My father’s life-or-death surgery was only an hour away. I was practically running down the sterile, fluorescent-lit corridors of the hospital when a bizarre, glitch-like hallucination flickered in my peripheral vision—a scrolling stream of glowing text, resembling a live-chat feed, bleeding into reality. [Oh god, the NPC dad’s donor heart is about to be completely ruined by the sweet little darling. Without a matching heart, the NPC dad is as good as dead.] [So what? The girl lost her mother years ago anyway. Losing her dad now just makes it a matching set.] The "NPC" they were talking about was me. And the one whose death was guaranteed was my father. I pushed through the double doors of the surgical wing, my breath catching in my throat. There, standing by the nurse's station, was my husband, Luke, and his childhood friend, Sadie. Sadie was holding a specialized surgical cooler—the kind used to transport transplant organs. As I approached, Sadie let out a soft, delicate gasp, her eyes instantly pooling with theatrical tears. "Oh, Bella... I am so, so incredibly sorry," she whimpered, her voice dripping with sweet, faux-innocence. "I honestly thought this was just medical waste. I... I threw it down the incinerator chute. I completely ruined your dad's donor heart, didn't I? You won't hate me, will you?" Luke stood right beside her. He didn't even look at me, only offering a dismissive, impatient sigh. "Sadie just started her nursing rotation, Bella. A little oversight is completely normal. Stop making a mountain out of a molehill." A blinding rage surged through me. I was ready to tear them both apart, to scream until my lungs bled. But before I could take a step, my phone buzzed in my palm. It was an automated alert from the surgical coordinator. Dear Bella, your father’s heart transplant is scheduled to begin in thirty minutes. The donor organ has been successfully prepped and delivered to Operating Room 4. Thank you. The suffocating weight on my chest suddenly lifted, leaving behind a cold, clarifying silence. I stared at the empty surgical cooler in Sadie’s manicured hands. My dad’s donor heart was already in the operating room. If that was the case... whose heart did Sadie just destroy? … I quickly typed a reply to the surgical coordinator, my fingers trembling slightly. Is it confirmed that my father's surgery will proceed as scheduled? The response was almost instantaneous. Yes, ma'am. The organ is in the OR. We are on track for a 4:00 PM start. I let out a long, quiet breath, letting the cool hospital air ground me. Then, I turned a cold, level gaze onto Sadie. Sensing the shift in my demeanor, Sadie immediately shrank back into Luke’s space, wrapping both of her arms tightly around his elbow. She practically hung off him, her shoulders trembling with practiced vulnerability. She looked up at me with wide, watery eyes, her voice taking on a sickeningly sweet, childish whine. "Bella, why are you looking at me like that? You're scaring me." "I just started this rotation. I don't know how things work yet," she continued, her lower lip quivering as she swayed slightly against Luke. "I really thought that box was garbage. I didn't know there was something inside." Before I could even open my mouth, Luke stepped forward, physically shielding Sadie from my sight. He frowned, his eyes hardening with irritation. "Bella, drop it." "It's Sadie's first day on the floor. It's completely understandable that she can't distinguish between medical equipment yet. She already apologized. What more do you want?" Tucked safely against Luke’s chest, Sadie peeked out. She stomped her foot lightly, her nose turning a delicate shade of pink. "Luke, I tried to apologize nicely... but Bella just keeps staring at me like she wants to kill me." She began playing with the hem of her scrub top, tilting her head in a display of pathetic helplessness. "You know how bad my learning curve is. I can't keep track of all these different coolers. Getting yelled at by Bella makes my chest hurt so badly." She clutched her heart, letting out a series of quiet, pathetic sniffles. A couple of passing nurses slowed down, casting disapproving glances in my direction. It was infuriating. With nothing but a pout and a childish act, Sadie was attempting to brush off what she believed was the destruction of a human life. I clenched my fists, forcing my rising temper down, and forced a look of panicked distress onto my face. "Do you have any idea what was in that cooler? It was a transplant organ! Without it, the surgery cannot happen!" A flicker of genuine panic crossed Sadie’s eyes, but she masked it instantly with another petulant pout. "But I genuinely didn't know!" she argued, her tone turning defensive. "If the hospital didn't label it clearly, that's on them. It's not my fault, Bella. You can't just take your anger out on me." She sighed, crossing her arms. "Fine. I'll pray for your dad's soul, okay? That's the most I can do." I rubbed my temples, pretending to be on the verge of tears. "Who said that was my dad's donor heart? Look at the label on the side of that cooler. It clearly says—" Luke reached over, smoothing a hand over Sadie’s hair, murmuring sweet reassurances. Then he looked up and cut me off, his voice dripping with condescension. "Bella, stop being so hysterical." "The damage is done. Blaming Sadie won't change anything. Organs are rare, and throwing a tantrum won't magically produce another one." "Can you try to be the mature one for once?" Sadie leaned heavily into Luke's embrace, casting a sly, triumphant smirk in my direction when she thought Luke wasn't looking. "Do you really not know whose..." I began, but the words caught in my throat as I stared at the empty cooler. Luke's mother, Martha, had always been incredibly kind to me. She treated me like her own daughter. I couldn't let her die because of Sadie's malicious stupidity. "I don't have time for this," I said, my voice hardening. "I'm going to the administrative office to request an emergency search for a backup donor." The moment the words left my mouth, Sadie's face fell. "No, don't!" she squeaked, grabbing Luke's arm again. "Luke, my stomach is hurting so much from all this stress. Can we please just go get lunch?" Luke immediately agreed, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Do what Sadie says, Bella. Stop running around like a headless chicken. Just sit down, wait, and accept the situation instead of causing unnecessary trouble." I didn't waste another breath on them. I turned on my heel and walked straight toward the medical records and administration office. Behind me, I could hear Sadie’s high-pitched complaints, quickly followed by Luke's soothing, patient murmurs. I didn't slow down. I found the charge nurse on duty and immediately asked about the protocol for securing a backup transplant coordinator. The nurse opened her terminal, pulling up the regional database, and began explaining the matching criteria. Suddenly, the door burst open. "Bella! Why did you run off like that?" Sadie rushed in, dragging Luke behind her. She scurried to my side and grabbed my arm, shaking it with frustrating force. I tried to wrench myself free, but her grip was surprisingly tight. With tears welling in her eyes, Sadie pouted. "We told you it's pointless to look for another heart. Why do you have to be so difficult and exhaust yourself?" "You're making my heart palpitate. It hurts so much." She leaned her weight against me, pretending to be on the verge of fainting. The charge nurse stopped typing, her eyebrows knitting together in frustration. Before I could speak, Luke stepped forward and forcefully pried Sadie's hands off my arm. He pulled Sadie behind his back, glaring at me with utter disgust. "Bella, get a grip!" he snapped. "Sadie is only trying to look out for you, and you're just getting more erratic. Are you trying to force everyone in this hospital to cater to your drama?" Sadie peeked from behind his shoulder, her lower lip trembling. "Exactly, Bella... I just didn't want you to tire yourself out over nothing. You're acting so scary." She gripped Luke's waist tightly, adding in a soft, mocking whisper, "Besides, if your dad passes away, he gets to go to heaven and be an angel. Don't you want him to be an angel?" I ignored them entirely, turning my back to address the charge nurse again. In that brief window of silence, Sadie’s eyes darted around. She slipped out from behind Luke, stepping up to the desk. With an air of childish curiosity, she began flipping through the physical registration logs lying on the counter. "Don't touch those, please," the charge nurse warned sharply. "Those are confidential patient files." But before the nurse could finish her sentence, Sadie’s wrist swept outward. With a loud clatter, a massive stack of matching logs and patient records was sent flying. Papers scattered across the floor, and pens rolled into the corners of the room. The entire office fell dead silent. Every eye in the room locked onto her. My face went entirely cold. Sadie didn't look remotely sorry. Instead, she sucked in her breath, widening her eyes in a display of childlike shock. Her lower lip wobbled, and she began to sniffle. "Oh... I'm so, so sorry." "I didn't mean to. My hand just slipped. I've always been so clumsy. Please don't yell at me..." She grabbed the hem of Luke's shirt, her shoulders shaking as if she were a terrified child. The charge nurse’s face was livid. "Those are the active donor match registries for the entire surgical wing. Do you have any idea how much chaos you've just caused?" Luke stepped in front of Sadie, completely shielding her from the nurse's wrath. "I'm incredibly sorry, nurse. I apologize on her behalf." "She’s young, and she's a bit sheltered. She doesn't always understand the weight of her actions. But it's really not a national emergency. We can just pick the papers up. There's no need to be so hostile." With a few dismissive words, Luke completely erased her deliberate act of sabotage. With Luke defending her, Sadie grew bolder. She peeked out, whispering loudly to the nurse, "I really didn't mean to... why is everyone always so mean to me? I'm practically still a baby." Then, she shot me a quick, venomous look of pure triumph. My hands clenched so tightly my knuckles turned white. Luke glared at me. "Are you happy now? You insisted on dragging this out just to make Sadie miserable. Bella, when did you become so vicious?" I let out a cold, sharp laugh. "Luke, that donor organ was for your mother." "If you and your little side-chick want to play daycare in a hospital corridor, do it somewhere else. Get out of my way before you cost someone their life." Luke's expression darkened instantly. He stepped closer, his jaw clenched. "What the hell are you talking about?" Sadie whimpered, shrinking back. "Why is Bella saying things like that? It's creepy." I didn't want to waste another second. "The cooler you threw away didn't contain my father's heart. It contained the donor heart matched for your mother, Martha." Luke’s temper flared violently. He raised his voice, drawing stares from the hallway. "Bella, that is sick!" "Just because you're throwing a tantrum over Sadie's mistake, you're going to use my mother’s life to hurt us? You're actually wishing death on my mom just to spite a girl who made an honest mistake?" Sadie’s eyes welled with fresh tears. "Luke... Bella shouldn't use your mom's health to punish me, even if she hates me." On the floor, the scattered patient records still lay in a messy heap. Sadie knelt down, mumbling about helping to clean up. But as she reached out, her arm made a sudden, sharp motion. A rack of sealed glass vials containing pre-op cross-match blood samples was knocked off the edge of the desk. They shattered on the hard tile floor, thick red liquid pooling rapidly amid the shards of glass. A surge of pure adrenaline hit me. I lunged forward to grab her. Seeing my movement, Luke stepped in and shoved me back with brutal force. The impact sent me stumbling backward. My lower back slammed hard into the sharp corner of the wooden desk, and my forearm scraped against a metal bracket, tearing the skin. A sharp, burning pain shot up my arm. "You're completely out of control!" Luke yelled, pointing a finger at me. "You lunged at Sadie, knocked over the blood samples, and now you're going to blame her for that too?" He looked at me with deep, bitter disgust. "You're lying about my mother, and now you're destroying her actual medical samples. I can't believe how malicious you are." Sadie slumped against Luke, clutching her forehead and groaning softly. The charge nurse knelt by the ruined blood, her forehead creased in deep worry. "These were the urgent pre-op compatibility samples. With these destroyed, we have to draw new blood and run the labs all over again. That takes at least twelve hours. We will miss the surgical window." Ignoring the throbbing pain in my arm and back, I reached into my pocket for my phone. If I called the regional blood bank immediately, we might be able to expedite a backup courier. But before my fingers could grasp the device, Luke snatched it from my hand and shoved it into his own pocket. He grabbed my wrist, his grip like a vise, and began dragging me out of the office. "Stop making a scene." His voice was like ice. "You've done nothing but lie and manipulate my mother's health to bully Sadie. I'm not letting you ruin this hospital's peace any longer." I thrashed against his grip, trying to pull away. "Luke, you idiot! That is your mother! Go check the patient log yourself before you accuse me of lying!" Luke sneered, but before he could speak, a nurse came running down the hall. "Mrs. Bella! There's hope for the donor heart you inquired about. We have a patient who—" Luke cut her off immediately. "Don't bother. Give the backup heart to someone else. We don't need it." I stared at him, my heart stopping. "Luke, that is your mother's life! If you reject the backup, what is she going to do?!" The nurse looked highly uncomfortable, her eyes darting to Luke's tight grip on my bruised wrist. Luke offered the nurse a polite, chilling smile. "We're fine. Thank you." He turned back to me, a cruel, satisfied smirk playing on his lips. "Let this be a lesson to you, Bella. This is what you get for falsely accusing Sadie." The sheer absurdity of it left me speechless. Sadie giggled, wrapping her arms around Luke's bicep. "Luke, you're the best. It was just a tiny mistake. Why is Bella being so obsessive? I'm practically still a baby!" I yanked my hand back with all my strength, finally breaking his grip. "Luke, I truly hope you don't regret this day." Luke sneered. "I never regret anything." "If you get on your knees right now and beg Sadie for forgiveness, maybe I'll consider calling that nurse back and letting your dad have the backup heart." I let out a dry, humorless laugh. "Why would I apologize? I've told you three times: that first cooler was your mother's heart. If you had half a brain, you'd look at the tag." Seeing the cold conviction in my eyes, a shadow of doubt finally crossed Luke's face. He looked down at the cooler in Sadie's hand. "Sadie, let me see that..." Sadie's eyes widened in temporary panic, but she quickly recovered, pouting sweetly. "Luke, I might be silly, but I can read! The tag says Room 305!" Room 305. My father's room. She claimed it was an accident, but she had been targeting my father from the very beginning. Relief washed over Luke's face, and his glare returned, colder than before. "Bella, you are pathologically unrepentant." "Remember this: whatever happens to your father today is entirely your fault." My father's surgery was starting, and I had no interest in wasting another second on them. I turned to walk away. But Luke grabbed my shoulder, forcing me back. "Apologize to Sadie!" When I didn't move, Luke stepped forward and kicked the back of my knee. A sharp, white-hot pain shot through my leg, and I collapsed onto the hard tile floor. My knees hit the ground with a sickening crack. Sadie gasped dramatically, covering her mouth with her hands. "Oh my gosh, Luke! Is she going to be okay?" Then, she looked down at me, her voice dripping with venomous sweetness. "I told her it was an accident, but she just wouldn't let it go. She must be so jealous of how much you love me." I stared up at Luke, my vision blurring from pain. I tried to push myself up using the wall, but Luke kept a heavy, crushing hand on my shoulder. "Apologize!" I opened my mouth to speak, but a nurse with a clipboard appeared at the end of the hall. She smiled warmly when she saw me and handed over a packet of papers. "Mrs. Bella, your father's surgery is complete. It was a total success! He's being moved to a recovery room now. Two weeks of observation and he can go home." My heart soared. But then, the nurse turned her gaze to Luke, her expression turning into one of utter confusion. "Mr. Luke? What are you doing here?" "Your mother's donor heart was severely compromised, and the hospital couldn't reach you. Her surgery has been officially canceled."
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