Chapter 2

At that moment, I desperately wanted an explanation.

But I also felt ridiculous. I didn’t know whether to laugh at how cunning he was or how stupid I had been.

I had met that girl before.

We had studied in the same music department. Amelia Nash was the department beauty, and Ethan had spent four whole years pining after her.

Then, during our senior year, Amelia had gone overseas to pursue her dreams.

Ethan had been a wreck. I was the one who stayed beside him and helped him through it.

Only after that incident—after I lost my hearing because of him—had his cold heart finally softened enough for him to be with me.

Later, word spread through our college group chat that Amelia’s music career abroad had suffered one setback after another, so she had returned home.

But after returning, she disappeared. None of our old classmates knew where she had gone.

Now it was obvious that the two of them had reconnected at some point.

They had been sneaking around behind my back. Everything I had given him was nothing but a joke.

a.n didn’t stand for Anna Nolan.

It stood for Amelia Nash.

I smiled bitterly. So that was it.

My phone kept vibrating. I opened my messages.

They were all from my father.

[Sweetheart, what the hell is going on with Ethan Blake?]

[He’s all over social media! When did you two break up?! When did he get a new girlfriend?!]

[Honey, did he cheat on you?]

[If he did, I’ll kill him!]

I replied.

[I’ll ask him myself.]

After Ethan led Amelia offstage, I went backstage.

He visibly froze when he saw me, then frowned.

I let out a laugh, tears spilling before I could stop them. “Ethan Blake, what have I been to you all these years?”

He gave me a mocking smile. “Anna, you’re deaf now. You can’t hear music. You can’t even hear me speak. Do you really think we belong in the same world? Face reality. Amelia is the one person who truly understands me. Only she can stand beside me.”

It was the most absurd thing I had ever heard.

Nausea rose in my throat. Fighting it down, I gave a bitter laugh. “Ethan, you know better than anyone why I’m deaf, don’t you? I nearly died for you, and this is what I get? You disgust me.”

He looked away, guilt flickering across his face. “I’ll make it up to you for what happened. But I never forced you to do anything. You chose to do it.”

The room seemed to spin. Memories of that chaotic night flashed through my mind.

Countless shards of glass on the floor. The wail of an ambulance.

I lay in a pool of blood while a younger Ethan cried out beside me.

A ringing sound—

Then the world fell silent. From that moment on, I never heard another sound.

One night five years ago, I had gone to Ethan’s place and stumbled upon debt collectors beating him.

In a panic, I stepped in front of a blow that could have killed him.

A glass liquor bottle struck the back of my head.

That was the night I went from a gifted young musician to completely deaf.

Back then, Ethan had cried and promised he would stay with me and protect me for the rest of his life.

But time had apparently erased every word of that promise.