After graduating, Claudia helped out in the family business – textile manufacturing. Though she was the boss’ daughter, she was given a junior post so that she could learn the ropes from the bottom up. She joined the Sales department – the most important department as it was the department that brought in the business for the company. It was tough for her but Claudia didn’t mind it as she enjoyed working with the other salespersons. She would follow them to their meeting with clients and watch them do their sales presentations. Within a few months, Claudia became so good at her sales talk that she was given a team to lead.

It was a gloomy afternoon but Claudia was in high spirits as she had just clinched a big contract with a major clothing departmental store. She was feeling proud of herself as she had succeeded in getting the deal which even some of her more senior staff failed. She couldn’t wait to tell her parents the good news in person, knowing well that they would be proud of her too. Just then she crossed the road to get to the carpark but she failed to realise that the traffic light was not in her favour. Before she knew it, she was thrown off the road by an approaching car.

When she woke up, she saw her parents beside her bed. She realised that she was badly injured. Seeing her mother crying, she wanted to comfort her. But all that could come out of her mouth was just a sigh. She has lost her voice.

The doctor said that the impact on her head had caused her to lose her voice. Listening to her parents' comfort but with nothing coming out from her, she broke down. During her stay in hospital, besides silence cry, it was still just silence cry that companied her. Upon reaching home, everything seemed to be the same, except for the ringing tone of the phone. She used to get excited whenever it rang as it could be the overseas call from Simon. However, now it would pierce her heart every time it rang. She didn’t know how to tell Simon about her condition. In fact, she didn’t wish to let him even if she could.

Not wanting to be a burden to him, she decided to write a letter to him saying that she did not wish to wait any longer as she had found somebody better. And with the letter, she enclosed her engagement ring. Simon was so shocked to receive Claudia’s letter wiht the ring that he made countless calls to find out what had happened but to no avail. And all this while all Claudia could do, besides crying, was still crying ........................................................