was taken from him. He woke up on his birthday, realising his alarm clock had already gone off for hours. His phone had multiple missed calls and the construction that was on going nearby no longer made noise. No one prepared him for it because no one knew what would be taken from anyone. Baekho screamed, unable to hear himself until his parents burst into his room. He couldn't hear their concerned questions and it took him awhile before he could tell them what was going on. Thankfully, learning sign language was a must in all schools in preparation for those who would become deaf and mute. Braille was optional.

So for the next 6 years, Baekho has had no luck finding for his soulmate but that didn't stop him from attending college with his friends. Jonghyun and Minki were soulmates while Aron had a paralysis on his right foot so his every step had a little limp to it. Aron thought he had it better than Baekho. At least he could sit out on outdoor activities and he didn't mind but Baekho loved to do sports, only he couldn't anymore because of his hearing problems. He did try at first and ended up with a stitch to his head so his mother was practically too paranoid to let him join anymore clubs since then.

The four of them sat in a row in their college classroom where the seats were leveled up higher each row. They were in the middle row and around them were other students either chatting or sleeping or doing things students do since class had just ended. At the lowest row were the most popular guys in the college. There were about 11 of them, all either good looking or stand out because of their charms and jokes. Aron had dubbed them 'the-guys-every girls-want-to-get-in-their-pants' and Baekho giggled silently. It wasn't like he couldn't talk but being unable to hear himself speak had made him insecure about talking. His friends had told him he had a nice voice and that it matured fine but he didn't trust them, mostly because he didn't know how he would sound like. Jonghyun and Minki were joking about something while Aron was snoozing off in class, leaving Baekho to stare off into the distance by himself. Of course ever since he had enrolled in this class, he had always found himself staring at the group of popular guys. Mostly because they were in his line of sight and there were no girls for him to look at when most of them chose to sit in either rows behind them or to their side. He leaned his head onto the table and noticed one of the guys just smiling no matter how loud the others were laughing or talking. He wondered if they had found their soulmates either. He sighed and wondered when he would be able to hear again. Maybe never. Since Baekho wasn't even actively searching for his soulmate but he did have a crush.

The way to regain back what you lost was to kiss your soulmate after all and Baekho didn't want to just randomly kiss anyone at all. And what if he did fall in love with someone and kiss them, only to be disappointed by his hearing? But then again, it didn't mean he couldn't live without his hearing if that did happen. He drew tiny scribbles on the edge of his notebook until he felt a poke on his shoulder. He turned to see Minki and Jonghyun looking at him. They started signing to him, telling him about the joke they were just talking about. It took Baekho a few moments to understand since they weren't really great with hand signs when they literally found each other just a year after they had lost something. Once he got it, he broke into a smile which led to laughter although he couldn't hear how loud he was actually laughing but his voice did escape.

'Stop it, you two. Go get a room' he signed back to his friends before shaking his head and turned away. He looked down at the group that was starting to scatter and one person was left. He felt a nudge again, distracted from his staring. This time from Aron.

'We should leave too.'

Baekho nodded and packed his things. He zipped everything up and realised Aron was stunned beside him, gawking at something. He raised a brow and turned to look when he was faced with a face staring back at him. He froze, blinking as his crush was literally standing right in front of him with a thin smile on his face. He gulped and looked around, wondering if the other was just looking at someone else but then he waved. Baekho blinked again before slowly waving back. He was stunned and in disbelief honestly but his crush started to moving his hands in ways that Baekho actually understood that he was actually signing. Did his crush know that he was deaf?