I Planned a Fireworks Show for Her, But She Chose Her First Love

On Lily’s birthday, I had the whole city lit up with a massive fireworks show, hoping to give her a surprise. But on the way, she took a phone call and immediately told the driver to kick me out of the car. “Brian’s breaking up with his girlfriend, and I need to go check on him right now. As for your birthday surprise, we can talk about it later.” She ignored everything I said and left me alone out in the suburbs before driving off. I watched the red taillights fade into the distance, then slowly pulled out the vision recovery report from my coat. I had clearly seen Brian’s name on the caller ID just now, and I had also heard the man on the other end asking her to meet him. I lifted my head and looked at the gloomy sky in the distance, my chest twisting with a mix of emotions that felt terrible. For her twenty-eighth birthday, I had carefully planned a blue fireworks show, wanting to hold this report up amid the sky full of fireworks. I wanted to tell her loudly that from now on, I could be the shoulder she leaned on, and she wouldn’t have to work herself to exhaustion to support the family anymore. But now, I was the joke instead. I tore the report to pieces with force and let the wind scatter it until it disappeared from sight before I looked away. That fire five years ago. Brian had left her in the blaze and run for his life. I had ignored my own safety, broken through the barriers, and dragged her out of there. Because of that, my back was badly burned, and the smoke blinded both my eyes. She said she would never have anything to do with Brian again for the rest of her life. But now? I walked aimlessly along the road in the suburbs. I didn’t know how long I had been walking when the pitch-black sky suddenly started pouring rain. The freezing rain soaked me through, but I couldn’t care less. My mind was a mess. In the end, a kind stranger drove me back to my neighborhood. I thanked the driver, and just as I stepped out of the car, I saw a familiar figure sitting behind the window of the Western restaurant not far away. Lily was smiling brightly as she took the initiative to raise her glass and clink it against Brian’s. Then Brian took her hand and slipped a diamond ring onto her ring finger. When I saw that scene, my hands hanging by my sides clenched into fists. I pulled out my phone and called Lily, staring hard at the two of them wrapped up in each other behind the glass. No one answered the call, so I didn’t bother looking anymore and turned to go home. Even though my clothes were soaked and clinging to my body, they still couldn’t compare to the cold in my heart. When I got home alone, I turned on the lights and, for the first time, really looked at the little place I had decorated with my own hands. I saw the couple’s mugs I had bought, and only my blue one was left. The couple’s pillow on the couch, which should have had both our faces printed on it, now only had Lily’s. That was when I remembered that last week, she had said she wanted to bring some friends over. There were clearly three friends, but one of them was a quiet guy. Even after we parted, I still didn’t know his name. Now that I thought about it, everything was obvious. I said nothing and walked into the bedroom to pack up my own things. Just as I was about to text Lily, I saw the post she had just put up on her social media. In the photo, she was holding Brian’s hand with their fingers tightly interlocked, and the diamond ring on her ring finger stabbed painfully at my eyes. The caption above it read, I hope every birthday in the future has you by my side, from year to year, from dawn to dusk. Below that were likes and comments from mutual friends sending their blessings. They all thought the person standing next to Lily right now was me, and they even remarked that my hand had gotten skinnier. What was even more ridiculous was that Lily shamelessly replied to each one, thanking her friends for their blessings. I gave a mocking laugh, liked her post as well, and left a comment underneath. “The mood is already here, so I’ll wish you two a lifetime locked together.”Lily never replied to my blessing. Not long after, I saw that post had already been deleted. Lily came back in the middle of the night, and when she walked in, I was sitting on the couch with my eyes closed, resting. She impatiently tossed her bag onto the sofa and then walked up to me. “I told you to wait for me, so why did you come back alone?” I didn’t say anything and kept my gaze fixed on a spot on the floor, feeling nothing at all inside. Seeing that, Lily showed no sign of softening her tone. “Did your so-called friends say something stupid to you again? That post of mine was just a joke. We’ve been married for five years already, so stop making a big deal out of something so small.” She said it so easily, but ever since she came back, she hadn’t cared at all about how I got home or how I commented on her post. Instead, she kept going on about my comment and said a lot of coworkers had messaged her asking about it. She said I was making trouble for nothing. She sat across from me with clear irritation, then, in a fit of temper, picked up my mug and threw it straight into the trash can. I pressed my lips together, still staring at the floor. “So that’s what you call your best friend ‘breaking up’?” She frowned hard. “I already explained it to you. What more do you want? If I really had something going on with Brian, I would have run off with him long ago. Would I still need to come back and deal with the face of a blind man?” She said it so righteously, as if I were the only one being unreasonable from start to finish. Blind man. But whose fault was it that these eyes of mine had ended up like this in the first place? I gave a quiet laugh and shook my head. Forget it. There was no point saying any more now. Just then, the doorbell rang. Brian’s voice came from outside. “Lily, are you there? You left your phone at the restaurant.” Lily hurried over to open the door, thanked Brian warmly with a gentle smile, and even invited him in for tea. Watching Brian act as if he were already at home while I was the one who seemed like the rude third wheel, I felt that bitter taste rise in my chest again. Just then, Brian looked at me and took the initiative to start a conversation. “Looks like I came at a bad time and interrupted a little married-couple fun.” Lily held him back as he started to stand up, set the teacup in her hand on the table, and said flatly, “We’ve been married for years. What fun could there be? He’s just like this, acting as if everybody owes him a fortune.” Brian smiled. “Don’t say that, Lily. Ethan is blind, and without your care, he’d be a total loser who can’t even take care of himself. For a man, that’s practically worse than dying. But Ethan is still hanging on so strongly. Being in a bad mood is understandable.” I could clearly see the smug look on Brian’s face. And even though he was insulting me like that, Lily still showed no sign of defending me. I took a deep breath, grabbed my coat and my cane, and started toward the door. This little home, which I had once thought would be a safe harbor for Lily and me, was now filled everywhere with Brian’s presence. I was afraid I might throw up if I stayed any longer. Just as the front door was about to close, I heard Brian’s worried voice from inside, urging Lily to go after me and talk me into coming back. But the only answer he got was Lily’s cold voice. “He’s been spoiled rotten. If he loves running outside that much, then let him. How far can a blind man even get?”She kept calling me blind man, and the way she addressed me changed from husband to “that guy named Ethan.” Maybe that had already said everything, but I was still foolish enough to believe we could grow old together. I started liking Lily in college, but back then she was completely focused on Brian. She did a lot of things for Brian, while I just stayed by her side in silence. I also wanted to let go, but I found I couldn’t do it. It wasn’t until the year we graduated, when we all went out for a group dinner and a massive fire broke out in the restaurant. Brian, just to save himself, didn’t hesitate to abandon Lily, who was still hiding in the corner. I still remember that when I pulled her out of the fire and collapsed on the ground, barely holding on to life. She was covered in tears, gripping my hand tightly, and said she would marry no one but me for the rest of her life. When she found out I had gone blind, she even knelt by my hospital bed with one knee down and proposed to me with complete seriousness. She said Brian was a beast, a coward, and someone she never wanted to see again for the rest of her life. And that the rest of her life belonged only to me. I handed her the company I had built from the ground up and helped her stand at the top of the board, admired by everyone. But in her eyes, I was just a blind loser who needed her to survive and would only drag her down for the rest of her life. She had forgotten that all her success had been pushed forward by me from behind the scenes. Those five years felt like a dream, and now that the dream was over, everything should go back on track. I looked up at the sky after the rain, now full of stars, and slowly pulled out my phone to call my assistant. “Cancel all the investments I previously said were going to Lily. If she asks, just make up an excuse and brush her off.” The assistant paused for a moment, said nothing else, and agreed. Lily had no idea that my eyes had already recovered. She also had no idea that the company she was running now was only one of the companies under my name. Three years ago, when Grandpa passed away, I learned just how influential he had been in today’s investment world. Back then, he only wanted me to gain some experience, so he let me start my own business. I just never expected things to change later on. And he eventually transferred the only large investment group under his name to me. I had originally wanted to find a chance to tell Lily, but I didn’t want her to be too stressed, so I kept that investment group under Grandpa’s trusted secretary, Mr. Reed, to manage. Last month, Lily’s company ran into some problems, so I had my assistant contact her in the name of the investment group chairman’s secretary, trying to help her quietly. I swallowed all my pain alone and took the credit on my own, just hoping Lily could be happy. But now I realized that was the stupidest decision I could have made. In her eyes, there was only status and Brian, so how could there possibly still be room for a blind loser like me? If that was the case. What did her life or death have to do with me anymore?I stayed at the villa Grandpa had lived in for a few days, until my assistant Tom called me again. “Mr. Ethan, Lily’s here again. She said if she can’t see the chairman today, she’s not leaving no matter what.” Because I had given the order earlier, Nova Capital Group had treated Lily very well, and on a lot of investment projects, they basically gave her whatever she asked for. But this time, knowing she was in trouble, Nova Capital suddenly and for no reason halted all investments at this critical moment. She must have been completely unable to figure it out. But she had forgotten something too. Nova Capital was basically a giant in the industry. If I hadn’t agreed to help her raise funds back then, her small company would never have caught the attention of other investors in the field. The reason she had made it this far was not because Lily was truly sharp in business. It was more because she was leaning on my powerful backing, which let her rise straight to the top. Now that the backing was gone, how long could Lily’s so-called smart and capable mind really keep her afloat? On the other end of the phone, Tom asked in a low voice, “Mr. Reed is out of the country in meetings for the next couple of days and can’t get back anytime soon. Ms. Lily looks like she really plans to stay at the company.” “There are a lot of coworkers coming and going in the office. If this drags on, I’m afraid it won’t look good.” I understood what Tom meant. After all, Lily was my wife. Though those outsiders didn’t know exactly what had happened between us, they still didn’t dare do anything to her. I glanced at the message bar, empty all the way down. Since the night I left home, Lily hadn’t called me once. I curled my lips and said to Tom on the other end, “I’m on my way.” Over the years, Nova Capital had flourished under Mr. Reed’s management. And watching my grandfather’s life’s work still hold the top spot in the industry made me genuinely relieved. But I thought that after today, I would truly start taking over Nova Capital myself. The drive from home to the company only took a little over ten minutes. Tom was waiting outside the company to greet me, and as soon as he saw the car arrive, he ran over to open the door. “Mr. Ethan, inside...” Seeing the troubled look on his face, I instinctively asked what had happened. Tom had been with me for quite a while and had seen more than enough of the world. A small scene like this normally wouldn’t be enough to make him look like that. But this was Nova Capital, and I didn’t believe anyone would be bold enough to cause trouble here. Yet the moment I reached the floor of the CEO’s office, when I saw the two figures leaning into each other, I suddenly understood why Tom had made that face. As the only one who knew my sight had already recovered, Tom probably thought I was glowing green right now. He followed behind me, closed his fist, and cleared his throat into it. Lily turned around, and when she saw me, surprise flashed across her face before she calmly stood up. “Ethan, what are you doing here?” “Can’t I come? Or are you two doing something you’re afraid I’ll see?” Lily’s face darkened, and just as she was about to speak, Brian yanked her behind him. “Sorry, Ethan, Lily came here on her own, and I was just worried she might get bullied if she was here by herself.” “But I don’t mean anything by it. I know you two are married. If you really can’t stand me, I’ll leave. I won’t ever show up in front of you again.” He said that, but he kept holding Lily’s hand tightly the whole time and never let go. My gaze followed his movement and landed on the diamond ring on Lily’s finger. She was still wearing it, which showed just how much she liked it. Right, just for that ring, Lily had left me, the blind man, alone in the suburbs without caring whether I lived or died, just to rush off and see Brian? Seeing that I still hadn’t spoken, Brian went on, “I was just thinking that Lily, as a girl, has been running around outside every day trying to earn money for the family. It must be really exhausting. Ethan, you should spend more time with Lily from now on.” He said it nicely enough, but I didn’t see even a trace of concern on his face. Before I could say anything, he let out an “oh no.” “Look at my memory. Ethan, you can’t even see, and you still need someone to take care of you. How could you possibly take care of Lily?” “You’re already like this, and you’re still running around outside every day, making trouble for Lily. If it were me, I definitely wouldn’t let Lily work this hard, and I definitely wouldn’t go around causing trouble.”