I glanced around the table, my eyes dancing nervously from one person to the next. Tension filled the air as we waited for someone to say something, anything. After what felt like forever, my mother finally sighed. I settled my eyes on her, watching as she shared a look with my father that seemed to ask "Are you ready?". He gave her a slight nod, smiling at her reassuringly.
She turned to Jimin and I, her eyes passing briefly over me before settling on the boy to my side as she addressed him. "Jimin," she started, "before we start I just want to make sure that we're on the same page. What we are about to tell you is very serious for all of us." She gestures to the three of us. "So no matter what, I would appreciate it if you would try to keep an open mind. Whether you choose to believe what we say or not, is up to you. Do you understand?"
I couldn't bring myself to look at him. I was too afraid of what I would see in his face if I did. Would he be scared? Happy? Unaffected? When he cleared his throat, I couldn't stop my eyes from traveling over to him. My breath caught at the sincerity in his voice as he spoke to my mother.
"Of course, Mrs. Min. If it's serious for all of you, then it's serious for me."
It was strange to hear Jimin use such a serious tone. He was usually so playful, so carefree. I didn't have too much time to dwell on it, though, as my mother started to speak again.
"Great," she breathed, smiling at the orangette beside me, "well then since we're all on the same page: let's get started." She looked around the table, giving us a chance to stop her, to object to moving forward. When no one spoke, she continued on, "So what do you know about Achromatopsia?"
"Achroma-what-sia?" Jimin asked, confusion filling his voice.
She snickered at his response, a small smile forming on her lips. "I assumed you wouldn't know what it was. I just like to ask to make sure I know where to start." She cleared her throat, preparing to launch into the lengthy explanation. "So achromatopsia is better known as "Complete Color Blindness" and it affects roughly 1 in every 30,000 people in the world. Usually with color blindness, only certain colors are unable to be seen. But, with achromatopsia, all colors are lost. All you see is black, white, and varying shades of gray. Not to mention that it comes with a whole slew of other problems. Sensitivity to light and glares is one of them. Usually when people with achromatopsia go out, whether it is during the day or the night, they have to wear sunglasses to help them deal with the glares." My hand instinctively goes up to my own ever-present sunglasses. Jimin catches the movement and turns to me, understanding dawning on him as it all clicks inside his head.
"You always wear those," he breathes, his voice quiet. "Even the night when we first met. I didn't even question it because I was distracted. But then at the company the next day, you wore them even inside the building. Yoongi," his eyes meet mine, sadness filling their brown depths, "do you have achromatopsia? Are you color blind?"
My mouth opens, but I find myself unable to answer his question. His eyes were too sad, too filled with pity. I hated that look. I had grown up with it my whole life and never once did I want to see it reflecting back at me from Jimin's eyes. Sensing my distress, my mother answered for me.
"Yes, Jimin, Yoongi is color blind. So am I," she admits. Her words get his attention and he finally turns away from me, freeing me from his pitying stare. I draw in a shaky breath, trying to get myself back under my own control. "But our color blindness, it's different from all the others. Not just in the sense that it's more debilitating. But also that it isn't from the usual cause." Jimin's head tilts to the side, confusion causing his brows to pinch together. Seeing his confusion, my mother continues to explain. "Usually achromatopsia is caused by a change in your DNA and for it to be inherited, both parents have to carry the gene."
"But only you're color blind, right? Your husband isn't?" Jimin interrupts, still confused.
"No, I'm not," my father clarifies.
"Then how is Yoongi colorblind?"
A sad smile touches my mother's lips. "Well then I believe we've reached the part where we're going to need you to keep an open mind. Can you do that?" Jimin nods vigorously, his hair bouncing with each nod of his head. My mother turns her gaze to me, "Are you ready? I know this is hard. If you want to stop, we can."
I shake my head, "No. Might as well do it now. It's too late to go back anyway."
She nods, understanding. I grit my teeth as she once again turns to Jimin.
Relax, Yoongi. He might not even believe her anyway. This doesn't have to change anything.
I tried to relax, but I only found myself growing more tense as my mother launched into her explanation.
"So for you to understand, I think we need to start at the beginning. The story I'm about to tell you has been passed down through our family for generations. I started telling it to Yoongi when he was just a child," she smiled at the memory. She turned to me, "Do you remember the first time I told you the story?"
I nodded, sharing her smile. "It was the day I came home crying because Namjoon called me a liar."
She laughed, the memory still fresh in her mind. "You were so distraught. You came home in tears, blubbering about how "Joonie called me a liar." You didn't understand what was going on, so I thought it was only right to tell you. Now," she turns back to look at Jimin, "it's only right to let Jimin know what's going on as well.
"Many years ago, my family's ancestor started to court a woman. They were happy together, for a while. But he was a fickle man and one day she came home to find him in bed with another woman. 'How could you do this,' she had cried, her heart breaking. He offered her no explanation, no apology, as he kicked her out of their home. It must've broken her heart, being so betrayed by the one she thought she would spend forever with. A few days passed and one day he came home to find her outside his house, the one they used to share. She had been waiting for him. She said she just wanted to talk to him. He invited her inside. 'I just want to know why. I thought we were happy,' she had asked him. He just sneered at her. 'This again? There is no why. I am too handsome to be held down by one woman alone.'"
"Wow, he sounds like a jerk," Jimin admitted.
My mother laughed, the sound easing a bit of the tension that had built in the room. "He was actually. And the woman knew it. She was so hurt. She couldn't believe that he had promised her forever, just to rip it away from her. So she took what he loved most. You see, he was a painter. He was on the rise and people loved his work. So she cursed him, taking his ability to see color. She didn't stop there though. Every descendant of his from then would also be color blind: cursed to a world of darkness for sins they did not commit."
"She didn't leave him without hope though," she continued. "'Find the one meant for you, the one whose soul calls out to yours. Then, and only then, will you be able to see the beauty of the world again. But only when in her presence.'" Sadness filled my mother's eyes as she recited that part. She sighed, "Honestly, I think that she was hoping that he would still be able to see color around her and that that would make him stay with her. Even after all that he had done to her, she still hoped that she would be the one meant for him. Of course, it hadn't happened. He lost his ability to see color and therefor, lost his ability to paint. He couldn't even find solace in the arms of women as his heart fractured a little bit every time that he approached one, just to be met with the same colorless world."
"Eventually, he fell into despair. He missed the blue of the sky, the green of the grass. He shut himself inside his house, unable to face society. After a few years, his friends grew worried for him, afraid that he would die in there by himself or that he wouldn't be able to take care of himself. One day, a knock sounded at his door. Usually he just ignored it, but that day he felt like he couldn't. And with every step he took towards the door, color slowly bled back into his life. His heart constricted at the sight of them and he grew excited. He threw open the door, revealing a woman. Apparently, his friends had grown worried enough to call in help."
"So she was his soulmate? Is that why he could see colors again?" Jimin asked, excitement in his voice. I almost chuckled at him. He sounded like a kid being told an exciting bedtime story and I couldn't stop the happiness I felt at the fact that he seemed to be taking this all in pretty well.
"Yes, she was. For the time when she was at his home, he felt alive again. Like the world had returned to him. He was unprepared for what would happen when she would leave though and he cried out as she walked away, taking his happiness with him. So, leaving his house for the first time in years, he searched for her. Eventually he found her As it turns out, she had been looking for a reason to return to him. So he started courting her, then they got married. He thought all was good. But then their first, and only, child was born. At first they were ecstatic, but it quickly came to their attention that their child couldn't see color. So he had to explain to his wife why that was, and when the child grew old enough to understand they explained it to him as well. Then when that child grew older and had children, the tradition continued. Until eventually," she motioned to all of us sitting around the table, "here we all are."
"Wow," Jimin breathed, his astonishment clear in his voice. "So you're color blind until you are around your soulmate? That must be some shell shock."
"Oh definitely," my mother admitted. "And it never really goes away. Even after all these years," she grabs my father's hand, squeezing it lightly as she smiles up at him, "I am still left breathless by all the colors he brings to me."
Jimin's face lights up as he watches them, but when he turns to face me, it slowly drops.
"Wait.." he starts, his voice sad. "Does that mean that one day Yoongi will find someone who lights up his world like that? Will there be someone like that for him?"
My breath gets stuck in my throat, causing me to choke.
"Well, Yoongi has always been a bit different from the rest of us. He has never been very interested in finding his other half." I could've groaned at the sound of disappointment in her voice. Luckily, I kept myself in check. "He was always certain that he could just live like this. That his color blindness didn't define him."
"Wow, that's so cool." Jimin gushed, his eyes never leaving mine.
"That was until he met you."
Jimin's eyes snapped away from my own as he turned towards her.
"What?"
I wanted to crawl under a rock and never come out. I had always anticipated that this would be awkward, but now that it was here I wanted nothing more than to just run away.
"Jimin, you're Yoongi's-"
"You're my soulmate, Jimin," I cut her off, feeling like the news should come from me. He whips towards me, a blur of tan skin and orange hair. His eyes, wide in surprise, land on my own.
"Wait, are you serious?"
"That night you crashed into me, I knew," I admitted.
His eyes darken, anger filling his voice as he speaks to me. "So you've known this whole time?"
"Well, yeah but-"
My phone buzzed rapidly, interrupting my sentence as it shook on the table in front of me.
I groaned as the messages popped up, quickly reminding me why I came here in the first place.
Hoseok:
Hey, hyung...
Can we talk about what happened?
You just kinda ran out...
Was it something I did?
I know I dropped a huge bomb...
Can you just text me back please?
I'm kinda freaking out...
Okay then... I'll just be here...
Waiting patiently...
Yoongi?
He has great timing, I'll give him that.
Deciding to ignore Jimin's question, my lift my gaze to meet my mothers.
"Remember what we talked about on the phone?"
"About that Hoseok-" Jimin tensed beside me at the name "-fellow that you mentioned?"
"Yeah, about him. Mind explaining to me why someone except Jimin makes me see color?"
"WHAT?" Jimin bellows, his sudden outburst causing me to jump.
Aw, hell.
