Chapter 1

Three years ago, I caught my husband, Ethan, cheating on me with my best friend, Olivia.

After the confrontation, I drove home alone.

I got into a car accident on the way.

When I woke up, I was completely deaf.

My mother, Helen, and my brother, David, forced Olivia to her knees and made her apologize. They swore they'd send her overseas and cut off all contact with her.

Ethan stayed by my side for three days and three nights.

He learned sign language for me.

Every night, he carefully signed the same words.

“Don't be scared. From now on, I'll be your ears.”

Three years later, my cochlear implant was successfully activated.

I didn't tell anyone.

I wanted to surprise them.

At our anniversary dinner, Ethan held my hand and signed,

“You're the only woman I'll ever love.”

I was about to smile when his voice reached my ears.

“Are Olivia and the kid still waiting at the hotel?”

Helen lowered her voice.

“The cake's already there. We'll head over once Claire falls asleep.”

David chuckled.

“You don't have to whisper. She can't hear you.”

Everyone at the table laughed.

So Olivia had never gone overseas.

And the daughter she'd had with Ethan was already three years old.

Ethan was still tracing words across my palm, one careful letter at a time.

“Don't be scared. I'll never lie to you.”

I looked at him.

For the first time, I didn't expose the lie.

I simply wrote four words back into his palm.

“I heard you.”

...

After dinner, Ethan wrapped my scarf around my neck.

He looked down at me and signed,

“Something came up at work.”

“I'll probably be home late tonight. Don't wait up.”

I nodded obediently.

Helen patted my head, and David smiled as he reminded me to get some rest.

Then the three of them left one after another.

I waited a few minutes before calling a car and following them.

Their car stopped outside a hotel downtown.

A third birthday party was being held in the ballroom on the top floor.

The welcome sign by the entrance read:

“HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY, SOPHIE!”

The little girl in the photo looked strikingly like Ethan.

Standing outside a side door that hadn't fully closed, I watched her throw herself into his arms.

“Daddy!”

Ethan caught her easily and kissed her cheek.

“Was Daddy late?”

She tightened her arms around his neck and pouted.

“Yes. So Daddy has to stay with me all night as punishment.”

Olivia stood beside them in a white dress, smiling as she straightened their collars.

Helen called all three of them over to the cake while David raised his camera.

“Get closer. Family picture.”

In the frame, Ethan held Sophie while Olivia linked her arm through his.

Helen and David stood on either side.

Everyone smiled so naturally.

As if they were the real family.

Then a video David had made began playing on the giant screen.

It opened with the so-called airport farewell photo from three years ago.

Olivia stood at the gate with her luggage while Helen and David saw her off.

I'd looked at that photo countless times.

It had once been proof that I could trust my family.

But in the next clip, Olivia never boarded the plane.

She slipped out through a side exit and climbed into Ethan's car.

The scene changed.

She checked into a private maternity center in the next city.

She'd never gone overseas.

The whole thing had been a lie from the beginning.

The video continued.

When Sophie was one month old, Ethan held her through an entire professional photo shoot.

That same day, I underwent my first ear repair surgery.

Before the operation, he'd held my hand and promised,

“I'll be right outside the whole time.”

But the moment I was wheeled into surgery, he'd rushed here.

On Sophie's first birthday, my body rejected the implant and I ran a dangerously high fever.

I video-called Ethan seventeen times.

He didn't answer once.

Later, he told me there'd been an emergency at work.

But in the video, he was holding Sophie while she cut her birthday cake.

He helped her blow out her very first candle.

The first time Sophie clearly called him “Daddy” was also the day I first signed “I love you” to him.

Back then, Ethan had held me with tears in his eyes.

I'd thought my confession had moved him.

But that night, he'd come here and replayed the video of Sophie calling him Daddy over and over.

When the video ended, Helen took Olivia's hand.

“Your parents entrusted you to me before they died.”

“If Claire hadn't gotten into that accident, Ethan would've given you and Sophie the place you deserved three years ago.”

“You hid with your daughter for three years just so Claire wouldn't be upset. We're the ones who owe you.”

David sighed.

“Claire got to keep her marriage because she lost her hearing, and she had Ethan taking care of her.”

“You and Sophie had nothing. It's only fair that we make it up to you.”

So that was how they saw my deafness.

As a blessing.

Sophie clung to Ethan and refused to let go.

Ethan pulled out his phone and recorded a sign-language video for me.

“The problem at work still isn't fixed. I probably won't make it home tonight.”

“Go to sleep. I'll make our anniversary up to you another day.”

After sending the video, he put away his phone and kissed his daughter's forehead.

“Daddy isn't going anywhere tonight. I'm staying right here with you and Mommy.”

He thought I was sitting alone in our empty house, silently waiting for him.

He had no idea I was standing on the other side of the wall.

And I'd heard every single word.