Chapter 3

"Why did the person who found me have to be blind?"

Why? Silly Wendy. Why would she still care about me, then?

Unable to take it anymore, I cried my heart out. "That's right! I'm not stupid! So just leave already! I don't need you to look after me!"

I was only five when my parents' marriage fell apart. They fought every single day because neither of them wanted me. They didn't even notice when I went blind from a fever.

I thought that maybe unwanted kids didn't even deserve to keep their eyesight. That was why, when I found Wendy lying alone in the snow, my heart broke for her. I didn't want there to be another kid in the world who lost their eyesight.

Wendy weakly held my hand. "Alright, I'm sorry. Stop saying things you don't mean. You expect me to leave you here so you can get hit by a car?"

She led me back home and never brought up using the cane again. However, I noticed she was spending more and more time in the study.

Inside my room, I made a call. The moment they heard it was me, they blew up.

"Why are you still bothering me? I don't have any legal obligation to take care of you anymore!"

I sniffled, my nose stinging. "Mom, I don't need you to take care of me. But could you just pretend to take me in?"

I repeatedly promised that I absolutely wouldn't cling to her. Only then did she say she'd come get me after my little brother finished summer camp, saying she owed me that much as my mother.

After hanging up, I smiled.

That was great. Mom had a new child to keep her company. And Wendy could finally get rid of this dead weight.

When I knocked on Wendy's door, I heard her frantically putting something away. "What do you want? Did you lose something again?"

I choked up for a moment, then forced a playful smile. "Wendy, my mom contacted me. She said she's doing really well now and has been feeling bad because of me. She wants me to live with her, and I agreed to it."

Wendy was in disbelief. "Do you have any idea what you're saying?"

I said, "I want to go live with my mom."

Wendy flew into a rage. "James Glover, have you forgotten how she treated you? Haven't you learned your lesson?"

Of course I hadn't forgotten. During the few years the court gave Mom custody of me, she was always out on dates.

Sometimes she'd disappear for days and forget to leave us money for food.

The young Wendy had to go out in the dead of winter to collect bottles, and every single piece of bread she bought with those coins went straight into my mouth.

At the time, she was barely a teenager. Even though she was so hungry that her stomach cramped, she still quietly reassured me that she was fine and that she simply ate too much.

When I asked my mom to take Wendy in, all I wanted was for Wendy to have a better life. Instead, she was weighed down by a blind person and never had a single carefree day.

As I refused to change my mind, Wendy became furious. And she refused to back down as well.

I kept sighing to myself, thinking that she was being an idiot. So I decided to call Abel.

"Please, talk some sense into her again…"

The day Abel called, I had just gotten my eyes examined again, only to hear the doctor sigh.

"His eyes… Dr. Peck, if even you are unable to do something, he may have to live like this for the rest of his life."

Wendy clenched her fists tightly. "James, why are you so helpless?"

Feeling guilty, I could only apologize.

Abel's voice was somber over the phone. "Wendy, I'm leaving with my mentor in a few days. Once we're gone, you won't get another opportunity like this again. And you'll have to keep living like this for the rest of your life."

As Wendy stared at my eyes, she began to unravel. All of a sudden, she ran into the study to grab something before running out of our home.

When I heard the front door close, I actually felt happy. A whole day passed, and Wendy still wasn't back.

Abel sent me a voice message. "Thank you for letting her go. Wendy really is meant to paint. She and my mentor get along very well."

I was glad to hear that. But since I hadn't eaten a single thing all day, the hunger was becoming unbearable.

Wendy must have forgotten to leave snacks in the places I could easily reach before she left.

I tried to use voice commands to order food, only to realize the front door had been locked from the outside.

As the night wore on and Wendy still hadn't returned, my stomach started to ache from the acid building up.

I felt my way toward the kitchen, hoping to find something to eat.

Alas, a blind person like me was utterly useless. I had knocked over something, and the next thing I knew, the kitchen was on fire.

In my panic, I tried to put it out, but I couldn't even aim a splash of water in the right direction.