Chapter 2

Clearly, nobody saw that coming. Everyone froze.

Alex walked up to me and waved his hand in front of my face.

I forced myself to ignore it, even though my heart was stabbing with pain.

He breathed out in relief, bent down, and whispered in my ear, "Emily, why bring her up on a day like this? I know you can't stand her. I won't let her mess with you."

I watched Alex lie with a straight face, and my heart twisted in pain.

If I hadn't suddenly regained my sight today, I probably would've been fooled by him for the rest of my life.

Alex took my hand and led me back to the hotel room.

Before leaving, he gently reminded me, "Rest here for now. I'll go greet the guests and be back soon."

As soon as the door closed, I collapsed onto the bed, feeling like all the strength had been drained from my body.

'Alex, how did you manage to juggle me and Sophia so well?' my inner voice said.

Right then, a burst of laughter echoed from the hallway.

"Finally got the AI to translate this braille."

"Let me see what that fool Emily wrote to Alex this time."

My heart clenched tight.

That voice started reading it out loud, snickering as they went.

"Alex, this is the 288th letter I've written to you. Tomorrow we're getting married. I've dreamed about marrying you over and over..."

I couldn't make out the rest. Tears streamed down my cheeks before I realized it.

After I went blind, even the simplest things became a struggle for me.

I'd spill my food, bump into door frames, and even tying my shoelaces was a challenge.

But I was stubborn. I secretly had Ben buy me a braille slate and stylus, then holed up in my room, teaching myself from the ground up.

The stylus pressed into the thick paper, leaving my fingertips red and blistered.

If I messed up a single dot, I had to redo the whole line. Sometimes, I'd spend two whole days to finish one letter.

Yet Alex was always patient with me, always encouraging me.

The first time I handed him a letter, he took it so carefully, smiled, and promised he'd keep it close to his heart.

Back then, I had never imagined that the words I poured my heart into would end up as something for him and his friends to laugh at.

"Seriously, what's this supposed to be?" Another guy suddenly laughed. "All these years, whenever Alex was off with Sophia, we'd take turns pretending to be him at his place, right?

"As long as we didn't say a word, that blind chick never had a clue."

My whole body went rigid.

All these years, for about half the month, Alex would barely say a word and was super quiet.

Whenever I knocked over the medicine bowl, he never got angry. He'd pick up the shards without a word and warm up another bowl for me.

I had always thought Alex was exhausted from looking after me, so drained he couldn't bring himself to talk.

It turned out that he was off with Sophia the whole time, and I was the clueless idiot everyone made fun of without me realizing.

It felt like something was crushing my chest, making it impossible to breathe.

Suddenly, Alex's voice echoed from the hallway. "Is the letter translated yet? I want to show it to Sophia."

Someone couldn't help but ask, "Alex, if you care so much about Sophia, why are you still so nice to Emily?"

Alex said flatly, "Sophia hurt her, so I gotta take responsibility. Besides, I promised her parents I'd look after her."

He paused. "So don't bully her."

Only responsibility.

Alex's words, tossed out so casually, crushed all the love and hope I'd built up over the years.

It turned out that everything he did for me was to make Sophia feel better about herself.

Hence, the only reason he stuck around was to make up for what Sophia did to me.

In the room, I bit down hard on my lip. It wasn't until I tasted blood that I finally managed to keep myself from crying out loud.