Silent When I Kiss You

★ Top heiress from a prestigious family vs. gentle, older deaf-mute man (strong heroine, weaker hero; she is not a virgin, he is)

★ Redemption romance among the wealthy | Brothers at odds | School to city life (heroine pursues the hero)

1.

As the sole heir to Yaoshi Group, Qin Xiao was born above the clouds.

But no one knew that when she was eight, she was kidnapped, and a battered deaf-mute boy had smashed open the door trapping her with an iron bar.

With half his face covered in blood, he carried her on his back and crawled out of hell, one step at a time.

At sixteen, she returned to the country to take over her father's business and met him again in an alley in a crowded, smoky urban village. The boy from back then had been bent beneath the weight of life. He had dropped out of school and worked to support his younger brother, who was brilliant at school and polished and handsome.

"Shen Xu, be with me. I'll take care of you." She leaned close.

He retreated in a panic and signed: [I'm dirty.] [I'm not good enough for you.]

But she smiled, tugged at his collar, and kissed his trembling Adam's apple. "But I like you just the way you are."

2.

Their relationship stayed hidden for years, until his younger brother caught them in bed.

The young man shouted through reddened eyes, "Do you know I've liked you for three years? Why did it have to be my brother?!"

He lost control and said things that made the usually gentle Shen Xu see red.

The brothers came to blows.

When the matter reached her father, an "accidental" car crash and the help of a therapist made her forget him completely.

3.

Five years later, she was the group's second-in-command, living for pleasure and indulging in a life of luxury.

By chance, she took a liking to his younger brother's face and handed him her room key.

She hadn't expected him to be the one who opened the door.

Qin Xiao laughed in anger and stepped forward to grip his chin. "Are you brothers playing some kind of switcheroo?"

Before he could explain, she'd already grabbed him by the waist and pinned him against the floor-to-ceiling window.

"You can't talk? Perfect. I hate noise."

She took him by force and schemed to keep him at her side.

He swallowed every grievance, letting her take him, humiliate him, and treat him like a convenient toy. Until one night, she woke in his arms and touched his tear-damp cheek. "...I think I once lost something very important."

★ The world may have taken his voice, but it could never take away the deafening echo she made in his heart.

Content warnings:

1. The hero suffers, and the story is very hero-centric. Readers who are intensely protective of male leads should steer clear.

2. The heroine is not a virgin, the hero is.

3. The heroine's career gets substantial attention; this is not purely a romance focused on the two leads.

A shared set of kinks is hard to come by, so the story is divided into volumes to help readers skip around. Anti-piracy measures cover 60% of the text.

(The leads are both adults when they officially become a couple.)

Moral: Love is the backbone that lets the lowly finally stand tall.