Eyes for Another’s Heart

In the fifth year of my marriage to Jordan West, he cheats on me with a blind woman. She's young, pretty, and demure.

Jordan scours the best hospitals in the country to treat her eyes. In the end, he fixes his gaze on me and tells me he wants me to donate my corneas to her.

"They're just a pair of eyes, Hazel. Please help her. Can you really stand by and watch as she withers away?"

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 yours. I'm really sorry!"

But he would forgive her once she pouted and acted cutely. He would never get mad at her. He only thought she was adorable.

Initially, I hadn't taken this to heart. But later, I noticed he would have lipstick stains on his shirt. I would also catch whiffs of a fragrance that didn't belong to him.

Meanwhile, Josie would post photos of them being intimate or affectionate on her Twitter. Jordan's face wasn't in the shot, but I knew it was him when I saw the mole close to his Adam's apple.

He always said I was being paranoid.

"We were just on a business trip. What are you thinking?

"I told you not to go to my company to scare her, didn't I? She's just a fresh graduate! You're becoming more and more unreasonable!"

The young woman he thought was innocent and naive was the one who'd asked me to meet her at the company. Then, she'd put on an act and made it so Jordan would conveniently see her weeping. "There's really nothing between me and Mr. West, Hazel. I'll leave the company if you don't believe me."

Her trick successfully drove a wedge between Jordan and me. The only thing that hadn't gone according to her plan was that she would get into an accident and lose her vision. Nothing could be done about it.

Because of that, Jordan hated me. He felt I was the one who'd forced Josie to leave, leading to her getting into that accident and going blind. So, he would spend time with her daily. He even bought her an apartment and hired a housekeeper for her. He was wholly focused on caring for her. He didn't even come home anymore.

"Josie's emotionally unstable now that she can't see anymore. She'll end her life if I don't stay with her! Don't you feel guilty at all, Hazel? She wouldn't have ended up like this if not for you!"

I watched him leave, feeling dazed. Jordan's actions matched with the things Josie had once told me.

"Everyone knows that you and Jordan only married as part of a business alliance. He married you for his company's benefit. Now that your family has fallen from grace, do you think the five years you spent with him mean anything?

"Don't think you're guaranteed to win if he has to choose between me and you. Think about it—he doesn't have to consider the consequences of falling for me. Don't you agree, Hazel?"