I had already bought the house we were supposed to build our future in, and over the years, I had carefully set aside a substantial wedding fund. I could not wait to spend the rest of my life with my girlfriend, Jeannie Cooperd.

Jeannie had always seemed delicate and timid. Even a simple remark would leave her eyes red with tears. For two years, I spoiled her shamelessly, giving in to her every whim. Every plan I made, every dollar I saved, and every dream I held revolved around our wedding and the life we would share together.

Then, I received the kidney compatibility report. The moment I saw the results, my heart turned icy.

The woman who normally shrank from pain was now gripping my shoulders with surprising strength, determined to push me toward the operating room.

"You're healthy! What's the big deal about living with one kidney?" she cried. "Elliot is dying!"

Elliot. The name alone was enough.

He was the first love she had never truly let go of, the one she had kept hidden in the deepest corner of her heart. Just yesterday, he was diagnosed with complete kidney failure.

To pay for his treatment and cover the debts he had accumulated, Jeannie secretly canceled our wedding, drained every cent from the wedding fund and savings we had built together, and poured it all into Elliot's medical bills and endless financial problems.

That was not enough.

With sweet words and carefully crafted lies, she coaxed me into coming to the hospital and persuaded me to undergo compatibility testing.

I struggled to pull away, but Jeannie did not hesitate for a second and slapped me.

"How can you be this selfish? I've never fought with you for anything else. I'm only asking for this one thing! As long as you agree to donate your kidney, we'll register our marriage right away. Is that enough?"

I stared into her eyes and finally saw the truth. The gentle, obedient, and almost saintly side of her that I had seen for the past two years was all an act.

The love I had given her, the wedding fund I had carefully saved, the future home we had planned together, and even the life that I had imagined with her… None of it had ever meant anything to her.

To her, they were just resources to drain dry; bargaining chips she could use to save her first love.

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and tore the compatibility report into pieces.

"I'd rather feed my kidney to a stray animal than donate it to a scumbag dying of late-stage AIDS."

"What did you just say?!" Jeannie Cooper's scream shattered the quiet of the examination room. She lunged at me, grabbing my white coat with both hands. "How could Elliot possibly have a filthy disease like that?! Just because you don't want to donate your kidney, you made up a disgusting lie!"

Her fingernails dug so hard into my skin that they nearly pierced it. Her eyes were wild with hysteria.

Looking at her, I almost wanted to laugh.

"A lie? Jeannie, have you forgotten what I do for a living? I'm an attending physician at this hospital. Do you really think I can't access his preliminary blood test results?"

Jeannie froze. However, it was only for a moment. The madness quickly returned to her eyes.

"Impossible! Elliot is such a pure and kind person! He wouldn't even dare hold a girl's hand casually. How could he get a disease like that? It has to be you! You tampered with the hospital's system because you wanted to leave him to die!"

I grabbed her wrists and shoved her away. Then, I straightened the collar she had wrinkled.

"Pure? Kind?"

I walked to my desk and logged into the hospital's internal database. After entering Elliot's name and identification number, a sealed electronic report immediately appeared on the screen. I turned the monitor toward her.

"See for yourself. HIV antibody screening, positive. CD4 cell count, under 50. This is a textbook case of advanced AIDS. His immune system has already collapsed. His kidney failure isn't from overwork. It's a severe complication caused by AIDS."

Jeannie's eyes locked on the report. Her pupils instantly widened. The strength seemed to drain from her body, and she swayed violently.

"No... That's impossible… That's impossible..." She stared at the glaring word that read out 'Positive' on the screen. The color vanished from her face.

Then, a sharp, agonized scream burst from her throat. She clutched her head and stumbled backward until she slammed into a medical cabinet.

"It's fake! All of it is fake! Carson, you're unbelievably cruel!"

"It's one thing if you won't save him, but how dare you slander him like this too?!"

I watched Jeannie lose control with cold indifference. There was no sympathy left in me, only disgust. I turned, walked to the door, and pulled it open. "Get out."

Right in front of her, I slammed the examination room door shut. Her screams and breakdown were completely sealed off. The hallway fell silent for a few seconds, but then the pounding started again, and it was even more violent than before.

"Carson! Open this door! You selfish bastard! Do you think some fake report is enough to fool me?! I'm telling you, Elliot's condition can't wait! You're donating that kidney today whether you want to or not!"

I sat down in my office chair and took a sip of the cold water on my desk. Five hundred thousand dollars in wedding savings and a canceled wedding banquet.

I stared at the bank notification on my phone.

For the sake of her first love who was dying from advanced AIDS, she had drained my money dry. Now, she wanted to take my kidney too.

The pounding on the door quickly attracted nurses and patients from the hallway.

"Ma'am, please stop causing a disturbance outside the examination room. If you keep hitting the door, we'll have to call security."

Jeannie's voice became as sharp as nails scraping across glass. "Security? Fine, call them! Let everyone come and see what kind of cold-blooded monster your attending physician is! He's letting someone die! He won't even save his own fiancée's first love!

"He makes tens of thousands a month! What's the big deal about losing one kidney? He still has another one! Elliot is only 25 years old! He's still so young!"

I set down my cup and stood up. Then, I opened the door. The hallway was crowded with spectators.

The moment Jeannie saw me, she rushed forward and tried to grab my clothes again. I stepped aside, causing her to stumble and nearly fall.

"Are you done yet?" I asked.

Jeannie pointed a finger straight at my face. "Carson, I'm asking you one last time. Are you donating that kidney or not?"

I looked at her face, which was twisted with rage. "No. I'd rather cut my kidney out and chop it into pieces before giving it to that piece of trash."

Jeannie trembled from head to toe. Her teeth clenched tightly, and her eyes were filled with hatred. "Fine, Carson. Don't regret this. You think Elliot is doomed just because you won't donate your kidney? I'm telling you right now, even if I lose everything, even if it costs me my life, I'll cure him! And as for you..."

An icy smile spread across her face. "I'll make sure you pay for what you did today."

With that, she shoved through the crowd and stormed away, her high heels slamming against the floor.

The head nurse walked over, concern written all over her face. "Dr. Lloyd... Should we call the police?"

I shook my head. "No need. She'll come back to me on her own soon enough."

…

After finishing my rounds the next morning, I returned to my office.

Out of habit, I pulled open the bottom drawer of my desk. It was a secure drawer used to store important departmental medications. The lock had been forced open. The three vials of X-40 anti-rejection targeted medication that had been inside were gone.

X-40 was still in the clinical trial stage. For patients suffering from severe kidney failure, it worked wonders, rapidly repairing damaged kidney cells. However, it came with one fatal side effect. It placed extreme suppression on the human immune system.

An ordinary patient could survive the effects with the help of additional medications. However, for someone with advanced AIDS whose immune system had already collapsed... The drug was nothing less than a death sentence.

I stared at the empty drawer. I did not raise any alarm. Instead, I turned around and went to the security office to review the hallway surveillance footage.

There she was on the screen. Jeannie sneaked into my office, looking around nervously. Ten minutes later, she hurried out in a panic. One side of her handbag was visibly bulging.

I pulled out my phone and dialed Jeannie's number.

The phone rang for a long time before someone finally picked up. "Hello?"

There was a smugness in Jeannie's voice that she could not quite hide.

"You took the medication?" I asked without wasting time.

Jeannie let out an icy laugh on the other end. "So what if I did? Carson, if you won't donate your kidney, what's wrong with me taking a few vials of medicine? The drugs belong to the hospital anyway. Just write them off as damaged or missing. Do you really have to be this stingy?"

I walked over to the window and looked down at the busy crowd moving through the streets below. "That medication isn't something you can use casually."

Jeannie exploded immediately. "Stop trying to scare me! I already asked other doctors. It's the newest anti-rejection breakthrough drug, and Elliot feels so much better after taking it!"

I lifted an eyebrow. "He already took it?"

"That's right!" Jeannie's voice shot up several octaves. "I already gave him one injection! Carson, let me tell you something. Once Elliot gets better, I'm leaving with him immediately.

"As for the 500,000 dollars in wedding funds, consider it payment for those few vials of medicine. We're even!"

I almost laughed at her absurd logic.

Five hundred thousand dollars in wedding funds and three vials of a priceless experimental drug that was still in clinical trials. Yet, she thought a casual 'We're even' settled everything.

"Jeannie, do you even know that drug causes severe immune suppression? If he really is—"

"Shut up!" She cut me off so abruptly that I could not finish. "You're just jealous of Elliot! You don't want to see him recover! First, you made up lies about him having AIDS, and now, you're trying to scare me with side effects? Carson, how can you be so vicious?"

I held the phone farther away to keep her shrill screaming from rupturing my eardrums.

"I'm vicious?"

"I'm warning you, if you dare call the police on me, I'll expose you online for refusing to donate your kidney! I'll make sure the whole internet knows you're a hypocrite who lets people die! I'll ruin your reputation!"

After screaming herself breathless, she seemed to be waiting for me to beg.

I stayed silent for two seconds before answering, "Do whatever you want. I just hope you won't regret it."

Then, I hung up. The screen went dark in my hand. I walked over to the sink and carefully washed my hands.

She had taken the bait.

If she insisted on driving herself into a dead end, there was no reason for me to stop her anymore.

That afternoon, the head of security came to see me. "Mr. Lloyd, about your desk drawer being forced open, do you want us to contact the police?"

I shook my head. "No need. I accidentally lost the key, and I had already moved the medication elsewhere."

The head of security visibly relaxed. "That's good. The drug is still in clinical trials. It'll be a huge problem if it's actually gone missing."

After he left, I sat back down in my office chair. Suddenly, my phone began vibrating nonstop. It was the hospital group chat. Someone had posted a video link and tagged me.

[Dr. Lloyd, you need to see this! Someone's spreading rumors about you online!]

I tapped the link, and a bold headline filled the screen: [Cold-Blooded Doctor Refuses to Save a Life, Killing Fiancée's First Love to Keep Their Wedding Fund for Himself]

The thumbnail showed Jeannie with tears streaming down her face.

I leaned back in my chair. "The show's finally starting."

In the video, Jeannie was wearing an old T-shirt that looked faded from countless washes. Her hair was messy, and her face looked pale and exhausted. She stared into the camera, crying so hard that it seemed she could barely breathe.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Jeannie. My fiancé is Carson, an attending physician at Central City Hospital. My first love, Elliot, was diagnosed with kidney failure yesterday and urgently needs a transplant.

"Carson's the perfect match, but he refuses to donate because he wants to keep all 500,000 dollars of our shared savings for himself! He even forged a fake AIDS report and used it to slander Elliot!

"Elliot is only 25 years old! He's never even held a girl's hand. How could he possibly have a disease like that?"