Chapter 1

"Mr. Cunningham Senior, I've made up my mind. I'm going abroad."

From the other end of the phone, Andrew Cunningham's voice trembled as he spoke. "Then what about your wedding with Marcus?"

"It's not happening," Yvonne Chapman replied firmly.

Andrew sighed. "I'm sorry, Yvonne. You've wasted your youth on my family. I'll get Marcus to compensate you."

Yvonne didn't care about compensation. She'd already repaid whatever debt she owed to the Cunninghams—they owed each other nothing now.

"There's no need for that," she said. "And please don't tell him I'm leaving."

Andrew agreed.

Yvonne was no longer the deaf woman whom everyone made fun of. With her hearing restored, she could pursue a better life.

Closing her eyes, Yvonne recalled her conversation with Andrew several days ago.

…

"I've decided to get ossicular chain reconstruction surgery," she had told him resolutely, even though fear gripped her heart.

The doctor's words still echoed in her mind. "If the surgery fails, it could affect your cranial nerves and potentially lead to brain death. Are you sure you're willing to take that risk, Ms. Chapman?"

Yvonne wanted the surgery because every time she slept with Marcus, he would impatiently take off her hearing aids. His friends often ridiculed him for wanting to marry a deaf woman as well.

At the time, she thought fixing her hearing would make him happy. Hence, she accepted the risk and went forward with the surgery.

On the day of the surgery, as she was wheeled into the operating room, she glanced at her phone one last time—there were no messages from Marcus. Then again, she was already used to his fickle attitude toward her.

Thankfully, she had been blessed. The surgery was a success.

Yvonne went home, overjoyed, and eagerly awaited Marcus' return. She wanted to tell him that she had fixed her hearing and could now hear as well as anyone else. To surprise him, she still wore her hearing aids, wanting him to take them off himself.

But Marcus was drunk when he came home.

Before she could do anything, he pinned her against the door in the entryway as soon as he got in. He gripped her shoulders tight and kissed her, not giving her a chance to speak.

It was the first time Yvonne had seen Marcus display such dominance and urgency.

He carried her to the couch, trailing kisses along her neck and to her ears before taking off her hearing aids like he always did. It was a habit he had formed over the years. Yvonne figured that it was because they got in his way.

She looked at him, eagerly anticipating his reaction when he found out that her hearing was restored, and was just about to speak when she heard him murmur, "Rach… Rach…"

Having just regained her hearing, Yvonne was especially sensitive to sounds, so she heard him loud and clear. She stiffened, but Marcus didn't notice her reaction, lost as he was in his lust.

He wasn't saying her name. He was calling for Rachel Sinclair.

Even after all these years, he still couldn't let Rachel go.

Every time they were intimate, he would take off Yvonne's hearing aids—not because they were in his way, but so he could call out another woman's name.

Rachel had hurt him deeply and almost gotten him killed, yet he still couldn't forget her.

How ridiculous. What about Yvonne, then? Was she just a plaything that he could summon when he needed her?

He would touch her when he felt like it and discard her when he didn't. And here she thought that he actually cared about her.

It was just her wishful thinking from the start, Yvonne realized as she stared at Marcus, who was fast asleep.

Just then, his phone lit up, catching Yvonne's attention. She couldn't help but read the text on the screen.

"Marcus, Rachel just returned from abroad after her divorce. You should seize this opportunity!"

So that was it. His beloved had returned. No wonder he was acting so strangely.

It was under this realization that Yvonne called Andrew.

…

Yvonne owed a lot to the Cunninghams. Andrew had funded her education, so when he asked her to take care of Marcus after Rachel broke his heart, she didn't refuse. It didn't help that she had long had feelings for Marcus.

It was an opportunity she couldn't pass up.

Back when Rachel first left to go abroad, Marcus had been devastated. He fell into despair, but instead of drowning his sorrows in drinking or smoking, he turned to extreme sports—skiing, deep-sea diving, skydiving, racing, and rock climbing.

In just two weeks, he had gotten hurt so badly that he nearly lost his life.

Yvonne didn't know what to do when she was first ordered to take care of him. In the end, she adopted the stupidest method—whatever Marcus did, she followed.

At first, Marcus ignored her. That was until the diving incident.

During one of their excursions, Marcus' oxygen tank was punctured by a sharp coral. Just as he thought he was about to die, Yvonne gave him her own oxygen tank.

Because of that, Yvonne lost her hearing due to prolonged exposure to high water pressure.

After narrowly surviving that life-threatening incident, Marcus returned to normal, choosing to focus on his career. And Yvonne, having saved his life, was allowed to stay by his side.

Following Andrew's orders, Marcus got engaged to Yvonne. "I will take care of you from now on," he had promised her. "And I'll try to fall in love with you."

She had been overjoyed at the time.

But she could never be satisfied. In the past, all she wanted was to stay by his side. Now, she yearned for his love.

Rachel's return made that impossible. It also made Yvonne realize that it was time to leave.

Before she could feel sad, she grabbed her phone and pulled up the language-learning app she had been using for a while. She went through the vocabulary section while tears ran down her face.

This time, she didn't need her hearing aids.