He Stole My Corneas Four Times For His First Love Chapter 1

When the fourth cornea match came through, my husband, the head of ophthalmology, expertly slid a voluntary waiver across the table.

His face was painted with guilt, but his tone left absolutely no room for negotiation.

"Trexie, we can't use this set of corneas for you either."

"Stella had acid thrown in her face by her ex. It ruined her vision completely. She relies on sleeping pills just to make it through the night. If she hears that your sight has been restored, it will drag up all her past trauma. She will be suicidal. I can't just stand by and watch her suffer."

"Don't worry. You can still make out blurry shapes with your left eye. Once Stella is fully recovered, we can always wait for another donor."

I didn't cry. I didn't scream and demand answers the way I had the first three times.

I just silently signed my name on the dotted line.

David had no idea. While he was busy crossing my name off the surgical schedule to prioritize his childhood sweetheart, I had already accepted an offer from the world's most advanced neural integration research center. I had agreed to be their Chief Scientist and primary test subject. I was leaving the country, and I was never coming back.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to David.

* * *

Right after the pen left the paper, a sharp, stabbing pain pierced my left eye.

My vision rapidly blackened.

David's face, which I could barely make out a moment ago, dissolved into murky, shapeless blobs of color.

I braced both hands against the desk, entirely unprepared for the sudden shift.

David didn't notice a thing.

He was too busy eagerly shoving the signed waiver into his folder, terrified I might change my mind.

Just then, an emergency room nurse slammed the door open.

"Dr. David! Stella slit her wrists!"

"She lost a massive amount of blood! They are trying to resuscitate her right now!"

He didn't even look at me. He shoved past the nurse and sprinted down the hall.

The darkness in my left eye grew heavier. The agony drilled straight through my optic nerve and into my brain.

I fumbled blindly until my fingers found the call button on the desk.

A few minutes later, the door swung open again.

Heavy footsteps rushed right up to me.

I assumed it was the doctor on call. I opened my mouth to ask for help, but someone gripped my wrist in an iron hold.

A rough alcohol swab was slathered haphazardly over my vein.

"Trexie, the hospital blood bank is totally depleted. Stella needs a transfusion immediately."

It was David's voice.

"We have to draw from you. She doesn't have time to wait."

I couldn't see a single thing. I could only feel the icy prick of a large needle burying itself into my flesh.

"It hurts..."

I struggled, trying to pull my arm away.

"It is just a little blood. Stella is fighting for her life. What is your little bit of pain compared to that?"

David pinned my arm down with brutal force.

Right then, someone burst into the room.

It was Brooke, my attending physician and my absolute best friend.

She shoved David hard, snatching the oversized syringe out of his hand.

"Are you out of your mind?!"

"Stella has O-negative blood! The bank is full of it!"

"Your wife's optic nerve is on the verge of rapid necrosis. You want to draw her blood right now? Do you want her to go completely blind?!"

Brooke's voice was shaking with fury. She stepped between us, shielding me.

David hesitated for a fraction of a second, but his resolve hardened.

"Stop fearmongering, Brooke."

"It is just a little blood. How much worse could her eyes possibly get?"

"Stella is carrying two lives right now. I am not letting anything happen to her!"

Two lives?

But David didn't give me a single second to process that.

He shoved Brooke out of the way with terrifying force.

Then he grabbed my arm again.

This time, he grabbed an even larger gauge needle.

He jammed it brutally into my already bruised vein.

"Draw four hundred cc's and get it to the operating room immediately."

He barked the order with absolute, chilling apathy.

I could feel the blood rushing out of my body.

And along with it went the very last, fading sliver of light in my left eye.

I closed my eyes. A memory drifted to the surface.

My right eye had gone blind two years ago. A deranged family member of a patient had lunged at David with a knife.

I threw myself in front of him, taking the blow.

The heavy hilt of the knife had shattered my right eye.

From that day on, half my world had been pitch black.

Back then, David had held me in his arms, sobbing hysterically. He swore to the heavens he would spend the rest of his life making it up to me.

And now, he was personally ripping away my very last hope of ever seeing the light again.

"David." I stared blankly toward the sound of his breathing.

"If you take this blood today, we are done."

My voice was incredibly soft. Stripped of all emotion.

The pulling sensation in my vein paused.

But a second later, he let out a scoff.

"Are you really pulling this card again?"

"Every single time something happens to Stella, you threaten me with a divorce. Are you ever going to drop it?"

"You are practically a cripple who cannot even see where she is walking. Where exactly are you going to go without me?"

Warm, crimson blood flowed continuously through the plastic tubing.

Brooke scrambled up from the floor, reaching out to rip the needle from my arm.

David backhanded her away.

"Security! Get this crazy woman out of my sight!"

Guards rushed into the room and dragged Brooke backward.

"You are an absolute monster, David! You are going to rot for this!"

"Trexie lost an eye to save your pathetic life, and now you are destroying her other eye for your mistress!"

Brooke's screaming faded down the corridor.

David yanked the needle out.

He pressed a freezing alcohol cotton ball against my puncture wound, not even lingering for a full second.

He grabbed the blood bag and turned on his heel.

"David," I called out to him one last time.

"Did it ever cross your mind that if my eye is completely ruined, it might never be fixed?"

His footsteps paused at the door.

He threw his words over his shoulder like trash.

"Then it doesn't get fixed."

"If you go totally blind, I will just provide for you for the rest of your life. But nothing is going to happen to Stella."

The door slammed shut.

I listened to the frantic sound of his dress shoes sprinting down the hallway.

I raised a trembling hand and touched my left eye.

There was nothing but a hollow, empty void.

The version of Trexie who had once thrown her life on the line for him died right there on that vinyl chair.

I lay alone in the freezing phlebotomy room.

My left eye sank into absolute, inescapable darkness.

I was entirely blind.

Tears were a luxury I could no longer afford.

I pulled out my phone and let muscle memory guide my thumb to the voice assistant.

"Call Brooke."

The line connected almost instantly. I could hear Brooke's muffled, suppressed sobbing.

"Trexie... your eyes..."

"Brooke, process my discharge papers."

"I want to go home."