An earthquake took Austin’s sight, so I gave him my own eyes. With tears in his eyes, he swore he would cherish me for the rest of his life. But behind my back, he conspired with another woman to force me into a divorce. When Brooke was humiliating me, Austin walked in. I looked up, hoping he would stand up for me. But his voice was filled with nothing but cold contempt. “Look at you. You look just like a stray dog I threw a bone to.” “Looking at those empty, lifeless eyes of yours makes me sick.” On a stormy night, they threw me out into the pouring rain. I sobbed, my heart breaking into pieces. Then, the System’s voice echoed in my mind. *“Host, do you want me to take your eyes back?”* “Yes. I regret everything.” *** ### When Austin came home, Brooke was forcing me to the ground, torturing me. Knowing I was completely blind, she intentionally ordered me into the kitchen to serve hot soup. Distracted, my hands slammed against the scorching hot sides of the metal pot. The food spilled everywhere. The boiling soup splashed all over me, and my exposed skin instantly flared up in painful, red blisters. Tears streamed down my face. My body was screaming in pain, but my heart hurt infinitely more. Clacking her eight-inch stilettos, Brooke walked over. She raised her hand and slapped me across the face, sending me crashing to the floor. My burned skin pressed hard against the scalding hot soup on the floor. Trembling and shivering, I frantically clawed at the wet tiles, trying to push myself up. But Brooke’s high heel came down hard on my right hand. She ground her heel into the back of my hand on purpose. The sharp heel pierced my skin, and warm blood immediately pooled beneath her shoe. My eyes burned with tears. I used my other hand to feel around, searching for any support to stand. Brooke saw what I was trying to do. She let out a cruel laugh and stepped directly on my lower back. My half-raised body was crushed back down instantly. My face slammed hard against the floor, right into the steaming soup, turning my skin painfully red and swollen. Brooke looked down at me, laughing with pure disgust. “Chloe, you’re just a useless blind bitch. How dare you try to fight back? What a joke!” The words “useless blind bitch” pierced my heart. Stung by the insult, my grief turned into rage. I began to struggle violently. Brooke, off-balance in her high heels, lost her footing as I scrambled up and pushed her off me. She tumbled to the floor. Furious, she grabbed me by my hair and slapped me repeatedly across my face. “You miserable bitch! I’ll ruin your face!” I tried to dodge, but without my sight, I took only a few steps before slipping on the wet floor and crashing down again. After several falls, my knees and arms were covered in dark, ugly bruises that stood out starkly against my pale skin. Just as I tried to crawl up once more, the front door opened. Austin walked in. Seeing the chaotic mess Brooke and I were in, he sounded slightly annoyed. “Chloe, what are you doing to Brooke?” After losing my sight, my hearing had become incredibly sharp. I could detect the slightest shifts in anyone’s voice. But my heart was even more sensitive. I heard clearly how Austin addressed me by my full name, Chloe, while he called the other woman “Brooke” with such tender intimacy. I parted my lips, my voice raspy and dry. “Austin, am I still your wife? The woman who built everything with you?” “If I am, why do you stand there and let Brooke humiliate me like this?” Austin froze for a moment. Then, he let out a loud, mocking laugh. “Chloe, stop being ridiculous.” “I’ve fed you and kept a roof over your head for five years. Aren’t you satisfied yet?” He didn’t explain, but his silence said everything. My heart turned to ice. I let out a low, bitter laugh. “I see. So, you want a divorce?” *** ###
Austin hesitated, unable to answer immediately. But Brooke, sensing his hesitation, stepped forward with a twisted sneer. “Divorce? Chloe, you must be dreaming! Austin is already my husband!” “I told you, I am the real mistress of this house. And you, Chloe, are just a stray dog begging for scraps at my feet!” It felt like a bolt of lightning struck me. I trembled violently, lifting my head in utter disbelief. “What do you mean… you’re the real mistress of this house?” There were three of us in the room, yet the silence was deafening. No one answered my question. I couldn’t hear any explanation, and I couldn’t see anything. The sheer helplessness was suffocating me. I reached out, stumbling as I tried to stand, struggling to move forward. I wanted to grab Austin’s collar and demand to know what was going on. But he remained silent, and without a sound, I couldn’t even find where he was standing. The floor was slick with soup. In my blind panic, I slipped and fell hard again, like a swan trying to escape the mud only to crash back down into the dirt. I screamed, “Austin, speak to me! Why does Brooke say she’s the mistress of this house?” “What about me? What am I to you?” “We’ve been married for seven years! What the hell am I to you?” Looking at my pale, trembling figure, a flicker of pity crossed Austin’s eyes. But the moment his gaze landed on my empty, lifeless eyes, his pity instantly warped into deep disgust. His voice, dripping with contempt, pierced my ears. “Chloe, we divorced a long time ago.” “Brooke is right. She is the mistress of this house now. She is my legal wife.” “And you… you’re just an annoying parasite.” My reaching fingers instantly lost all their strength. I lay slumped on the floor, my ears ringing loudly. Austin’s voice kept going, but I could no longer process his words. Brooke walked over and kicked me hard. “Austin married me two years ago. You’ve been squatting in our house for two years. It’s time for you to pack up and get lost.” “We only kept you here because you saved Austin’s life once. But you just don’t know your place. You’re eyesores to me.” “Chloe, pack your shit and get out of our house!” All the confusing puzzles of the past suddenly clicked into place. Two years ago, Austin had asked for my social security number and ID, claiming he was setting up a trust fund to secure my future. I had been so happy and touched back then, believing he always had my best interests at heart. But now, reality slapped me hard across my face, leaving me bruised and broken. It was never about a trust fund. He wanted my documents to secretly file for divorce behind my back. And here I was, foolishly believing he still loved me, thinking he was just cold lately because of work stress. Now I saw it clearly. When someone stops loving you, the signs are glaringly obvious. Brooke and Austin walked away together, their footsteps fading into the distance. I was left alone, sprawled on the dirty floor, the soup staining my clothes and ruining the clean tiles. Just like this house, my entire life had become a ridiculous joke. It took a long time for the numbness in my body to fade. Slowly, carefully, I dragged myself up. I pulled my knees to my chest and curled into a tight ball in the corner. The System’s voice echoed in my mind. *“Host, do you want me to take your eyes back?”* “I… let me think about it.” *** ###
Five years ago, I went with Austin to a business meeting in the valley. A massive earthquake struck, and Austin was buried deep under a collapsed concrete building. The golden window for rescue had long passed. Everyone told me Austin was dead. But I refused to believe them. I dug with my bare hands. When the shovel broke, I used wooden sticks. When the sticks snapped, I used my bare fingers. In the end, my hands were a bloody mess, and all my fingernails had torn off. They all thought I had gone mad. But under the deep rubble, I finally dug Austin out. However, his eyes were ruined. He was blind. Lying on the hospital bed, he lost all his former ambition. He could only sit in silence, passively receiving visitors. Seeing him like that broke my heart. We had just gotten married, and his business was just taking off. Everything was supposed to get better. Losing his sight was a devastating blow to Austin. It was as if his spine had been removed; his once-proud back was now permanently slumped. So, I voluntarily gave my eyes to him. The System smoothed over all the medical anomalies, making Austin believe my blindness was just a tragic complication from saving him during the earthquake. After that, he treated me like royalty. He cared for me with endless patience and stayed by my side. With tears in his eyes, he promised he would love me forever. I believed him. Yet, this very man who swore to cherish me forever had secretly conspired with another woman to divorcing me without my knowledge. I huddled in that dark corner for hours. I didn’t drink a drop of water. My throat was parched, and my lips were cracked like dry earth. By the time they returned, I was still crouching in the same spot, looking like a hollow shell. Brooke frowned in annoyance and had the servants pack my things into a cheap suitcase, throwing it at my feet. “Chloe! Get the hell out of here. This is my house, and you’re not welcome!” I scrambled to my feet, instinctively looking toward Austin, though I couldn’t see the disgust in his eyes. He frowned. “Throw out everything that belongs to her.” The divorce papers were slapped onto my chest. My hands trembled as I felt the cover. Once I felt the raised letters of the divorce decree, a hollow, tragic laugh escaped my lips. This was the man I loved for seven years… He used my eyes to see the world, yet he personally pushed me into the dark. The rain poured heavily outside as I knelt on the wet pavement outside the villa. My suitcase had been maliciously left open. My clothes were scattered all over the muddy ground, soaked by the rain. The divorce papers lay right by my feet. In the heavy downpour, they looked like a blooming black dahlia, radiating a fatal, beautiful light in my moment of absolute despair. Austin and Brooke stood under the dry porch, looking down at me. Brooke chuckled. “Babe, look at her. She looks like a drowned rat. How pathetic!” Austin curled his lips, his voice dripping with arrogance. “Chloe, you look just like a stray dog I threw a bone to. When a dog stops listening, the master has to throw it out to teach it a lesson.” “You only saved me once, five years ago. You’ve used that favor to leech off me for five years. That’s enough.” “Looking at those empty, lifeless eyes of yours makes me sick.” The rain was roaring, and their voices were quiet. But every single poisonous, malicious word they uttered cut through the storm and registered perfectly in my ears. My mind was dead silent. The System didn’t speak. But this time, I saw Austin’s true colors with absolute clarity. I placed my hand over my chest. The heart underneath felt as if it were being shredded by a thousand knives. I opened my sightless eyes wide. Feeling the agonizing pain in my chest, I parted my lips and whispered, “System, didn’t you say you could help me take my eyes back?” “I’ve made up my mind now. I want to say…” “Yes. I regret everything!” The next second, the System’s voice boomed in my head like thunder. *“Understood. Terminating the contract… Retracting the eyes now.”* The rain kept pouring, washing over my face and into my eyes. But this time, a brilliant spark of light ignited deep within my pupils. At the exact same moment, Austin, who was standing on the porch looking down at me, suddenly stiffened. He stumbled forward and crashed onto the floor.
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