After a long time, I opened my sore, stinging eyes.

Darkness filled my vision.

My tears wouldn’t stop falling.

“Nina! Nina, you’re awake?”

Anthony rushed to my side and gently wiped away my tears.

“Nina, I’m sorry… the doctor said… your eyes… you might not be able to see anymore.”

He lowered his head, a bit guilty, then remembering I couldn’t see his expression at all, he softly took my hand.

“Nina, don’t be afraid. I won’t abandon you. I’ll be your eyes from now on. Our wedding will just be postponed.”

Hearing that familiar voice made me feel nauseous. He and Indya Hickey had taken my eyes, and now I was expected to be grateful in return.

Indya had always been Anthony’s childhood sweetheart—I had known all along.

That confession recording etched onto a vinyl record, I had accidentally heard it once.

A girl’s gentle, graceful voice made a firm promise about the future.

My heart had skipped a beat.

I had gone straight to Calum, demanding the truth.

To be preserved like that—Indya must have been very important to Anthony.

“Indya was Anthony’s first love. She broke up with him suddenly for a chance to study abroad.”

Calum had said it casually. In his words, Indya had been the one who betrayed the relationship.

I didn’t dwell on the past after that, just treated it as a piece of Anthony’s youthful memories.

Until news about Indya came back from overseas—

She had acid thrown at her during her own art exhibition.

It caused her to go blind.

She was a painter. The importance of her eyes went without saying.

Anthony knew that too. For days, he had been absent-minded, staring blankly at a newspaper with the headline “A Rising Star Falls.”

I brought him a cup of water.

“It’s okay, Anthony. Didn’t they already catch the person who did it?”

I just wanted to comfort him, but he grabbed my neck with red-rimmed eyes.

“Okay? How can you be so calm? Those were a painter’s eyes!”

That was the first time he lost control in front of me—and it was for another woman.

Tears burst from my eyes as I struggled, slapping at the back of his hand.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Nina. I got too emotional… I haven’t been sleeping well these past few days.”

He hugged me close, trying to soothe me, as the bruises on my neck throbbed with pain.

The first time I saw Indya was at Anthony’s company.

The building was completely dark, with only a dim light still glowing in Anthony’s office.

Indya was in his arms, and I could hear the sound of uncontrollable sobbing.

“Is this the life you left me for?”

Anthony’s voice was choked with emotion, his eyes filled with pain he could no longer hide.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Anthony... I can’t see anymore... I’m already useless...”

Before Indya could finish speaking, Anthony silenced her with a kiss.

“Do... you still want me?” Indya asked almost pleadingly, and Anthony answered her with nothing but gentle kisses, one after another.

“Indya, do you know... all these years since you left, I kept dreaming of the moment you stepped onto that plane. I shouldn’t have held you back. Your world is so much bigger.”

I stood at the door holding a meal box, looking like a complete joke.

The sounds of their intimacy grew louder and louder. I silently hailed a taxi and went back home.

It wasn’t until dawn the next day that Anthony came back, carrying breakfast.

“Why did you sleep on the couch again last night?”

“Didn’t I say you don’t have to wait up for me anymore?”

Anthony handed me the breakfast and casually kissed my forehead, as if nothing had happened.

I stared at him, bracing myself for the words “let’s break up.”

His childhood sweetheart had returned—of course I was expected to step aside.

But Anthony didn’t say a word. He just quietly had his breakfast, occasionally picking up something and placing them on my plate.

“Let’s break up.”

“Let’s get married.”

We spoke almost at the same time. I couldn’t take the slow suffocation anymore and wanted a clean break.

But the words that came out of Anthony’s mouth stunned me.

“What did you say?”

“Why break up?”

Before I could respond, he started questioning me.

“I saw you. You and Indya.”

The next second, Anthony pulled me into his arms. I was completely confused.

“I’m sorry, Nina. Indya and I... it’s not what you think.”

“She wasn’t in a good state emotionally. I didn’t want to trigger her. It’s over between me and her. Now, the only one in my heart is you. You’re the one who’s been by my side all this time. You’re the one I want to be with. My proposal to you—it was to make Indya finally give up on me. Do you understand?”

His voice was sincere, his eyes shimmering with tears.

And I believed him.

That very afternoon, we went to get our marriage certificates.

The wedding was set for two months later.

In those days, I was busy preparing for the wedding, and Anthony was swamped with work, often staying overnight at the office.

“Isn’t it because I want to finish everything before the wedding, so I can enjoy the honeymoon with you?”

All my friends were jealous that I had found a man who could both earn money and still care for his home.

But none of us expected that I was marrying the devil who would drag me into hell.

"Nina, I know you're upset about losing your sight. Don't bottle it up—you can say whatever you want to me."

I was the one who had lost my eyesight, yet Anthony seemed even more devastated than I was, putting on such a performance it made me sick.

I smiled at him.

"I'm not upset, Anthony. It's not your fault."

"After we get married, you can quit your job and enjoy life peacefully at home. We'll have a few kids. Even if you can't see, I'll still make you happy."

So, he had already planned out my entire retreat.

There was a noise at the door, and I instinctively turned my head—but I couldn't see anything.

"You must be Nina, right?"

It was a familiar female voice.

"I'm Indya, Anthony's friend. I came to visit you."

My hand, holding the cup, tightened slightly.

"I heard you lost your sight in an accident. I was once blind too. I understand what it feels like to struggle in the dark."

She suddenly grasped my hand, and in the darkness, I could feel her smiling boldly and triumphantly.

"But luckily, I was fortunate. I received a donation from a kind person and have regained my vision. I'm sure you will too."

I couldn't see Indya's face, but I could easily imagine the smug expression she must've worn at that moment.

Indya moved close to Anthony and sat directly on his lap.

"What are you doing?"

I heard Anthony's voice, low and strained, followed by the rustling of fabric.

I pretended not to hear anything, staring blankly ahead with a stiff smile.

Indya grew bolder, pressing her lips to Anthony’s.

"Don’t be scared—she’s blind. She can’t see a thing."

They whispered and tangled in front of me.

Finally, Indya adjusted her dress, and Anthony helped her out of the ward.

I groped around for my phone and asked the voice assistant to call my best friend.

"Rio, help me get in touch with a hospital overseas. My corneas were taken and donated."

Rio Jenson didn’t have time to ask what happened before she began helping me search for matching corneas abroad.

I contacted a lawyer to draft a divorce agreement and asked him to inspect the car I had driven.

As expected, Anthony had tampered with the brakes.

Holding the maintenance report in my hands, I didn’t know whether to call him heartless—or just terrifyingly devoted.

To help Indya regain her sight, he was willing to sacrifice my life.

Our wedding had been delayed by a week due to my eye condition. Anthony even invited Indya to be my bridesmaid and had her stay at our home.

"Indya has experience being blind. It'll be easier if she helps guide you on the wedding day."

I ignored him and made my way upstairs, feeling along the banister, heading to rest.

I sat by the bed, thinking about the years I’d spent with Anthony.

Even now, I still didn’t understand how he could treat me so cruelly. He and Indya had grown up together—were my seven years with him just a lie?

I had met Anthony in university. At that time, Indya was already gone from his life.

He always ate alone, attended classes alone—he was notoriously aloof.

It was Calum who helped bring us together.

At first, Anthony had been indifferent toward me. His shift in behavior had been sudden, like he had fallen in love overnight.

We got together naturally.

One day after we started living together, Calum came over heartbroken, drinking himself into a stupor in our living room.

While Anthony went downstairs to take out the trash, Calum suddenly leaned close to me.

"Do you know the best way to get over a breakup?"

I brushed him off, thinking he was just drunk and talking nonsense.

"What is it?"

"Fall in love with someone who looks just like her."

After saying that, he collapsed on the couch and passed out. Back then, I hadn’t taken a drunk man’s words seriously.

But looking back now, it was the truth slipping out.

I had just been the stand-in—the medicine to help Anthony heal.

I fumbled through the drawer on my nightstand and pulled out a metal box. Inside were all the love letters Anthony had written to me over the years, along with tickets from trips we had taken.

Then, I lit a candle and tossed it into the box.

Thick black smoke billowed out immediately, and I began to cough from the choking fumes.