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She felt inexplicably afraid.
Geoffrey spoke abruptly, “Seems you had fun today?”
“Not bad.”
Maureen couldn’t grasp his implication.
“Was lying to me fun too?”
As he spoke, Geoffrey floored the accelerator.
Landscapes whizzing past the window tightened Maureen’s
nerves.
“What lie?”
She feigned composure.
Infuriated by her pretense, Geoffrey slammed the brakes.
The jolt nearly threw Maureen’s head against the dashboard.
Before she recovered, he lunged across, his crushing grip threatening to splinter her arm bones.
In the pitch–dark car, Maureen barely discerned Geoffrey’s face, missing the crimson rims of his eyes.
“Andrea was right–you’re a pathological liar.”
Geoffrey enunciated each syllable.
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The words struck Maureen like lightning.
She stared in disbelief, “What did you say?”
“I saw you myself–picking Gareth up at the airport.”
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His voice dropped to a venomous hiss in her ear, “Skipping Pearl tonight… to be with him?”
“You didn’t come back all night. Were you planning to do it with him…”
Before he could finish, Maureen raised her hand to slap him.
But before the blow landed, Geoffrey firmly seized her wrist.
He sneered: “Caught again?”
“Can’t you control yourself?
Why not keep lying?”
Maureen felt deafening ringing in her ears, her vision blurring
with unshed tears.
Her lips trembled: “Geoffrey, you’ve gone too far.”
Harsh words cut deeper than winter frost.
He truly had no heart!
Hearing this, Geoffrey grew even angrier. He raised his hand to her cheek.
Her skin felt icy beneath his touch, her frame trembling slightly.
“What’s worse, I’m about to show you now.”
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With that, he reached for Maureen’s buttons.
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They were still in the car. Maureen frantically tried to dodge.
“You bastard!”
Geoffrey ignored her, growing rougher.
Maureen felt humiliation like never before.
Overpowered, he slammed her face against the window.
“Haven’t you always wanted this?
I’ll satisfy you today.”
Maureen knew resistance was pointless and endured in
silence.
Geoffrey leaned close to her ear, his voice a low threat: “If I catch you meeting him again, I’ll make your lives miserable!”
He froze abruptly, fingers brushing dampness. Crimson stained his fingertips.
Turning Maureen around, he saw blood tracing a path from behind her ear down her cheek.
Geoffrey fumbled to remove her hearing aid.
“Why’s your ear bleeding again?”
Maureen heard nothing now.
She figured it was more hurtful things–better unheard.
Geoffrey pressed, “Do you have your medicine?”
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Silence answered him.
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Knowing she couldn’t hear, Geoffrey drove straight to the hospital.
At the hospital,
the doctor treated Maureen, but her hearing didn’t return immediately.
After the doctor left, the room fell into heavy stillness.
Geoffrey dissolved medicine in warm water and offered it. Getting no response, he pulled out his phone and typed:
“Take the medicine!”
Watching the man communicating through typed words, Maureen was thrown back over a decade to that night.
Bullied by classmates, she’d lost her hearing then too. Geoffrey had picked her up and, realizing she couldn’t hear,
had kept typing messages on his phone just like this.
The moment felt eerily similar to that night.
Only now, Geoffrey was no longer the gentle boy he once
was.
Her eyes reddened slightly, pale lips parting: “No need. It’s an old chronic condition. Food won’t help.”
An inexplicable chill shot through Geoffrey.
He kept typing: “Who told you food won’t help?”
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“The doctor.”
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Too impatient to type, Geoffrey shoved the water cup against Maureen’s lips.
This impatience felt nothing like the man she remembered.
Maureen recalled that night when his car broke down.
Terrified, they’d sat inside chatting on their phones till dawn.
She took the cup and drained it, then burrowed under the covers, ignoring him.
Geoffrey stepped onto the balcony, lighting cigarette after cigarette.
Maureen had just drifted off when a nightmare jolted her awake–back in that car, she was being…
Her eyes flew open. Instinctively reaching for the quilt, her fingers brushed against a firm arm.
Turning her head, she found Geoffrey had slipped into bed beside her.
Maureen withdrew her hand, scooting away.
But sensing her wakefulness, he yanked her against his chest.
“Can you hear me?”
Geoffrey demanded.
Maureen furrowed her brows slightly, pretended not to hear, and stayed silent.
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Geoffrey got no response. He lowered his head and kissed her forehead, then the bridge of her nose, and finally her lips.
Maureen’s hand tightened involuntarily.
The man’s kiss ended after a long while.
He caressed the side of Maureen’s face over and over, murmuring, “What am I going to do with you?”
Maureen felt like her heart was pricked by a needle.
As if a long time had passed, she couldn’t help but ask.
“Do you know what day it is today?”
For some reason, she just wanted to ask, to see if he might remember.
Geoffrey suddenly heard Maureen’s question and couldn’t help but be surprised.