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When I No Longer Needed You to Hear for Me
Novelix
Completed
After catching her husband Ethan cheating with her best friend Olivia, Claire loses her hearing in a car accident. For three years, Ethan claims to be her devoted “ears,” learning sign language and translating the world for her. But when her cochlear implant is finally activated, Claire secretly hears the truth: Olivia never went overseas, Sophie is Ethan’s three-year-old daughter, and her entire family helped maintain the lie. They even delayed her treatment to protect their secret. In a live broadcast, Claire exposes their deception, divorces Ethan, reclaims her independence, and rebuilds her life—free from manipulation and lies.
Chapters (3)
第1章
Three years ago, I caught my husband, Ethan, cheating on me with my best friend, Olivia.
After the confrontation, I drove home alone.
I got into a car accident on the way.
When I woke up, I was completely deaf.
My mother, Helen, and my brother, David, forced Olivia to her knees and made her apologize. They swore they'd send her overseas and cut off all contact with her.
Ethan stayed by my side for three days and three nights.
He learned sign language for me.
Every night, he carefully signed the same words.
“Don't be scared. From now on, I'll be your ears.”
Three years later, my cochlear implant was successfully activated.
I didn't tell anyone.
I wanted to surprise them.
At our anniversary dinner, Ethan held my hand and signed,
“You're the only woman I'll ever love.”
I was about to smile when his voice reached my ears.
“Are Olivia and the kid still waiting at the hotel?”
Helen lowered her voice.
“The cake's already there. We'll head over once Claire falls asleep.”
David chuckled.
“You don't have to whisper. She can't hear you.”
Everyone at the table laughed.
So Olivia had never gone overseas.
And the daughter she'd had with Ethan was already three years old.
Ethan was still tracing words across my palm, one careful letter at a time.
“Don't be scared. I'll never lie to you.”
I looked at him.
For the first time, I didn't expose the lie.
I simply wrote four words back into his palm.
“I heard you.”
...
After dinner, Ethan wrapped my scarf around my neck.
He looked down at me and signed,
“Something came up at work.”
“I'll probably be home late tonight. Don't wait up.”
I nodded obediently.
Helen patted my head, and David smiled as he reminded me to get some rest.
Then the three of them left one after another.
I waited a few minutes before calling a car and following them.
Their car stopped outside a hotel downtown.
A third birthday party was being held in the ballroom on the top floor.
The welcome sign by the entrance read:
“HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY, SOPHIE!”
The little girl in the photo looked strikingly like Ethan.
Standing outside a side door that hadn't fully closed, I watched her throw herself into his arms.
“Daddy!”
Ethan caught her easily and kissed her cheek.
“Was Daddy late?”
She tightened her arms around his neck and pouted.
“Yes. So Daddy has to stay with me all night as punishment.”
Olivia stood beside them in a white dress, smiling as she straightened their collars.
Helen called all three of them over to the cake while David raised his camera.
“Get closer. Family picture.”
In the frame, Ethan held Sophie while Olivia linked her arm through his.
Helen and David stood on either side.
Everyone smiled so naturally.
As if they were the real family.
Then a video David had made began playing on the giant screen.
It opened with the so-called airport farewell photo from three years ago.
Olivia stood at the gate with her luggage while Helen and David saw her off.
I'd looked at that photo countless times.
It had once been proof that I could trust my family.
But in the next clip, Olivia never boarded the plane.
She slipped out through a side exit and climbed into Ethan's car.
The scene changed.
She checked into a private maternity center in the next city.
She'd never gone overseas.
The whole thing had been a lie from the beginning.
The video continued.
When Sophie was one month old, Ethan held her through an entire professional photo shoot.
That same day, I underwent my first ear repair surgery.
Before the operation, he'd held my hand and promised,
“I'll be right outside the whole time.”
But the moment I was wheeled into surgery, he'd rushed here.
On Sophie's first birthday, my body rejected the implant and I ran a dangerously high fever.
I video-called Ethan seventeen times.
He didn't answer once.
Later, he told me there'd been an emergency at work.
But in the video, he was holding Sophie while she cut her birthday cake.
He helped her blow out her very first candle.
The first time Sophie clearly called him “Daddy” was also the day I first signed “I love you” to him.
Back then, Ethan had held me with tears in his eyes.
I'd thought my confession had moved him.
But that night, he'd come here and replayed the video of Sophie calling him Daddy over and over.
When the video ended, Helen took Olivia's hand.
“Your parents entrusted you to me before they died.”
“If Claire hadn't gotten into that accident, Ethan would've given you and Sophie the place you deserved three years ago.”
“You hid with your daughter for three years just so Claire wouldn't be upset. We're the ones who owe you.”
David sighed.
“Claire got to keep her marriage because she lost her hearing, and she had Ethan taking care of her.”
“You and Sophie had nothing. It's only fair that we make it up to you.”
So that was how they saw my deafness.
As a blessing.
Sophie clung to Ethan and refused to let go.
Ethan pulled out his phone and recorded a sign-language video for me.
“The problem at work still isn't fixed. I probably won't make it home tonight.”
“Go to sleep. I'll make our anniversary up to you another day.”
After sending the video, he put away his phone and kissed his daughter's forehead.
“Daddy isn't going anywhere tonight. I'm staying right here with you and Mommy.”
He thought I was sitting alone in our empty house, silently waiting for him.
He had no idea I was standing on the other side of the wall.
And I'd heard every single word.
第2章
I made it home before they did.
The next morning, Ethan made breakfast for me like he always did.
He set a glass of milk in front of me and carefully signed,
“There was a problem at work last night.”
“I'm sorry I left you alone again.”
I lowered my eyes and quietly nodded.
That afternoon, Helen and David arrived with Olivia and Sophie.
Helen signed to me,
“Olivia just came back from overseas after getting divorced.”
“Her daughter is from her ex-husband. They don't have anywhere to stay for now.”
I looked at the little girl whose eyes looked so much like Ethan's.
And pretended I knew nothing.
At dinner, Ethan peeled shrimp for Sophie with practiced ease.
After removing every bit of shell, he even cut the shrimp into small pieces before putting them in her bowl.
Sophie happily ate them.
Then she naturally said,
“Daddy, I want more.”
The scissors froze in Ethan's hand.
He didn't explain right away.
Instead, he looked at me first.
Only after making sure I hadn't reacted did he pull Sophie into his arms and quietly remind Olivia,
“Didn't we agree?”
“She has to call me Uncle around Claire for now.”
Before Olivia could answer, Helen said dismissively,
“It's just a name.”
“Claire can't hear her anyway.”
David laughed.
“Besides, she'll have to accept the kid sooner or later.”
They discussed it right in front of me.
As if I were nothing more than a piece of furniture at the table.
After dinner, Helen took out a silver bracelet.
She signed that she wanted Ethan and me to officially make Sophie our goddaughter.
Sophie was already in preschool.
Once she was publicly known as our goddaughter, Ethan could openly show up for school meetings, family events, and birthday parties without anyone questioning why he was so involved in her life.
Olivia could also return to everyone's lives as the “friend I'd forgiven.”
I didn't immediately reach for the bracelet.
Olivia's eyes filled with tears.
“If Claire doesn't want this, I can take Sophie and leave.”
“We'll never bother her again.”
Helen immediately pressed down on Olivia's hand.
“Claire already has the title of wife, and Ethan has taken care of her for three years.”
“You've spent three years hiding with a child and no proper place in his life.”
“All we're asking is for Claire to accept Sophie as her goddaughter. Why can't she do that?”
David scoffed.
“If she hadn't suddenly gone deaf, Ethan would've divorced her three years ago.”
“She kept her marriage because of that accident. She can't expect you and Sophie to hide forever too.”
Then, as if nothing had happened, they switched back to sign language.
“Making her your goddaughter is only to protect her.”
“It won't affect your marriage with Ethan.”
Ethan crouched in front of me.
His eyes were as gentle as ever.
“It's just a title. Nothing between us will change.”
“The child is innocent.”
I stared at them for a long time.
Then I finally took the bracelet and fastened it around Sophie's wrist myself.
Sophie looked up at Ethan happily.
“Daddy, after I start calling her Godmother, does that mean you can pick me up from school every day?”
The entire table went silent.
Everyone instinctively looked at me.
A moment later, they relaxed again.
Because they were certain I couldn't hear a thing.
Ethan stroked Sophie's hair.
Then, right in front of me, he answered,
“Yes.”
第3章
Two days later came the date they believed my cochlear implant was officially scheduled to be activated.
Three years ago, when Ethan had first started learning sign language, he'd promised me,
“When you get your hearing back, I want to be the first person you hear.”
That morning, he brushed my hair for me.
Then he carefully signed,
“No matter what happens today, I'll stay with you.”
“The first words you hear again will be me saying, ‘I love you.’”
At the hospital, the doctor examined the device and told Ethan,
“Everything looks normal. We can proceed with the activation today.”
“She's already waited three years. I don't recommend delaying it again.”
The doctor didn't know sign language, so Ethan had to interpret for me.
Ethan nodded.
Then he turned toward me.
His hands told an entirely different story.
“There's something wrong with the device.”
“The doctor says activating it today could damage what little hearing you have left.”
I stared at his hands.
For the first time, I watched him turn the truth into a lie right in front of me.
The doctor tried to hand me the test results.
Ethan took them first, folded them, and slipped them into his pocket.
“She's been emotionally unstable lately.”
“If she finds out the activation failed, she might become suicidal again.”
“Please don't tell her the truth yet.”
Then he took my hand.
“The doctor is worried you won't be able to handle it, so he wants me to explain everything slowly.”
“Don't be scared. I'm here.”
And suddenly, I understood.
Maybe my treatment hadn't repeatedly failed over the past three years.
Maybe Ethan had simply used my deafness to reject every chance I had to hear again.
When Olivia was about to give birth, he needed me deaf.
When Sophie learned to call him Daddy, he needed me deaf.
And now he still wanted to delay my hearing until Sophie's status as our goddaughter became public.
Until Olivia and her daughter could openly step into my marriage.
I took out my phone and typed,
“I've already waited three years. I don't want to wait anymore.”
Ethan pulled me into his arms.
“I can't gamble with your health.”
“Trust me. I'm doing this for you.”
Just then, Olivia called.
Sophie was supposed to perform in her first preschool family show, but she refused to go onstage.
She kept crying for Daddy.
Helen immediately said,
“She'll only have one first performance.”
“Claire's already been deaf for three years. What's a few more days?”
David urged him too.
“Cancel the activation.”
“Once Sophie's goddaughter status is public and she's used to calling Ethan Godfather around people, Claire can get her hearing back.”
Right in front of me, Ethan told the hospital to cancel the activation.
Then he turned around and signed,
“The doctor has an emergency.”
“They can't continue today. I promise I'll come with you next time.”
I grabbed his hand.
He gently hugged me first.
Then he pried my fingers off one by one and told the driver to take me home.
He left with Helen and David for Sophie's preschool.
Before leaving, Ethan even told the doctor,
“Don't contact her directly about the next appointment.”
“When she's emotionally stable, I'll arrange it for her.”
He came home late that night.
A reward sticker from Sophie's family performance was sticking out of his pocket.
Ethan quickly shoved it back inside.
Then he walked over to me and signed,
“There was a problem with the hospital equipment.”
“Don't be sad. You'll hear again next time.”
I deliberately asked,
“What if I never hear again?”
He immediately pulled me into his arms.
“Even if everyone else in the world leaves you, I'll always be your ears.”
But after walking into the kitchen, he spoke directly to David.
“Tell the hospital not to contact her yet.”
“Once Olivia and Sophie move back, we'll decide when to let Claire activate the implant.”
David laughed.
“She only trusts you now.”
“As long as you tell her it's the doctor's decision, she won't question it.”
Standing outside the kitchen, I finally understood everything.
Ethan hadn't become my ears after I went deaf.
He'd shut out every other voice.
Then he'd made himself the only person I was allowed to trust.
