Eight years ago, to protect Lily, I fought a long and bitter war with a man named Anthony. Even though she was a mute, I ignored my family's vehement objections and married her anyway. Eight years later, our house was on fire. I risked my life to save her, but to protect a wooden doll that looked unnervingly like Anthony, she shoved me back into the inferno. "Lily, just pretend to be mute. Just for me, okay? He'll definitely fall for you." "Okay." That single recording, saved in a folder on her computer labeled "My Love," plunged me into an icy abyss. All this time, what I thought was love at first sight had been a meticulously planned deception. Looking at her now, still refusing to speak, still covering for Anthony, a sharp, unrelenting pain seized my heart. But on the day I finally decided to leave her, I received a strange phone call. "Leo… don't… don't leave me. You're all I have…" It was the seventh day of my hospital stay, and Lily still hadn't come to see me. I stared blankly at the exquisitely crafted wooden figure in my hands, at the hauntingly familiar face carved into it, and felt my heart plummet into a frozen cavern. No one knew that face better than I did. After all, I had fought him for so long to keep Lily by my side. Before I could put the doll down, the door to my room burst open. It was Lily. She looked at me, her expression frantic, her brow furrowed as her gaze darted to the doll in my hands. Her look was an accusation, with no hint of concern for my bandaged, recovering body. "Leo! Why did you take this? Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for it?" Panting, she signed at me with furious speed, desperate, guttural sounds escaping her throat as she lunged to snatch the doll from my grasp. So, it was for the doll. Of course. Otherwise, she would have already taken it to see Anthony, to celebrate his birthday. She wouldn't have wasted her time coming here. A doctor who had just walked in was stunned by the scene. I held on tight, my grip unyielding, but she was strong enough to yank me bodily from the hospital bed. I teetered on the edge, about to fall. "Hey! What are you doing?!" a nurse shouted. I looked at Lily, still wrestling with me, and a bitter, self-mocking smile touched my lips. I let go. She got the doll, and I crashed to the floor. Damn, that hurt. But the physical pain somehow dulled the ache in my chest. Lily froze, staring at the doll in her hands. A flicker of panic crossed her face. She glanced at me as if finally remembering I was there, and reached out a hand to help me up. I flinched away, shifting my body to avoid her touch. Her hand hung in the air for a moment before she awkwardly pulled it back. The doctor, furious, began to reprimand her for agitating a patient, but fell silent when he realized she was mute. "Don't be upset," she began to sign, her movements slow and pleading. "Let's just forget this happened, okay? I promised you, I'll make you a new one…" "Get out!" I didn't wait for her to finish her pathetic pantomime. I grabbed the water glass from my bedside table and hurled it at her. That laughable promise, which once might have meant something, now only filled me with disgust. "Lily, where's my gift?" As we stood in a tense stalemate, a new voice cut through the air. Anthony stood at the doorway, a smug look on his face as he watched Lily. Then, feigning surprise, he turned to me. "Well, if it isn't Leo. Look at you. It's been years. What a mess you've become." The sound of more voices drifted in from the hallway. My old colleagues, the people I used to work with, were all filing in behind him. They stared, wide-eyed, at the pathetic sight I made on the floor. "Can't you see? Anthony planned this," one of them whispered, not quite quietly enough. "Poor Leo. What a tragedy, falling for a backstabbing viper like her…" And just like that, it all clicked into place. I looked at Lily's pale face. Her hands trembled as she offered the doll to Anthony, the hopeful, eager light in her eyes telling me everything I needed to know. Liars. All of them. Anthony snatched the doll, then tossed it aside with a look of disgust. He immediately turned his attention back to me, mocking my current state, seizing every opportunity to show how much better he was doing. I was no longer the cheerful crusader I'd once been. "All of you, get out!" I roared. I closed my eyes, shutting out their false words of comfort and pity, and told the doctor to call security and have them all removed. "I don't want you to keep being deceived." I was at home, groggy and still healing, when the text message arrived. It was from Claire, a friend I hadn't spoken to in years. Attached was a full audio file. In the recording, I heard Anthony's low, indulgent laughter, and then the soft, mumbled sounds of a voice I knew better than my own—Lily's. "Lily, if you get together with him, I'll accept your gift." "We grew up together, and he's so into you. Just do this one favor for me, okay? It's not like you're losing anything." "Okay. I promise." My heart grew colder with each word. Listening to that soft, feminine voice—a voice I had never heard—I didn't even realize when the tears started streaming down my face. For eight years, she hadn't spoken a single word, all because of a request from Anthony. As the recording played on, the coldness seeped deeper into my bones, colder even than when she had abandoned me in the fire. So, from the very beginning, her love for me had been a lie. I stared at the wedding photo hanging on our wall, remembering the vows we'd exchanged. With a guttural cry, I hurled my phone at the frame, shattering the glass into a thousand pieces. Lily walked in at that moment and jumped, startled by the scene. But her expression quickly hardened, confident that I would, as always, be the one to back down and comfort her. But I just sat there on the sofa, silent. "Today was an accident," she signed, her hands moving tentatively. "I really did want to see you. How's your hand?" She seemed unable to bear the silence any longer. But I kept my head down, refusing to look at her. She was performing a one-woman show to an empty audience, her hands aching but too afraid to stop, that same pathetic, pitiful look on her face. "If you can't speak, then don't make those grating noises. I can't stand to hear them." My voice was ice. Lily froze, her face a mask of shock. The hand she had reached out to tend to my wound snapped back as if burned. I had never used her muteness against her, never thrown it in her face. This was a first. The thought that the person I had loved for over a decade could be so repulsive made me shut my eyes in disgust. "Mark, I'm coming back to the studio," I said into the phone later. "As for Lily… I'm done." "Boss, you're finally back! You're finally letting go of that woman?" Mark, my lead designer, looked exhausted, with dark circles under his eyes, but he was practically vibrating with excitement. His face soured, though, when I mentioned Anthony. I looked around the studio, at the awards on the shelves and the design blueprints on the walls. It felt like I was seeing them from a lifetime away. For all these years, I had poured everything into Lily, completely forgetting the man I used to be. Anthony and I had grown up together, and we'd despised each other from the start. I couldn't stand the way he bullied Lily, who couldn't speak up for herself. The day I saw him force her to go out and buy him something in a torrential downpour, something inside me snapped. I stormed over and grabbed her hand. "Are you an idiot? You'll do anything he says? What, are you mute or something?" But then I looked into her wide, rain-slicked eyes, and my heart skipped a beat. I cursed under my breath and wiped the rain from my face, annoyed at myself for forgetting she really was mute. Lily just stared at me, not with irritation, but with a quiet curiosity. She nodded obediently and offered me a gentle smile. I never forgot that moment, not even after we were married for years. I gave up my own dreams, my own ambitions, to build a world for her. And now, to realize it was all a scam from the beginning, a game Anthony used her to play to get back at me… I sighed and shared a look with Mark. A real smile, for the first time in a long time. "I'm not leaving again," I said. "This time, I'm here to stay." Getting back into the rhythm of work was exhausting but fulfilling. My mood would have been perfect, if not for the sight of Lily waiting for me outside the studio. "Why won't you come home?" she signed, her eyes filled with a convincing, weary sadness. I ignored her, just as so many others had ignored her in the past. I turned away, leaving her standing there, and started talking to my colleagues. People stared at her, their expressions a mixture of confusion and pity. They couldn't understand what the mute woman wanted. Someone even wondered aloud if she was a beggar. I glanced at her clothes, torn and scuffed from a fall, and felt nothing. I used to be the one to jump to her defense, my heart aching for her. Not anymore. I wasn't going to be the fool in this play. "Leo, old friend. How about a reunion? And you too, Lily." Anthony had appeared out of nowhere, a teasing glint in his eye. I frowned and looked at Lily. Her eyes went wide, and she frantically waved her hands, trying to signal that she hadn't been the one to call him here. "Sure, why not," I said. Just then, my phone buzzed with another message from Claire. The information within made my blood run even colder, but I kept my expression neutral. "Anthony," I said, a slow smile spreading across my face. "Your girlfriend will be there too, right?" The reunion was packed. Not just the three of us, but a crowd of our old friends and classmates. They joked about my "grand romantic gesture" back in the day, how the star-crossed lovers had finally ended up together. "But wait," someone piped up. "Didn't Lily used to have a thing for Anthony?" The ill-timed question silenced the room. All eyes turned to us, hungry for drama. What a show, I thought, looking at Lily. How long are you going to keep up this act? "I don't care who she likes," I said, my voice light, letting out a small laugh. "Because I'm done with this mute. She's just a fool who plays with blocks of wood." The crowd went dead silent. For years, they had mocked me for being with Lily, calling me a "white knight" with a savior complex. Lily had always hidden behind me while I fought her battles. This was a new dynamic. Lily stood there, humiliated, and looked to me for help as the whispers and snickers started. What was she looking at me for? I turned my gaze to Anthony. He was pointedly ignoring her too, a look of irritation on his face. I couldn't help but let out a cold laugh. "That's not right," I said, my voice dangerously soft. "As I recall, Anthony had feelings for Lily, too. Maybe we should let Jenna hear some of your sweet nothings. Or maybe she'd like to see the wooden doll Lily has been saving for you for years." A collective gasp went through the room. This was better than they could have hoped for. Beside me, Jenna's face, which had been impassive until now, turned thunderous. "What did you say?" she demanded, turning on Anthony. "You and that… that mute. You haven't been in contact, have you? And what's this about a wood carving?" I sneered, watching Anthony's face drain of color. I deliberately pulled out my phone, making a show of finding the audio file. "What do you think you're doing! Don't you dare try to frame us! Everyone knows you've always been jealous of me! You married a mute carpenter, and now that you can't compete, you're trying to ruin my life!" Anthony, completely unhinged, lunged at me, acting as if he had no idea what recording I was talking about. The moment his hands grabbed my collar, Lily, who had been sitting frozen, shot to her feet. With a strength I didn't know she possessed, she tore us apart. Her face was a mask of anxiety as she checked the red marks on my neck, her hands flying as she asked if I was okay. I dodged her touch with a click of my tongue, turning away coldly. Lily tried to reach for me again, but Jenna, now incandescent with rage, kicked her hard in the back of the leg. Lily crumpled to her knees. "So that's why," Jenna snarled, towering over her. "That's why Anthony suddenly invited you two. It was always about you, wasn't it? You pathetic mute, still trying to climb the social ladder?" The others now openly jeered at Lily. She had always been the aloof, untouchable artist, protected by me. The polite respect they'd shown her was a facade. Now, their eyes were filled with nothing but contempt. "Still playing the high and mighty princess…" someone sneered from the crowd. Listening to the taunts, watching her get hit without being able to even cry out, a small, dark part of me felt a sliver of satisfaction. "My apologies. Have I come at a bad time?" A new voice cut through the noise. The crowd turned to the door. "Quite a party." It was Claire. I raised an eyebrow, not surprised. I gave her a nod of thanks for the intel she'd sent. But Claire's gaze was fixed on Lily, on the floor, and her expression was one of disappointment. Claire rarely attended these kinds of events, so her arrival immediately shifted the room's focus. The gossip was forgotten as everyone flocked to suck up to the wealthy heiress. "Don't be angry, Leo," Lily signed desperately, pulling at my sleeve now that the attention was off her. "That's all in the past. My heart is only with you. I only love you. Just let go of this feud with Anthony." Still for Anthony. Even now, she couldn't tell me the truth. I watched her frantic pledges of loyalty and found them utterly ridiculous. I forced a smile and nodded, my heart finally, completely dead. In her joyful eyes, I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around Lily. "It's over now. It's really and truly over. Goodbye, Lily. I'm just heading to the studio for a bit." Lily hugged me back tightly, nodding hard, but she wouldn't let go. "I don't know why," she signed slowly, her hands trembling, "but I have a feeling you're not coming back."
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