Silent Cry
Is this the right way?
The person in the wheelchair looked unused to people speaking to them. Afraid that talking to her directly might frighten her, I kept a little distance and conveyed what I wanted to say through my phone.
The woman before me stared at my phone for a while, then held out the tablet she was holding toward me.
Could you help me a little?
Ah. Now I understood why people had been turning down her request.
That vague phrasing would make anyone meeting her for the first time hesitate to nod right away. Even I might have refused first if the sudden whim to help her hadn’t struck me.
…Honestly, it even looked a bit like a religious solicitation.
Sure. What can I help you with?
I could see her hand trembling slightly as she struggled to hold the tablet out to me. I quickly typed my reply and showed it to her.
Her eyes widened in surprise; she glanced at me, then began tapping at her tablet again.
There’s a place I want to find!! Can you tell me where it is!!?? Please tell me!! T_T
…Surprisingly lively when she talked through text.
She looked quiet and demure on the outside. Or maybe that was just because she couldn’t speak. Her overall features actually suited a bright, energetic vibe far better.
Soft, long black hair and eyes that held a faint bluish tint. Even from a distance I’d noticed, but up close she was the kind of woman people would call a radiant beauty.
I know most places around here. Where are you looking for?
Here!!
Why, though?
Her expression was a little stiff, yet the text radiated more energy than anyone else on earth.
Ah. Maybe because I’d realized she was brighter than expected. That instinctive urge to dodge the pure extrovert glow was creeping up on me.
Like the way the emotional distance suddenly stretches when someone you thought was an I turns out to be an E.
Right now I could feel an invisible wall standing between us.
I know that place.
Ooooh!!
Great reactions, too.
If she could just talk, she’d make a solid streamer.
Which way do I go!?
Still, the text and her expression were completely out of sync. Her face stayed tense, eyes sharp with focus, while the words on the tablet bounced around like a hyperactive kid…
Hmm…
Hmm…
Huh? Is she copying me?
Then why did I even bother writing that out?
Ah. Maybe I’m finding this situation fun.
A third party watching would probably think it looked weird. So why was I enjoying it?
…Should I mess with her a little?
Turn left at the convenience store you can see over there and you’ll find a photo studio. From there turn left again until you reach a bar called “The Booze Whale,” then turn left once more and you’ll see a PC bang sign. Turn left one more time and you’re there.
W-wait a secon
When I deliberately wrote it out long and jokey, the woman in front of me visibly flustered and started hammering at her tablet, asking for time.
She squinted hard at my phone’s tiny text, staring intently.
…By now she should notice.
She began typing something on her tablet while reading my message.
Oh. Did she catch on?
Thank you… I’ve copied everything you wrote down! I’ll follow it just like this! Thanks!
Huh!?
Ah—no, wait! Stop!
Wait a second!!!
I barely managed to hold back the shout that almost left my mouth and put it into text instead.
I held my phone out to her just as she was about to leave. She looked startled and checked my screen again.
The message there read:
Sorry. I was just messing with you a little… Read that carefully.
After finishing it she tilted her head, then double-checked what she’d just copied down.
Her face turned bright red.
Looking like she desperately wanted to say something, she pressed her lips tight and rolled closer to me.
Tap-tap.
She stretched her arm out as far as it would go, keeping maximum distance, and lightly smacked me with the tablet.
…If I do that I’ll just end up back here…
Yeah… I figured you’d notice… Sorry.
Turn left, turn left, turn left again, then turn left one more time and you’re right back where you started…
They say a joke that needs explaining is a failed joke.
This little prank I’d assumed she’d catch right away had clearly flopped.
…
“…”
She glared at me while deliberately typing three dots. Her face was still flushed. If I had to give an honest impression of her right now—
She looked way better than the tense expression from earlier.
Why are you smiling?
Smiling? Me?
I hadn’t even noticed… Maybe because I thought she was cute without realizing it.
First things first—apologize. Messing with her was wrong.
I typed out an apology and held the phone toward her, but the message never reached her.
♪
Of all times, someone chose that exact moment to call.
Maybe because the phone rang so suddenly, she looked seriously startled. That much of a jump…?
But since I was currently banned from speaking, I had nothing I could say to her, so I prioritized the incoming call.
Wa Sol. Counseling must be over.
I put a little distance between myself and the woman in the wheelchair before answering.
“Hey, Wa Sol. You finished?”
“G-Gachi…”
What? Her voice was shaking.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Eve… isn’t answering…”
“Eve?”
“Yeah… She’s never done this before… She won’t pick up the phone, won’t even read my messages… You don’t think she went out alone, do you?”
“Calm down first. You know where Eve’s place is, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Let’s go there together.”
“Okay…”
“Don’t worry. I’m heading your way now.”
I spoke gently to Wa Sol, whose voice was still trembling. Nothing bad would come of her just going out alone, but I couldn’t leave Wa Sol this worried.
“Grab a taxi first. I’m near the school so I can get there right away.”
“Okay… Hurry.”
Of course. I’m running over right now.
I hung up and was about to bolt toward Wa Sol without looking left or right.
Tap-tap.
The woman in the wheelchair tapped me again.
Ah. I should at least finish helping her first.
I quickly typed out the location of the café she’d asked about.
This time I wrote it simply and clearly, no jokes, and showed it to her. She tapped at her tablet, copying it down. Once I confirmed she’d finished transferring the text, I was ready to sprint to Wa Sol—
When she suddenly grabbed my clothes.
What now…
Maybe she wanted to say thank you. But I didn’t have time for that.
I’d never seen Wa Sol this worried before… There had to be some reason I didn’t know about.
I needed to get to Wa Sol right n—
I’m Eve!
—ow… Huh?
Still looking down, clutching my sleeve for dear life, she held up the tablet screen for me to see.
On it was written something I never could have expected.
…Who was who?
I’m Eve!
Even looking again, the words didn’t change. But it was so sudden that my brain couldn’t properly process the meaning.
♪
And my phone rang again.
“Gachi, where are you? I just got a taxi…”
Wa Sol’s voice was still shaking.
To that Wa Sol, I said something even I didn’t fully understand yet.
“Well… right now I’m… next to Eve.”
“…What?”
The woman in the wheelchair who couldn’t speak properly.
Even now she was holding onto me, tablet raised with the words declaring who she was.
And no matter how many times I looked, those words meant the same thing.
“No, I mean… I think I’ve found Eve…”
I could hardly believe it myself, but the person I’d been talking to this whole time… seemed to be Eve.
I was surprised.
I felt it while I was smacking that guy with my tablet because his prank had been kind of annoying.
It was a little annoying, sure, but to think I’d do something like that to a man I’d just met.
Maybe it was because he somehow put me at ease.
The way he considered me, his gentle expression, the unflashy look about him—all of it made me feel that way even more.
Then when he held his phone screen out to me again, I was even more surprised.
On his screen I could see a call coming in from someone saved as “Girlfriend,” and that someone’s number was one I already knew.
Wa Sol unnie…?
The man in front of me stepped a little away from me to take the call, but I rolled closer to make sure it really was Wa Sol unnie.
“Eve?”
Hearing that, I was certain.
This was him.
The person Wa Sol unnie had fallen for, the one she was dating now.
The person I’d been secretly jealous of.
If I was being honest, he looked pretty different from what I’d imagined. But once I thought about Wa Sol unnie falling for him, somehow it made sense.
And now he was about to run off somewhere. From the conversation it sounded like he was looking for Eve…
Huh? Me?
I’m right here!?
Realizing there was some kind of misunderstanding, I tapped the man who was about to dash off.
He fiddled with his phone, then showed me:
That café is down the alley to the right of the bank over there, right next to the board game café on the left.
He was giving me the location of the café I’d just asked about. He must have misunderstood my action.
That’s not it…
I quickly typed out the words that would tell him who I was.
The second I finished, he was about to run off again. I tried to grab him, but—
…I was scared.
But this was probably the person Wa Sol unnie liked. The person she believed it was okay to like.
And on top of that… the way he’d acted and the atmosphere around him just now.
Thinking that made me a little less afraid.
I gathered my courage, grabbed his sleeve, and held up the tablet.
Please understand.
I’m… Eve!