Love is Deaf- Chapter 1

Silent rain hit Wonwoo's cold cheeks as he stood frozen in place, unable to move. He was in one of those panicked situations where you're so flustered and surprised your body knows no better than to tense up and paralyze itself.
He could feel cars rush passed on the road behind him splashing beads of icy water at his ankles when plowing through a puddle. Out of the corner of his eyes, blinding lights of various multi-colored advertisements flashed obnoxiously through the dark rain. The winter water that fell from the sky slid down his forehead and off the end of his nose, plastering his soggy caramel bangs to his skin in the process.

Everything surrounding Wonwoo was typically familiar: the busy pedestrians that walked with bowed heads and umbrellas, the tedious traffic lights that seems to take a lifetime to change from red to green and of course, the lonely silence that trapped Wonwoo inside his own head leaving him with only the sight of the rumbling taxi cabs and chatting citizens, not the sound.

Except one thing was seriously out of place. This being the very reason he was cemented to the spot as if the cold weather had turned him into a frosty ice sculpture.

A sizeable young man stood moments away from Wonwoo with his arm outstretched. His featured were softly pointed. With eyes that were narrow but kind and came to sharp points at either edge giving him a cat-like appearance, a nose in perfect proportion to his face that slowly curved downwards and finished with an edge, and ears that pointed up as if they belonged to a fictional vampire the man looked like a damn model. His flat cut eyebrows and raven bangs that reached his eyes and covered the majority of his forehead were close to perfect as well as his melanin gold skin that took away Wonwoo's breath momentarily.

In his hand, he held a leather wallet that belonged to the back pocket of Wonwoo's black skinny jeans. The young man wore a worried yet confused expression on his face and gestured for Wonwoo to take back his wallet by holding it up closer to his face, even so, Wonwoo remained paralyzed.

Only seconds ago Wonwoo had been pushing through the lifeless crowds of the city pathways on his way home from the supermarket after having a one-sided argument with a self-checkout machine and eventually leaving his groceries behind. He was absorbed in his own soundless world as he walked.

Wonwoo was deaf. An inner ear infection he had developed at the age of 6 had led to an incurable case of deafness or "Sensorineural hearing loss" as the doctor had explained to his mother as he was too young to understand at the time why he could no longer hear the cartoons on TV or his mummy's comforting voice. 15 years had passed and Wonwoo had not since heard the slightest of sounds. As if a pair of invisible hands were constantly covering his ears he often felt trapped and restrained without his hearing. Although at times it can be quite handy and peaceful to be deaf Wonwoo wishes more than anything to be normal once again.

As he traveled through the sea of the colorful umbrella's under a grey sky that afternoon Wonwoo failed to notice his wallet slip out of the back pocket of his jeans and into a dirty puddle on the gravel pathway. Of course, he never heard the subtle splash of water as the black, leather surface hit the floor or the old woman who kindly called after him as he strolled away. Nor did he hear the growing footsteps of a tall young man running after him. However, there was one thing that Wonwoo did hear and after 15 years of unwelcomed silence and involuntary ignorance just two sentences changed his entire life.

"Excuse me, sir. You dropped this." A low husky voice of a stranger echoed in Wonwoo's ears causing him to jump abruptly.

This sudden cornucopia of vowels and consonants that rushed through Wonwoo's senses terrified him yet left him a statue of complete and utter shock.

"Sir?" The stranger's cat-like eyes held an aura of concern. Again the voice rattled in Wonwoo's skull sending enormous shock-waves of anxiety through his chest, yet the rain still stayed silent, and so did the hustle of the crowd. The contrast was scary.

Wonwoo had been isolated from every sound on Earth apart from the sweet voice of the raven-haired stranger.

This is not normal. It's frightening.

Without another second of thought, Wonwoo turned on his heels and bolted from the busy scene.

Is this a dream?

It couldn't be. The painful drops of rain on his cheeks felt too real, yet what had just happened was so much like a fantasy for Wonwoo to process it as reality.

His weak knees threatened to buckle as he sprinted towards his silent apartment, but not once did he stop or slow down.

Wonwoo's apartment was situated on the second floor of a cheap complex. Wonwoo's job sticking labels on tacky supermarket food in a warehouse didn't pay well, but interviews had never really been his thing so that basic career path was his only choice. The young man had so much more potential, but unfortunately, his deafness came hand in hand with a mild case of social anxiety which prevented Wonwoo from taking any big or unique opportunities.

With dripping bangs and wet-through clothes he climbed the stairs of his lonely apartment complex. The walls were supposed to be a sweet lilac but the cold air had peeled and cracked the paint and left them faded and closer to grey. Wonwoo's heavy breathing and jangling keys echoed through the hallway but fell on deaf ears. His home was not particularly safe for him to live alone in but Wonwoo's only friend, Soonyoung still comfortably lived with his parents so rooming with someone was out of the question.

Wonwoo sighed as he collapsed onto his bed still struggling to steady his dizzy head and slow his breathing after sprinting home. All Wonwoo could think of was the cat-eyed stranger's deep voice. He stared at a patched of mold on his ceiling that had seeped through the floor of the room above and deeply pondered the situation. Every second he spent rerunning the scene in his head the voice of the stranger became increasingly more faded and unrealistic to the point Wonwoo was doubting it ever happened and he was just under the impression of some strange hallucination due to the crowds or the cold temperature.

It was getting late and thinking hurt his head; Wonwoo decided he would benefit from a hot chocolate to take his mind of everything. Wonwoo loved hot chocolate. The scent, the taste, the warmth; it was always so calming and comforting especially in winter when Wonwoo's apartment drops to serious negative temperatures. He swore that one winter, an icicle formed on his nose when he sneezed it was that cold.

His cupboards were completely empty and deprived of hot chocolate mix so Wonwoo quickly grabbed his keys and coat and hurried out of his front door and down the steps he had recently ascended. Fortunately, a small corner shop that sold delicious hot chocolate (and digestive biscuits) was not too far from where Wonwoo lived so his coat managed to keep him considerably dry as he ran through the still falling rain and into the shelter of the shop.

Wonwoo liked to have the exact change ready in order to pay as fast as possible before the cashier has any chance of starting a conversation. Hot chocolate mix in hand he reached for his back pocket only to find it was empty and a sudden realization slapped Wonwoo like a brick to the face.

"Dammit" Wonwoo hissed under his breath. He left his wallet with the talking stranger after he stupidly ran away.

The beige haired boy huffed as he placed the hot chocolate onto a random shelf and left the shop. What was originally an attempt to take his mind off of everything became an unintentional reason to worry about it even more. Wonwoo needed to get his wallet back. But how? He had no contact with the stranger. After stressfully running his hands through his hair and shoving back through his front door Wonwoo made the decision of texting his only friend as a last resort: Kwon Soonyoung.

Soonyoung's contact name on Wonwoo's phone was 'Hoshi' and he was 'Wonio' on Soonyoung's phone- the result of a drunk NewYear’s Eve party playing Mario Kart in which Wonwoo's raced as Wario and Soonyoung raced as Yoshi.

Me:
need help!!!

Hoshi💩:
r u dying??

Me:
um... no??

Hoshi💩:
then get over it :)

Me:
i hate you 3

Hoshi💩:
jokiiinnggg❤❤ wassup??

Me:
kind of lost my wallet

Hoshi💩:
kind of???

Me:
i dropped it and some guy
picked it up and tried to
give it back but i ran away

Hoshi💩:
if it was physically possible
to slap someone upside the
head over text thats what
i would be doing rn

Me:
thanks. kinda need
my money back though.

Hoshi💩:
i guess i could take u to
the police station tmrw

Me:
noooo he didn't steal it
he's not a criminal!!

Hoshi💩:
to see if he handed it
in u rat

Me:
O

Hoshi💩:
was he cute???

Me:
wtf stop


Hoshi💩:
pls. what did he look
like????

Me:
well... v tall, v handsome,
black hair, eyes kind of
like a cat, pointy ears,
dark skin etc. tbh thought
he was a model.

Hoshi💩:
reminds me of the fit
barista at SVTea tbh

Me:
SVTea?? 😂😂 is that like
ur grandmothers favorite
place to knit?

Hoshi💩:
stfu you wet noodle. it's
a café me and jihoon
always go to.

Me:
sounds crap

Hoshi💩:
they sell hot choco

Me:
sounds great*
ahahah tYPO

Hoshi💩:
I’ll take you there for
breakfast before we
go to the police station
yh??

Me:
yus pls

Hoshi💩:
only if u pay tho

Me:
with what money???

Hoshi💩:
o damn u rite

Me:
see you tmrw ho


Hoshi💩:
see you tomorrow,
Wonu ❤❤

Me:
ew don't call me that

Hoshi💩:
ew delete yourself

Me:
k

Hoshi💩:
k

Wonwoo smiled at his phone as he switched it off. Jokingly throwing insults at his best friend always cheered him up and he was glad to have someone like Soonyoung to help him out and always be there for him.

Now a massive weight had been lifted of his shoulders. Wonwoo took the chance to get some sleep after a warm shower.

As he drifted off he hoped the visit to the police station would deem successful and he could get his wallet back and hopefully never go through the confusing trauma of hearing the stranger's voice again.