MY SILENT EX WANTS ME BACK

A like on a comment that said being with a mute isn't any fun. That's what broke Jonah and me up. I meant to tell him my thumb slipped.

But the whole screen was full of comments saying he had already met the sunshine FL who could really save him.

Since the ML no longer needed me, the second female lead, there was no reason to hang on. "Then let's break up." Jonah, in the middle of signing, froze.

Chapter 1 [What do you mean, not any fun?] [You're sick of me, aren't you?] [If you're sick of me, say so sooner. It's not like I'd cling to you.

If you want to break up, say it!] Every time we fought, Jonah signed so fast his hands blurred. I was used to how jealous he got, how much he read into things.

I'd been planning to explain that my thumb had slipped. But the comments kept sliding past. [The mute ML is so pitiful.

Good thing he's about to end up with the FL.] [The ML picked this excuse to fight so he'd have a reason to break up.

The second female lead will explain in that impatient way of hers, it'll escalate, and they'll fall apart naturally.] [I'd still rather watch the ML and the FL together.

Only a sunshine FL can warm him up.] [Right? The ML smiles so much more since the FL showed up.] [Once the breakup's done the ML can go after FL bb!

Can't wait!] No wonder Jonah had been coming home so late lately. So he'd met the female lead he was fated for.

I looked at Jonah frowning as he signed, and suddenly I understood why he'd been so touchy.

What I'd taken for jealousy, for him caring, it was just him picking at me, looking for a reason to break up. Something in my chest went cold all at once. "Fine. Let's break up.

It really isn't any fun." "…" Jonah's fingers froze. I turned to go pack. I didn't see his eyes go red. I hadn't left much at his apartment.

He stood in the doorway, blank, hands twisting together. I was wheeling my suitcase toward the door.

He caught my sleeve, hands halflifted, and stopped. [The second female lead is finally leaving.

Don't forget to leave the key, FL bb is moving in any minute.] [The ML and the FL are about to live together, I'm so hyped, our celibate ML is finally getting some!] Obviously I wasn't going to think Jonah was trying to keep me.

I quickly dug his apartment key out of my pocket. "Here. Don't worry, I'm not taking anything of yours." I moved back into the dorm. Jonah didn't message me again.

Busy chasing the female lead, presumably. Jonah is a mute. I met him when I was volunteering at the school for the deaf next door. He was a student there.

I could follow some sign language. One thing led to another and we got to know each other. Because Jonah couldn't talk, I loved teasing him. He looked cold and untouchable.

In private he couldn't take a second of it. Talk right next to his ear and he'd go red. I'd thought we fit so well we'd last a long time.

I didn't expect to be proven wrong that fast. In class. I scrolled the student job board without taking any of it in.

Back when I worked at the bar, Jonah used to come get me at night. Now that he wasn't around, I needed to find something else.

My roommate nudged me. "Hattie, your boyfriend's waiting for you outside." I turned my head. Jonah was standing outside the window, staring. Our eyes met and he looked away fast.

He never used to come to my school. He said he was a mute, and he didn't want to embarrass me. Chapter 2 But he had no idea how goodlooking he was.

My roommate said a face like that would get him signed by a scout on the spot. The bell rang. I was about to go over.

Then a bright, pretty figure rushed up and took Jonah's arm. "You came to get me! Is this for me?" The girl lifted the little cake he was carrying.

The comments were all saying: so sweet, I'm shipping it. That had to be the female lead, Sylvie Ellery. Sylvie was beautiful, the most talkedabout girl in the freshman class.

A ton of people were putting her name up on the school's anonymous crush page. I looked at the designer logo on her clothes, at the whole easy, untroubled air of her.

Something in me turned envious. No wonder she was the sunshine FL, the one who could save the ML.

Me, the second female lead — just watching somebody that rich and that relaxed was almost enough to start my villain arc. Jonah pushed Sylvie's hand away, flustered.

Embarrassed, it looked like. He'd been shy like that when we first met, too. So he hadn't come for me. I knew there had to be a reason he'd suddenly turned up at my school.

The sunshine FL really did have a pull. I picked up my bag and left with my head down. Wesley, from my class, tapped my shoulder. "Harriet, I found a job that pays pretty well.

Want in?" "Sure." We both came from ordinary families. We passed decent gigs back and forth all the time. We walked out together. Jonah watched us, his fists tightening slightly.

The job Wesley found was at a restaurant. The dinner shift let out so late the last campus shuttle was long gone, and a cab cost too much. I needed somewhere off campus to land.

My cousin happened to have a place over here. I asked if I could stay in it a while. When he heard I was working while going to school, he wouldn't take rent.

He even came by to hand me the keys himself. He took me around the corner for the things I'd need and told me not to work too late, to be careful. Walking into the complex.

That was when I realized. My cousin's place and Jonah's apartment were in the same complex. Of all the luck. I'd barely gotten inside when I ran into Jonah, coming back from work.

Jonah stared at us, his eyes going dark on the things we'd bought.

The look sent a chill down my cousin's back. "Hattie, someone from school?" "…I don't know him." I shook my head and pulled my cousin along, walking fast.

All the way into the elevator. Jonah was still holding that same stiff pose. My cousin got me settled and left. Before bed.

Out of nowhere, a message from Jonah came in. [Jonah: You've got a new boyfriend that fast?] [Jonah: Is it more fun with him? Are you happier?] Typing, for a long time.

Then nothing. [Shouldn't the ML be keeping his distance from his ex? Why does he still care this much?] [Nah, the ML's just making sure the second female lead won't cling.

He's about to land himself a rich family.] [No way the ML likes the second female lead. His head's all FL bb.

He's even saving up for her birthday.] I couldn't be bothered with the comments. Or with him. I just didn't answer. ML, FL, whatever.

None of them were going to get in the way of me making money. My mom has a chronic illness. So I had to take some of the weight off my family.

Every free hour went to picking up shifts with Wesley. The restaurant he'd found was busy.

I was in the middle of it, hair a mess, carrying plates past the little private room upstairs. Through the glass in the door I saw a shape I knew.

Jonah was having dinner with Sylvie. Chapter 3 Sylvie was talking and laughing with him. Whatever she said, it made Jonah laugh, really laugh.

Across from them sat what looked like Sylvie's parents. They had the whole upperclass air about them. Meeting the parents already.

No wonder the comments said Jonah was about to marry into the Ellery family. The two of them really did look right together.

Looking at that easy smile of his, I had to admit money agreed with a person. Jonah had left me and he was doing better for it. All at once, Jonah looked up.

Our eyes caught, neither of us ready for it. I looked away fast and carried my plates off. I finished hauling out the kitchen trash, and went to wash my hands.

I ran into Jonah outside the restroom. He caught hold of me, frantic, hands already going. [Sylvie's parents are my sponsors.

They've done a lot for the group home.] [I'm just having dinner with them today. That's all it is. Don't read into it.] The comments had mentioned this.

Sylvie had met Jonah at the group home when they were kids. So the ML and the FL had history. I was a side character, a tool to move them along.

I nodded, blankfaced. "It's got nothing to do with me. You don't have to explain." Jonah's expression got worse. He lifted his hands to say something else.

The sound of heels came toward us. Sylvie was looking for him. I walked off fast, so she wouldn't get the wrong idea.

The comments started in on me again — what a schemer, taking a job here on purpose to wreck what they had. Unbelievable. Did I look like I had that kind of free time?

The restaurant was slammed that night. By the time we clocked out it was almost midnight. Wesley had missed the last bus back to campus. So I let him stay the night.

He'd gotten me the job, anyway. I owed him one. On the way home. The comments were still going on about how the ML and the FL would be getting closer tonight.

Were they already living together? The thought of anyone else seeing Jonah like that, holding himself back, shy — it sat badly with me.

Would he get all needy with Sylvie the way he did when I picked on him? My head was a mess. Wesley took my silence for exhaustion. He went to shower.

I got the second bedroom ready for him. Suddenly my phone went off, alarm blaring, buzzing and buzzing. That was the emergency alert I'd set for Jonah. Jonah can't speak.

I'd been afraid something would happen to him at home, so I'd put a personal safety app on his phone and made myself his emergency contact.

Hold the button down and it goes straight to my phone. Wasn't he with Sylvie? What could possibly have happened? I grabbed my phone and called him. No one picked up.

My chest went tight. I opened the app. His location was right nearby. I hurried over and knocked. The door opened right away. "Jonah!" I pushed it open, worried.

Only to find him soaking wet. Nothing on but a bathrobe. "Are you okay?" Wet hair hung in his eyes. Jonah shook his head, pitiful. [A pipe burst. The place is flooded.

The breaker tripped, too.] [I almost fell just now. I panicked and hit the button. Sorry for bothering you.] He finished signing, and I got a look at the state of the apartment.

Thank God he hadn't actually fallen. That would have been a real problem. His apartment wasn't livable. He wanted to make do at my place for the night. I hesitated.

Chapter 4 Jonah: [Is it not a good time? Never mind, then. I'll be fine out here on my own.

I'm a little scared, but it's this late, there probably isn't any danger.] He'd run into trouble once before, working too late.

Some drunk saw how pretty Jonah was and tried to put his hands on him. Jonah got into a fight with him. He came back and cried in my arms for a long time. Now.

Looking at those wet eyes. I took him back with me anyway. The second we were through the door. Jonah saw the men's shoes by it. His brow creased slightly. [Is your boyfriend home?

You brought me here. Won't he be angry?] I snorted. "He's not here. Relax. He's not like you. He's generous. He doesn't get angry." I said it to needle him.

Jonah pressed his lips together, eyes moving quietly over the living room. Like a cat checking its territory. I was about to tell him he had the couch tonight. I turned around.

Somewhere along the way his robe had come loose. Under it were lace straps that covered almost nothing. Cream white, innocent and filthy at the same time.

They cut across the line of his abs. In the latenight light it was even worse. I'd teased him about that set once, told him to put it on for me. He'd gone red and said no.

What had gotten into him today? Had he gotten it ready for the female lead, and it fell through? Jonah raised his hands. [If I became more fun, would you—] He didn't finish.

All at once. The bathroom door opened.

Wesley came out toweling his hair. "Harriet, these pajamas you gave me actually fit pretty—" Then, abruptly, he and Jonah were looking straight at each other. The air went solid.

Jonah's eyes went black in an instant. [Why is he here? Exactly how many boyfriends do you have?] Wesley