I Don’t Want This Love on Silent Mode Anymore

Because of the habits he’d developed in the operating room, Ethan Shaw demanded silence at all times. How many words he was willing to hear from me each day depended entirely on how tired he was. All I could do was wait for his intern to send me my daily word limit. 'Dr. Shaw performed two surgeries back-to-back today. He’s exhausted. You can only say ten words to him.' 'He has meetings tomorrow, so he’ll make an exception and give you fifty words.' Then one day, I got into a car accident. That was how I found out I was pregnant. The doctor told me the baby was in danger and asked me to contact a family member. But the moment Ethan answered my call, Chloe Lane cut off my cry for help. “You’ve already used up your word quota for today.” Then she deliberately put the call on speaker and asked him in a sweet voice, “Dr. Shaw, I talk to you so much every day. Don’t you ever get tired of listening to me?” Ethan’s indulgent voice came through the phone. “You’re different. “We’re discussing medicine. There’s no limit on that. “I’ve stayed up all night with you choosing research topics for the past year. When have I ever complained that you talk too much?” The entire department burst into teasing laughter. I hung up. Half an hour later, a message from Ethan popped up on my screen. He had sent me a penalty notice for breaking his rules. It read: 'Called during work hours without a valid reason. From now on, you may speak ten words to me per day.' I stared at the ultrasound report as a dull cramp tightened low in my abdomen. A few minutes later, I pressed the call button beside my hospital bed. When the nurse came in, I asked her to bring me the consent form for a termination. This time, I wouldn’t say another word to him. Chapter 1 As the anesthesia gradually wore off, the dull ache in my lower abdomen returned. Pale and weak, I finished the discharge paperwork on my own. I was almost at the hospital entrance when I saw Ethan. Chloe, walking behind him, spotted me immediately. She hurried over and linked her arm through mine. “Vivian, you really did come all the way here to see Dr. Shaw? “Everyone in the department was teasing him yesterday. We even told him off for not knowing how to treat you better!” Ethan walked over and glanced at me. “Why are you so pale?” But almost immediately, his brows drew together. “So now you know how to come to the hospital when you want to find me?” I was in too much pain to speak. When I saw his car parked by the curb, I opened the passenger door and got in. After Ethan got behind the wheel, he didn’t start the car right away. Instead, he watched the rearview mirror. Only after he saw Chloe disappear through the hospital entrance did he slowly pull away. “Don’t call me while I’m supervising interns again.” Ethan kept his eyes on the road as he laid down another rule. I leaned against the window, my back soaked in cold sweat. I picked up my phone and saw a post Chloe had just uploaded. 'Thank you, Dr. Shaw, for spending two whole hours helping me work through my research proposal!' Suddenly, I almost wanted to laugh. I looked up at him. “I thought you hated listening to people talk.” Ethan glanced at me while we were stopped at a red light. “Vivian, she’s discussing medicine that can save lives. “You only want to complain about trivial things. Those two things don’t have the same value. “Besides, her father asked me to look after her before he went overseas. I gave him my word.” I looked out the window and said quietly, “How noble of you, Dr. Shaw.” Ethan’s brows tightened again. “Are you sure you want to waste your word count arguing about this?” I said nothing. My phone chimed. It was a message from an old friend from my voice-acting days, someone I hadn’t spoken to in years. 'Vivian, we said we’d start an independent studio together someday. I’m finally here to make good on that promise.' Ethan tugged at his tie. “Turn off your notification sound.” I lowered my eyes and put my phone on silent. The next morning, Mrs. Baker, who came by to cook for us, took one look at me and froze. “Mrs. Shaw, what happened? You don’t have any color in your face.” She hurried over to steady me, her expression full of concern. “Your mom came all the way here to see you yesterday. She couldn’t reach you, so she called Dr. Shaw instead. But he just said he was busy and hung up.” That had been the day of my abortion. I hadn’t even known Mom had come. My chest tightened, and tears welled in my eyes. “Where is she now?” Mrs. Baker took out a packet of glucose powder Mom had left behind and pressed it into my hand. “She said she’d been dreaming about you lately and had this awful feeling something was wrong, so she wanted to come see you.” “But she was afraid she’d be a burden, so she took the overnight bus home.” I swallowed the ache in my throat and sent Mom a message. 'Mom, I’m doing fine. Please don’t worry about me.' I drank the warm glucose drink she had brought me. Tears fell into the cup. All I could taste was bitterness. Not long after Mrs. Baker finished cooking and left, I heard the electronic lock beep at the front door. I turned around. Chloe was standing there in Ethan’s jacket. Without the slightest hesitation, she slipped into my house slippers and walked inside as naturally as if she were coming home. Chapter 2 Chloe dashed from the entryway straight to the dining table without even washing her hands. She dropped into my usual seat, picked up a shrimp, and popped it into her mouth. Still eating, she helped herself to a bowl of the chicken soup Mrs. Baker had made for me to help me recover. Just then, Ethan finished changing his shoes and walked over. He sighed helplessly. “Were you really that hungry? You rushed all the way over here just to mooch a meal?” He watched Chloe wolf down the food with obvious indulgence. “Did you finish revising the research proposal we went over yesterday?” Chloe nodded enthusiastically. Then she caught sight of my pale face from the corner of her eye and immediately smiled. “Vivian’s so quiet. No wonder Dr. Shaw is always saying how peaceful it is at home.” Ethan reached over and wiped a drop of soup from the corner of her mouth. “Slow down. If your dad saw you eating like this, he’d think I was starving you at the hospital.” Then he picked up the serving utensils and placed a piece of sea bass on his plate. He carefully removed every bone before putting the fish into Chloe’s bowl. Ethan had always told me that a surgeon could never afford to do anything that might injure his hands. So for the past three years, whenever we had fish at home, I had always removed the bones before serving it to him. Chloe grabbed his arm and whined playfully. “Ethan, you’re the best! You know I grew up eating at your family’s house. You wouldn’t really kick me out, would you? “I already have to pretend I barely know you at the hospital every day. It’s exhausting!” She stuck out her tongue and went right back to eating. I looked at the mess she had made of the food on the table, and nausea rolled through my stomach. I opened the refrigerator, intending to pour myself a glass of ice water. But my hand slipped, and ice cubes scattered across the floor. At the noise, Ethan came over and grabbed my hand. “You never touch anything cold. Now you’re so determined to compete with Chloe that you don’t even care about your health? “She just finished a night shift and stopped by for a meal. You really can’t tolerate even that?” Once Chloe had eaten her fill, she left looking perfectly satisfied. Ethan seemed to notice that I was upset. But he was certain I was only jealous and throwing a tantrum. “Fine. I’ll make an exception tonight. You can talk to me for five minutes. I won’t complain about the noise.” As he spoke, he actually raised his wrist and started a timer. I looked at him without saying a word. I was just tired. I used to be a fairly successful voice actor. I had met Ethan one morning while I was out for a run. When we were dating, he had never imposed any ridiculous rules on me. He would even laugh as I imitated voices from different animated shows. After we got married, I was the one who adjusted to his work habits. I voluntarily locked up the recording studio in my room. Because I knew he hated noise, I hadn’t taken a single paid voice-acting job since we got married. I turned my head away when he tried to touch me. Then I opened the coffee table drawer and took out a document. “Ethan, these are the divorce papers. I’ve already signed them.” With that, I turned and walked into the bedroom. He froze for a moment before slamming the papers onto the table. His voice rose behind me. “Divorce me? Vivian, where exactly do you think you can go without me?” I didn’t stop. I went into the bedroom and locked the door. The next day, I came back to pack my things. But when I tried to open the door, I discovered the lock had been changed. I called a locksmith to let me in. The moment the door opened, I heard a voice coming from my recording studio. I pushed the door open. Chloe was sitting comfortably in my studio as if she owned the place. The room was a mess. She had my headphones on and was adjusting my professional recording equipment. On the screen, she was recording a health education segment for the hospital. When she saw me walk in, she merely glanced up. She made no move to get out of my chair. Then I saw the familiar words on the screen. It was material I had spent several sleepless nights writing for my own voice-over work. And when I saw the name listed in the credits at the bottom of the screen, my entire body started shaking with anger. I strode forward and yanked the microphone cable out. Chapter 3 “Vivian Spencer, what are you doing?!” Chloe shrieked and shot to her feet. I ignored her and called Ethan. “Did you have my lock changed?” Ethan didn’t deny it. Instead, he said casually, “Vivian, this is the second time you’ve bothered me outside your allotted time. “The spare key was missing, so I had building management change the lock. “You hardly use that room anymore. Chloe needs to prepare materials for the hospital’s Resident of the Year award, so I let her borrow it.” “Ethan, this is my recording studio. That’s my equipment.” I cut him off, but he gave a cold laugh. “You haven’t taken a paid voice-over job in three years. What’s wrong with letting Chloe use it?” Then he hung up. Chloe took off the headphones and looked at me without the slightest hint of guilt. Just then, a notification chimed from the computer as a viewer sent a virtual gift. I glanced at the account she was logged into. Then I froze. It was the late-night audio channel I had secretly started after leaving my job three years ago. I had never revealed my identity. Over the years, I had built up hundreds of thousands of followers. And Ethan was the only person I had ever given the password to. Now Chloe was taking advantage of how similar our voices sounded. She was using my account and pretending to be me. She had even publicly attached her own professional credentials to it. Now everyone believed Chloe was the comforting voice behind the channel. Completely unfazed, Chloe put her headphones back on and spoke into the microphone in an aggrieved voice. “Guys, I have to end the stream now. “Someone’s jealous of my accomplishments and came here to give me trouble, so I might have to disappear for a few days.” The comments immediately flooded with people defending her. I strode over and yanked out the power cable. “Do you realize you’re stealing my work?” Chloe tilted her head and smiled. “Vivian, since we’re being honest, I might as well tell you. “All those popular medical articles you wrote before? Ethan gave them to me to use for my award applications. “You barely even get a chance to talk to him. “So what if I took your account too?” Her smug expression finally pushed me over the edge. I raised my hand and slapped her. Her head snapped to the side. Then, with her eyes reddening, she took a selfie of her face, grabbed her bag, and ran out. Once I had calmed down, I plugged everything back in. Messages from the fan group immediately started popping up. Chloe was already accusing me in the chat. She claimed I had deliberately barged in, hit her, and tried to force her to hand over the account password. The comments below were full of people attacking me. Some were even threatening to track down my personal information. I took a deep breath. I remembered when Ethan had first started working at the hospital. Behind the scenes, I had written popular medical articles for him and helped him build a good reputation. Back then, he had told me not to reveal my identity. He wanted me to remain anonymous. So this was why. He had planned to hand all the credit to Chloe. A bitter laugh escaped me. I had been unbelievably stupid. I organized all the evidence, saved copies onto a flash drive, and reset the passwords on my equipment. But the moment I stepped outside, I saw a crowd gathered in front of my building. “That’s her! She stole someone else’s work!” A cup of ice water splashed across my face. Someone tried to yank my bag away. Others shoved cameras toward me, filming nonstop. Just as panic started closing in on me, Chloe called. “Vivian, you’ve been acting really badly lately, so I had some people teach you a tiny lesson. “But I still care about you. “Whether you get out of there in one piece is up to you.” I looked up just as a cab pulled toward the curb. I fought my way through the crowd and jumped inside. But once we got onto the highway, the car kept going faster. When we reached a sharp curve, the driver didn’t slow down at all. He jerked the wheel. The rear of the car plowed into the roadside landscaping. Just before I lost consciousness, I heard the completely unharmed driver pull out his phone. “You said last time it wasn’t serious enough. “This should do it, right? “When are you sending the money?” Chapter 4 When I opened my eyes again, an entire day and night had passed. Ethan was sitting beside my hospital bed. I immediately pushed myself upright. “Where’s Chloe?! She hired someone to crash into me! Both accidents were her doing…” Ethan cut me off with a deep frown. “What are you talking about? Why are you so determined to go after Chloe?” “Do you have any idea how much blood you lost when you came in? Chloe donated nearly a pint of blood for you. She almost passed out herself!” Just then, Chloe walked into the room, her face pale. She was holding my medical chart. The moment she saw Ethan, she hurriedly hid it behind her back. “Vivian, are you feeling better?” I let out a cold laugh and wiped away my tears. “Chloe, I memorized the license plate numbers from both cars that hit me.” “And all those s of mine you stole credit for? I’m taking every single one back.” Before I could finish, her eyes immediately turned red. “Ethan, Vivian has a concussion. It’s common for people to get confused after they wake up and start thinking everyone around them is out to get them.” She turned to me with a wounded expression. “Vivian, why don’t I just apologize, okay?” Seeing how weak she looked, Ethan forgot all about me. “Vivian, I’m warning you. Stop blaming Chloe for everything! “Apologize to her. Now.” When I remained silent, he wrapped an arm around Chloe and led her toward the door. Before leaving, he turned back to warn me. “Chloe is being evaluated for the hospital’s Resident of the Year award tomorrow. “You’re staying in this room until the evaluation is over.” Early the next morning, I heard nurses talking outside my door. “Chloe Lane is the only resident nominated for Resident of the Year this year.” Someone immediately shushed her. “Mrs. Shaw hasn’t even recovered from losing the baby, and now she’s been in another car accident. I feel awful for her.” Just then, my attorney pushed open the door and walked in. “We’ve verified the evidence. If you report this to the police, it could become a criminal case. As for Ms. Lane…” I looked at him without hesitation. “I know it’s criminal. That’s exactly why I’m reporting it. “And if Ethan refuses to sign the divorce papers, file for divorce.” After my attorney left, I slept until evening. Late that night, a message appeared on my phone. 'Vivian, come up to the roof. The helicopter is waiting for you.' I didn’t hesitate. I pulled out my IV, threw on my coat, and left the room without looking back. The next morning, Ethan finished his rounds and brought a group of interns to my room. But when they opened the door, the bed was empty. Chloe stood behind them and said sarcastically, “Wow, Vivian really doesn’t know how to take care of herself. She has a concussion and she’s still wandering around. Maybe she got lost because of the aftereffects.” Ethan frowned and glanced at her. Chloe stuck out her tongue and shrank back behind the others. Just then, one of the interns picked up the chart at the foot of my bed. “Seven weeks pregnant…” He kept reading. “Patient suffered severe bleeding following a motor vehicle accident. Pregnancy could not be maintained. Patient consented to termination…” His head snapped up. “Dr. Shaw, your wife…” Ethan froze. He snatched the chart out of the intern’s hands. The moment he read the words for himself, he nearly lost his balance. The charge nurse came rushing over, out of breath. “Dr. Shaw! Your wife left the hospital on her own last night without being discharged!” All the color drained from Ethan’s face. “She left?” His voice hardened, but panic was already creeping into it. “She’s really gotten bold. Now she’s sneaking out of the hospital too?” He fumbled for his phone, about to call someone and send them to our house to look for me. But before he could, several police officers walked into the room. The officer in front swept his gaze across everyone there. “Which one of you is Chloe Lane?”