Chapter 8
My eyes burned, blurring everything around me.”
I wiped at my tears, barely aware of what I was doing. When I finally looked up, I saw that all–too–familiar figure standing there.
06
When I got home, Jared was furious.
He ripped off his tie, tossed it onto the couch, and sprawled out, looking completely drained. His brows were drawn tight, like he wanted to yell at me but just didn’t have the energy. He opened his mouth, then sighed, letting the words die before they ever reached me. He wouldn’t even look in my direction.
I didn’t say anything either. The weather was still cold, and after falling into the pool, the chill had settled deep in my bones.%
All I could think about was taking a hot shower–anything to stop shivering.
I was heading to the bedroom when Jared’s voice came from behind me, sharper than I expected.
“Elise, if only you weren’t born deaf. If only you weren’t alone in this world… Things would be so much better.”
Right. Of course.
He still loved me, but he was ashamed of me, too.”
He couldn’t let go of our five years together, but he wanted me to be flawless–like some goddess who’d never embarrass him. Suddenly, I felt like the punchline to a cruel joke.
No wonder people say the first thing a blind person does when they regain their sight is throw away the cane they relied on for so long.”
To Jared, I was that cane–suddenly useless.
I went into the bedroom, biting back my feelings, and headed straight for the shower. By the time I’d changed into clean clothes and stepped back out, Jared was on the couch with his phone, talking as if I wasn’t even there.
He probably assumed I couldn’t hear a thing, so he didn’t bother keeping his voice down.
“Patricia, are you drunk?”
The second he said her name, I knew who it was.
At the party earlier, Patricia’s face had been twisted with jealousy. I hadn’t missed the bitterness in her eyes.
So when Jared got her call, I already knew what she wanted.
I could hear faint sobs coming from his phone. Jared’s face just kept getting darker, until he suddenly shot up from the couch.&
“Don’t cry. Find a place to sit and wait. I’ll come get you right now.”
He was already halfway to the door.2
Then, as if he rernembered me at the last second, he turned back and signed:
“There’s an emergency at work. I have to go. Not sure if I’ll be back tonight–get some rest, okay?“}
He walked out without waiting for a response, not even glancing back.
I watched him disappear down the hall, all the words I’d spent so long rehearsing in the bathroom–about how to finally end this–stuck in my throat. But honestly? It didn’t matter anymore.”
I turned around and dragged out the suitcase I’d packed days ago.
He hadn’t come home in a while, wouldn’t even answer my calls. That’s the only reason I hadn’t left sooner.
Falling in love is supposed to be a big deal.
So when it’s time to break up, I wanted to do it right–no drama, no mess.
「ル
I left him a note, then wheeled my suitcase out and headed downstairs. I’d already lined up a new apartment. I wasn’t about to end up homeless. What I didn’t expect was–8
The moment I stepped out of the building, I ran smack into someone I never thought I’d see again… my family.
078
“Elise?”
The man in front of me had hair
a stranger trying to remember alm
t completely
white. His eyes were full of complicated emotions. Even the
way
he
aid my name sounded awkward, like he was
to
say it.
