【Isn't that Florence?】
【So Florence can talk after all. This whole time I thought she was mute.】
【Her voice is actually this nice, and she's been going around acting mute all day? What's she playing at?】
I wanted to explain, but the next message came from Leonard:
【Florence just doesn't like to talk much. She wasn't trying to trick anyone.】
【I'm apologizing to everyone here on her behalf.】
The words I'd already typed died right there, cut off cold by Leonard.
In the group chat, everyone praised Leonard for being such a stand-up man, half of them openly, half of them slyly mocking that I wasn't good enough for him.
He didn't push back on any of it.
Only Director Preston, the one who'd seen my medical records, messaged me privately:
【Did you and Leonard have a fight?】
【And who's the girl in that video? Why does she look exactly like you?】
I asked the director: 【How do you know that isn't me?】
The director explained:
【That girl was decked out head to toe in designer labels, and the hearing aid in her ear is the most expensive one on the market. There's no way that's you.】
【After all, you're the most frugal person in the whole company.】
【I know. You're saving up to fix your voice. Don't worry, that friend of mine is really good. You just go get your treatment with peace of mind, and I'll have him give you a friend's rate.】
【……】
On my phone, the director's comforting messages kept coming, but my tears had already fallen.
In all these years, this was the first time anyone hadn't looked down on me for being cheap.
I used to always think my family wouldn't pay for my treatment because all the money went to my sister.
So from the time I was little, I was especially frugal.
I kept thinking that once I saved up enough for the treatment, Mom and Dad would take me to get it done.
But the first time I came across designer brands online, reality snuffed out that fantasy.
It turned out that a whole year of scraping by on plain rolls didn't add up to a single one of my sister's dresses.
The cost of one of my checkups couldn't even match a single hair clip on my sister's head.
So I became even more frugal.
I figured I'd earn the money myself and fix myself.
But Leonard always thought I was too cheap.
"We're still young. We should live a little. Why are you always pinching every penny?"
"Treatment? Your voice has been like this for years now. How could it ever be fixed?"
"Sweetheart, you've got me. What are you afraid of? I'll be your voice for the rest of your life."
He always coaxed me with sweet talk, wanting to lock me at his side.
Then he'd turn around and spend our paychecks on a pile of things he liked.
I quietly opened the bank account I'd hidden away, where the money I'd secretly kept from Leonard was sitting.
At least my sister's clothes had taught me one lesson.
They made me understand early on.
In this world, apart from yourself, there's no one you can't live without.
I opened the company group chat and posted my medical records from all these years.
【I wasn't faking it. The girl singing in the video isn't me. It's my twin sister.】
Typed, sent, all in one breath.
I switched off my phone, feeling the weight lift off me.
Just as I'd expected.
The next second, a video call came in from Leonard.
"Florence Simmons, you won't be happy until everyone knows your girlfriend was faking being mute, is that it?"
I looked at him on the screen and didn't move.
So there it was. He'd finally said what he really thought.
When we graduated from college, Leonard and I joined the same company.
The night before I started, he told me not to tell anyone I was mute.
I didn't understand, and this is how he put it:
"They're going to be coworkers we see every day. I don't want them looking at you like you're strange."
