Shannon's POV

After years without comfort, I couldn’t bring myself to ask for it. So I chose to avoid the pain instead.

“Clayton,” I said quietly, “you still owe me a wish, right? Will you take me away from this city?”

He paused for a second, catching the crack in my voice. Then his tone softened, like he knew I was barely holding it together.

“I will. I’ll come get you right now, okay?”

Just then, the sound of Gale’s moans floated down from upstairs, muffled but still sharp in my ears. I thought of the baby I’d lost and of all the secrets, and my heart faltered.

“One week,” I said, trying to steady myself. “Come for me in one week. I’ll explain everything then, just not now.”

My heart pounded. I knew I was asking for too much. Fortunately, Clayton didn’t say no. And just as I was about to speak again, I heard a voice behind me.

“Shannon. Who are you talking to?”

Startled, my hand jerked, and I fumbled to hang up the call. In my panic, I knocked over the bowl of hot soup on the stove. But remembering I was supposed to be blind, I didn’t dodge. I just let the scalding liquid splash across my arm.

Because of that, the pain tore through me, and I cried out instinctively.

Rusty rushed over, panic flashing in his eyes. He swiftly scooped me into his arms without hesitation and ran to the downstairs bathroom. He didn’t care that the water soaked him as he gently cooled my burned skin.

As he did that, he kept me in his arms.

The warmth I longed for caught me off guard. For a split second, I almost believed he still cared. But then I saw faint bite marks on his neck. And when I peeked into his shirt, I saw several scratches on his body.

Those were traces of Gale left with his permission.

Nausea rose in my throat. Aggrievement, rage, grief—they all crashed into me at once.

I tried to shove him, but he was stronger. While struggling, tears suddenly streamed down my face. Yet, he still thought it was just the pain from the burn and loosened his grip a bit.

“Shannon,” he murmured, trying to soothe me. “Don’t bite your lip like that. If it hurts, just bite my shoulder like you used to.”

He then nudged his shoulder toward my face, thinking I’d find comfort there.

“After this, I'll apply ointment on you. You hate having scars, right?" he added, as if remembering that little detail would erase his betrayal.

Just a while ago, he was enjoying his moment with my adopted sister, and there he was now, acting like a loyal and sweet husband to me.

What was more ridiculous was that he expected me to bite his shoulder for solace when Gale had already marked it. Merely looking at it already made my stomach turn upside-down, so how could I possibly do what he expected?

Soon, he was done rinsing my burned arm and loosened his grip to grab the ointment. Seizing the opportunity, I stood up quickly, avoiding his touch, and walked toward the medicine cabinet, leaning on the wall.

“I can handle the ointment myself. Besides, I felt your clothes were soaked. Go change.”

Once, we’d promised never to lie to each other. Now? Lying was all we had left.

Rusty stood there, staring at his empty hands like he didn’t know what to do. Maybe he forgot the reason he came downstairs in the first place. He was supposed to bring the stew up for Gale.

But instead, he rushed toward me and snatched the first-aid kit from my hands.

“It’s my fault,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking. You can’t see, and I promised to be your eyes, to take care of you. How could I let you do this alone?”

He uncapped the iodine, reaching for my arm again. But I pulled away again and again.

This time, the panic showed in his face. He wasn’t used to me saying no. I’d never denied him anything before. But now? I couldn’t bring myself to let him touch me.

He tried to smile, a gentle, coaxing smile that looked far too much like the one he gave Gale.

“Shannon, please. Don’t joke with your health like this. After I finish treating your burn, you can yell at me all you want. Oh! Didn’t you say you wanted to go to the amusement park? I’ll take you tomorrow, okay?”

That voice, that fake sweetness, almost made me forget everything.

In the end, I let him apply the ointment.

But before he could finish, the sound of the Love Bell app from his phone echoed in the room.

And just like that, the little bit of warmth between us vanished into silence.

Shannon's POV

Even though he knew I couldn't see, the way Rusty looked at me gave him away. Guilt flickered across his face, and he quickly explained, “It’s just something from work.”

I didn’t respond. I just smiled bitterly to myself.

How naive was I to let Rusty fool me so easily?

There was no way I could’ve mistaken that ringtone.

Back when we first got together, I was finishing school and he was launching his business. We didn’t get to spend much time together. So, just so we’d never feel alone, he developed that special app for us. Whenever one of us touched it, the other’s phone would ring too.

But after I lost my sight, that app never rang again.

I used to think it was because he didn’t want to remind me of the past.

Turned out it wasn’t about me at all. The Love Bell had long since become Gale’s private line. What was once a symbol of his love for me was now just another trick to keep his mistress happy.

How tragically ironic.

Because of the iodine still dripping onto my arm, Rusty stayed kneeling beside me. And right in front of me, assuming I couldn’t see, he shamelessly opened his chat with Gale.

Her message popped up instantly, saying, [This is your fault. I’m sore and starving. Where are you? You only care about feeding one of my mouths and forget the other? Get up here and rub my back right now.]

He chuckled, typing back, [I’m coming. I’ll take good care of my Queen Gale.]

After hitting send, he wiped the iodine off my arm halfheartedly, then stood up to leave. But not without tossing me a line. “You’re not in the condition to go upstairs, so just rest here, okay?”

Right. He was so “considerate.” Was he worried about me or just scared I’d interrupt his little rendezvous?

We both knew the answer.

I looked down at my arm. Aside from the burn, he had slathered iodine all over it, messy and careless.

I grabbed a tissue to wipe it off. Now that my eyesight had returned, I could’ve handled the wound on my own easily. But somehow, the mix of shame and heartache made the tears fall. They mingled with the disinfectant, stinging as they soaked into my skin and then deeper, right into my heart.

I was leaving anyway. I just needed to figure everything out so I could go without regrets.

But I didn’t even know where to start. Years of blindness had cut me off from the world. I was basically a ghost in my own life.

So I had no choice but to retrace my steps.

After I went blind, I gave up on the idea of having children. Rusty told me he understood and added that he would always use protection when we did it.

But somehow, I still got pregnant.

While I was shocked, Rusty barely flinched as if he’d expected it. He even encouraged me to keep the baby.

And I did because of him.

During the pregnancy, he treated me like a queen, just like he’d promised.

For the first time in a long time, I let myself imagine a future me, him, and our child.

But then, when I was eight months along, the doctor told us something was wrong with the baby. They wanted to schedule an early C-section.

Of course, I said no. I wanted a second opinion at a different hospital.

But instead of supporting me, Rusty snapped. He yelled at me, furious.

Still, when I stood my ground, he gave in and said we’d go to another hospital the next day.

But the next morning, as I stepped outside to grab a package left at the door, I slipped and passed out.

When I came to, the baby was gone.

I blamed myself for not being careful. For two weeks, I barely ate and dropped over six kilograms.

But now, looking back, I can’t help but wonder if it was really just a coincidence.

Luckily, after being with Rusty for years, I observed one thing about him. It was, if he had secrets, he kept them in the safe in his study.

But with the two of them upstairs, I had no way to get to it. I had to wait for a chance to be alone in this house.

I had just dozed off when I heard Rusty call out to me.

Still groggy, I looked up to find him standing there, eyebrows furrowed in anger.

“What did you put in that soup?” he snapped. “Gale drank it and now her stomach’s killing her!”

My brain hadn’t caught up yet. I was still half-asleep, trying to process what he said.

Yet he took my silence as guilt.

Fuming, he grabbed me by the collar and dragged me in front of Gale.

“Apologize!” he shouted. “She’s in pain because of you!”

There was no hesitation, no shame, just raw, open concern for the woman who wasn’t me.

“I had to rush her to the hospital earlier,” he said. “I didn’t have time to deal with you. But now I do. And if Gale doesn’t forgive you, you’ll be kneeling here until sunrise!”

Shannon's POV

The sudden drop in temperature caught me off guard. Instinctively, I pulled my clothes tighter around me.

Across the room, Gale struggled to hide the smirk playing on her lips, but the glee and contempt in her eyes were impossible to miss.

"Rusty, don't blame Shannon, okay? It's my fault. I shouldn't have gotten sick after drinking the soup," she said sweetly, like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.

With every word out of her mouth, Rusty’s anger only intensified. He turned to me, demanding that I apologize.

But years of experience had taught me that arguing would only make things worse. The safest thing to do was to stay quiet, nod, and pretend to give in, then console myself in private.

As such, I lowered my head in silence, and that seemed to satisfy Gale.

But the truth? She wasn’t even sick. Making me miserable was just her way of entertaining herself.

As they walked off looking smug and victorious, I slowly forced myself up. But to my surprise, my head was now pounding, and I was burning up.

I took a fever medicine, barely keeping it down, and drifted off again. But sleep didn’t bring peace. All night, I was plagued by nightmares.

Then, just after sunrise, Rusty woke me. But seeing me grumpy, his brows knitted.

"Gale told me not to be mad at you last night, so I’m letting it go," he said, trying to sound generous. "Also, I canceled all my meetings today just to take you to the amusement park. I even went out early to get you breakfast. And now you’re upset with me?"

The way he twisted everything made me want to scream. I wanted to be blind again just so I wouldn’t have to see that fake concern on his face.

But I played my role, forcing a smile and saying a few half-hearted words to smooth things over.

With that, our conversation didn't last, and he helped me out of the room like nothing had happened.

The moment we stepped into the dining room, I froze.

Gale was already seated in my seat, wearing the maternity dress I used to wear.

When she saw Rusty holding my arm, her face instantly soured.

When their eyes met, guilt immediately washed over his face, and he let go of me. He then glanced at Gale with the same puppy-dog expression he always wore around her as if saying, "I already let go. See? Don’t be mad, baby."

Still, I stayed silent, pretending not to notice their little exchange. I fumbled for the nearest chair and sat down.

That was when Rusty suddenly sprang into action.

"Shannon, here. I already warmed it up. Drink it before it cools."

He placed the glass in my hand like he was the most thoughtful husband in the world.

Meanwhile, Gale, watching it all, looked like she was about to explode.

She then snatched the milk out of my hands and downed it in one go, glaring at me like she’d won some kind of twisted contest.

I had seen the whole thing. But of course, I acted as though I hadn’t.

"Rusty? Why’d you take the milk away?" I asked softly.

He hesitated, glancing back at Gale, clearly afraid to upset her more.

"It was getting a little cold. Don’t drink it. Just have something else."

Without waiting for a response, he shoved a sandwich into my hand and walked straight to Gale.

My fingers tightened around the sandwich until the bread squished in my grip.

He didn’t even bother making his excuses sound believable.

And then came the part that really turned my stomach.

Thinking I couldn’t see, Rusty leaned down and tilted Gale’s chin toward him. Without a moment's hesitation, he kissed her right there in front of me. Not a quick peck, but a deep, drawn-out kiss that lasted five long minutes.

When they finally pulled apart, Gale was gasping for air, her cheeks flushed with obvious satisfaction.

"Tonight, same place. I’ll make it up to you," Rusty murmured to her. "And don’t pout now, baby. You know I only do those things with you. You’re the only one who gets me going."

He thought I couldn’t hear.

But since I lost my sight, my hearing had sharpened. Every word cut straight through me.