Interlude Part 4

"Jung Hwa"

Spring 2000

(A/N: In the year 2000 Ha Na is 7 years old and Jung Hwa is 8 years old)

"Mom, have you seen my schoolbag?" yelled Jung Hwa from her room.

"Yes dear, I already put it in the hallway," replied her mother, Kim Bo Ra, "aren't you leaving? You are going be late."

"I am leaving, I am leaving!" yelled Jung Hwa and ran past her mother to grab her schoolbag, "bye!"

"Have a nice day in school," Bo Ra said before she heard the door close behind Jung Hwa.

It was a lovely morning with the sun already shining on the sky and a light breeze blowing past the people on their way to work, school or whatever their purpose was. Jung Hwa had about one kilometer to school and unless the weather was horrible, she walked there everyday. 

After turning around the first corner, she noticed a girl walking a few meters in front of her. It was the girl next door she used to play with when she was younger. Jung Hwa could still remember her name, Kim Ha Na. They used to hang out all the time until a winter, 2 years ago, when Ha Na got sick. She didn't look sick anymore and she walked to school every morning like any other person, but when Jung Hwa asked her mother if she could play with Ha Na she told her Ha Na was deaf, so they couldn't speak to each other.

Jung Hwa understood what it meant to be deaf, but she didn't understand why it should stop her from hanging out with Ha Na.

"Move it!" yelled someone and Jung Hwa jumped to the side whereafter two boys on skateboards came flying past her.

"Hey! Look out!" yelled Jung Hwa back, but they just laughed. Jung Hwa rolled her eyes, until she saw where the boys were headed and her eyes immediately got filled with horror.

"Move it, little girl!" yelled the boys at Ha Na who was walking calm and composed with her eyes at the sky.

"I said, move it!" They finally understood she wouldn't move and tried to stop their boards, but it was still too late. The two boys collided with Ha Na and soon all three were on the ground, groaning in pain.

Ha Na looked at the two boys who were towering over her with an angry look on their face. They looked like they were yelling, but she couldn't make out the words. Did she do something wrong? Did she perhaps cause this accident?

"Why aren't you answering me!" yelled one of the boys and grabbed ha Na by the collar, pulling her up from the ground.

"You caused this accident! Apologize!" said the other one. Ha Na looked at both of them with frightened eyes, still trying to make out the situation.

"Do you want to get into trouble?" said the first one again and tightened his grip.

"STOP!" The two boys turned around and looked into the eyes of a furious young girl.

"She is deaf, you idiots, put her down!" The boys looked dumbfounded, but still didn't let go of Ha Na.

"Let her go or I will tell your mom, Ji Hoo."

"This is bad, she knows your mom?" said the boy next to Ji Hoo.

"I know your mom too, Jun Pyo." Jin Pyo let go of Ha Na and looked at Jung Hwa with a pleading expression.

"Okay, we will leave now, but please don't tell on us."

"Yes, please don't tell on us." Jung Hwa looked at both of them with ice cold eyes.

"I won't tell, but get moving, and I never want to see you bully anyone again!"

As soon as they were far away, Jung Hwa squatted down and reached for Ha Na's hand. 

"Are you okay?" asked she, but felt incredibly stupid as she remembered Ha Na wouldn't understand. But she soon got distracted when she saw the wound on Ha Na's legs.

"You are hurt!" yelled Jung Hwa out in panic, "Ah.... Bandage... no we need to clean it first... no we should get to school... but can you walk?" Jung Hwa was running in circles, trying not to freak out, but in the meantime Ha Na got up and walked up to Jung Hwa.

"Okay you can walk, that is good," said Jung Hwa, "then let us get moving! We can clean the wound at my school."

Even though Ha Na hadn't been able to understand a single thing Jung Hwa said, she still followed her when she grabbed her hand and started walking. Not even when she was dragged through a school she had never been to before, did Ha Na resist, she trusted this girl.

"Who is this?" asked the school nurse.

"She is my friend, she goes to the school for deaf people, but she hurt her legs and this school was closer." The nurse looked at Jung Hwa, then she looked at Ha Na and the wound on her legs.

"Alright, let us take a look then." 

Jung Hwa showed Ha Na to the examination table and Ha Na obediently let the nurse examine her legs. After cleaning the wound and putting on a bandage, Ha Na was good to go.

"Can you follow her to her school?" asked the nurse, "I will explain to your teacher why you are late and then you can explain her school why she is late."

"But my mother says I can't speak with deaf people?" said Jung Hwa and the nurse immediately started laughing.

"Not everyone in the school are deaf, some people are partly deaf and the teachers can probably hear."

"Oh okay," said Jung Hwa, "I will get going then." She again grabbed Ha Na's hand and they began walking towards Ha Na's school.

Even though Jung Hwa had never been to the school before, she had driven past it many times and it was easy to find.

When they finally got there, Jung Hwa followed Ha Na inside and even though Ha Na didn't understand why, she let her do so. They walked through the halls and Jung Hwa's eyes were wide open as she saw person after person waving their hands in front of each other, laughing and smiling.

Then suddenly, Ha Na stopped and Jung Hwa stopped too, looking up at the middle-aged lady in front of them. Jung Hwa was about to say something when the lady started doing the same thing as the other people around them. She started waving her hands in the air and to Jung Hwa's surprise, Ha Na did the same thing. After looking at them for a while, the lady turned to face Jung Hwa.

"I hear you have helped Ha Na a lot this morning," said the lady and Jung Hwa was so startled she made a little jump.

"You are not dead?" said Jung Hwa.

"No I am not," said the lady with a smile, "but thank you so much for helping Ha Na and bringing her safely to school. Do you know your way back?"

"Yes it is easy," said Jung Hwa, "I will leave now, bye!"

"Bye,"

"Oh wait!" said Jung Hwa and turned around, "that thing you are all doing, what is that?"

"What thing?" asked the lady. Jung Hwa began waving her hands in the air, trying to mimic the movements she saw earlier. The lady started laughing and even Ha Na let out a giggle.

"That is sign language."

"What is that?" The lady moved a little closer.

"You see, when you can't hear, you can't just speak like a normal person either. That is why the deaf people came up with a way to speak with their hands instead. Let me teach you. Try looking at Ha Na and do this." The lady did three simple signs and Jung Hwa looked carefully. Then she did the signs and watched Ha Na's face light up in a smile. Ha Na started moving her hands and even her lips and Jung Hwa looked at the lady.

"You just asked Ha Na to be your friend, and she replied, she would love to be your friend."

"Really?" said Jung Hwa, "woah!! Thank you so much for teaching me that! I have got to go now, but thank you again. Bye!"

Jung Hwa returned to school and, as promised, the nurse had told her teacher everything, so she didn't get into any trouble. But she might as well have stayed away from school the whole day because she didn't learn anything that day. Her mind was too busy thinking about Ha Na and the lady and everything she witnessed at that school.

As soon as the bell rang and the day was over, Jung Hwa ran out of the classroom and out of the school and when she reached the crossroad, she ran in the opposite direction of home. She kept running and didn't stop for a second until she reached Ha Na's school and she tried to recall the memories of where she had followed Ha Na. While she was walking around, confused by all the halls and staircases that looked exactly the same, she finally found her, the lady from earlier.

"Ma'am, excuse me!" yelled Jung Hwa and the lady turned around, startled as she didn't hear people speak very often.

"Oh Ha Na's friend," said the lady once Jung Hwa had run up to her, "why are you back here again? Are you looking for Ha Na?"

"That... that thing... you taught me earlier," said Jung Hwa in between her pants, "can you teach me... more of that?"

Hello everyone!

Fact #4 about sign language 

Lots of people tell me "oh it must be nice to learn sign language, you don't have to worry about grammar and stuff like that"

Well... Most sign languages actually have their own grammar and syntax. I know danish sign language does and its really hard cause you build up your sentences in a completely different way than how we usually build up sentences in danish. So yeah, don't decide to learn sign language because you think it'll be easy! IT'S NOT!

Remember to leave a comment before you move on, and don't forget to stay happy and healthy!

Love, Annalise~