After I became a vegetable, Samuel kept me alive for two years with all sorts of tubes.

I thought he couldn’t bear to let me go—until his true love returned to the country. He took my corneas and transplanted them to her.

Right in front of me, he spoke to her with the utmost tenderness: “Don't worry; you'll be fine. These eyes have been prepared for you for two years.”

As a result, I had an adverse reaction after the surgery and passed away.

When he heard the news, his eyes turned crimson with rage, and he nearly smashed the hospital: ”Didn't you say there wouldn’t be any problems?!”

I lay there, a tangle of tubes keeping me alive, as they wheeled me toward the operating room.

All because Samuel Floyd's darling Amelia Brown needed my eyes to see.

My mother grabbed Samuel, her fingers twisted in his shirt, tears streaming down her face.

"Samuel, please... Yocelyn is too weak. If she goes through with this surgery, she might not survive...

"As for Ms. Amelia Brown, there's got to be another cornea out there for her, one that's a better match..."

Amelia, Samuel's sweetheart, looked like a deer caught in headlights, her hands trembling on Samuel's arm. "Samuel, let's not do this… I want to see the world, to see you, but..."

Her voice broke, and tears spilled over, making her look even more heart-wrenching.

"Has the family decided? Are we doing this surgery or not?" The nurse gave my mother a sympathetic glance and handed the consent form to Samuel, her expression worried. "Mr. Floyd?"

Without a second thought, Samuel brushed my mother's hand aside.

As she crumpled to the floor, Samuel's voice cut through the air, "Proceed."

My mother's cry tore through the silence as she fell at Samuel's feet.

She looked up at him, pleading. "Samuel, Mr. Floyd... please, for the love of God, don't do this to my Yocelyn..."

Samuel recoiled, his voice icy and detached. "Yocelyn is my wife. I have the right to make this decision for her."

With a flourish, he signed his name on the dotted line, sealing my fate with a stroke of his pen.

He spun around, shielding Amelia with his body, his voice a soft caress. "Amelia, hang in there, you'll be seeing the world in no time.

"I've been getting these eyes ready just for you for the last two years."

My mother's anguished sobs still rang in my ears as I numbly stared at the body that had been kept alive by a tangle of medical machines for two years.

Her face was ashen, bloodless, like a discarded doll silently waiting for the end.

That was my tragic shell.

Ever since the accident, my soul had been stuck in that tiny, 20-square-meter hospital room, with no way out. I clung to life, all because Samuel was fighting tooth and nail to save me.

He had chewed out every doctor in the ward, insisting they do whatever it took to keep my vital signs going. Even if it meant I would spend the rest of my days as nothing more than a living statue.

He was always there, watching over me all night long. He would get so worked up over the smallest thing about me.

I really believed he was head over heels for me, that he could not stand to leave my side.

That was until three days ago.

Samuel showed up in my hospital room out of the blue, with Amelia, who he had not been in contact with for ages.

That day, I was ecstatic to throw my soul at Samuel since it had been weeks since his last visit.

I was so happy, I practically danced around him until my doctor interrupted with a worried look, "Mr. Floyd, think this through, please. The surgery isn't without risks."

"How risky?" Samuel asked, his voice calm.

The doctor hesitated before offering the safest bet, "Fifty percent."

"Let's do it," Samuel decided, turning to hold Amelia's hand tenderly. He murmured, "She's just lying there anyway, like she's already gone, not using her eyes. Might as well give them to someone who really needs them."

A shadow of pity passed over the doctor's face as he said, "But… What if Ms. Yocelyn Carden wakes up one day?"

"Then we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

In that instant, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Was Samuel planning to give my cornea to Amelia? Was he willing to leave me blind?

I was rooted to the spot, my mind reeling, as I slowly backed away from Samuel.

Watching them together, so lovey-dovey, a wave of icy dread spread through me.

Then it dawned on me.

Samuel's marriage to me... it was never about love.

After Amelia went blind from an accident and broke up with him, she vanished from his life.

I stumbled into Samuel's life when he was at his lowest, staying by his side through the darkest days.

When Samuel and I got married, love was never the reason behind it.

He simply asked, "Yocelyn, if I ever need your help one day—and I mean really need it, like an organ or something—would you be there for me?"

Blinded by love, I nodded and said yes without a second thought.

He looked into my eyes so intently, it was as if he was seeing someone else through them.

Then he kissed me gently on the eye, whispering, "Your eyes are so beautiful."

Looking back at it, I wonder…

Did Samuel have his eye on my eyes from the very start?

I was dead.

The surgery was a success, but my body rejected it big time, and all my vitals hit rock bottom.

As they fought to save me, my mother called Samuel, her voice breaking. "Samuel, Yocelyn, she—she's barely hanging on..."

Samuel could not have sounded more annoyed. "It was just a minor surgery, right? Mrs. Carden, I've been patient with you out of respect, but don't push it. Don't you dare lie to me like this.

"Amelia just came out of surgery, alone and vulnerable, and she needs me more than ever. Yocelyn is just lying there, oblivious to the world. Whether I'm there or not, it wouldn't make a difference.

"Stop bothering me!" he snapped.

Without giving my mother a chance to say another word, he hung up on her.

When she tried calling back, all she got was a chilly automated message that went, "The number you have dialed is currently busy."

He had blocked her, but my mother did not get it and kept calling him.

It was not until the emergency room doors swung open and a somber-faced doctor stepped out, his expression apologetic, that she stopped. "Please accept our condolences, we've done all we could," he said.

"The patient was already weak, and the surgery just wrecked her immune system..."

My mother's scream of despair echoed through the hall as she crumpled to the floor, my name escaping her lips in a choked sob, "Yocelyn! Oh, my Yocelyn..."

They wheeled out my body, hidden beneath a stark white sheet.

Summoning every ounce of strength, my mother pulled back the sheet and pressed her forehead to mine, tears streaming down her face.

"Yocelyn, why'd you have to be so brave? Why'd you jump in front of Samuel like that during the crash?

"He never loved you, not one bit!"

It hit me like a bolt of lightning, my head throbbing with pain as I jolted awake.

Right. I did not have to end up like that.

It was my lovesick bravery that had me shield Samuel with my own body when the accident happened.

He walked away with scratches, while I was left with broken bones, a severe concussion, and trapped in a coma.

I had believed that my love would be returned in kind. However, I realized that if not for my clear, bright eyes, I might have left the world two years ago.

I guessed my death was the reason that my soul could finally drift away from the hospital room that had been my cage.

I followed my mother, my ghostly eyes wide as I watched her sort through the mess I had left behind.

My mother, who always took such pride in her looks and never seemed a day over 50, had aged a decade overnight, and her hair turned to silver.

Her shaky, frail silhouette made my heart feel like it was being crushed.

The day they closed my account with the world was bright and sunny. The harsh sun seemed to weigh heavily on my mother's hunched shoulders.

Out on the street, my mother ran into Amelia.

You know how they say love can make someone bloom? Well, Amelia was living proof. She was nothing like the skinny, timid girl she used to be. Decked out in fancy clothes that screamed money and swinging a designer bag, she strutted like she owned the pavement.

However, when she spotted my mother, her bright eyes scrunched up like she had smelled something foul.

My mother did not hesitate, though. She bolted over, calling out, "M-Ms. Brown!"

Fidgeting with her clothes, my mother whispered, "Do you remember me? I'm Yocelyn's mother. The corneas—you got them from her..."

Amelia just brushed my mother's hand aside and shoved her. My death certificate fluttered to the ground with a soft sound.

Without a word, Amelia stomped on it, sneering, "Get lost, you lunatic! I don't know you..."

My mother's eyes went wide with shock, and she dove for Amelia's leg, yelling, "Don't touch that!"

My mother barely touched her. However, Amelia crashed to the ground like she had been hit by a truck.

Tears filled her eyes as she looked up. "Mrs. Carden, I'm so sorry, it's all my fault. I'll give them back! I-I'll give back the eyes!"

She clawed at her face, fingers digging into her eyes.

Then, out of nowhere, a hard slap cracked across my mother's cheek.

With a mere flick of his wrist, Samuel sent my mother tumbling to the ground, her elbow scraping a long, raw gash on the unforgiving concrete.

Blood oozed out in a scarlet flood.

However, Samuel, as unfeeling as stone, did not even flinch at the sight. He tenderly grasped Amelia's wrist, pressing it gently, his voice laced with feigned concern, "Amelia, don't be so hard on yourself. It pains me to see you like this… You're just too soft-hearted!"

He said, "I was the one who signed off on the cornea donation to you, and it's got nothing to do with you!"

He spun around, his eyes seething with disgust for my mother, dark and menacing. "Mrs. Carden, the only reason I'm even giving you the time of day is because you're Yocelyn's mother!"

His voice turned icy, each word deliberate, "However, that's no excuse to push Amelia around!

"Your daughter Yocelyn is alive today only because I'm shelling out a fortune every month to keep her going. Without me, she'd be gone. So what if I want her eyes?!

"Step out of line again, and I'll pull the plug on all her meds and the fancy equipment keeping her alive!"

My mother's eyes were glued to the death certificate under Amelia's feet.

She shook her head in denial. "That's mine! That's my daughter's..." A wail of anguish escaped her. "It's mine, give it back!"

My heart ached so badly that I could barely breathe.

I reached out, trying to wrap my arms around my mother, but she was just out of reach.

I wanted to tell her, 'It doesn't matter, Mom, it's just a piece of paper. I'm still right here with you. But why… why can't I touch you anymore?'

My mother's grief exploded, and she lunged at Amelia again, sinking her teeth into her hand.

Amelia cried out and shoved my mother away with a swift kick.

At last, my mother snatched the paper away. Her hands shaking, she tried to tuck my death certificate back into her bag.

In a flash, Samuel reached out and ripped the paper in half with a sharp tear. He shredded the half he held into a flurry of pieces.

"What's this garbage?" he snapped, his brow furrowed in annoyance. "What's the big deal?"

My mother was shaking like a leaf, her eyes red and furious as she screamed at Samuel, "That was Yocelyn's death certificate!"

A scrap of paper landed in Samuel's hand.

He glanced down to see 'Death Certificate' written in bold, black letters, along with my name.