Jordan broke down. Swaying on his feet, he crumpled to his knees before Hazel's gravestone."How could this be? How could this happen?" he mumbled in disbelief. "She's dead…"Tears spilled from his eyes, and the light went out of his eyes. The resentment and iciness from before were nowhere to be found now."Wasn't this what you wanted?" Landon asked. "Hazel gave her corneas to Josie and will never disturb you ever again."Jordan was dazed. He knelt there stiffly, as though his soul had vacated his body. "Why? Why didn't she tell me? She didn't even give me the chance to say my final goodbyes," he muttered to himself, his gaze empty.His thoughts filled with images of Hazel as an overwhelming agony engulfed him. He felt as though he was drowning in an icy lake.Even in death, Hazel would never know that Jordan would lose his mind because of her.Josie's eyes looked so much like Hazel's, but she still wasn't her.He went home and rummaged through the cabinets, looking for a meme
Jordan West gave me an icy look as he shut the car door. "All I'm asking is that you donate your corneas to Josie. How can you be so heartless? She doesn't have any friends or family, and now, she's blind. How do you expect her to live?"He sounded like he was asking something normal of me. "I want you to think long and hard about this."Then, he left me by the roadside and drove off without hesitation. I watched as his car blended with the traffic and disappeared from my line of sight.The rain came unexpectedly and pulled me out of my reverie. Jordan had left me there. He'd forgotten it was my birthday. Then again, he wouldn't have turned back even if he remembered. Josie Lane was all he could think about now.Whenever he'd mentioned her in the past, he would always describe her as hare-brained. She constantly got the wrong documents and even spilled coffee on his suit. Once, she'd accidentally drank his bubble tea before apologizing. "I'm so sorry, Mr. West. I didn't know it was
Things had turned out as Josie had predicted. I had nothing to guarantee that I would defeat her—my identity was the only thing going for me."Using your identity as Jordan's wife to stay by his side isn't smart. Do you feel happy sleeping beside a man who doesn't love you?" Josie smiled. "Why don't you guess whether he'll drop everything to come after me if I were to leave?"She'd been correct again. She'd paid a much higher price than expected, though. None of us had seen it coming.Josie became depressed after losing her sight. She would scream about wanting to take her own life whenever Jordan wasn't by her side. And so, no matter where he was, he would head to her as quickly as possible.He'd even left me in a fire to go to her. I'd called him, but he'd merely said icily, "A fire? Can't you call the fire brigade? Do you have to get jealous whenever I'm with Josie, Hazel? Will you only be happy once she's dead?"He hung up without waiting for me to explain. The fire wasn't maj
Landon's expression darkened.During our college days, I used to tease him for his soft looks. However, these days, he looked more like a gloomy thundercloud."Hazel, what are you smiling about? Do you think your life is a laughing matter?" He was furious."Well, should I be crying then?"Taken aback, he didn't know how to respond for a moment. As a doctor, terminal illnesses were nothing out of the ordinary for him. The hospital ward had seen too many deaths and departures; too many sorrowful and painful things had happened here.Yet, I was the only one who still kept a smile on my face."Accept the treatment, alright? I'm begging you," Landon said imploringly as he stood before me.However, he and I both knew that my health was deteriorating with every passing day. It had already reached a point where ordinary medical treatment could not keep my illness under control any longer.Chemotherapy would be too hard on the body, and it wouldn't be a pretty sight to behold either. I
The treatment was torture. I would always secretly run out behind Landon's back to look at the lush trees and the soaring butterflies—all those living things filled with such vitality.However, Jordan showed up at the worst possible time. Not to mention, the weather was horrible. I used my cap to cover my pallid face, turning around so that he wouldn't see me.Still, he immediately spotted me. "Hazel, why are you still at the hospital? Why haven't you gone home?"He spoke to me like he was interrogating a suspect. There wasn't a hint of warmth in his tone."It's not like you go home a lot either."My response made him choke on his words. With a solemn expression, he handed me a document. "This is a divorce agreement. Since you refuse to donate your corneas to Josie, I'll need to take care of her for the rest of her life."I lifted my hand but didn't take the document. I'd never thought that we'd actually reach the point of divorce."Don't worry, I made sure the division of asset
For a moment, I was in a daze.Jordan had hit me.Immediately after, he held my face in a panic and began to apologize. "I'm sorry, Hazel. I'd—I'd acted out of impulse…"Tears rolled down my cheeks. With shaking fingers, Jordan wiped them away, but Landon shoved him aside."Jordan, you bastard! How dare you hit her?" Landon swung his fist at Jordan's face, and the latter didn't even try to dodge. If the security guards hadn't come to stop him, Landon might have beaten Jordan to death right there and then.My footsteps felt heavy as I slowly dragged myself to the hospital room. In the end, my nose started to bleed uncontrollably. Feeling my head grow heavy, I passed out.Jordan and Josie left afterward.With reddened eyes, Landon came to see me. Now, it was exhausting to even speak. "Landon, how come you haven't changed since college? I don't know how someone who loves fighting as much as you even became a doctor."I teased him for his hotheadedness. The medical profession req
I quickly turned around, wiping my nose erratically. "It's just a little nosebleed. Why are you freaking out?" In a fit of rage, Jordan bit back the words he was about to say. His face twisted into an ugly expression. "I hope you die so you never appear in front of me or Josie again."After leaving that scathing remark, he disappeared from my line of sight.Seeing him leave, I let out a breath of relief. I didn't want him to see me in such a sorry state. If he knew the truth, he wouldn't have been able to utter those hurtful words.Since there were no more feelings between us, I simply wanted to save the last bit of my dignity.Landon called my phone repeatedly, but I didn't answer. I'd always thought of him as stubborn, even from the beginning. Clearly, he hadn't changed. He knew for a fact that any effort would be futile, yet he insisted on fighting, just like how he used to challenge Jordan to basketball matches despite knowing he would never win.We used to always laugh at h
I looked at Jordan, finding his words funny. "Jordan, we're already divorced. Therefore, who I get with is none of your business.""I won't allow you to be with him!" He clutched my wrist forcefully.It took a lot of force to shake him off. "You won't allow me? Who are you to decide that?"My words stumped him. He clenched his jaw.I grabbed my minimal luggage and signaled to Landon that I wanted to leave.Jordan clenched his fists, as though he was trying very hard to stop himself from doing something.I didn't want to delve into what made him cause such a scene today.This was a farewell. We weren't going to see each other ever again.The place Landon found for me even came with a small balcony. The balcony was filled with all kinds of flowers, but I turned around to leave."Do you not like it?""I like it." Then, I shook my head. "This place is too nice for someone on death's door to live in. It would be too unfortunate."After going around in circles, I still ended up re