Chapter 59 Hope
RORY POV
"We'll run a full diagnostic, Mr. Miller. I need to see the nerve response before we decide if the condition is truly permanent," the specialist said.
Alexander just nodded, his face a mask of bored indifference. "Do it. Do whatever needs to be done.”
He had practically dragged me here this morning. I didn't know why he was bothering.
Maybe he was finally realizing a deaf wife was an inconvenience he didn't want to manage, and he was looking for a quick fix.
I doubted it would work. My mother had tried everything growing up, different doctors, endless money, prayers but every road led to the same dead end. Silence was my first language. I was born this way. Or at least that’s what everyone had always told me.
I hadn’t argued with him when he announced we were leaving. A tiny, stupid part of me felt hopeful. Alexander was a billionaire with resources that defied logic. If anyone could buy a miracle, it was him.
"Let's go, Miss..." the doctor gestured toward a side room.
I stood up and glanced at Alexander, hoping he’d follow. He just narrowed his eyes at me and stayed seated. Fine. I trailed behind the doctor into a small, sterile white room that smelled sharply of antiseptic and cold metal.
One of the nurses handed me a blue hospital gown. “Change into this, please.”
I slipped out of my Chanel pink gown, leaving me in just my lace underwear, then pulled the thin gown over my body. When I turned around, Alexander was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching me with that intense, unreadable stare.
He had followed me. And he had watched me change.
“Pervert,” I muttered under my breath.
With the way he smirked I knew he heard me.
"I'm your husband, Aurora. I've seen it all before," he said, his voice a low vibration.
I'm your husband. The words felt like a mockery. He was my husband, but he wouldn't sleep with me.After I had shamelessly begged him to fuck me. I’d spent hours locked in the bathroom afterward, desperately fingering myself to a weak orgasm just to take the edge off. He had eaten my pussy, I had choked on his cock like a desperate slut, and still he wouldn’t take it further.
Just why? He had awakened something filthy and hungry inside me, and then left me starving.
Sometimes I wondered what would happen when he was finally done grieving Anastasia. When he no longer needed me as her shadow. What would happen to these confusing feelings I had for him? Who else could ever make me feel this desperate and alive again?
"Aurora!"
Alexander's voice snapped me out of the spiral.
"What?" | blinked, clearing my throat.
"The doctor told you to get on the bed. Twice."
I hadn't even realized the specialist had walked back in. I moved toward the high table, my heart hammering against my ribs.
"Lean back, eyes on me," the doctor instructed. He reached out and gently removed my old, bulky hearing aids. The world went almost completely silent.
They began the tests. They attached cold sensors to my temples and inserted a probe into my ear canal that sent sharp, electric jolts through my head. It was a localized, stinging pain that made my vision blur. A tear escaped, sliding down my cheek. I hated being poked. I hated feeling broken.
Suddenly, a warm, large hand covered mine.
Alexander had moved to the side of the bed.
He didn't say anything, but his thumb began to stroke the back of my hand in a slow, soothing rhythm. The small movement made my heart race faster than the pain did.
When the tests finally ended, I sat up, wiping my face. Alexander reached over and gently brushed the remaining tears from my cheeks with his thumb. “It’s okay. You’re fine.”
The doctor stepped out. “I’ll prepare the full results. Give me a few minutes.”
I changed back into my pink gown while Alexander waited by the door. We walked out together and sat in the consultation room again.
The doctor returned with a serious expression.
"The tests show something quite interesting, Mr. Miller," the doctor began. "The hearing loss... it isn't natural. This wasn't a birth defect.
It appears to be a direct result of severe physical trauma. A massive shock to the auditory nerves."
I froze. My whole life, I thought I was born this way. To hear it was a result of trauma... I didn't remember any trauma.
"You mean she wasn't born deaf?" Alexander asked, his voice sharp and calculating.
"Correct. It was an external event. And because of the specific way the nerves are reacting to the stimulation..."
Alexander’s voice stayed calm but intense. “Is there a solution? Can she hear again?”
The doctor explained possibilities — advanced implants, specialized therapy, new hearing devices, and ongoing treatment. The words blurred together. I caught pieces, but a lot of the medical terms flew over my head. I felt small and illiterate sitting there, trying to follow.
Alexander nodded. “What about the other thing I requested?”
The doctor handed him a small, neatly wrapped parcel. Alexander took it without comment.
We walked out to the car in silence.
As soon as the door closed, the curiosity ate me alive.
"Alexander... can you explain what he said? I didn't really get all of it," I whispered, looking at my lap. I was too shy to admit I was lost.
He let out a short, mocking scoff. "I forgot I married an illiterate.
"
Asshole.
He didn't answer me directly. Instead, he opened the black parcel. Inside was a pair of hearing aids, but they looked nothing like the ones I had. They were tiny, almost invisible.
"Move closer," he commanded.
I hesitated, then slid across the leather seat until I was inches from him.
He reached up and removed my old hearing aids first , both of them, his fingers careful and light against my skin like he was afraid of hurting me. Then he took the new one and positioned it behind my ear with that same gentleness, his face close to mine, his eyes focused entirely on what his hands were doing.
I held my breath. It was so hard not to stare at his lips, at the sharp line of his jaw.
"The doctor said there's a chance you'll hear perfectly again," he said, his voice low as he carefully clipped the new device into my ear.
"This is a custom build. It filters out the white noise. No static. No heightening of the wrong frequencies. It's as close to natural hearing as the world can provide."
He finished the second one and pulled back.
Which was actually true.
Everything sounded different immediately. Cleaner. Less like the world was being forced directly into my skull and more like, just sound. Natural. Manageable.
Before I knew what I was doing I hugged him, burying my face in his chest.
I felt him stiffen, taken aback by the sudden contact.
"Thank you," I breathed. "Thank you, Alexander."
He didn't hug me back, but I felt the tension bleed out of his muscles. For a second, he let me hold him.
“Get off me, Aurora,” he finally said, though the bite was gone from his voice. “I don't like physical touch.”
I pushed back, a genuine smile breaking across my face as I looked at him.
He reached over and ruffled my hair, the corner of his mouth twitching. “What would you do without your perfect husband?”