Chapter 4
In the front seat, Olivia was watching me through the rearview mirror with a smug smile on her face.
When we got to the karaoke place, Matthew opened my car door and grabbed my bag like he'd done it a thousand times before.
Olivia's jealousy flared up again, and she typed out a message. [Grace, you've really got him wrapped around your finger. Matthew's so obedient with you.]
This time I didn't smile. I just stared at Matthew with a blank expression.
He immediately tensed up and typed back to me. [Grace, that's just how Olivia is. She's blunt and doesn't think before she talks. Don't take it personally. I'll talk to her about it later.]
I stared at him for a long moment, then broke into a smile. I typed on my phone, and the robotic voice said, "It's fine. You're friends, after all."
He visibly relaxed when he heard the artificial voice. He clumsily signed "love you" with his hands.
I smiled faintly as I watched his clumsy attempt.
He'd been learning sign language for six months now, but he still only knew a few basic words.
When we walked into the karaoke room, people were already inside.
They all looked vaguely uncomfortable when they saw the three of us arrive together.
But Olivia acted like nothing was wrong and greeted everyone cheerfully.
I stayed quiet and well-behaved, following behind Matthew like I always did.
Once everyone had arrived, Olivia turned on the song-selection machine and handed me the remote.
"Grace, you're our guest. You pick first," she said.
I looked at her and thought the whole thing was absurdly funny.
She hadn't just invited a mute person to karaoke.
Now she was asking that same mute person to pick a song.
Because of my condition, my family had banned all music and singing in our house since I was little.
Once, a maid hummed a tune while cleaning, and my father fired her on the spot.
Now that I thought about it, my dad was really something.
Just because his own daughter was mute, he couldn't stand anyone else singing.
Still, I had to admire Olivia's "non-discriminatory" approach. At least she had guts.
Faced with her provocative invitation, I quickly waved my hands and typed on my phone. The automated voice read out, "I'm sorry, I've never learned music."
As soon as the translation finished, the awkwardness in the room was so thick people could cut it with a knife. After all, everyone knew that asking a deaf-mute person to sing was a pretty low move.
Sensing the shift in atmosphere, Olivia's expression flickered for a moment, but she recovered quickly.
She put on an apologetic face and said, "I'm so sorry, Grace. That was thoughtless of me. Tell you what, I'll punish myself with three songs to warm up the room and make it up to you."
Her words eased the tension in the karaoke room, and even Matthew, who'd been nervously watching my every move, visibly relaxed.
She called it self-punishment, but in reality, she pulled Matthew into singing a duet of a love song with her.
By the time they finished the last line, the two of them were practically gazing into each other's souls.
I could clearly see everyone in the room shooting me pitying, amused looks.
One guy's lips moved rapidly, and I read what he said. "Matthew's girlfriend isn't mute, she's just stupid. Olivia's practically shitting on her head and she's just sitting there blinking like an idiot."
Someone else said, "Poor thing, though. Bad enough being disabled, and she finally gets a boyfriend only to get played like this."
I smiled and took a sip of my drink.
Me, lucky to have found Matthew?
They had it all wrong.
The truth was, Matthew had schemed his way into landing this little mute girl.