My childhood sweetheart lost his sight in a car accident. Out of the goodness of my heart, I donated one of my corneas to him. Yet, he believed I orchestrated the crash, claiming my donation was a manipulative ploy to force him into marriage and tear him away from his first love. He hated me for the rest of his life. Before he died, he told me he would rather be blind than ever look at my face again. When I opened my eyes, I was back to the moment right before he sped off to win back that first love. I pretended to know nothing. In this life, I don't want to see him ever again either. 1 In the dead of night, my mom yanked me out of bed. As she hastily threw on her clothes, her face was grim. "Get up, quickly. Your Aunt Clara just called. Noah got into a car accident. We need to get to the hospital, now." My heart hammered in my chest. It wasn't until we reached the hospital and I saw Noah's parents pacing anxiously outside the operating room that it finally hit me. This wasn't my life flashing before my eyes right before suicide. I was actually reborn. My mom was busy trying to get updates on Noah's condition. The adults were panicking like lost children. I was the only one calm enough to speak with the doctor. "The family needs to be prepared. The patient suffered severe facial trauma. Both corneas have detached. It's highly likely he will be permanently blind." Just like in my previous life, Aunt Clara nearly fainted at the news. I sighed silently, feeling absolutely nothing inside. I simply asked, "His corneas are detached, but can you save his eyeballs?" The doctor promised they would do their best, then shoved a pen into my hand. "What is your relationship to the patient? Sign here, quickly." The word "wife" almost slipped out, but I forced it back down. I handed the pen to Noah's father, who was slightly more composed. "I'm just a neighbor. I don't have the authority to sign." In my past life, when I heard Noah was going to be blind, my reaction was just as devastating as Aunt Clara's. After all, I had been secretly in love with him for ten years. The thought of someone as vibrant and free-spirited as Noah never seeing the world again broke my heart, so I donated one of my corneas. Noah regained his sight. After a few days of depression, he proposed to me right there in the hospital. He held me and said, "Emily, from now on, we'll be each other's light." My ten-year unrequited love finally had a happy ending, but I hesitated. "What about Mia?" Noah scoffed, pointing at his eyes. "If she hadn't thrown a tantrum and broken up with me in the middle of the night, why would I be like this?" His answer was decisive then, but less than two years into our marriage, everything changed. By chance, I saw his search history on an AI app. He had asked the same questions multiple times: [How to make someone's corneas detach] [Help me design the perfect car accident] [Can a person who died from carbon monoxide poisoning still donate their corneas?] Seeing those searches felt like plunging into hell. I gave him a cornea out of years of affection, and he wanted to take my other one. So, I sealed the doors and windows of our home, lit some charcoal, and drank with Noah for the first time since our wedding. When we were both buzzed, I asked him, "Do you regret marrying me?" Drunk words speak a sober heart. The look he gave me was like a knife. "If I didn't marry you, how could I repay you for that meticulously planned car accident?" He slammed my diary—I have no idea where he found it—hard onto the table. "Emily Vance! You've had a crush on me since we were kids. When you couldn't have me, you deliberately caused that crash to blind me, didn't you?!" "When I went blind, you took the opportunity to donate your cornea to trap me into marrying you!" "You destroyed my health, you ruined my relationship with Mia, and you wanted me to feel guilty for the rest of my life! You are so incredibly vicious! I'd rather be blind for the rest of my life than look at your face!" Every word he said shocked me to the core. With red eyes, I tried to explain that it wasn't true, but he slammed his hand on the table and demanded, "Then why else would you willingly disable yourself just to give me a cornea? Don't tell me you were brainwashed by that 'childhood sweetheart' nonsense! We're just neighbors! It's not that deep!" I was utterly paralyzed. So this is how Noah had maliciously interpreted my actions all along. As the carbon dioxide built up, my mind grew hazy. We both died in that room. It wasn't a painful death. 2 This time, I coldly watched the two families frantically search for a cornea donor, determined not to get involved in Noah's karma. Aunt Clara was constantly wiping away tears, and my mom looked deeply worried. "Sigh, why would Noah speed out in the middle of the night?" "What was so urgent he had to risk his life? Such a good young man, and now..." Aunt Clara's face flashed with sudden resentment. "I checked his phone and found out he was secretly dating a girl named Mia." "She was throwing a tantrum, saying if he wasn't at the train station in ten minutes, she was leaving the city. Noah panicked and..." I lowered my eyes and stayed silent. No matter how you looked at it, this had absolutely nothing to do with me. Yet, in my past life, Noah somehow managed to pin the blame entirely on me. Just then, a loud crashing sound came from the hospital room. Aunt Clara and my mom rushed in before I could even react. I followed them in to take a look. Noah had knocked over the water glass on his bedside table and fallen out of bed. He had ripped the bandages off his eyes and was blindly feeling around, his eyes red and frantic. "Noah!" Aunt Clara cried out, heartbroken. "Get up, the floor is cold!" "You can't move around like this right after waking up! You have a fractured leg, be careful!" Noah grabbed Aunt Clara's hand like it was a lifeline. "Mom, what's wrong with my eyes?" "Why can't I see anything?! Why?!" Aunt Clara's heart ached for her son. She opened her mouth several times but couldn't force the words out. She covered her mouth, suppressing her sobs until her shoulders shook, terrified of making a sound. Unable to see, Noah looked around frantically, pure panic in his eyes. Finally, my mom couldn't bear it anymore. She pulled me over to help Aunt Clara lift him back into bed. "Emily? Is that you, Emily?" "Tell me quickly, what happened to me..." I gave Aunt Clara a complex look, and only after she nodded did I speak: "The car accident caused your corneas to detach. You are permanently blind." Noah froze, immediately blurting out, "Impossible." I said nothing more. Aunt Clara quickly rushed to comfort him. "Don't be afraid. Your dad and Uncle Vance are already looking for a donor." "You'll get your sight back soon." How could someone as proud and reckless as Noah handle such a blow? Eventually, the doctor came in on his rounds and issued a stern warning: "You must take absolute care of your eyes right now. If your condition deteriorates further, you won't be able to have a transplant even if we find a donor." I smiled silently. If corneas were that easy to come by, Noah wouldn't have coveted my remaining one in my past life. But isn't this exactly what he wanted? In this life, at least, he will truly never have to look at me again. 3 Uncle Vance failed repeatedly to find a cornea, his hair turning gray in a matter of days. Noah couldn't accept the reality of his blindness. He radiated a toxic, aggressive energy. Less than three days after he was admitted, Aunt Clara was hospitalized due to stress-induced high blood pressure. I actively avoided Noah, but my parents scolded me for it. "Emily, our families have always been close. You should at least try to help out." Unable to get out of it, I finally went. As soon as I entered the room, Noah heard the noise and turned his head. "Emily, right?" I was surprised, then heard him let out a self-deprecating laugh. "I know your footsteps." "Why haven't you come to see me? Do I look scary now?" I sat a short distance from his bed, my tone neutral. "I've been too busy lately. Couldn't find the time." The ten years of unrequited love had been entirely ground away by the torment of our marriage in my past life. In this life, I was thinking clearly. Noah was right. We were just neighbors. He seemed to be waiting for me to comfort him. When I stayed silent, he started feeling around for his phone. Once he found it, he held it out toward the other side of the bed. Speaking to empty air, he said, "Can you check if Mia called me?" "I can't even unlock my phone. She must be worried sick not hearing from me for days." I sighed in exasperation. "I'm over here." Noah froze, a flash of defeat crossing his face. I took the phone and checked. Zero missed calls. Opening his messages, the last chat history was from days ago. I glanced at Noah, and curiosity got the better of me. I opened the conversation. I really wanted to know why he blamed me for his accident in my past life. "Noah! My mom said if you want to marry me, the dowry has to be an entire shopping mall. Non-negotiable." "Your family is rich. Two malls would be nothing to you. If you're going to be this insincere, let's just break up." Noah's replies were incredibly subservient. "Let's talk about this, okay? I'll talk to my parents." Mia sent a picture of a train ticket departing in half an hour. "Then come find me when you've talked to them." Noah begged her not to leave. Finally, she relented, but said she would only wait ten minutes. Reading the chat log, I couldn't help but let out a mocking laugh. They were fighting over a dowry. It had absolutely nothing to do with me. In my past life, just because I was soft-hearted enough to give him my cornea, he took all his anger out on me? "Well? Any news?" Noah asked anxiously. I shook my head and placed the phone on his lap. "No." "Impossible!" He felt around for the phone, trying to hand it back to me. "Is the battery dead?" "Or maybe it broke in the crash and isn't receiving messages?" "Emily, could you go buy me a new phone?" Seeing his desperate panic, a surge of vindictive pleasure rose in my chest. As if to punish him, I said deliberately, "Mia hasn't contacted you. Not even once." 4 From that day on, Noah made me check his unread messages every day. As the days passed, his panic became obvious. "It's been so many days. Why hasn't she reached out?" "Do you think something happened to her?" I looked at him expressionlessly. But then he suddenly said, "Call her for me." The moment the call connected, Noah's eyes lit up. It was the first time he smiled in days. "Mia..." The person on the other end wasn't friendly. "Why are you calling me? I told you I'd only wait ten minutes, and you didn't show." "Isn't that an unspoken breakup? Stop bothering me." Noah quickly explained, "I'm sorry, Mia, don't hang up!" "I... I didn't mean to be late, and I don't want to break up. It's just... I got into a car accident. I've been in the hospital." I got up and walked out, afraid that if he got rejected, he'd somehow blame me for it again. But seeing how he acted with Mia made me realize one thing: he truly didn't love me. We grew up together, and I had never seen him act so pathetic and subservient. When Aunt Clara arrived, I went to find his attending physician. If the car crash was so severe, why did Noah only suffer minor injuries everywhere else, except for his eyes? The doctor looked a bit exasperated. "When they brought him in from the scene, his face was covered in blood." "We later found out the patient had installed a custom, protruding ornament on the steering wheel logo. When the airbag deployed, it drove the ornament straight into his eyes." "It's a real shame..." I raised an eyebrow and went home, finally understanding. In my past life, my entire heart was focused on Noah. It was only when my life flashed before my eyes that I realized I had played a winning hand terribly. This time, I took two-thirds of my savings and bought gold. My mom looked at me suspiciously. "Are you opening a jewelry store?" I smiled and shook my head. "Holding it for appreciation!" When my dad came home that night, he looked depressed. He sighed heavily during dinner. He kept shooting me sideways glances. "We can't find a cornea anywhere. Noah is probably..." I looked up at him. "You've done everything humanly possible. Even if you can't find one, Uncle Vance won't blame you." My parents both stared at me, tentatively testing the waters. "I'm just worried you won't be able to accept it." "We know you and Noah have been close since you were kids, and as you grew older..." "If you insist, your mom and I won't object." Understanding their unspoken meaning, I set my chopsticks down seriously. "Dad. Mom." "I don't like Noah anymore." "Not because he's blind, but because he already has a girlfriend. He's not right for me. We're just ordinary friends, just neighbors." "Please don't say things like that again." My parents were surprised for a moment, but quickly nodded. "Emily, don't worry. Whatever you choose, we support you." 5 A week later, my dad offered to pick Noah up when he was discharged. But Aunt Clara politely declined. "Thank you, but Noah's friend is coming to pick him up." "You've already done so much for us recently." That afternoon, we saw a girl helping Noah out of a car. Aunt Clara and Uncle Vance followed behind them, their faces devoid of joy or anger. "I heard Aunt Clara always disapproved of that girl. Why did she change her mind so suddenly?" My mom shook her head. "Noah is blind now. Even if she wanted to object, she can't." That evening, Aunt Clara's family invited us over for dinner. I tried to find an excuse to decline, but Aunt Clara and Uncle Vance came to our door personally. "If Emily is busy today, we can do it another time." "Your family has helped us so much lately, we don't know how to thank you. You have to come over for dinner." Setting Noah aside, Aunt Clara and Uncle Vance had always been incredibly kind to me, in both lives. Unable to refuse, I accepted. When we arrived, my mom went straight to the kitchen to help Aunt Clara. My dad and Uncle Vance sat together, scratching their heads as they called everyone they knew trying to find a cornea. Leaving me awkwardly sitting in the living room with Noah and Mia. Mia acted entirely like the lady of the house, even pouring me a cup of tea. "I heard you're the childhood friend who grew up with Noah?" I smiled politely. "Not exactly. Just neighbors." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Noah frown. But when Mia leaned into his embrace, his frown immediately smoothed out. Mia smiled shyly. "Noah has been so much more dependent on me since he lost his sight." I had no interest in competing with her, so I just smiled and played along. In this life, I only wanted to keep my distance from him. Whether he was happy being blind was none of my business. At the dinner table, Aunt Clara and Uncle Vance drank to drown their sorrows. After a few rounds, they were a bit tipsy. I helped Aunt Clara back to her bedroom. "Auntie, please get some rest. Noah's condition is improving every day, don't worry too much." "Everyone is still trying their best to find a cornea." Aunt Clara covered her face and sobbed softly. "You can't even buy a cornea with money. We all know it's just false hope." "I never wanted Mia to marry into our family... Emily, you and Noah were supposed to be..." I smiled and gently interrupted her. "Auntie, Noah and I are just friends. You should just be happy for him." Aunt Clara stared at me blankly for a moment, then nodded, her tears flowing even faster. I helped my parents back home. Right before we left, I looked back and saw Mia staring up at the Vance family house, her eyes filled with greed. Knowing Noah, he definitely reached out to Mia after his accident in my past life too. But she rejected a Noah who still had one good eye then. Why would she suddenly change her mind for a completely blind Noah now? Mia definitely had an ulterior motive. 6 Noah and Mia got their marriage license very quickly. By all accounts, this should have been a joyous occasion, but Aunt Clara and Uncle Vance looked deeply troubled. "Why does Aunt Clara have more gray hair now than she did a few days ago?" My mom's face showed clear frustration with Noah. "Because she's worrying about him." "That girl is trouble. Knowing Noah is blind, she took advantage of the situation and demanded an exorbitant dowry. She asked for more than half of the Vance family's assets, claiming it was 'compensation' from their family to her." "And Noah insists he won't marry anyone but her. Uncle Vance was so angry he almost had a heart attack." Marrying Mia was Noah's life-long obsession. Let alone half their assets, he'd probably gladly hand over his entire net worth. The only ones I pitied were his parents. To suffer such a disaster in their middle age. After dinner, I went to my room. In my past life, I lost an eye. In this life, I was naturally going to travel and see the beautiful scenery of the country. While I was researching travel itineraries, my mom suddenly knocked on the door. "Emily, Noah is here to see you." I frowned. Thinking about how I had been intentionally keeping my distance from him recently, I got up and went downstairs. "What is it?" Hearing my voice, Noah turned toward me. "Want to go for a walk?" I looked back at my parents, grabbed a coat, and went outside. But I didn't go far, just stopping under the streetlight right outside our door. Noah felt around with his hands but didn't move forward. Seeing I wasn't approaching, he pressed his lips together. "Aren't you going to help me?" I clicked my tongue. "Men and women should keep their distance. I need to maintain boundaries with a married man." Noah slowly, tentatively took a step forward, only to trip over a small rock and stumble. I watched him expressionlessly. After all, the memory of him slamming his hand on the table in my past life, screaming that he'd rather be blind than see me, was still incredibly vivid.
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