My Silent Husband Finally Spoke, But He Said My Best Friend’s Name Chapter 02

My Silent Husband Finally Spoke, But He Said My Best Friend’s Name Chapter 02

The pain from my injuries should’ve been unbearable. I couldn’t feel any of it.

There was just this ache, rising slowly from somewhere deep in my chest. It climbed into my throat, pressing tight behind my eyes.

And it strangled every ounce of love I’d poured into the last three years, the kind I’d been so sure meant something.

I thought about the first time I brought Julian to a college reunion.

Some guy, drunk and loud, pointed right at him.

“Chloe, where’d you find the mute guy? What, are you doing it for the disability check?”

The whole table laughed. Every single one of them. The sound pierced right through me.

Next to me, Julian’s face drained of color.

I grabbed my drink and threw it in his face.

He called me crazy. I screamed back at him until my voice cracked, tears burning in my eyes.

“His vocal cords were damaged. He can’t speak right now. That’s all it is.”

“You don’t get to talk about him like that.”

That night, when we got home, Julian took my hand in his.

His eyes were red-rimmed, and he signed to me, slowly, carefully.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’ll do better.”

“I’ll learn to speak again. I promise I will.”

I pulled him against me, shaking my head, crying too hard to get the words out.

“It’s okay. I’ll wait.”

“However long it takes, I’ll be right here.”

And I did. Three years.

I went with him to every speech therapy session, sat beside him through every vocal exercise.

I tried to get him to say my name, breaking it down again and again.

“Chloe.”

“Say it with me, Julian.”

“Chlo-ee.”

He’d just watch me. In complete silence.

I told myself he wasn’t ready yet.

So I never pushed. Never once held it against him.

I ate dinner in silence. Said good night to the empty air.

Sat in a silence that never answered me.

It wasn’t that it didn’t hurt.

But every time the sting crept in, I’d talk myself out of it.

Julian had suffered enough. He was trapped in a silence he never chose. If anyone had the right to feel sorry for himself, it was him.

So I filled the silence for both of us. Tried to make our home feel less empty.

The sky was gorgeous today. We needed to pick up more coffee beans tomorrow.

He couldn’t talk, so I talked enough for two.

But all along, his silence had been a choice. And it was only meant for me.

Outside the door, Stella spoke up again. “What about Chloe’s voice?”

A few seconds of silence.

“The glass nicked her vocal cords in the crash. She won’t be able to speak for a while.”

Julian let out a soft breath. “I guess that works out. At least it’ll be quiet for a while.”

Stella’s voice lifted.

“Then it’s our secret! Between you and me.”

She laughed a little, like she knew she shouldn’t sound that happy about it.

“But I’ll make it up to her. I’ll be extra nice, I promise.”

Julian chuckled softly.

It came right through the door. And the tears I’d been holding back slid down without a sound.

Right then, lying in that bed, I made my decision. I’d leave Julian’s world the same way I’d lived in it—in complete silence.