Blinded By Love—Literally

The entrance was crowded with people who had come to see my art exhibition. It had always been a childhood dream of mine to hold my own art show. Yet, as I stood in the gallery, surrounded by my artwork, my heart felt empty.

I looked disappointedly toward the entrance. The exhibition was about to begin, but Skyler Grant still hadn't come. I opened our messages and reread what he had sent to me last.

"Leah isn't feeling well, so I won't be going to your exhibition tomorrow. It's just an art show, anyway. Plus, I don't really get art, so there's no point in me going."

I felt indescribably bitter as I stared at the cold words on my screen. Skyler had personally promised to help me achieve this dream all those years ago, after all. I decided to put my phone away and force down my emotions.

Just then, the gallery doors burst open. Glancing in its direction, I couldn't help feeling a surge of joy when I saw Skyler walking in. However, that joy was shattered in the very next second.

Skyler walked past me with an angry expression. Then, he wordlessly began ripping my paintings off the wall. One by one, he forcefully hurled them against the ground.

The exhibition visitors were shocked by this. Sensing something was wrong, they quickly left.

My heart felt as though it was breaking as I rushed forward to stop Skyler. However, he shoved me aside and angrily shouted, "I went to visit Leah today, only to discover she's taken her own life! In her final note, she claimed you plagiarized her artwork, and she fell into depression because of this.

"She didn't know how to continue living because she felt she was left with no way out! And yet, you have the nerve to hold your own art show? How dare you, you thief!"

My mind went blank upon hearing Skyler's words. When did I ever plagiarize Leah Rivers' work?

He was accusing me of something I didn't do, so of course, I defended myself.

"How am I the plagiarizer? She's the one who plagiarized me! Some of her paintings are copies of my work, and I didn't even hold her accountable for them!" I refuted.

Skyler slapped me hard across the face as soon as the words left my mouth. He didn't hold back at all.

"You vicious, evil woman! Leah ended her own life because of you! How could you still make excuses now? Regardless, I'm going to avenge her today!" he declared.

Then, Skyler pulled out a lighter, crouched down stoically, and set my paintings on fire. When he left, he even sealed the doors to the gallery, which was the sole exit point in the building.

"Stay here and atone for your sins," Skyler coldly said. The entire gallery was engulfed in flames before I could react.

"No! No, please!" I uttered in desperation. My life's work was burning to ashes because of Skyler's actions.

Panicked, I rushed forward and tried to extinguish the burning paintings. However, a shard of glass flew through the air. I felt an intense, searing pain as it sliced into my eye.

My vision immediately went dark. I could hear the frantic shouts of the gallery staff coming from outside the entrance.

Gripped by a bone-chilling fear, I instinctively cried out, "Skyler, please help me! My eye hurts!"

I kept calling out to him but didn't receive a response.

Within moments, I was surrounded by flames. I thought I would die then and there. Fortunately, firefighters arrived at the last moment and pulled me out of the fire.

…

My vision was still mostly dark when I opened my eyes again.

The doctor regretfully told me the glass shard had severely damaged my right eye, so I was now blind in that eye. As for my left eye, I had already suffered substantial vision loss due to a childhood illness. Because of this, the sight in that eye was very limited.

Essentially, this meant it would be next to impossible for me to paint again.