A Bitter Romance

It is a cold and quiet night. 

Nora Hill was lying on the edge of the bed, looking at Steward Mandel with affection. 

"This is my husband who I will give my whole heart to." Nora thought. 

She reached out her shaking finger to sketch the outline of Steward in the air. What she was thinking was to touch him for real.   

At that time, she recalled her doctor's words in the daytime. 

Her doctor said to her, "The CT results show that there is a malignant tumour in your brain. It is commonly called brain cancer."

All of a sudden, she felt a gush of dark red blood pouring out of her nose. 

Nora got rattled and she was afraid to wake Steward up. So she covered her nose with her hands and ran to the bathroom to wash the blood off. 

Though Nora did everything quietly, the sound of the running water from the bathroom woke up Steward who was a light sleeper. 

He scolded without any patience, "Why the loud noise? Get out of here!"  

The sound of water stopped and after a while, Nora stepped out of the bathroom, afraid to make any noise and her eyes were filled with humbleness and carefulness that Steward did not notice. She said to him, "Dear, the doctor said that your cornea transplant operation is scheduled in the next month. You will gain your eyesight soon!"

Without seeing anything, Steward tilted his head, snorting with loathing. 

"Aren't you exited about that ?" Nora felt rather bitter but kept asking Steward. 

Steward did not deign to answer.

Nora clenched her fists at her sides and took a deep breath, saying, "It is said that Ann is coming back..." 

"How dare you mention her name to me!" The moment Steward heard the name of Ann Edith, he burst out into anger. He grabbed something beside him on the nightstand and then threw it at her.

Unexpectedly hit on the belly by the thing he threw, Nora fell on the ground. Regardless of the pain, Nora reached out to steady the crystal ornament of two swans who faced each other. 

Nora failed to protect it, so the crystal ornament fell to the ground with a crack. The neck of one of the two swans broke, so the shape of heart the two swans' necks formed no longer existed. 

So did the heart of Nora, broken and incomplete.

"You deserve the pain. You are such a vicious woman!" Steward gave her a snort of laughter. Even at that time, he had lost his sight, but his eyes were filled with impatience. He complained, "Because of you marrying me, Ann had to leave me and because of you, I lost my eyesight!" 

His words, like a sharp knife, cut deep into Nora's heart. She broke down in tears.

"I am sorry. It is all my fault." She apologized with a disinclined smile. Nora wiped away her tears and said firmly, "However, I never regret marrying you and letting Ann leave you, because she is such a..." 

"Will you stop it? You will never be able to live up to her!" His eyes were blazing with anger and he yelled at her in disgust. 

Steward's words hurt Nora's feelings and Nora said in a weak voice, "You are right. I can not compare with Ann. I deserve all of the bad things." 

Steward hardly heard what she said and he did not care. He beckoned her over the way he treated unimportant people. 

Nora was totally lost in despair but couldn't help coming to him, like a flying moth darting into the fire. 

Steward lifted his hands and reached out to her face. She thought he was going to touch her, so she got flattered. Her eyes began to glisten.

But the fact was that she was about to fall into the abyss. 

The gentle but lightly horny hands on her skin suddenly tightened and clutched her neck.

"After my operation, the last person I want to see is you! How could I be happy if you are still here... I wish you could stay away from me forever..." 

After his words, the big room fell into silence.