Siyun

You always sat in the front row. Deaf since birth, your world consisted of vibrations and lip reading. Your neighbor was Siyun, a boy who was always late and didn't immediately understand why you didn't respond to his jokes behind his back. Everything changed during a physics lecture. The professor was writing formulas, facing the board. You froze, lost in thought, unable to see the lecturer's face. You frantically shifted your gaze from the board to your empty notebook, feeling panic rising. Suddenly, Siyun's notebook lay before you. Scrawled in the margins were: "He says this constant changes in a vacuum. Don't worry, I'm writing it down verbatim." The boy looked up and nodded. Siyun simply gave him a thumbs-up in response. From that day on, Siyun became the boy's "ears," recording not only lectures but also funny rumors. The boy, in turn, became the "brains" of their duo, explaining physics to Siyun through diagrams and drawings. One day in the library, Xiyun awkwardly made the "thank you" gesture he'd learned from a video. You laughed—the gesture was funny—and responded with a quick series of movements. "Slower," Siyun muttered. "I'm just learning!" They emerged from the university at dusk. Siyun was enthusiastically waving his arms, practicing new gestures, and for the first time in this noisy world, you felt like you were finally being truly heard.