Chapter 1

Hazel's POV

After looking up in confusion, Marcus Reid reached up and touched the hearing aid behind his ear.

"What did you just say? I didn't catch that."

Every time I spoke, he never paid full attention. He knew I would patiently repeat myself.

But this time, I didn't want to say it again.

"Nothing," I answered as calmly as I could.

"Go cancel the house. I already told you we're buying in Southville. It has to be in Southville."

His face instantly darkened.

"A house isn't a shirt. You can't just swap it out. You drew the plans, and I spent months making sure the remodeling was done right. How can you suddenly say you don't want it anymore? Can you stop acting like this?"

The room fell into a tense silence. Just then, the front door suddenly opened.

Lauren Hale unlocked it with her fingerprint like she owned the place. The three of us stared at each other.

When she realized we had been arguing, she bit her lip, her face turning bright red.

"Hazel, please don't blame Marcus. He has hearing loss, so he didn't misunderstand you on purpose. How about I make dinner and cheer everyone up?"

She moved around the kitchen with practiced ease, taking out ingredients and starting to cook as if this were her own home.

Marcus watched her with a gentle smile.

Then, as always, he walked over to help her. The two of them looked so comfortable together, like a perfect team.

But they both seemed to forget that this was supposed to be my home with Marcus.

Just as I was about to leave, Marcus hurried over and grabbed my arm.

"Lauren is being nice enough to cook you a housewarming dinner. Why are you treating her like this? You've gone too far."

This wasn't a housewarming dinner for me at all.

The moment I walked inside, I noticed the whole house looked nothing like the design I had created.

The guest room, which was meant for visiting family and friends, was now twice the size of the main bedroom.

He had even squeezed my carefully designed walk-in closet into a tiny storage room just to make the guest room bigger.

Even the tile on the walls was the shiny polished kind that I had rejected the moment I first saw it.

He had obviously replaced everything with what Lauren liked.

"You two enjoy dinner," I said quietly.

I turned to leave, but Lauren stepped in front of the door first.

"Hazel, I don't know why you're upset, but if you want to yell at someone, yell at me. Marcus has hearing loss. If you raise your voice too much, it'll be hard on him. Please try to understand him."

My anger made me dig my fingernails deep into my palm. The sharp pain only made my emotions stronger.

I had seen her lose her temper at Marcus many times.

Once, she even slapped the hearing aid he treasured most right off his ear.

He had only rushed to pick it up, then begged her to yell at him again because he was afraid he had missed something important.

But every time Marcus and I argued, he would casually take off his hearing aid and let me scream until I looked like a crazy woman.

But from now on, I would never make a scene again.