Chapter 5

[Ivy]

“Dr. Keith,” Grandpa repeats, as if digging through his memory for the man. “Wait. Isn’t he the same doctor I had my assistant send the contact details to Hunter a year ago?”

“A year?” That’s new to me. As far as I know, it was only last month that Hunter introduced me to him. “Wait. You sent the doctor’s details to Hunter? But I thought you weren’t on talking terms with him?”

“I am not,” Grandpa huffs. “But when I heard about Dr. Keith and his impressive work from some of our clients, I knew I had to reach out to him. That’s when I told him about your case and asked my assistant to send the details to Hunter as well, so he could reach out on his own and have you tested for the treatment. Though I didn’t expect him to take a whole damn year.”

So, that’s the reason Dr. Keith sounded so curious when Hunter hesitated to consent to the treatment. With two powerful people pursuing him for the same patient, he must not have expected to be kept waiting.

Well, that explains everything.

Hunter has been considering keeping me blind forever for a while now. It’s not a rash decision or something he can’t decide yet. He simply has no intention of letting me see again.

But why? Surely not to keep me in the dark about his affair. I mean, even if there’s a reason, it can’t be as ridiculous as that. Or can it?

When the call ends, barely five minutes pass before I hear a knock on the door.

“Ivy?” Hunter’s voice comes floating inside, before I hear the click and the sound of the door being gently pushed open. “Are you okay?”

I don’t move from the bed, sit there with my back facing him.

“Of course. Why do you ask?” I wipe my face clean before forcing a small smile to my face.

I hear his footsteps moving closer. I feel him standing right in front of me before his breath hits my face. “Dahlia said you’ve been distracted all day. I got worried. Did I do something wrong? Are you upset with me?”

“Why?” I tip my head to the side. “Did you do something for me to be upset over?”

Silence.

“Of course not,” the lie comes out so awkwardly that I’m surprised he doesn’t take the hint himself. “You’re the love of my life. I would never do anything to make you mad.”

I hate the fact that on any other day, I would have happily believed him.

I hate it even more that, even though he claims to call me the love of his life, he still carries the audacity to deny me what I reverently deserve.

I smile. “So, Mina told me about Dr Keith’s visit today. What was he here for?”

I almost hear his breath hitch, as if he hadn’t expected me to know that—or bring it up all of a sudden.

“Oh, that,” he says, trying to cover the shake in his voice with a cough. “Nothing. He just came to show me the reports of your scans.”

“What did he say? Can he help me get my sight back?”

I feel the mattress dip under his weight as he sits beside me. Then comes the worst part—his arms sliding around me, pulling me close, holding me like I still belong to him. His breath ghosts over my cheek, warm and steady, the scent of his cologne suddenly suffocating.

“No,” he whispers, sounding so damn hurt. “He said there’s nothing he can do.”

I want to laugh at the lie that comes out so easily from his mouth now.

It also makes me wonder, though—since how long has he been lying to me like this? In the past, whenever he fussed and worried over the doctors’ words, was he pretending to care all along? 

He kisses my temple. “But don’t worry. I’ll keep trying. I’ll do everything I can to make you see again. That’s my promise to you, Ivy. I won’t give up until I find a way to heal you.”

On the surface, I smile slightly, showing him what he wants to see.

A pinch of disappointment and a lot of gratitude.

Internally, I want to scream so loudly that the walls shake and slap him hard enough to leave a mark.

However, I force myself to stay still. My fingers curl into the bedsheet, gripping it tightly as I swallow the rage burning its way up my throat.

It’s not the right time yet.

I won’t give him a direct confrontation. Not like this.

First, I’ll make him pay for fooling me. I’ll let him believe everything is still the same, that I’m still blind to his betrayal. But slowly, and very deliberately, I’ll strip away every investment I ever made in him—every cent, every connection, every favor, every charity done in his name to keep his public image spotless.

Then I’ll cut all ties with him. No warning. No explanation. I’ll leave him drowning in questions, desperate and scrambling, trying to figure out what the hell went wrong.

And when he’s finally at the end of his wits, pointing fingers at me, calling me cruel, heartless, and unfair… that’s when I’ll make him face the truth. I’ll force him to look at the ugly, rotten man he really is.