Chapter 2

The next morning, I went to the living room as usual and froze. Three breakfasts sat neatly on the table.

Patrick and Victoria were already seated, holding hands tightly, their fingers intertwined.

I covered my mouth as my stomach churned violently.

I didn't even know how many breakfasts I had shared with them like this.

Just thinking about it made my chest tighten.

Noticing the look on my face, Patrick asked gently, "Didn't you sleep well, sweetheart? You don't look so good."

Beside him, Victoria shot me a glance full of thinly veiled contempt.

I lifted my lips into a faint smile, just as I always did, and faced them calmly.

"Yeah," I said evenly. "The fever hasn't fully gone down yet. I think I'll take the day off and rest at home today."

Patrick frowned slightly at my words, but his hands never stopped moving.

He lifted a slice of bread, spread tomato sauce on it, and casually handed it to Victoria.

It was something I had never once received after we got married.

Even as he did that, he kept lecturing me.

"Didn't you already have yesterday off?" he said. "Why are you taking another day today? This kind of thing creates trouble for your coworkers. They'll have to reshuffle everything because of you."

"And you're not the same as before," he went on. "You can't see now. You're no different from everyone else, so stop being so dramatic and acting like some spoiled princess."

My heart lurched at his words, and I clenched my teeth in silence.

Right. I was being dramatic.

Didn't he know that before he married me?

Back then, he said being pampered was a good thing. He said he would spoil me.

So when did "pampered" turn into "too much"?

He was so eager to push me back to work. Was there something waiting for me at the company?

For the first time, I regretted trusting his carefully crafted image and handing the company over to him so easily.

He seemed to have completely forgotten that the authority he enjoyed at my company existed only because I gave it to him.

I wrapped my fingers around the glass of milk in front of me, my knuckles slowly turning white.

I wanted nothing more than to splash it in his face. But I couldn't. Until I was absolutely certain, I could not let him know that my eyesight had returned.

Seeing that I stayed silent, Patrick's expression darkened. "Charlotte, have you forgotten what you promised me?

"You said that no matter what happened, you wouldn't give up. You said you'd stick it out.

"So now what? I'm just asking you to go to work, and it's suddenly unbearable? Honestly, I'm very disappointed in you."

With that, he grabbed Victoria's hand and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

After he left, I let out a soft laugh, rubbed the bridge of my nose, and dumped every bit of breakfast on the table straight into the trash.

Just like he said, I had always been spoiled.

Because back then, I had every right to be.

Before marrying Patrick, I was born into a wealthy family, and I was a pianist.

Everyone said I was a pearl out of reach.

But everything changed after that car accident.

My parents died in it, and I lost my sight.

Losing my parents and my vision at the same time left me living in constant fear and anxiety.

It was during that period that Patrick began pursuing me.

All it took were a few sweet words and several days of careful attention, and I fell for him completely.

At the time, I believed he was the light in my life, so I accepted his confession.

Later, I handed over the company and the inheritance my parents had left me to him.

As I stayed home, touching the piano I loved most and slowly trying to heal, he said to me, "If you stay inside all the time, you'll drift away from society. I get it. For someone like you who's never really suffered, going blind is hard to accept."

"So try treating yourself like an ordinary person," he continued. "Go out, get a job like everyone else. Experience real life. That way, you'll gradually come to terms with not being able to see."

At the time, it sounded reasonable.

So I gave up playing the piano and went out to look for work.

Patrick immediately arranged for me to work at his company, saying it would be easier for him to look out for me.

Later, he said it wouldn't be fair to give me special treatment, so he placed me in an entry-level position.

A blind person couldn't do regular work. All I could handle was answering customer service calls.

And my department manager happened to be Victoria.

Even though I couldn't see her, I recognized her voice.

When Patrick was courting me back then, Victoria had appeared more than once.

Patrick had explained back then that she was just a junior from his college days, nothing more than an acquaintance, and that there was nothing between them.

So when Victoria happened to be working at my company, I told myself it was just a coincidence.