If I Could Do It Over, I’d Shout My Love for You

Here is the translation and adaptation of the short story, localized for a Western audience with the requested formatting and stylistic adjustments.
My husband is mute. At our wedding, it was his best friend, Kathleen, who spoke his vows for him.
After we were married, his mother called me barren, a worthless wife, and he just stood there, face flushed red, unable to say a word in my defense.
When Kathleen pushed me down the stairs, I lay on the floor, my head bleeding, and watched myself miscarry our child. My husband could only make strangled, desperate noises, powerless to help.
Everyone told me the same thing: "It's hard for him, too. He's mute, Lucy. You have to be patient."
I believed them.
Until the company gala. I left early and found him in the stairwell, shielding Kathleen from a group of drunk guys. I heard his voice, perfectly clear, for the first time.
"Let her go," he warned them, each word a cold, hard stone. "Or I'll make sure you disappear from this city."
Kathleen looked up at him with pure adoration.
"Liam," she breathed. "You were so heroic."
Then my husband turned and saw my ashen face. And just like that, he was mute again.
It turned out his voice only existed to protect one person. And it wasn't me.

1.
I stood frozen, watching Liams mouth move, the articulate threat dissolving back into the meaningless, guttural sounds I knew so well.
His eyes were wide with panic, like someone whod just had their most shameful secret exposed to the world.
Kathleens expression faltered too, but she recovered instantly, rushing to my side and grabbing my hand.
"Lucy, don't misunderstand. Liam was just... he was so worried about me, he forced the words out."
Her voice was thick with a feigned vulnerability.
"You know how he is. He'd do anything for me."
I ripped my hand from her grasp, my eyes pinned on Liam.
He couldn't meet my gaze. He looked down, a frantic sound caught in his throat as his hands flew into a flurry of sign language.
[It's not like that, Lucy. Let me explain.]
I stared at his long, elegant fingers. The same hands that had gripped my hospital bed in a display of helpless agony the day I lost our baby.
The memory was now a grotesque joke.
A laugh escaped my lips, sharp and humorless. I turned and walked away.
Liam reached for me, but I flinched away as if his touch would burn.
"Don't touch me."
My voice was so cold, I barely recognized it myself.
He froze, the panic in his eyes deepening into despair.
Back home, I locked myself in the bedroom. I used to think our quiet house was a peaceful sanctuary. Now, it just felt suffocating. Every corner reeked of lies.
A little while later, there was a knock on the door.
It was Liam.
He didnt try to enter. He just dragged his fingernails down the wooden door, a high-pitched, grating sound.
Once. Twice.
It was our private signal. It meant something was urgent. It meant he was begging me.
I ignored it.
After half an hour, the scratching stopped. I thought hed given up, and a strange, unwelcome flicker of relief passed through me.
Then my phone buzzed.
It was a call from Kathleen.
I didn't answer. She followed up with a barrage of texts.
"Lucy, Liam's gone. He was so upset. I'm worried he's going to do something stupid."
"He loves you so much. Please don't be mad at him because of me."
"My cat seems sick, and I'm all alone and scared. Do you know where Liam is?"
The last message was a tearful voice note.
I opened the bedroom door.
The living room was empty. Liams coat and car keys were gone.
On the coffee table was his notepad, left open. Scrawled across the page in a messy, desperate hand were the words:
[Lucy, believe me. I only love you.]
I stared at the sentence, and a wave of nausea rolled through me.
He loved me?
Was this his love? Running to another woman the second his lies were exposed?
I picked up my phone and dialed a number.
"Hello. I need a background check. Liam Vance, and a woman he's close with named Kathleen Bell."
"I want everything. From the day they met until now."

2.
The next day, I went to work as if nothing had happened.
Liam didn't come home.
His mother, however, called right on schedule.
"Lucy, what did you do to upset Liam now? Life is hard enough for him as a mute man. Do you have to push him to his breaking point?"
"Kathleen called me. She said you were being unreasonable. Liam's at her place now. You need to go pick him up immediately!"
I hung up on her.
That evening, Liam finally returned, his face etched with exhaustion.
Kathleen was trailing behind him, carrying a container of homemade soup.
"Lucy, Liam was worried you hadn't eaten, so he asked me to bring this over."
She smiled, a picture of innocence, as if the scene in the stairwell had been a figment of my imagination.
My mother-in-law followed them in, immediately taking Kathleen's hand and glaring at me.
"Look at how thoughtful Kathleen is. Then look at you. Can't even take care of your own husband!"
"If it weren't for Kathleen, who knows where Liam would have ended up last night!"
Liam just stood there, head bowed, wringing his hands, the very image of guilt and helplessness.
I watched them, my heart a block of ice.
I walked to the dining table, picked up a document, and held it out to him.
"Sign this."
His mother snatched it from my hand. "Sign what? A divorce? I'm telling you, Lucy, the Vance men do not get divorced!"
Kathleen leaned in, her face a mask of concern for Liam.
"Liam, don't do anything rash. Lucy's just upset right now."
She reached for his hand, but he recoiled as if burned, his pleading eyes fixed on me.
I ignored him and spoke to his mother. "It's not a divorce. It's a company document. Urgent."
She looked skeptical but, seeing my resolve, said nothing more.
Liam, seemingly wanting to ease Kathleen's worry, took the pen and quickly signed his name at the bottom. His signature, like his appearance, was neat and clean.
He looked up at me, his eyes wide and innocent as always.
[Lucy, please don't be mad anymore. Okay?]
I took the document without giving him a second glance.
Just then, Kathleen pointed to an emerald bracelet on my wrist.
"Lucy, that bracelet is beautiful. Was it a gift from Liam?"
It was. It was the gift he'd given me when he proposed, and I never took it off.
I waited for his reaction.
As expected, he froze, then began signing rapidly.
[It was my engagement gift to Lucy.]
Kathleens face fell in disappointment, her lip jutting out in a pout.
"Oh... I see. It's just so pretty."
She looked at Liam, her eyes full of longing.
"You've never given me a gift like that, Liam."
A flicker of conflict crossed his face. He glanced at Kathleen, then back at me.
Finally, he picked up the pen and wrote on the notepad.
[Lucy, what if... you just let Kathleen borrow it for a few days? She has an important party next week.]
In that single moment, my heart didn't just break. It turned to dust.

3.
I stared at the words on the paper for a full ten seconds.
Then, I smiled.
I unclasped the bracelet. But instead of handing it to Kathleen, I looked directly at Liam.
"Are you sure?"
He shifted uncomfortably under my gaze, avoiding my eyes as he nodded.
[Just for a few days.]
"Okay."
I nodded. Then, before any of them could react, I raised my hand.
SMASH!
The bracelet shattered against the marble floor, emerald fragments scattering like shrapnel.
My mother-in-law shrieked. "Are you insane, Lucy?!"
Kathleen gasped, hiding behind Liam, her face pale with shock.
Liam shot to his feet, staring at me in disbelief. His mouth opened, but no sound came out.
I stood amidst the glittering debris, my voice calm. "It's broken. Now no one can have it."
I turned and went upstairs to pack.
Liam followed, signing frantically at the door.
[What is wrong with you? I'll buy you a new one!]
I ignored him, stuffing clothes into a suitcase.
He grabbed my wrist.
[Don't go!]
I threw his hand off.
"Liam. We're done."
He swayed, his face deathly pale.
As I dragged my suitcase downstairs, his mother was still screaming insults at me. I walked straight to the door.
Liam blocked my path, his eyes red, signing the same thing over and over.
[I'm sorry. I was wrong. Please don't leave.]
I looked at him and found it all so pathetic.
"Can your apology bring back my child?"
He flinched as if Id slapped him and froze.
I pulled open the door and walked out.
Behind me, I heard the sound of something else shattering, followed by his mothers furious shouts.
I didn't look back.
A few days later, my investigator handed me a thick file and several audio recorders.
I spent the entire night acquainting myself with the "pure friendship" of Liam and Kathleen.
It turned out, Liam wasn't born mute.
At age ten, a severe fever damaged his vocal cords, leaving him unable to speak for a year. During that year, he was showered with attention and care from everyone. Especially Kathleen, who became his self-appointed "spokesperson."
When his voice returned, he made a choice. He stayed silent.
He discovered that being a mute got him more than speaking ever did.
And Kathleen was the sole keeper of his secret.
They were bound together by this twisted arrangement for twenty years.
I listened to a recording of Kathleen bragging to a friend.
"Liam? Of course he's not really mute. He just can't be bothered to talk to people who don't matter."
"Lucy? She's just a tool. The Vance family business needed her family's connections. Why else would he marry her?"
"It's better that the baby's gone. I was getting sick of looking at her."
I squeezed the recorder, my nails digging into my palm.

4.
I thought I would be shaking with rage, but I was terrifyingly calm.
The next day, I got a call from Kathleen.
She was sobbing, claiming shed accidentally broken my mother-in-laws favorite antique vase and was about to be thrown out.
"Lucy, can you please talk to Liam for me? He listens to you."
I let out a soft laugh.
"Isn't he at your place? Why don't you talk to him yourself?"
There was a pause, then more dramatic crying.
"He... he won't see me. He won't answer my calls. I don't know what to do."
I leaned back on my sofa, taking a slow sip of coffee.
"Then you should get on your knees and beg him. Just like I was on my knees, begging him to save me the day I lost our baby."
Kathleen was speechless.
I hung up, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction.
A short while later, my doorbell rang.
It was Liam. He looked haggard, with dark circles under his eyes. He was holding a small, elegant cake box. When he saw me, he forced a hopeful smile.
[Lucy, I bought you your favorite cake.]
He signed, watching my expression carefully.
I didnt let him in. I just leaned against the doorframe.
"What do you want?"
He seemed taken aback by my coldness. He started signing again, more urgently this time.
[Kathleen didn't mean it. She's young and immature. Don't hold it against her.]
[I'll talk to my mom. Don't worry.]
I watched him rush to defend her, the irony thick enough to choke on.
"Liam, are you here to bring me a cake, or to be Kathleen's lawyer?"
His face drained of color, his hands frozen mid-air.
I shut the door, cutting him off completely.
That night, I received a picture message from an unknown number.
It was a photo of the box from my old storage roomthe box that held all of my baby's things.
The tiny clothes, the soft toys, the sweater I'd knitted by hand.
Now, they were all piled next to a dumpster, spattered with filth.
Beneath the photo was a single line of text.
[Eyesores belong in the trash.]
Blood roared in my ears. I drove to the old house like a madwoman.
The storage room door was open, the inside ransacked. The contents of the box were scattered everywhere, trampled and ruined. The little wooden horse Id carved for my child was snapped in two.
I fell to my knees, gathering the soiled keepsakes one by one, tears streaming down my face.
Just then, Liam and Kathleen arrived.
Kathleen gasped theatrically. "Oh my god, what happened? Everything was fine when I left!"
Liam rushed to my side, trying to help me up.
[Lucy, don't be like this. If they're broken, we can buy new ones.]
Buy new ones?
I looked up, my eyes burning with a hatred so intense it felt like it could incinerate him.
"Get out!"
He recoiled, startled by my ferocity.
Kathleen stepped forward, playing the peacemaker. "Lucy, don't blame Liam. A burglar must have broken in! We should call the police!"
I grabbed the broken half of the wooden horse and hurled it at her with all my might.
"You did this! Kathleen, I'll kill you!"
The wood grazed her cheek, leaving a thin, red line on her perfect skin.
She screamed and dove behind Liam, crying hysterically.
"Liam, I'm so scared... she's lost her mind..."
Liam instinctively wrapped his arms around Kathleen, shielding her completely. He turned to me, his eyes cold with disappointment.
And then, I heard his voice.
He hadn't used this voice to say his vows.
He hadn't used this voice to defend me from his mother's insults.
He hadn't used this voice to call for help as I bled out on a hospital bed.
But now, for a meaningless scratch on another woman's face, he spoke. He had honed twenty years of silence into a razor-sharp blade, and he plunged it straight into my heart.
"Apologize to Kathleen. Now."

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