Chapter 3
My stomach churned.
The black spot in my left eye had grown bigger, and now John and Amy sitting across from me looked like twisted blobs of color, their features all blurred together.
"Get out," I said, my voice low and cold as I pointed at the door.
John's face dropped immediately, his tone turning stern. "Charlotte, how did you turn out like this? Did all that schooling mean nothing to you?
"We came here to check on you, and this is how you treat us?"
Amy slammed her hand on the table and stood up. "Exactly. I can't believe you're this ungrateful."
"I told you to get out," I repeated.
I stood up, grabbed the cup from the table, and splashed the leftover coffee right at John's feet, soaking his shoes.
Lucas quickly grabbed my hand, his expression darkening.
"Charlotte, are you done making a scene?" he said, impatience clear in his voice. "They're older, not well-educated, so of course they don't know how to say things right.
"Does someone like you, with a college degree, really need to stoop to their level?"
Because John and Amy didn't know how to say things right, I was supposed to put up with their insults. Because Eva wanted to dance, I was supposed to sacrifice my eyes. I'd had enough of this logic.
"Show them out," I said, shaking off Lucas's hand and heading for the study.
I heard Lucas trying to calm John and Amy down behind me, and then the sound of the front door closing.
The study was quiet.
I accidentally let out a cough, and the voice-activated light overhead snapped on. The harsh light hit me right in the eyes.
But with the whole room lit up, all I could see with my left eye was layer upon layer of blurry shadows.
No matter how bright the room got, it couldn't stop me from losing my sight.
I pulled open the drawer and took out a document from the very bottom.
It was the UN Peacekeeper Confidential Interpreter Contract that had landed in my inbox half a month ago.
The mission was in the most dangerous conflict zones, demanding total isolation for at least three months, and the risk of dying was through the roof.
Although it was very dangerous, making a real impact for world peace was exactly what I'd wanted.
And the pay was fantastic. The job would broaden my horizons, too.
I hadn't replied before because I couldn't bring myself to leave Lucas, and I couldn't bear to walk away from the home we'd just started to build together.
But now, I didn't need to hesitate anymore.
I calmly signed my name, Charlotte White, at the end of the online contract.
*****
The next day, at the international financial summit I'd already committed to, my left eye was deteriorating much faster than I'd anticipated.
Sitting in the interpreter's booth, I stared at the screen, but the words had blurred into a blurry mass of black, like stubborn ink smeared across my vision.
I had to lean in close, depending on my experience to handle the intense translation workload.
During the break, I rubbed my aching temples and headed to the lounge.
Lucas pushed open the door, carrying two fancy lunch boxes.
He came straight over, dropped to one knee in front of me, and pulled out a small bottle of eye drops with a foreign label.
"Charlotte, this is a special medication I had someone bring back from abroad, specifically for alleviating optic nerve atrophy," he said.
He tilted my chin up, gently pulled back my eyelid, and let the cool drops fall into my eye.
A colleague nearby came over and joked, "Dr. Grant, you're always so busy, but you still make time to check on Charlotte. You really dote on her like she's the apple of your eye."
Lucas smiled, pulled out a tissue, and gently dabbed at the corner of my eye where the drops had spilled.
As long as Eva wasn't involved, he could act like the most considerate boyfriend ever.
Unfortunately, that sweetness barely lasted five minutes.
Eva pushed the door open, carrying a cup of iced juice.
The moment she saw Lucas down on one knee before me, her steps clearly stuttered. Then she quickly flashed a cloyingly sweet smile.
"Charlotte, I brought some juice for you," she said. "Tonight's the finals. You better come watch, okay?"
As she spoke, she walked over to my desk.
When she passed by a stack of my most important translation documents, she suddenly tripped, and the whole cup of iced juice dumped perfectly all over the dozens of pages.
The papers were instantly drenched, the ink ran everywhere, and the writing was completely ruined.
My head buzzed.
A stab of pain shot through my left eye, triggered by the sudden surge of emotion, and darkness crept in from the corners of my vision, swallowing everything.