Three Thousand Pear Blossoms Falling

Everyone at the hospital knew that Mrs. Harding Jr. had a hearing impairment and could barely communicate with others even with a hearing aid.

So when Eugene Harding handed me that woman's prenatal checkup report, I stared at the name on it for a long time.

Lena, this is my child with Dr. Henson.

His voice was very soft, as if he were informing a stranger who had nothing to do with him.

"How can I feel comfortable letting you have a child in your condition?"

I touched the hearing aid in my ear and nodded slowly.

Eugene probably thought I understood, so he bent down and hugged me.

"There now. You're still Mrs. Harding, and that will never change."

After he left, I took off my hearing aid, and the world instantly went quiet.

Last night, he'd been on the phone in his study, saying, "I'll marry you once I get the shares," and I heard it clearly.

I'm just deaf.

I'm not stupid.

Eugene didn't know that I could read lips.

And he didn't know this house held another secret of his.

1.

Eugene didn't know that I could read lips.

I've never told anyone about it.

After a fever damaged my ears when I was eight, I was forced to learn the skill.

When people speak, I watch their lips, and I know what they're saying.

So for the past three years, every time Eugene spoke to Effie Henson with his back to me, I saw it perfectly clearly.

Like right now.

At the far end of the hospital corridor, Eugene had his arm around Effie's waist, his lips moving slightly.

"Just hold on a little longer. Once she signs the share transfer agreement, we'll go public."

Effie touched her belly and smiled tenderly.

"Does she really know nothing?"

"What could a deaf woman know?" Eugene lowered his head and kissed her forehead. "Don't worry."

I stood where I was, watching their lips open and close.

Effie turned her head and glanced at me.

I understood that look. She was calculating how many days I had left.

I lowered my eyes.

The electrical hiss in the hearing aid was piercing.

When I married Eugene three years ago, he wasn't the president of Harding Group yet.

Back then he was only the unfavored second son of the Harding family, with a shrewd, capable older brother holding him down.

The wedding was very simple. He couldn't even afford a diamond ring, so he just slipped a silver one onto my finger.

"Lena, I've put you through so much."

He cupped my face, his eyes going red.

"Once I make it someday, I'll give you the very best."

I smiled and shook my head, pointing at my heart.

It's okay. Having you is enough.

Back then, Eugene would get up early every day to brew herbal medication for me. When my ears rang in the middle of the night, he'd hold me in his arms and gently pat my back. He'd speak slowly into my ear, word by word, so I could see his lips clearly.

"Lena, you're the most important person in my life."

I believed him.

So when the eldest son of the Harding family ran into trouble and Eugene unexpectedly took over the company, I was happier than anyone.

I thought the hard times were finally behind me.

But I forgot that once a person stands up high, they can no longer see what's beneath their feet.

Effie Henson was the private doctor who had been assigned to Eugene three months ago.

Foreign-educated, beautiful, with a rsum so impressive it practically glowed.

The first time she came to the house to give Eugene a check-up, the way she looked at me was off.

I knew that look all too well.

She was sizing up whether I was good enough for him.

But when she spoke to Eugene, her tone was gentle enough to drip.

"Mr. Harding, your wife's hearing problem could actually be corrected with cochlear implant surgery."

Eugene shook his head.

"I asked the specialists. Her condition is unusualthe surgery is too risky."

Effie nodded and said nothing more.

But that night, when I got up and passed by the study, I saw her sitting on Eugene's lap.

Their lips were very close together.

"She really doesn't know anything?"

"She's deaf." Eugene let out a laugh. "Even if she heard, she couldn't make it out."

I stood outside the door, my fingers clenched tight around the edge of my nightgown.

It felt like I'd been punched hard in the chest.

I told myself it was just a momentary lapse.

Men get tempted, their heads turn for a momenthe'll come back to me, I comforted myself.

After all, we'd been together three years.

After all, he used to love me so much.

But what I got instead was Effie moving into my home, on the excuse that it would be more convenient to manage my health.

Eugene's reasons were lofty and proper.

"Lena, you're not well, and I'm swamped with work. If Dr. Henson lives here, she can look after you anytime."

I looked at him and nodded.

On the first night Effie stayed in the guest room, at two in the morning, I heard the door next to mine open.

The footsteps passed my room and went toward the master bedroom.

I lay there with my eyes open until dawn.

The next morning at breakfast, Effie walked past me wearing Eugene's shirt.

I recognized that shirtit was the birthday gift I'd given him last year.

She said something to me. I didn't catch it; I only saw her lips curve into an arc.

Eugene came out of the bedroom and froze when he saw what she was wearing.

"Effie, go change."

"What's wrong?" Effie blinked and looked down at the shirt. "Is it too big? I just grabbed something this morning. I didn't realize it was yours."

Eugene shot me a quick glance.

I couldn't read that look in his eyes.

I lowered my head and drank my porridge, the steam from the bowl stinging my eyes.

So it turned out that some things really do slowly go sour.

I quietly peeled my egg, pretending I hadn't seen a thing.

It was Effie Henson herself who told me she was pregnant.

Eugene was away on a business trip that day, and it was just the two of us at home.

She sat across from me, gently stroking her belly.

"Mrs. Harding, I'm pregnant."

I looked up and watched her lips.

"It's Eugene's child."

She smiled and spoke slowly, word by word, as if afraid I wouldn't understand.

"He said you'd understand. After all, you can't have a healthy child, and the Harding family needs an heir."

I gripped the cup tightly in my hand.

"You've been deaf for so many years, you must be used to it by now, right?" She stood up and leaned in close to me. "Used to being cast aside, used to being replaced."

"It's fine, you can go on being Mrs. Harding. You just have to sit at home and do nothing anyway."

"Eugene and I will take care of everything for you."

When she finished, she smiled and walked away.

I sat there, my fingers gripping the cup until they turned white.

When Eugene came back, he set that prenatal checkup report in front of me again.

"Lena, you know about me and Dr. Henson, don't you?"

I looked at him and said nothing.

"She's only a surrogate. It doesn't change your place here."

I nodded.

He let out a breath and bent down to hug me.

"There's a good girl. You're still Mrs. Harding, and that will never change."

He smelled of Effie's perfume.

After he left, I took off my hearing aid, and the world went silent in an instant.

I walked to the window and looked down at the garden.

Effie was sitting on the swing, basking in the sun, one hand over her belly, smiling with pure happiness.

Eugene walked over and bent down to kiss her cheek.

Their lips moved a few times.

"She believed it?"

"She's deaf. Say anything and she'll believe it."

I drew the curtains.

The next day, I went to see my attending physician.

For the past three years, he'd been the one following up on my hearing.

"Dr. Stanley, there's something I want to ask you."

He looked up.

"My earsis surgery really out of the question?"

Dr. Stanley was silent for a few seconds.

"Mrs. Harding, given your current condition, the success rate of the surgery is actually very high."

"My current condition?"

"Yes." He pushed up his glasses. "When you first came here three years ago, your hearing loss was indeed very severe. But after these three years of treatment, your hearing has actually been recovering."

"It's just..."

He paused, as if hesitating over whether to say it.

"Just what?"

"It's just that one of the ingredients in the medication you're taking suppresses the repair of the auditory nerve."

I froze.

"What ingredient?"

Dr. Stanley took a test report out of the drawer.

"Three months ago I happened to notice something was off, so I quietly kept some of your medication and had it analyzed. There's something added to it called an auditory nerve blocker. Taken long-term, it causes hearing to keep declining, even permanent damage."

"This kind of drug can't be bought here at all."

I looked at the report, my hands trembling slightly.

My hands were shaking so badly I couldn't hold the paper. Dr. Stanley pressed it down for me, and only then could I read those five characters: auditory nerve blocker.

"Who prescribed it?"

"The prescription is in my name, but I didn't write it." Dr. Stanley looked at me. "Mrs. Harding, who usually handles your medication?"

I thought of Effie Henson.

After she moved in, she'd taken it upon herself to prepare my medication.

"Dr. Henson is an expert. You can rest easy leaving it to me."

That's what Eugene said at the time.

I didn't go home.

I went straight to Harding Group.

The receptionist knew me and didn't stop me.

I took the elevator up to the top floor and walked toward the CEO's office.

The door was ajar.

Through the gap, I saw Effie Henson sitting on Eugene's lap, the two of them looking at something.

"Once she signs the share transfer agreement, your shares will be over fifty percent," Effie said with a smile. "By then all of Harding Group will be yours."

Eugene kissed her ear.

"Thanks to you, coming up with such a perfect plan."

"Of course." Effie wrapped her arms around his neck. "Once she signs, she can die in an accident. A deaf woman getting hit by a car crossing the streetperfectly normal, right?"

Eugene let out a laugh.

"You," he said. "You're really cold-hearted."

"Me, cold-hearted?" Effie poked his chest. "Don't you want to get rid of this burden too? You only married her three years ago because of the shares her father held. Now that you've got the shares, what's the point of keeping her?"

I stood outside the door, watching their lips.

Word by word, they spelled out the day of my death.

I pushed the door open and went in.