How ironic and pathetic.

The first time Henry said he loved me was when I had appendicitis. He carried me in his arms all the way to the hospital, tears streaming down his face as he ran.

When I came out of surgery, his hands were still trembling. He stayed at my bedside day and night, looking after me with meticulous care. For my sake, he even learned how to cook.

He said my stomach was sensitive, so he would learn culinary skills for me. If one year wasn't enough, he'd take two. He promised he'd spend his whole life loving and caring for me.

At that time, he said the same words he does now: that in his heart, everyone else was unimportant compared to me.

I didn't cry, nor did I make a scene. Instead, I silently hung up the phone. After that I ordered some fever medicine online and waited for express delivery.

At that same time, I received a message from my father. He told me that the wedding with Jose Sanchez was set for three days from now.

The next day, the hospital hosted a dinner party. By the time I arrived, Henry and Willa were already seated.

He glanced at me briefly before pouring Willa a glass of hot water. The two of them leaned close, whispering to each other and Willa covered her mouth with a shy smile.

Beside that man was a seat a colleague had thoughtfully reserved for me.

Midway through the meal, my colleagues teased me, saying that Henry and I had been dating for years and were missing a proposal, urging him to propose now.

I thought Henry would refuse. But to my surprise, he smiled slightly, stood up and pulled an exquisite velvet box from his pocket. Soon after, he dropped to one knee.

"I've actually prepared this long ago. Since we have this opportunity today, I'll be bold for once. Suzanne William, will you marry me?"

I stood there, stunned, unable to react for a long time.

Under the puzzled gazes of everyone, Henry forcefully took my hand and slipped the ring onto my finger. He kissed the back of my hand with an expression of pure devotion while our colleagues clapped and offered their blessings.

All I could do now was stare at the ring on my finger in misery.

For the past five years, every moment with this ring would have been filled with happiness. Yet here I was, receiving it precisely when I felt most hopeless and filled with hatred toward him.

I didn't smile, nor did I feel the slightest bit of happiness. The small flame in my heart had long burned out.

The party was still going on, just in a different location. While I went to the restroom, I overheard my colleagues gossiping.

"Haven't Henry and Willa already met each other's parents? Why is he proposing to Suzanne now? This is so confusing."

I froze on the spot, unable to believe what I was hearing. I only stepped out after that couple had left.

In the hallway, I saw Henry looking around anxiously, searching for something.

"Where did you go? You've been out for so long and our colleagues are getting impatient waiting for you," he snapped at me.

I brushed his arm away and looked him in the eye, demanding, "Did you take Willa home to meet your parents?"

Henry glanced around before pulling me straight into an empty private room. "So what if I did? We're all colleagues and my parents like her. What's wrong with a little visit?"

I let out a self-mocking laugh, my voice trembling slightly. "Then what about me? All these years, whenever I said I wanted to meet your parents, you always said that before a proposal, your family didn't allow you to bring anyone home."

Henry was momentarily speechless, then clicked his tongue in irritation. "Didn't I just propose to you? If you want to meet them, I'll take you tomorrow, okay? Today is a colleagues' gathering, can you stop making a scene?"

My eyes turned red as I looked at his indifferent expression, my lips quivering. "Henry, do you really think I'm the one making a scene?"

In an instant, my heart sank to the bottom of the sea. It turned out that in Henry's eyes, I was never truly worthy of being family.

I pushed open the door and left the private room dejectedly, making an excuse about feeling unwell to leave the party early.

After walking for a while, I realized I had left my bag behind.

When I returned to the venue, I found Henry still inside the private room I had just left. The door was ajar and Willa was sitting on his lap, the two of them passionately kissing.

"Sweetheart, don't be sad. Just hold on a little longer. Your brother's eyes are showing severe rejection. I'll arrange for Suzanne to donate her corneas to him as soon as possible."

"You won't have a change of heart when the time comes, will you?" Willa asked.

Henry gently bit her earlobe, his voice muffled and accompanied by low breaths.

"How could I? If it weren't for the fact that your brother's eyes couldn't wait, why would I have risked staging that car accident? Don't worry, I'll make Suzanne sign the organ donation agreement voluntarily, just like her mother did back then."

Only after Henry said these words did Willa smile with satisfaction. She nestled affectionately in his arms, her hand gently stroking her slightly rounded belly.

I stood at the door, overwhelmed by grief, my trembling body shaking with silent sobs.

My husband didn't come home the entire night. He only took a moment to message me, saying something had come up at the hospital.

Of course, I knew he was lying. But I didn't question him, didn't cry, didn't make a fuss and didn't even reply.

The first thing I did the next morning was to organize the jewelry and bags Henry had given me in the display cabinet in my walk-in closet. I took photos of them one by one and listed them on a secondhand platform.

Since I was leaving, I wanted to completely erase all my traces.

In the past, I loved buying beautiful clothes for myself. After Henry noticed this little hobby, he would take me to my favorite shops every month to buy lovely outfits.

But gradually, he stopped taking me to those stores and no new clothes ever graced the walk-in closet again.

I crammed all those clothes into storage bins and called a secondhand collector. I sold everything at ten dollars per pound.

The collector had barely left when Henry walked in.

He pointed toward the door, frowning in confusion. "Suzanne, why did you get rid of all the clothes I bought you?"

I looked up at him. He exuded a frigid aura, his eyes rimmed red, his voice thick with confusion and barely concealed resentment.

"Didn't you say you'd keep these clothes forever? Aren't these all your favorite styles?" Henry stared intently at my face, as if determined to get an answer.

"They're old now. What's the point of keeping them? Think of it as doing a little good before the wedding. You'll buy me more in the future, won't you?"

Hearing this, his expression softened slightly. A faint smile tugged at his lips as he gently brushed my cheek. "Very well. Our wedding is the day after tomorrow. Prepare yourself properly. Just don't give me any trouble."

I gave a faint smile, though my heart was numb.

That night, Henry invited me to a fireworks show. He said he had promised me this for three years, but every time it had been interrupted by unforeseen circumstances.

I lowered my head and laughed bitterly. So, he remembered.

In those three years, Henry had countless chances to bring me here, yet he chose to spend all that spare time with Willa instead.

And now, when he finally gave his time to me, it was tainted with poison and calculation.

The fireworks exploded across the night sky, blooming beautifully against the darkness.

Henry seemed to be in a good mood, pulling my hand and rushing into the crowd to dance. But what no one expected was that, due to electromagnetic interference, drones hovering at 100 meters began to fall rapidly.

One after another, they crashed into the crowd.

The scene descended into chaos and Henry and I were separated by the surging people.

While I searched for him, people in the crowd screamed about the danger. In the panic, I was pushed to the ground and lost my sense of direction.

At that moment, a drone slammed violently into my head and my vision blurred instantly.

Just before I lost consciousness, I caught a hazy glimpse of Henry through the crowd. He was being held tightly by Willa as they left the area.

Henry had said that only the two of us came to see the fireworks; it turned out he was lying.

When I woke up again, I was in a hospital. The excruciating pain in my head made my body tremble uncontrollably and a dull, throbbing ache spread throughout my body.

I opened my eyes, but all I saw was pitch black. I couldn't see anything at all.

Then Henry's voice suddenly cut through the darkness, startling me. "You're awake. Would you like some water?"

His voice was unusually gentle and he held my hand tightly.

I tried to look around and a sense of dread crept into my heart. My lips quivered. "My eyes …"

"Your eyes are temporarily blind. The doctor said it will recover one day, so don't overthink it," Henry said calmly as he handed a glass of water directly into my hand.

"Blind," I murmured.

Everything that happened yesterday was still vivid in my mind and Henry's nonchalant attitude made my chest feel as if it were on fire.

Suddenly, I clenched the cup tightly and then threw it straight onto the floor. "Henry, now that I'm blind, are you secretly relieved? Because this way, I can't see you and Willa … "

"Slap!"

Before I could finish speaking, Henry slapped me hard across the face.

Then, he let out a low growl. "Can you stop being so unreasonable? You were the one running around recklessly, causing your own blindness. Who else is there to blame? If Willa hadn't shown up yesterday, I might have been the one hit!"

I couldn't hear anything after that; my head was buzzing. Surprisingly, the resentment in my heart suddenly vanished.

It turned out that once you truly give up on someone, no matter how disgusting their actions were, you no longer feel sad.

I remained silent, trying to feel my way off the bed.

"Where are you going? I'll take you. It's not convenient for you to walk right now; you'll fall easily," Henry said.

He tried to support my arm, but repeated despair made me instinctively reject his touch. I pushed him away forcefully. "No need, I can walk by myself. I don't need your cheap concern."

Willa lost her temper then. She rushed over and shoved me straight to the ground, causing my head to slam against the bedpost.

The pain was so intense that I saw stars and it took me a long time to recover.

"Suzanne! Are you crazy? Henry was just trying to take care of you. Why did you push him?"

Not satisfied even after saying that, she slapped me again.

Lowering my head, I covered my dizzy forehead as a sharp ringing filled my ears.

Henry's tone turned irritated as he coldly looked down at me lying on the floor. "Suzanne, the doctor said you can go home to recover. I hope you'll be sensible and stop causing trouble for others. After all, tomorrow is our wedding."

As he spoke, he wrapped one arm around Willa's waist and stroked her head comfortingly with the other.

I shook my head and looked up at Henry. Suddenly, the pitch-black world turned bright. Then, the silhouettes of Henry and Willa gradually became clear before my eyes.

I stood there stunned, a huge joy quietly blooming in my heart.

Fortunately, neither of them noticed anything unusual. So I continued pretending to be blind, groping in front of me with both hands as I used the bed rail to stand up.

Seeing that I remained silent, Henry frowned slightly and stared fixedly into my eyes, his tone sharpening with frustration. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

At that moment, Willa was leaning against Henry. When she met my gaze, she instinctively shrank back.

Noticing her movement, Henry glanced at me again and whispered softly in her ear. "Don't worry. She can't see anything."

He then buried his face in Willa's neck, kissing her more and more passionately.

Their lips and tongues intertwined and the fabric of the sofa sank under their weight, producing muffled sounds. One of Willa's high heels was kicked aside carelessly and landed almost near my feet.

I stood before them, watching silently, my face was calm and expressionless.

"Henry, stop it. We still have important business to attend to."

With a gentle push from Willa, Henry regained his composure. His voice now carried a deliberately softened warmth as he walked over to me and pulled out a document.

"You need to sign the discharge papers in person and this afternoon I'll take you to try on wedding dresses," Henry said, shoving a prepared pen into my hand.

Staring at the organ donation agreement and property transfer document in my hands, I gripped the pen tightly. Even my breathing carried despair and sorrow.

Henry was stripping me of everything and all the years of our relationship now felt like nothing but a cruel joke.

"Alright, but I'm thirsty now. Could you pour me a cup of hot water?" I set down the pen, casually making an excuse.

Willa, standing not far away, rolled her eyes and poured a cup of hot water, handing it to Henry with some dissatisfaction.

Because the cup itself was scalding hot, my hand trembled slightly as I took it. Just as I expected, Willa wouldn't bother giving me water at the right temperature.

I feigned a tremor, letting the scalding water spill directly onto my hand and the organ donation agreement.

"Ouch!"