Chapter 3

Once my IV had finished, Edgar had somewhere to be and left too.

That left me alone in the empty ward.

Without meaning to, I walked to Odette's room. The door was ajar, and the sound of an argument came through it.

"Why won't you agree to break up with her? Do you still love her?"

Odette's eyes were wet, her voice choked with tears.

John held her hand, his gaze gentle, coaxing her softly.

"Odette, her ears ended up like this because of me."

"At the very least we should wait until her hearing recovers before we talk about this."

Odette's voice jumped an octave, her hand moving to rest on her belly.

"And what about me?"

"What about our child?"

"If she never gets better, does that mean you'll take care of her for the rest of her life?"

John said nothing more. He just pulled Odette tight against him.

And I leaned against the wall outside, crying without a sound.

Six months ago, John had invited me climbing, the way he always did.

When we reached the summit, he suddenly said a lot of wistful things, and I didn't understand what he meant.

The next second, lightning split the sky.

On instinct I rose on my toes and covered his ears. He was saying, "Greta, let's br—"

Then the thunder crashed, and I never caught the rest.

From that moment on, my world went silent.

John took me to the hospital, where the doctor said, "It could be temporary hearing loss, or it could be permanent."

I felt like my whole sky had fallen, and yet I didn't regret covering John's ears for even a second.

Afterward, he learned sign language alongside me.

And he told me, firmly, that no matter what became of me, he would always stay by my side and love me.

Only now do I understand that what he'd wanted to say back then was, "Let's break up!"

Two days later, we were all discharged.

Edgar sat in the front passenger seat, and I was wedged in the back between John and Odette.

Odette put on a sweet smile and signed to me quickly, sharing the funny things that had happened when they reached the summit.

I closed my eyes and kept breathing deeply, trying to ease the pressure in my chest.

Before long, Odette's irritated voice reached my ears.

"Back in school, she leaned on being smart and pretty, and the teachers and classmates all adored her."

"Now that she can't hear, who's she still putting on that superior act for?"

"My hand's sore from all this signing, and she won't even look."

A tear slid quietly from the corner of my eye.

The first time I met Odette, she was being bullied in the bathroom.

I was the one who rushed over to protect her and had a classmate go find a teacher to sort it out.

When I noticed how withdrawn she was, and that this kind of thing had happened to her more than once, I started arranging little coincidences every day just to run into her.

I was always asking after her, fussing over her, even though she stayed cold to me the whole time.

Then one day she was finally won over and started being my friend, and after that we were inseparable.

But it never once crossed my mind that in her eyes I was so contemptible.

I couldn't help but marvel at it. What a performance. Ten whole years, and she never once slipped.

John sighed softly. "There now, let me rub your hand for you."

I felt a stuffy warmth behind me, two hands laced together.

And Edgar never said a word the whole time.

Once we got home, the first thing I did was go to the bedroom John and I shared.

What hit my nose was the scent diffuser Odette liked most.

The bedding was from the same collection as the set at her place.