BOOK ONE: Chapter 0001

•ISOLDE•

"Stop, Caleb, she will hear us."

"Didn't I tell you she's blind and deaf now?" he chuckled. "She won't see or hear a thing."

"I hear you, but—"

She froze when they walked into the living room and found me sitting in a wheelchair, facing them. I wasn't wearing my eyeglasses.

"Does she always do that?" Talia asked, placing her hand over her chest.

"She can't see us, babe." He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "Please, relax. Don't let her scare you." He kissed her, and I swallowed, fighting off the tears that threatened to escape from my eyes.

I was sitting right there, waiting for him to come home, only for him to walk through the door with Talia, my best friend.

I had only regained my sight and hearing a few hours earlier, thinking it would be a surprise for him when he came home.

I had been deaf and blind after an emergency C-section a month and a half ago, and when I was given medicine that I was allergic to, I ended up losing my eyesight and hearing.

I was able to hear when using hearing aids. But even with that, it was difficult to hear the tiniest sounds without proper concentration.

I had seen every top specialist in the country, but none of them knew when I would be okay. Some thought I would never regain both my sight and hearing.

I had given everything to birth our first son, and almost lost my life. Caleb saw it all and promised to be there for me. He promised to keep his vow that he made to me on our wedding day two years ago.

But seeing him now, kissing my best friend of ten years as if I weren't in the same room as them, tore my heart apart.

It felt as if it would've been better if I were still blind and deaf. I wouldn't have had to pretend as if I weren't seeing and hearing everything they were doing.

Caleb took Talia's hand and led her towards the couch next to where I was sitting. He then told her to be quiet.

He grabbed the hearing aid device that I had placed on the coffee table so he would see that I didn't need it when he returned home.

He took it and inserted it into my ear. I pretended to be startled when he touched me.

"Caleb, is that you?" I muttered, trying not to choke from the lump in my throat. I looked above their heads, so they wouldn't suspect that I could see.

"Yes, honey, it’s me," he answered as Talia covered her mouth, probably trying to keep herself from laughing.

"Oh, I am glad you're home," I answered, smiling. "I asked Linda to make your favorite food today. Are you going to join me for dinner?"

He looked at Talia before looking at me. "I am working late tonight. I have an important meeting with the CEO of Luminara Group."

I swallowed the lump in my throat and smiled. He chose her and brought her into our home because he believed that I was still blind.

I didn't know what hurt even more. The fact that my husband was cheating on me because he believed I was useless, or that he was doing it with my best friend, and flirting with her right before my eyes as if I couldn't see anything.

For a moment, I wanted to get up from the wheelchair and show them both that I could see, but I quickly changed my mind.

I wanted to see how far this game would go on.

"So, I will take you to our room so you can relax." He got up and shoved the wheelchair around. I looked above Talia's head, knowing she couldn't even tell that I could see her. "I will ask Linda to bring you whatever you want for lunch."

"Thank you," I answered as he shoved the wheelchair down the corridor, toward our bedroom. "Do you want to see little Sylvan? He misses you."

He was quiet for a moment.

"I'll see him later," he finally answered.. "Let me get you settled first."

He pushed me through the bedroom door, and I kept my hands folded loosely in my lap.

He helped me out of the wheelchair and into bed, his hands surprisingly gentle as he guided my legs under the covers.

I almost forgot, in that brief moment, what I had just watched him do in the living room. His touch still caused me goosebumps. It still felt like the hands of the man I married. That perhaps was the most painful thing of all.

I was 26 years old now, and 24 years old when I married the man of my dreams. But my heart broke when I realized that at some point, I stopped being enough for him.

He pulled the blanket up to my waist and smoothed it down on either side of me, and then he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

I closed my eyes and did not cry.

He reached over and removed the hearing aid from my ear, and placed it on the nightstand. Then I heard his footsteps retreat across the room, and the door shut behind him.

I closed my eyes and suppressed my tears. My chest tightened and I felt as if there were a rock in my throat when I thought about Talia and Caleb.

They were the only two people in the world that I trusted and loved with my entire heart. There was nothing I wouldn't have done for either of them.

The door opened again, and I tried so hard not to move or breathe too loudly.

"She's sleeping," Caleb muttered as he closed the door. "I took the hearing aid out myself."

The soft sound of heels on hardwood told me Talia had followed him inside. Into our bedroom. Into the room where I had cried for weeks, where I had learned to navigate the dark, where I had whispered prayers into the ceiling while Caleb slept beside me.

"Caleb." Talia's voice was a murmur. "Are you serious right now?"

"I want you here," he answered. "In my bed."

"She's right there," Talia whispered.

"She can't hear a thing. I told you."

There was silence. I imagined Talia looking at me, searching my face for any flicker of awareness, and I gave her nothing.

My chest rose and fell in the slow, even rhythm of someone who had surrendered to sleep. I kept my lips slightly parted, and my face perfectly still.

"I don't want company, Caleb," Talia murmured as a soft moan escaped from her lips. "Not like this. Not with her in the room."

"Then stop looking at her."

I heard him move toward Talia, and I understood what it meant. Talia giggled as Caleb bent her over on the bed.

I pressed my lips together and didn't make a sound. I let the tears slide from the corners of my eyes and disappear into my hair.

I was going to let them believe I heard nothing.

For now.