Chapter 1
When I opened my eyes again, a strange lightness washed over me. All the pain was gone.
I thought I’d pulled through the surgery, but then Leo’s childlike wail echoed in my ears.
“Daddy, what’s wrong? Get up!”
I turned towards the sound and saw my six-year-old son kneeling beside the clinic bed, sobbing his heart out. Before him, lying on the bed, was ‘me,’ pale and lifeless.
It dawned on me.
Oh. I hadn’t pulled through.
I was dead.
Of course. I had the surgery done at some cheap, rundown clinic because we had no money.
There were no antibiotics, no painkillers after the procedure. So, once the anesthesia wore off, after the kidney was removed, the agony was unbearable. I knew then, with terrifying clarity, that I was dying.
But I quickly accepted the reality. I didn’t even feel sad.
Our family was deep in debt. We desperately needed money. If my death could bring peace to Chloe and Leo for the rest of their lives, then it was worth it.
Just as I thought this, a man in a white coat entered through the doorway. He tossed a card onto the floor in front of Leo, his voice impatient. “Stop that bawling, you’re a real jinx! Here, take this five hundred thousand. Now grab your dad’s body and get out.”
With that, he turned to retrieve the fresh kidney, soaking in a solution, from a cooler nearby. Leo’s eyes blazed red. He rushed forward. “That’s my daddy’s! You can’t take it!”
Leo tried to grab it back, but the man merely kicked him in the chest. Leo slammed hard against the wall, his face paling with pain.
My heart ached terribly. I had thought my timid, crybaby son would give up.
But to my surprise, he sobbed, then hysterically rushed forward again. The man snapped his fingers, and three men instantly appeared from outside the door, grabbing Leo and pinning him to the ground. They held him fast, even as he screamed and thrashed.
The man sneered, “Your daddy’s? We already bought it for five hundred thousand. Don’t cause trouble, kid. Take the money and leave. This kidney was bought for a huge price. If anything goes wrong, you won’t get a dime, and your daddy will have died for nothing.”
Leo was pinned to the ground, crying helplessly. “I don’t want the money! I want Daddy! I’ll give you back the money! Just give Daddy back to me…”
But no one listened. The man, clutching the organ transport cooler, hurried away.
Only after the sound of a car engine faded outside the door was Leo released.
Perhaps he was too exhausted from crying, for he was reduced to mere sobs. He picked up his phone and called Chloe again and again.
After the usual unanswered calls, he finally, despairingly, picked up the bank card from the floor. His small shoulders somehow bore my body.
“Daddy, I’m taking you home.”
How Leo, with his tiny, frail body, managed to get me home, I don’t know. My spirit, uncontrolled, simply followed the man into the car.
All the way, the man protected my kidney with extreme care. He buckled it into the passenger seat and constantly glanced over at it.
Only when the car stopped in front of a luxurious private hospital did he finally relax, bowing and scraping as he handed the cooler to a woman waiting at the entrance.
When I saw her face, one I knew intimately, I was stunned. It was Chloe, my wife, the one who had suggested I sell my kidney to pay off her debts.
Before I could wonder why the man was giving her the kidney, Chloe carefully accepted it. “The remaining five million has already been transferred to you.”
Without a single word about me, she turned and hurried into the hospital.
I stood there, frozen, unable to process it.
Chloe had recently lost everything in a disastrous investment, ending up millions in debt.
I’d sold our house to help her pay off debts, and Leo had even sold his beloved action figures, but there was still a massive amount unpaid.
Where did she get five million from?
I hadn’t found an answer yet when Chloe strode quickly into the hospital, anxiously handing the kidney to a doctor.
Before she could speak, a nurse rushed over. “Ms. Chloe, your boyfriend absolutely refuses the surgery. Please, go talk to him!”
A flicker of tension crossed Chloe’s face, but it quickly vanished. As usual, she calmly instructed the doctor to arrange the surgery immediately, then, her heels clicking, she hurried away.
I dazedly followed her, eventually stopping with her in front of a high-end private room.
My breath hitched when I saw the young man lying on the bed.
It was Ryan, Chloe’s first love.
They’d dated for a while, but Chloe’s family disapproved of Ryan. In a fit of anger, he’d left the country and hadn’t been heard from for years.
Later, the Xu family fell on hard times, and Chloe was forced into an arranged meeting with me. We logically married and had a child.
After Leo was born, I once saw Chloe secretly weeping over Ryan’s picture. That’s when I learned she had a “first love.” But I didn’t care. After all those years of marriage, we were like family, our bond as deep as blood.
But I never imagined… Chloe suggested I sell my kidney just to give it to him?
Ryan, his face pale, looked at her. “Chloe, maybe we should just forget it. You’re already married anyway. I feel like there’s no point in living.”
Chloe quickly stepped forward and took Ryan’s hand.
Her voice, when she spoke, was so gentle it felt alien to me. “I was forced to marry him back then. You’ve always been the one in my heart. If you die, I’m the one who won’t be able to live.”
“Promise me, you’ll be a good boy and have the surgery, okay? Your blood type is rare; it took me so long to find this kidney for you.”
Ryan shook his head. “I know this is your husband’s kidney. You should give it back to him. I don’t want you two to have problems because of me.”
Chloe’s voice turned pleading. “Ryan, don’t overthink it. Just listen to me this one time.”
Ryan was stubborn. “What if your husband gets angry with you? What if he finds out you lied to him and hits you? Then I wouldn’t even be able to help you. Do you want me to just stand by and watch him bully you?”
“He won’t,” Chloe shook her head. “He loves me very much.”
“…”
They looked like a pair of tragic, star-crossed lovers.
One after another, the pieces of information clicked, and the truth began to form.
After Ryan returned to the country, he discovered he had end-stage uremia and needed a kidney transplant to survive. But his blood type was rare, and a matching kidney was incredibly hard to find. For months, Chloe had been tirelessly searching for a match, all to no avail.
Ryan grew weaker by the day.
Until finally, Chloe secretly did a tissue match between me and Ryan. When she found we were a match, she set her sights on me.
All that talk about failed investments, about being hounded by creditors – it was all a lie.
I gave a bitter laugh.
Chloe was right. I loved her very much.
When I heard about her bankruptcy, my first instinct was to stand by her. I sold everything I could, scrambled for money everywhere. When it wasn’t enough, I even sold my blood, juggling five different jobs a day. Anything that paid, I did it.
I felt that as a man, I should shoulder the responsibility of my family.
Until a week ago, Chloe suggested I sell one of my kidneys. At first, I refused. But the very next day, Chloe was dragged away by creditors, who threatened her with unspeakable violence.
After I rescued Chloe, she stood on the balcony late that night, saying she couldn’t take it anymore, that she wanted to end it all. I finally gave in and agreed.
Back then, I was filled with terror for her and a heartbreaking pity that I couldn’t do more to help.
But I never imagined…
It was all a lie.
Chloe, usually so impatient, coaxed him for nearly half an hour. Finally, Ryan agreed to the surgery.
As he was about to enter the operating room, Chloe’s gaze never left him.
I’d never seen such a worried look on her face before.
Before my kidney surgery, she was supposed to be with me, but after a phone call, she rushed off. I walked into that clinic alone, and those cold instruments stole my life.
It turns out, love and not loving are so painfully clear.
As Chloe waited anxiously outside the operating room, her phone rang again.
My name, ‘Liam,’ flashed across the screen.
This time, she didn’t hang up. After two seconds of silence, her finger moved to the “answer” button.