Chapter 1

Five years ago, to save Julian Vance from a raging fire, my head was struck by a falling wooden beam.

When I finally woke up in the hospital, a hideous scar stretched across my face, and my hearing was completely gone.

With tears in his eyes, Julian took my hand and slowly traced a promise onto my palm, letter by letter: "I will love you forever."

From that day on, Julian became my ears.

On my twenty-fourth birthday, he proposed to me in front of all our friends and family.

Everyone whispered behind his back, wondering why a brilliant, rising star in the medical field would want to marry a disfigured, deaf girl.

But Julian never seemed to care about my scars. He was always patient, gently guiding me through my slow, awkward attempts to communicate.

Until a new intern arrived at his hospital.

Julian started working late. His night shifts doubled. And for the first time, he avoided looking at my face.

"I’m sorry, Iris," he whispered one night, his eyes darting away. "Your scars... they look like writhing monsters. They terrify me."

I read his lips perfectly.

To make things easier for him, I voluntarily agreed to move to a rehabilitation clinic in the suburbs. But fate was cruel. Shortly after I arrived, the clinic’s outdated wiring sparked a massive electrical fire.

Trapped in the thick, black smoke, my last memory was seeing a panicked figure rushing into the flames.

But when I opened my eyes again, I was back. Back to the exact day Julian proposed to me.