He Gave Me Hearing, Then Taught Me What Silence Really Means novel Chapter 1

"Juniper Lane probably isn't coming today, right? She hasn't contacted us for four years."

"If I were her, I wouldn't show my face at a class reunion. The whole homewrecker scandal caused such a massive uproar back then. Doesn't she have any shame?"

Juniper's hand had just reached the door handle of the private room when she heard the voices slipping through the crack.

Her fingertips curled unnaturally, and she instinctively pulled her hand back to touch her ear.

"Nelson Saint only treated her well because he pitied her, yet she actually tried to wedge herself into his relationship."

"Now that Nelson is married and has a kid, it would be absolutely disgusting if she tried to stir up trouble again."

"She deserved to be locked up in that psychiatric hospital! Her delusions were out of control, always claiming she dated him. What a liar."

"Wait, what? What's this about a psychiatric hospital?"

"Oh... so you guys didn't know..."

The heated discussion inside instantly froze the courage Juniper had painstakingly built up.

Four years ago, she and Nelson really had been dating, but he had abruptly dumped her without a single word of explanation.

Right after she had given him her first time, when their love was burning at its brightest, he suddenly went abroad with his childhood sweetheart.

The man who had sworn he loved her one second posted a photo with his childhood sweetheart on his social media the next.

The only message he left for her was a single, crushing sentence: I've done everything with her that I never did with you.

Then, she was blocked everywhere.

Every possible channel of communication was completely severed.

Her best friend told her she had just been played, that rich heirs like him always went for clueless, innocent girls like her.

But she refused to believe it.

Four years had passed, and she still didn't believe it.

She needed an answer.

"Long time no see, Nelson."

His name slipped past her lips with a subtle tremble.

She had only shown up tonight because she knew he would be here.

Nelson was tall, standing nearly six foot two. He didn't seem to have any emotional reaction to her presence, looking at her as if she were just another old classmate.

His gaze lingered on her for only a few seconds before shifting away, his tone indifferent. "Aren't you going in?"

The words that tumbled from his throat were chillingly distant.

Juniper lowered her eyelashes, the question she had rehearsed for so long catching in her throat. "I came here to ask..."

Before she could finish, someone walked around the corner, their tone laced with confusion. "Nelson, didn't I tell you not to wait for me?"

Juniper jolted, and when she looked up to see Lydia Thorne, a suffocating wave of despair washed over her.

Lydia was Nelson's childhood sweetheart. She was holding the hand of a four-year-old girl, a child whose features bore a striking resemblance to his.