I was born unique, a medical marvel with two hearts beating inside my chest. It was the only reason my parents ever smiled at me. Because my older brother, Julian, was born with a failing heart. My parents had me for one purpose: to be a spare parts factory for their favorite son. Later, I met Sarah. We got married. She pulled me out of the abyss, away from a family that only saw me as an organ donor. I thought she was different. I thought she loved me for me. But when Julian’s condition worsened, she became obsessed. She begged, then demanded, that I donate one of my hearts to save him. What she didn’t know was that I only had one heart left. The other one... was already beating inside her chest. 1 "It's just one heart, Ethan. How can you be so selfish?" "Weren't you born for this? To save your brother?" Sarah gripped my hand, her nails digging into my skin. "But I want to live too, Sarah. Without a heart, I die." Sarah’s face went rigid for a second, then she scoffed. "You have two hearts. Give one to Julian, and you still have one left. You'll live." "But Julian is different. Without your heart, he dies today." She ignored my struggles, pushing me toward the prep room. I tried to explain, desperate and helpless. "I only have one heart left, Sarah!" "Didn't you read my medical file?" Sarah didn't listen. She didn't want to hear it. "Who knows what you did to dodge this? You probably bribed the lab techs to fake the report." She thought I paid someone off to change the X-rays. "No, Sarah! When I was a kid, I had surgery. I already donated one!" "Enough, Ethan! Just save your brother! Why are you being so stubborn?" She cut me off, her voice shrill. "I'm not lying! My other heart... it's in you!" Sarah dragged me toward Julian’s operating theater, deaf to my words. 2 The other doctors in the prep room froze. Someone whispered. "Trying to use pick-up lines now? That's sick." "Your brother is dying, and you're hitting on your sister-in-law with creepy metaphors?" Only our families knew Sarah and I were married. Her colleagues didn't know me. Since Sarah handled everything for Julian's hospitalization, everyone assumed Julian was her husband. And Sarah... she never corrected them. "Exactly. Won't save his own brother but has time to flirt with his sister-in-law." "What a waste of space." Hearing their vile comments, I wanted to scream the truth. "Actually, I am her—" Sarah stormed out of the prep room and grabbed my arm. "You are donating that heart today." "Julian is already under. You're next." She slapped a stack of papers on the gurney. "I already signed the consent forms as your next of kin. Get on the table." Inside the OR, I saw Julian. He looked pale, fragile, eliciting sympathy from everyone in the room. "Don't worry, Julian. Dr. Miller will make sure you live a long life." Julian didn't correct them when they called Sarah "Dr. Miller" instead of his sister-in-law. He just smiled weakly. "It's all my fault... making my little brother sacrifice so much for me." His voice was full of self-blame, but his eyes, locked on mine, were full of mockery. The medical staff melted. What a saint of a brother. And me? The villain. Sarah comforted Julian, then ignored my violent thrashing and forced me onto the operating table. She ordered the anesthesiologist to knock me out immediately. As the drugs took hold, my struggles ceased. Sarah stroked my cheek, her touch cold. "Don't worry. I'll make sure you survive." Her mentor had performed heart transplants before. She was confident she could keep me alive with one heart. "Once Julian recovers, the whole family will finally accept you. And I'll be right by your side." 3 Sarah and her team moved with practiced efficiency. After what felt like an eternity, Sarah removed a heart from my chest. She didn't even pause to look at the empty cavity. She took my heart and rushed into the adjacent OR where Julian lay waiting. My chest was open. My body lay alone on the cold table. The shrill alarm of the heart monitor startled the junior resident left to close up. "Wait... he flatlined? I thought he had two hearts?" Sarah’s colleague frowned. "Dr. Miller said that as a joke, and you believed it?" "Honestly, good riddance. The guy was a creep. Refusing to save Dr. Miller's husband and hitting on her? Disgusting." Another nurse chimed in. "So what do we do?" "He's dead. Call the morgue. If no one claims him, let the city handle it." They covered my face and walked away. In the next room, Sarah was focused. It was her first transplant as lead surgeon, but she was confident. Hours later, the surgery was declared a success. Sarah followed Julian to the ICU. After settling him in, she finally remembered me. She started toward my OR but bumped into the colleague who had been in the room with me. "Where is Ethan?" she asked. The colleague shrugged. "Didn't he go back to his room?" "Don't worry, the nurses will keep an eye on him." Sarah didn't catch the odd tone. She assumed I was recovering. She went back to her office to catch up on paperwork. A day later, Julian woke up. Sarah was by his side instantly. "Julian! You're awake." Julian saw Sarah and started crying tears of joy. 4 Sarah hugged him. "Don't worry. The surgery was perfect." "Your heart is strong now." Julian touched his chest. The disease that had haunted him for years was gone. He held Sarah, sobbing uncontrollably. Sarah rubbed his back. "Careful, keep your heart rate down." A nurse walked by and smiled. "Dr. Miller is so good to her husband." Sarah froze. She remembered I was somewhere in the hospital. She opened her mouth to explain. "You misunderstand, he isn't..." Julian clutched his chest, wincing, effectively cutting her off. Sarah turned back to him. "I told you not to cry. You need to rest." Seeing Julian so weak made her think of me. She hadn't seen me since the surgery. "Julian, rest now. I need to go check on Ethan." She stood up, but Julian grabbed her wrist. "I did this surgery without telling Mom and Dad. I'm scared. If you leave, I might not recover well." Sarah looked at his pale face and softened. She reasoned that her colleagues would look after me. I was fine. "Okay. I'll stay a few more days." Julian watched her sit back down, then closed his eyes with a smirk. In the hospital morgue, an orderly looked at my body tag. "Two days and no claim. What do we do?" His partner was sweeping the floor. "Stop staring. Bag him and tag him. Let's go home." They shoved my body into a black bag. "Look at that chest. Died ugly. Probably wasn't a good guy." "Good guy, bad guy... they all burn the same." "True. Shame though, he was young."
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