Mrs. Miller hurried to open the door.

Someone was here.

"Excuse me, is this Mr. Tristan Lawson’s residence?"

"Yes, it is. How can I help you?"

When guests arrived, Mrs. Miller was usually the one to greet them. Noelle Sutton was mute and couldn’t communicate with others.

"We’re the delivery staff from Myre River Pavilion. Mr. Tristan Lawson booked a birthday dinner for Mrs. Lawson at our hotel. He was unable to make it to the restaurant due to some business, so he asked us to deliver the dinner here for Mrs. Lawson to enjoy."

Mrs. Miller was incredibly excited. "Please, come in," she said.

"This bouquet was sent to Myre River Pavilion by Mr. Lawson earlier. We’ve brought it along. Please give it to Mrs. Lawson."

Noelle Sutton saw Mrs. Miller rushing toward her, holding a bouquet of fresh flowers.

"Ma’am, Mr. Lawson ordered birthday dinner for you, and he ordered flowers too! Look, aren’t they beautiful?"

Noelle Sutton stared at the vibrant, dewy Floyd roses, momentarily stunned.

"Ma’am, quickly, take them."

Mrs. Miller urged her happily. In a daze, Noelle reached out and took the bouquet.

Once the dinner was set up, the delivery staff from Myre River Pavilion left.

Before leaving, Mrs. Miller added, "Ma’am, Mr. Lawson really does care about you. I hope you enjoy your meal."

Noelle Sutton smelled the fragrance of the flowers and noticed a card tucked inside.

[Happy Birthday, Mrs. Lawson —Tristan Lawson]

It was actually in Tristan Lawson’s own handwriting.

Noelle was stunned again.

’Maybe it’s just as Mrs. Miller said. Maybe he does still have a place for me in his heart.’

’He got angry when he saw me with Wyatt Yates. When he saw Wyatt Yates give me a sound-emitting necklace, he threw it away and gave me a sound-emitting ring. When I didn’t come home, he came looking for me.’

She walked to the dining table and gazed at the lavish spread.

’Isn’t this what I’ve always hoped for?’ she thought.

’He isn’t completely ignoring me. He’s starting to pay attention to me, little by little. He knew I was supposed to have dinner with him at Myre River Pavilion...’

’Should I really give up?’

Her heart was still a mess.

’Whatever. He’s only away on business for two or three days. I’ll re-evaluate our marriage when he gets back.’

Noelle Sutton put down the flowers, sat at the dining table, and began to eat.

Half an hour later, a message came from Tessa Lawson.

[Noelle Sutton, I’ve been at the hospital all day. Can you come and see your son?]

Noelle figured that only the nurses on duty would be there at night, so it was unlikely she would run into any of Joshua Lawson’s classmates.

She decided to go to the hospital.

As she was leaving, she remembered her difficulty communicating and put on the sound-emitting diamond ring Tristan Lawson had given her.

「At the hospital.」

Joshua Lawson had finished his dinner and was already asleep.

Tessa Lawson pulled her outside.

"I disciplined that little brat of yours today. How dare he be ashamed that his own mother is mute? He even talked back to me! He’s only six. Tristan was never like this when he was little. Is this how you usually raise your son? You really need to take a good, hard look at yourself!"

Not finished venting, Tessa added, "No wonder Sophie Hughes was able to win him over in such a short time. I don’t think it’s just the child’s fault. You, his mother, haven’t taught him well either!"

Noelle Sutton took out her phone, typed a sentence into the app, and the sound-emitting ring produced a very pleasant female voice.

"You blame me, but have you ever considered how the Lawsons treat me? Children just copy what they see."

"Where did that voice come from?"

Tessa was sure she hadn’t seen Noelle open her mouth. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Noelle looked up, pointed to the massive diamond on her hand, and continued typing what she wanted to say into the app.

"It’s a ring from Tristan. It can speak for me."

Tessa glanced at the enormous diamond ring. ’It seems Tristan does still care about Noelle after all,’ she thought.

’After seven years of marriage and a child, even if that Sophie Hughes manages to get close to Tristan now, he probably wouldn’t actually abandon his wife and son.’

Only then did Tessa remember what Noelle had just "said."

"Don’t blame others. If you have to blame someone, blame yourself for being mute. You have a flaw. And the more flaws you have, the harder you have to work. If you don’t make an effort, your husband and son will become someone else’s. I helped you get rid of Sophie Hughes today. Whether or not you can win back your son’s heart is up to you."

Noelle gave a wry, helpless smile.

’In the end, Tessa still looked down on her for being mute.’

’Telling her to try harder.’

’She had already tried so hard to be worthy of Tristan Lawson.’

’If only the Lawsons had shown her a little more respect, Joshua wouldn’t have grown to be so ashamed of her being mute.’

’But she was powerless.’

’All because she was mute.’

That was why she was so willing to sponsor Christopher Grant. They were all trying so hard to prove to the world that even if they couldn’t speak, they could still work and create value just like anyone else.

Tessa felt she had done all she could for Noelle. She had given her all the warnings she could. If Noelle still didn’t appreciate it, then she could suffer the consequences on her own.

’As for Sophie Hughes, I’m sure Grandpa will figure something out,’ she thought.

With that, Tessa left.

Noelle went into Joshua Lawson’s hospital room.

He’d had his surgery just before dawn yesterday. The anesthesia had worn off, so he was probably still in some pain. Even in his sleep, his small brows were knitted together.

She didn’t want to blame him.

But his closeness to Sophie Hughes and his shame over her being mute were like knives stabbing her in the heart.

Noelle had slept during the day, so she wasn’t sleepy that night. She stayed by Joshua’s bedside, watching over him.

「Morning.」

When Joshua woke up, he saw Noelle asleep, leaning against his bed. He couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy.

Whenever he was sick before, he would always open his eyes to see his mother sleeping exhaustedly by his bed.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love his mother, but she couldn’t speak.

His classmates all envied him. They admired his father, the richest man in Glenwater, and were all curious, assuming his mother must also be an exceptional person.

He just didn’t want anyone to know that his mother was mute.

"Mom..."

he called out softly.

Hearing Joshua’s voice, Noelle immediately looked up.

Joshua asked in a low voice, "Were you here all last night?"

Noelle nodded.

She quickly took out her phone and typed a line into the app: "Joshua, are you hungry? Should Mom go buy you breakfast?"

Joshua heard a very pleasant female voice and saw the ring his dad had won at auction on Noelle’s hand. He instantly understood what was going on.

The voice was nice, but it was still coming from an object. It wasn’t his mother’s own voice, and it couldn’t hide the fact that she was mute.

Joshua even felt that what Noelle was doing was pointless, childish, and silly.

He sounded slightly impatient. "Just use sign language. It’s not like I can’t understand it. Use the sound-emitting ring Dad gave you when you’re outside with people who don’t know sign language. You don’t need it for me."

A dull ache spread through Noelle’s heart.

She still managed a smile, put her phone away, and switched to sign language. *I’ll go get you something to eat. You stay in bed. You just had surgery, so don’t move around too much, or you might tear your stitches, okay?*

"I know."

The boy had a weak immune system when he was younger and was often in the hospital. Noelle knew the hospital food wasn’t very good, so she made a special trip outside to buy breakfast for Joshua.

After buying breakfast, Noelle returned cheerfully. She set down the food, fetched some water, and helped Joshua wash up.

Once he was clean, she sat by the head of the bed and began to feed him.

When Joshua finished eating, Noelle gently took a tissue and wiped his lips.

Just then, the nurse in charge of giving Joshua his shot came in.

It was the same nurse who had given him a shot the last time he had a fever—his classmate’s mother.

As the nurse prepared the injection, she smiled and said, "Little Joshua, who is this beautiful lady? She’s so good to you."

Noelle subconsciously signed, *I’m Joshua’s mother.*

The color instantly drained from Joshua’s face...