Chapter 1

That Christmas, I went home with my boyfriend, Matthew Lane.

I sat through dinner without saying a word, playing the polite girlfriend.

His friend, Olivia Warren, clearly had a problem with that.

Olivia said, her voice dripping with fake sweetness, "Matt, your girlfriend's kinda the silent type, huh? Not one word all night. What, she thinks we're not good enough to talk to?"

Matthew mumbled something vague in response. "She just doesn't say much."

But Olivia wasn't about to drop it.

She kept working the crowd, egging everyone on and stirring up trouble.

She demanded I toast everyone at the table.

They backed me into a corner. I pushed my chair back and stood up, my hands moving in clumsy gestures.

I opened my mouth, and sounds came out, broken and garbled, nothing close to words.

The entire table fell silent.

*****

Yes, I couldn't speak. I was completely mute.

Even though I tried my best to hide it and didn't want either Matthew or me to feel awkward, Olivia was determined to put me in my place.

Right then and there, I finally understood the power of those so-called "girl friends" I see online.

She spoke with a sarcastic edge, her voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "Matthew, you're such a chatterbox. You talk so much, and we're always texting until midnight."

She paused and let her words hang in the air. "So why is your girlfriend so quiet? That doesn't seem right, does it?"

She covered her mouth and laughed, then turned to me with fake sweetness. "Grace, don't be jealous, okay? I'm not one of those online homewreckers or anything. Matthew and I just chat because we're close."

Matthew looked uncomfortable and tried to smooth things over. "She just doesn't talk much," he said.

I knew he didn't want people to find out I was mute. I understood that. I really did.

But Olivia wasn't about to let it go.

She kept pushing. "Oh, she doesn't talk much? Well, she can at least make a toast, right? Grace, it's your first time meeting everyone, so you have to say something. Come on, I'll drink first, and then you can introduce yourself."

She downed her drink in one gulp.

Her boldness made my silence look rude.

Everyone started chiming in and egging me on.

I let out a helpless sigh.

Finally, I stood up and used sign language to say, "Hello everyone, I'm Grace Chandler."

To make it crystal clear that I was mute, I added some unintelligible sounds for emphasis.

Everyone went silent. Even Olivia, who had been waiting to watch the drama unfold, froze in place.

After a moment, I broke the silence myself.

I pulled out my phone and used the built-in sign language translation app to repeat what I'd said. "Hello everyone, I'm Grace Chandler. Nice to meet you all."

When the cold, mechanical voice came through the phone, I saw the embarrassment wash over everyone's faces.

Matthew stood up and introduced me to everyone, looking a bit awkward. "This is my girlfriend, Grace," he said, then added, "As you can see, she's deaf and mute, so I hope you'll all be patient with her."

His words broke the earlier tension, and everyone quickly chimed in with reassurances.

"Of course. Grace looks so sweet," someone said.

Another person turned to me and apologized. "Grace, I'm so sorry. I didn't know, and just now I—"

I waved my hand to show it was fine.

Among all the guilty faces, only Olivia looked even more resentful after her initial embarrassment faded.

She laughed lightly and gave Matthew a playful scolding look.

"Matthew, really," she said. "You should've told us about Grace's situation earlier. If you had, I would've learned some sign language so I could talk to her without any problems."

Olivia's words sounded considerate on the surface, but underneath them was a clear undertone of contempt and discrimination.

Matthew didn't seem to notice any of it. He just grinned and said, "Sign language isn't that easy to learn. I've been studying it for six months and I still haven't figured it out."

When Olivia heard this, she said with a hint of jealousy in her voice, "Half a year? So you two got together that early? Then why didn't you come clean with me when we were texting until two in the morning last time?"

Matthew glanced at my face and saw that my expression hadn't changed at all, so he laughed it off and smoothly deflected the question.