His fingers trembled as he took the phone. As soon as he unlocked it, the screen displayed a note–just a few simple lines of text.
[Grayson, you were the one who pulled me out of my empty, desolate world when I was twenty–two. You gave me love, a love that felt like it was meant for me alone. The five years I spent with you were the happiest of my life, but I never imagined happiness
could be so short–lived.
Only five years. That was all it took for the man who once held me and swore eternal love to disappear.
For you, I risked my life to fly overseas and undergo surgery, just so I could hear you say ‘I do‘ at our wedding. But when I
regained my hearing, the first thing I heard was you whispering sweet nothings to another woman.
For half a month, I broke apart. I despaired. And then, finally, I accepted it.
There is no such thing as eternal love.
I’m grateful that you were part of my world, once.
But in the next life, no–across all lifetimes–I never want to meet you again.]
He barely made it past the third line before his world crumbled.
Tears fell, splashing onto the screen. He had never cried in front of anyone before, but now, he couldn’t stop. His face was drained
of color, his entire body trembling, until at last, his legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground.
She had regained her hearing.
She had known everything.
The memories of the past half–month crashed over him like a tidal wave.
His friends joking about his time with Ruby. The stolen moments in the house they once shared. Leaving Violet alone before the wedding, choosing instead to be with another woman. Letting Ruby tease him during their video call as if Violet weren’t even
there.
The more he thought, the deeper the pain dug into his chest, suffocating him.
What had he done?
She had risked her life to hear his voice, and all he gave her in return was betrayal.
He could only imagine it now–her joy, her anticipation, the way she must have pressed her ear against the world, ready to
embrace sound again. And then, instead of love, she was met with his infidelity.
The pain spread, coiling around his bones, sinking into his marrow. He could barely breathe.
And those words he had once dismissed so casually had never been about a friend moving away. They had been about her. She had been saying goodbye.
The signs had been there all along, but he had been too blind to see.
2/3
Chapter 12
+15 BONUS
Somewhere in the depths of his mind, he saw himself at twenty–two. A younger version, standing before him, eyes filled with
disappointment.
“You failed her,” the younger Grayson whispered. “You broke your promise. And now, as punishment, she’s gone forever.”
At what point had he started to change?
He couldn’t even remember anymore.
He only knew that the first time he slept with Ruby, his very first thought had been: Violet is deaf. She won’t find out.
And from there, he had spiraled, indulging, betraying, losing himself in the excuse that she would never know.
But she had known.
And on the day of their wedding, she had chosen the cruelest way to punish him.
Now, at last, he had to face the truth.
Violet was dead.
And he had killed the woman he loved most.
The last lines of her message seared into his mind, a wound that would never heal.
She never wanted to see him again.
How much pain must she have endured to write those words?
And the one who caused it all–the one who destroyed everything–was him.
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