When my twin sister and I were born, one of us was mute and one was deaf.
At first, the whole family poured everything into treating us both.
But when my sister couldn't hear, she'd wail at the top of her lungs, and everyone rushed to soothe her.
I couldn't make a sound, so I just stood there, frantic and helpless, and everyone said I wasn't affectionate.
Later, my parents always found reasons to treat my sister first.
So little by little, as her treatments continued, she began to hear again, upgraded every year to the most advanced hearing aids.
And I waited and waited, until I went from being the mute one to the withdrawn child nobody liked.
After graduation, I brought my boyfriend, Leonard Gilbert, home for the first time.
Watching my sister in the living room, curled sweetly against our parents and chattering away, Leonard suddenly said:
"So this is what you sound like when you can talk. It's lovely."
My parents didn't so much as glance at me, but their mouths were full of complaints:
"That's just how she is. Never liked talking, even as a kid. You've really got it rough, Leonard."
My sister chimed in, all sugar:
"It's fine, sweetheart. My sister and I look exactly alike. If she won't talk, come to me whenever you want to hear something."
When Leonard didn't turn her down, my hand tightened around my chopsticks.
From then on, Leonard was always going to my sister under the excuse of wanting to see me talk.
Before bed, he'd get a goodnight voice message from her. When he was down, she was the one who comforted him.
At his birthday party, even the music on loop was my sister singing "Happy Birthday."
I signed at him, demanding answers, and he shoved me away.
"Florence Simmons, how long are you going to keep this act up? Your own family says you're just shy, but from the very start you lied to me and said you were mute."
My parents piled on from the side:
"Cora Simmons was born deaf. Fine, you don't feel sorry for her, but faking being mute all these years just to steal attention?"
The instant the slap landed, everything came into focus.
So it turned out that, over all those long years of waiting, even my own parents had forgotten I was mute.
——
I pressed a hand to my face in silence, not crying, not moving.
Seeing me look at him, Leonard signed at me.
【What, did the slap knock the sense out of you?】
【Or are you going to say it made you deaf too, so everyone will baby you the way they baby your sister?】
【Florence Simmons, how did I never notice how scheming you are?】
【……】
His hands moved fast, fluent, practiced.
When I first met Leonard, he'd chased after me relentlessly.
After he learned I was mute, he didn't recoil. He spent a solid month studying sign language, just so he could understand what I was saying.
Once he'd learned it, the first thing he signed to me was:
【Florence Simmons, will you let me be your voice?】
From then on, Leonard was always at my side, acting as my interpreter.
He'd coax me into making friends, into traveling, into going out to see this beautiful world.
But all the sincerity from when we fell in love had turned into a blade he now used against me.
He kept mocking me with his hands, over and over.
In his eyes now, I was nothing but a woman my family called a liar, one who spun lies just to steal attention.
Maybe he'd tired himself out, or maybe it was the sight of my tears, but in the end he relented:
"Enough. It's my birthday. Don't stand here spoiling it for me."
"I'm just angry that my own girlfriend won't even open her mouth to wish me happy birthday."
"Fine. Say it now, and I'll forgive you."
I couldn't help but lower my eyes, and everything beneath my feet blurred.
But Leonard, I want to speak too.
Yet when I opened my mouth, all that came out was a dry, rasping croak.
The music was still playing in the room, my sister singing, a world apart from the sound I could make.
