Deceiving Her Ears: Ignoring Your Call-Chapter 40: Natalie, Where Did You Go?

Natalie blinked her innocent doe-like eyes, looking at Isaac Vaughn at the door, whose face looked unpleasant, a hint of confusion in her gaze.

She put down the doll and asked him in sign language: What’s wrong?

The tension Isaac was holding suddenly eased a bit.

As he strode over, he looked towards her ears.

Both ears were clean, no hearing aids worn.

Thank goodness.

She is deaf.

Can’t hear.

Isaac reached out to take the doll from her embrace.

Natalie frowned slightly, instinctively holding the doll tightly, not giving it up.

She gestured in sign language to tell him: This is a gift Kiki just gave me.

At this moment, the doll with the recording function was still playing back his conversation with his aunt, a scene that exposed his unknown feelings right in front of her, making him feel a tingling sensation on his scalp.

He signed: You like this doll a lot?

Natalie nodded.

He raised an eyebrow, signing: Like it so much you can’t even let me take a glance?

Natalie chuckled and relinquished the doll to him.

The first thing Isaac did upon getting the doll was to erase the recordings inside.

Once cleared, he finally let out a deep breath.

Just as he was about to return the doll to Natalie, he suddenly thought of something, turned around, and recorded something new into the doll.

Natalie asked what he was doing just now, he said he discovered the doll had a recording function, so he recorded something for her to listen to when she gets her hearing aids.

——

Three days in the hospital, Natalie was discharged.

Her face was less swollen, but the traces were still visible if you looked closely.

Not just on her face, she had wounds on her body too, as if something had hit her.

But she remained silent about the origin of these injuries.

Isaac knew the injuries were most likely related to her mother, Cynthia Kendall, while her silence maintained Cynthia’s dignity.

Natalie woke from a nap to find it was already afternoon.

There was no one beside her.

She hugged the blanket and sat up in a daze for a while.

Kiki’s doll was right next to her pillow.

She picked up the doll and squeezed its hand.

Isaac’s voice came from the belly of the doll: "Little Ear is a fool."

Natalie remained expressionless, playing the recording over and over, listening to "Little Ear is a fool" more times than she could count.

She thought Isaac was actually right.

She truly was foolish enough.

"Awake."

Isaac came in, hearing her listening to his recording, his thin lips curled into a smile.

He sat on the edge of the bed, pulled her onto his lap, kissed her cheek, and then squeezed the doll’s hand.

As the doll played the recording, he whispered into her ear, "Little Ear is a fool."

Natalie coldly gave him an elbow.

He let out a muffled laugh after grunting, "Angry?"

She said nothing.

Isaac buried his head in the back of her neck and laughed for a while, asking her, "Hungry? Want me to cook some noodles for you?"

*

Natalie still had two days off but was already eager to end her leave and return to classes.

Isaac was bare-chested, with only sleep pants on, standing in front of the wardrobe, watching her pick clothes.

"Don’t go to class. Why don’t I take you to Franklin Finch’s uncle’s resort for a couple of days? It’s just outside Seaharbor, a two-hour drive. They seem to have hot springs there, do you like soaking in hot springs?"

Natalie ignored him and went into the bathroom to change.

Isaac followed behind her, still trying to persuade her: "What’s so good about classes? They’re dull for college students. You don’t like hot springs, how about I take you to the beach to sunbathe?"

Natalie was already putting on shoes at the entrance, opened the door, and said goodbye to him.

Isaac’s face was dark. As she stepped out the door, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

Pressed against the wall, he gave her a hard kiss.

Natalie’s eyes turned moist from his kiss, her lips red and swollen.

"What time is class over?"

"Class ends but I need to find the teacher to discuss next week’s project assignment."

Before Isaac could explode, she soothed him: "I’ll message you once I’m done."

Natalie was in good form today, working efficiently as well.

After lunch in the cafeteria, she went to the library to research for an hour.

But when 6 PM came and Isaac hadn’t gotten a message from her, he contacted her only to find her phone was off.

Isaac’s mind inexplicably flashed to the image of Natalie sitting on the hospital bed hugging the doll that day.

But she clearly wasn’t wearing hearing aids.

No way she could have heard the recording.

Isaac called Seaharbor University, indirectly finding out that Natalie’s class ended at 4 PM, and her teacher had already left for home, not at school.

It was impossible for her to discuss any project assignment with the teacher, so where did she go?

Isaac asked someone to find out who Natalie typically socialized well with in her class.

Before he got a callback, he received a call from Natalie.

"Natalie, where have you been?" Isaac’s voice sounded anxious, seemingly in a frenzy.

Natalie said: "My phone broke, kept failing to charge, it went dead in the afternoon, just now got it charged and turned on."

"If your phone’s broken, why not buy a new one?" After saying that, Isaac took a deep breath, calming his tone: "I understand. Where are you now?"

"I’m out with Nina Abbott and a few classmates."

Out having fun?

He was almost going crazy looking for her.

A bit later and he might have started digging through the earth.

Only for her to tell him she was having fun?

Isaac was extremely displeased, but still suppressed his anger.

"Alright, but tell me where you’re playing? I’ll come pick you up when it’s over."

—— 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Isaac parked the car across the street.

It was Natalie’s request.

After waiting in the car for more than half an hour, he saw Natalie and several girls coming out of the bar.

After bidding farewell to each other, she looked left and right, then spotted his car and walked over quickly.

Watching her slender figure approach, the breath of frustration in Isaac’s chest inexplicably dissipated.

Natalie opened the car door and sat inside, asking: "Have you been waiting long?"

Isaac handed her a new phone.

Natalie was surprised to accept it, "I was planning to buy one tomorrow."

Isaac swapped her card into the new phone, started the car.

Driving, his peripheral vision saw her obediently sitting in the passenger seat, engrossed with the new phone he bought her, his lips unconsciously lifting in a joyful arc.

In the elevator.

Isaac couldn’t help but hold her for a tangled kiss.

Natalie was trapped in the corner, her eyes moist from his kisses, lips glistening with a sheen.

"There, there’s surveillance. You jerk!"

Isaac laughed lowly, holding her to coax: "Got it, let’s talk at home."

With a "ding," their floor arrived.

Isaac and Natalie came out of the elevator and immediately saw someone holding flowers at their doorstep.

Vivienne Jordan saw them and froze.

Isaac furrowed his brows, somewhat displeased with Vivienne’s unannounced arrival: "Why are you here?"

Vivienne clutched the flowers tightly.

She had resolved today, summoned courage to find Isaac, intending to restore the brief romance from years ago.

She looked at Natalie, asking Isaac: "Who is this?"