Chapter 2
I still dreamed about Ryan that night.
When we were young, Ryan was so sweet.
“Sophie, your eyes are so beautiful. Can I look at them while I talk to you more often?”
“Sophie, your piano playing sounds amazing. Can I come listen to your performances every day?”
“Sophie, I like you best! When we grow up, I want to marry you!”
I liked Ryan too.
We sat together in school and played together after classes.
Even when my parents had their car accident, I was in his family’s car–playing rock–paper–scissors
with him.
But the cars were too close–I watched that truck cross over.
BOOM
My father, my mother, my brother, even my little dog I’d raised since it was a puppy–all struggling
in a sea of flames.
For a long time after, I couldn’t make a sound.
I needed Ryan beside me to fall asleep.
Back then, Ryan was very patient.
He practiced speech exercises with me.
Told me stories night after night.
If anyone dared mock me as “mute“, then his fist would fly.
Marrying him seemed the most natural thing in the world.
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When Love Shattered, My Prince Appeared
8.3%
Chapter 2
The day after getting our college degrees, he leaned over my bed early in the morning:
“Sophie, let’s get another certificate today.”
That day, we became husband and wife.
In my dream, a sea of red roses covered our new home.
He knelt on the bed, kissing me tenderly.
He said, “Sophie, we’ll be this happy forever.”
But…when I opened my eyes, everything was BLACK.
I checked my phone. Lily had sent another message.
A photo–a rumpled bed with a crimson stain.
Ugh–I suddenly felt sick and then rushed to the bathroom and retched.
But all that came out were physiological tears.
In the end, I sat on the cold floor, hugging my knees.
Somehow I must have hit something on my phone, because in the silent night, a deep male voice suddenly sounded:
“Sophie?”
My heart skipped a beat.
I picked up the phone.
“Ethan… Reed?”
Ethan was my support group partner.
After three years of hospital intervention, my selective mutism improved greatly.
I only struggled to speak when emotionally distressed or nervous.
During my first two years of marriage with Ryan, I had almost fully recovered.
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When Love Shattered, My Prince Appeared
10.49
Chapter 2
I was happy and had free time.
I joined a support group for people with similar conditions.
My assigned partner was Ethan Reed.
For two whole years, I actually thought he was a girl.
Pink bunny profile picture, username “Angel.”
At first, “she” barely responded to me.
But those with similar struggles understand each other.
People with long–term selective mutism often have serious psychological trauma.
They might not speak, but they need company.
I persistently shared my daily life with “her.”
From text messages to voice messages.
From photos to videos.
Eventually, we became like old friends.
So when I first had a phone call with “she” and discovered “she” was actually male, I was so shocked
I nearly relapsed.
“Uh… I’m… sorry,” I stammered into the phone. “I disturbed… your rest…”
“Not at all,” Ethan said. “It’s nine PM here.”
He spoke so fluently now.
This was only our second call.
After discovering he was male, I deliberately kept my distance.
That day was pure coincidence.
I hadn’t contacted him for almost a month.
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When Love Shattered. My Prince Appeared
12.5
Chapter 2
By such strange timing, he messaged when Ryan handed me the divorce papers, asking what I was
doing.
My mind went blank at the words “DIVORCE PAPERS.”
I only replied: [Getting divorced.]
After signing, I hid outside Ryan’s office, trembling all over.
[Ethan, I think… I’m about to lose my home.]
No father, no mother, no brother, not even my beloved little dog.
And now, no Ryan either.
What would I do?
I never expected his sudden response:
[Then marry me instead, okay?]
The teasing inside grew louder.
“Come on, Sophie won’t really divorce Ryan. She can’t even speak around strangers.”
“Yeah, if she actually went through with it, she’d probably cry so hard the Court would collapse!”
“Really?” Ryan snorted derisively.
He tossed his lighter onto the coffee table. “Even if she cries like a dog, she’ll still be my dog.”
“If I tell her to go east, she’ll crawl east!”
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