Her Light and My Darkness

That day, I was ecstatic to throw my soul at Samuel since it had been weeks since his last visit.

I was so happy, I practically danced around him until my doctor interrupted with a worried look, "Mr. Floyd, think this through, please. The surgery isn't without risks."

"How risky?" Samuel asked, his voice calm.

The doctor hesitated before offering the safest bet, "Fifty percent."

"Let's do it," Samuel decided, turning to hold Amelia's hand tenderly. He murmured, "She's just lying there anyway, like she's already gone, not using her eyes. Might as well give them to someone who really needs them."

A shadow of pity passed over the doctor's face as he said, "But… What if Ms. Yocelyn Carden wakes up one day?"

"Then we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

In that instant, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Was Samuel planning to give my cornea to Amelia? Was he willing to leave me blind?

I was rooted to the spot, my mind reeling, as I slowly backed away from Samuel.

Watching them together, so lovey-dovey, a wave of icy dread spread through me.

Then it dawned on me.

Samuel's marriage to me... it was never about love.

After Amelia went blind from an accident and broke up with him, she vanished from his life.

I stumbled into Samuel's life when he was at his lowest, staying by his side through the darkest days.

When Samuel and I got married, love was never the reason behind it.

He simply asked, "Yocelyn, if I ever need your help one day—and I mean really need it, like an organ or something—would you be there for me?"

Blinded by love, I nodded and said yes without a second thought.

He looked into my eyes so intently, it was as if he was seeing someone else through them.

Then he kissed me gently on the eye, whispering, "Your eyes are so beautiful."

Looking back at it, I wonder…

Did Samuel have his eye on my eyes from the very start?

I was dead.

The surgery was a success, but my body rejected it big time, and all my vitals hit rock bottom.

As they fought to save me, my mother called Samuel, her voice breaking. "Samuel, Yocelyn, she—she's barely hanging on..."

Samuel could not have sounded more annoyed. "It was just a minor surgery, right? Mrs. Carden, I've been patient with you out of respect, but don't push it. Don't you dare lie to me like this.

"Amelia just came out of surgery, alone and vulnerable, and she needs me more than ever. Yocelyn is just lying there, oblivious to the world. Whether I'm there or not, it wouldn't make a difference.

"Stop bothering me!" he snapped.

Without giving my mother a chance to say another word, he hung up on her.

When she tried calling back, all she got was a chilly automated message that went, "The number you have dialed is currently busy."

He had blocked her, but my mother did not get it and kept calling him.

It was not until the emergency room doors swung open and a somber-faced doctor stepped out, his expression apologetic, that she stopped. "Please accept our condolences, we've done all we could," he said.

"The patient was already weak, and the surgery just wrecked her immune system..."

My mother's scream of despair echoed through the hall as she crumpled to the floor, my name escaping her lips in a choked sob, "Yocelyn! Oh, my Yocelyn..."

They wheeled out my body, hidden beneath a stark white sheet.

Summoning every ounce of strength, my mother pulled back the sheet and pressed her forehead to mine, tears streaming down her face.

"Yocelyn, why'd you have to be so brave? Why'd you jump in front of Samuel like that during the crash?

"He never loved you, not one bit!"