Every evening, when the last rays of the sun painted the sky in golden and pink hues, Anastasia would go to the embankment. There, where the fresh wind tickled the skin of her face and the scent of the river mingled with the city air, she found refuge for her soul. Sitting on an old wooden bench, the young woman watched majestic steamships glide along the water, leaving behind snowy white trails, like reminders of something important and eternal. In that moment, the world would still, turning into a silent canvas that she could perceive only with her eyes and heart.
Anastasia was twenty-five years old, but her life was far more complicated than that of many people twice her age. She was born long-awaited, desired, a dream of parents who had struggled for years to conceive a child. Her mother, worn out by infertility, traveled to the capital, consulted doctors, visited monasteries, prayed before every icon, begging God for at least one child. When hope was fading, fate gave an unexpected gift — the woman became pregnant. And so, after years of waiting, Nastya was born — a healthy, beautiful girl who became the light in her parents’ lives.
But life is not always kind, even to the kindest souls. On one cold December day, when icy roads covered the streets, a tragedy occurred. Father and daughter went out to buy New Year’s gifts, but fate played a cruel trick on them. Their car was involved in an accident, and Nastya woke up in a hospital. The silence surrounding her was more terrifying than any nightmare. She heard neither the doctor’s voice, nor her own screams, nor the beeping of medical devices. Only a piece of paper in her hand conveyed the dreadful truth: the injury had damaged her hearing, possibly forever. And also — that her beloved father was no longer alive.
The blow was so severe that Nastya seemed to fall into an abyss. She could not accept reality. She thought that if she closed her eyes and fell asleep again, everything would return — her father’s voice, his embrace, his signature apple pie he loved to bake on weekends. But waking brought no relief. Instead came a silence, heavy and insurmountable, like a wall.
The home that was once full of bustle and joy became empty and alien. No more loud calls to “set the table!” from the doorway, no Sunday chess games, no playful pinches on the side and deep looks full of love. Only a shadow of the past remained, and Nastya felt lost, as if a part of herself had died along with her father.
She began to see herself as unwanted, broken, superfluous. Deaf. Ugly. Stupid. These words, though imagined, became her internal labels. Unable to communicate on equal terms, due to constant misunderstandings, she withdrew deeper and deeper, hiding from a world that seemed cruelly to reject her. Even school, once a beloved place, became hell. Teachers, initially sympathetic, grew irritated over time due to the need to make allowances. Classmates moved from mockery to cruelty, drawing caricatures and labeling her “deaf fool.”
All these years, Nastya tried to keep up appearances, pretending she did not care. But inside her soul was bleeding. Most tormenting was the guilt — after all, it was she who had asked her father to go for the gifts that fateful day. Thoughts that it was her fault haunted her for years.
The situation changed somewhat when her mother, Raisa Vitalyevna, received a stern summons to the school. The homeroom teacher strongly advised buying a hearing aid for her daughter to ease her education. For a family experiencing financial crisis after the husband’s death, this was nearly impossible. But the mother, who cried for two days straight out of shame and helplessness, found the strength to do the impossible.
And one day, coming home, Nastya saw her mother’s smile — the very one that had been absent for so long. They went to the clinic, where she was fitted for a modern Japanese hearing aid for the first time. This moment became a turning point in her life. For the first time in many years, she heard the noise of the city, footsteps, her mother’s voice. It was like a second birth.
But at home, opening the box, Nastya noticed the receipt and immediately understood the cost of this joy. She looked at her mother’s hand — there was no gold ring, passed down through generations. The woman smiled guiltily. Yes, she had sold it. For her voice, for the chance for her daughter to hear the world, she gave up the most precious thing she had left.
Then they embraced and cried for a long time — two women, one having lost her father, the other her husband and all her former happiness. In that embrace were pain, love, sacrifice, and hope. It was then that Anastasia slowly began to accept her life as it was. Not perfect, but alive. Her own.
Every evening, when the sun went down behind the horizon, leaving soft shades of crimson and gold in the sky, Anastasia came to the embankment. It was her personal sanctuary, a place where she could be alone with her thoughts and the silence she knew better than any other sound. Here, under the whisper of the river and the steady breath of the city, she watched majestic steamships glide over the water’s surface like symbols of relentless time, which takes everything in its hands. And every time, removing her hearing aid, Nastya immersed herself in that special, deep silence — not dead, but alive, filled with feelings, memories, and the trembling of her heart.
Anastasia was twenty-five, but fate had already tested her strength. She was born to a family that had dreamed of a child for years. Her mother, Raisa Vitalyevna, who had endured so many hopes and disappointments, prayed, visited monasteries, and asked God for a miracle. And it happened: when the prospective parents were already ready to take a child from an orphanage, fate gave them a gift — a long-awaited pregnancy. Nastya was born healthy, beautiful, and loved. But life often plays cruelly.
On one cold December day, when icy roads turned every car into a potential disaster, what changed her whole life happened. The girl and her father went to buy New Year’s presents, but an accident broke not only their plans but their entire reality. Awakening in the hospital, Nastya found herself in a soundless world. No voice of the doctor, no scream of pain, no “Nastusha, I’m here” from her father. Only a diagnosis paper: an injury that caused complete hearing loss. And another terrible piece of news — her father did not survive.
It was a blow from which recovery was impossible quickly. Returning home, she faced emptiness. There were no more footsteps, no laughter, no signature apple pie that he could bake like no one else. Only echoes of the past and unbearable guilt — after all, she was the one who asked him to go that day. At school, mockery began: classmates gave her cruel nicknames, teachers lost interest. The only way out was to buy a hearing aid. But for a family that had lost its breadwinner, it became almost impossible. While her mother cried for two nights straight, Nastya silently waited for the world to become at least a little understandable again.
And then another small miracle happened — her mother sold a family ring inherited from her grandmother to buy her daughter the chance to hear. When Nastya saw the receipt and understood what her mother had done, they hugged and cried for a long time. Thus began new times — difficult, but filled with determination.
After finishing school with excellent grades, when all teachers believed in her future, Nastya made a difficult decision — to postpone university. Her mother had serious health problems requiring an expensive operation. Gathering her remaining strength, the girl got a job as a cleaner in a business center. Of course, there were no career prospects — a deaf person simply is not trusted with responsible positions. But Anastasia worked with her heart, not complaining about fatigue, not stopping before difficulties.
At first, colleagues looked at her with curiosity, for Nastya was beautiful, smart, with the posture of an aristocrat. But upon learning she was deaf, men lost interest. Only one person, a security guard named Ivan, noticed something more in her. He saw her kind soul, her inner strength. He was the first to lend her a helping hand when she cried after losing her hearing aid.
The device was destroyed by Antonina Pavlovna — a jealous careerist who hated Nastya after she gently corrected her at a meeting. The woman waited for a moment when Nastya had changed out of her uniform and taken off the device. She crushed it under her heel, then staged a farce: “Oh, accident! You must be more careful.” What tormented Anastasia most at that moment was not that she was deaf again in the sound world, but that her mother could do nothing more. That hearing aid had been bought at the price of the beloved family ring.
But fate had other plans.
On the day of important negotiations, when top management was to sign a contract capable of turning the company’s fate, Antonina decided to play her treacherous game. She hid the contract, intending to blame the department head and take his place. However, Nastya, thanks to her lip-reading skills, overheard the conspirators and returned the document at the crucial moment, exposing them.
A scandal broke out. Antonina and her accomplice were immediately fired. The company owner, impressed by the resourcefulness and honesty of the cleaner, decided to help. He bought Nastya a new, modern hearing aid, offered her a trainee position in client relations online, and even helped her enroll in university part-time as a website design major. Moreover, he paid for her mother’s operation, restoring hope to the family.
Ivan and Nastya grew closer. He was there when her world was silent, when no one wanted to understand her. They began building a life together, despite all the trials they had been through. For them, love became a language that required no words.
Thus, gradually, Anastasia found her place in life. From a withdrawn girl, she turned into a strong, confident woman who knows the value of kindness, strength, and true human compassion. She never forgot those who stood by her in the darkest hours. And always remembered: even in silence, one can hear the voice of the soul if the heart beats with faith.