I was born with a special condition, having two hearts. This was the only thing that could make my parents happy. Because my brother had a congenital heart disease.

My parents gave birth to me only to extend my brother's life. Later, I met Linda Cardel and married her. She saved me from the abyss of begging for affection. I thought she would be different from my parents.

But after my brother fell ill, she stubbornly hoped I could donate a heart to him. But she didn't know I had long been left with only one heart. And my other heart was with her.

——

"It's just one heart, why are you so selfish? Weren't you born to keep your brother alive?" My hand was tightly gripped by Linda.

I said helplessly, "But I want to live too. Without a heart, I will die."

Linda's expression stiffened, then she continued, "You have two hearts, even if you give one, you still have another, you can live. But your brother is different, without your heart, he will die." She ignored my struggle and pushed me into the preparation room.

I helplessly tried to explain, "I only have one heart now. Didn't you see the test results?"

Linda didn't listen at all. "Who knows what you did to avoid donating? Maybe you even bribed the people in the examination room." Linda thought I bribed the medical staff to alter the report.

I defended myself, "No, Linda, I had surgery when I was a child, I already donated one heart."

"Enough, Herbert, it's just to save your brother, why are you so stubborn?" Linda directly cut me off.

"I'm not lying, my heart is in you," I pleaded.

Linda didn't listen to a word I said and walked straight to my brother's prep room. At this time, the other doctors in the prep room also froze.

Then someone spoke, "Talking about love at a time like this is disgusting."

"Your brother is on the verge of death and you are here telling disgusting love stories to your sister-in-law."

Only our families knew about my marriage to Linda. None of Linda's colleagues knew me.

Since Linda handled all of my brother's hospitalization procedures, everyone in the department thought my older brother was her husband. And Linda never explained.

"Exactly, instead of saving your brother, you're seducing your sister-in-law."

"It's a waste for your heart to stay in your body."

Hearing the other doctors' words, I couldn't help but want to tell the truth, "Actually, I am ..."

Linda came out of the prep room and grabbed my hand. "Today you must donate your heart. Your brother is already in the operating room and you're next."

As she spoke, Linda took out a stack of documents. "I've already signed everything, you just need to get on the operating table."

In the operating room, I saw Hans, who looked extremely weak, making everyone feel sorry for him.

One of the doctor said, "Don't worry, your wife, Dr. Cardel, will make sure you live a long life."

Hans heard the term and didn't refute it, just gave a weak smile, "It's all my fault, making my younger brother sacrifice so much for me." His words were full of guilt, but his eyes at me were full of provocation.

The other doctors, hearing this, thought my brother was kind and I was vicious.

After comforted Hans, Linda ignored my violent struggle and forcibly pushed me onto the operating table. She ordered the anesthetist to quickly inject the anesthesia.

A moment later, my intense struggle finally calmed down.

Linda brushed my cheek, "Don't worry, I will definitely keep you alive."

Linda's mentor had performed heart transplants before, so she was confident she can keep me alive. She said, "After your brother recovers, the whole family will accept you and I will stay by your side."

Linda and her colleagues carried out the surgery nervously but orderly.

After a long time, Linda took a heart out of my body.

Before she could take a closer look, she rushed into Hans's operating room with my heart.

My chest lay open, my body lying alone on the operating table.

The sharp alarm of the monitor startled the watching doctor. "How did he die? Didn't they say he had two hearts?"

One of Linda's colleagues felt puzzled, "You even believed Dr. Cardel's joke?"

"It's good that he died, after all the bad things he did, not saving Dr. Cardel's husband and even trying to seduce Dr. Cardel." Another colleague replied.

"Then what should we do now? He's dead, just wait for someone to collect the corpse. If no one claims him, the morgue will handle it." After speaking, all the doctors left the operating room.

Linda devoted herself to Hans's surgery. Although she was confident, it was her first time performing a heart transplant on a patient.

Fortunately, a few hours later, she successfully completed the surgery. After finishing the surgery, Linda followed Hans back to his ward.

After Hans was settled, she finally thought of me. Just as Linda wanted to return to the operating room to check on me, she ran into a colleague who had assisted earlier, "Where is my husband?"

The colleague thought for a moment and answered, "Didn't he already come back? Don't worry, after surgery someone will watch him. The nurses will take care of your husband."

Linda didn't think too much about the oddity in the words and instead felt her colleague was right. With her influence, the nurses would surely keep an eye on me. So Linda returned to her office to continue working.

A day later, Hans woke up. Linda stayed by Hans's side, "Hans, you're finally awake."

When Hans woke up and saw Linda, he cried excitedly.

Linda stepped forward to hug Hans, "Don't worry, the surgery was very successful. Your heart will not have any problems in the future."

Hans touched his heart. Thinking that the disease that had plagued him for years was finally gone, he kept hugging Linda and crying.

While warning him not to let his emotions fluctuate too much, Linda gently patted his back to calm him.

The nurses in the department teased Linda seeing this scene, "Dr. Cardel treats her husband so well."

Linda froze when she heard this. She thought of me still lying in another room and hurried to explain, "You're mistaken, he's not ..."

Hans timely covered his heart and interrupted Linda's words.

Linda could only pat his back, "I told you not to cry. What you need to do now is rest more to recover."

Maybe because of seeing Hans like this, Linda suddenly remembered me. It seemed she hadn't seen me since the surgery, "Hans, you rest well, I'll go check on Herbert." As she spoke, Linda was about to get up.

But Hans suddenly grabbed Linda's hand, "I secretly did the surgery without telling my parents. Now is a critical recovery period, without someone with me, I'm afraid I won't recover well."

Seeing Hans's pale face, Linda softened.

Thinking the doctors and nurses would take care of me out of respect for her, she felt relieved again.

"Alright, I'll stay with you a few more days." After seeing Linda sit down, Hans slowly closed his eyes.

In the morgue, the orderly stared at my corpse, troubled, "It's been two days and no one has come to claim him. What should we do?"

Another orderly was cleaning up, "What are you looking at? Finish up quickly and we can leave early." So the two of them casually threw my body into a bag together.

One of them said, "Judging by how miserable he looks, he probably wasn't a good person anyway."

"Good person or bad, once they're cremated, they're all the same."

"True, but it's still a pity, he was so young."

***

Two more days passed. After seeing Hans mostly recover, Linda finally remembered to check on me.

She walked to my hospital room and saw it completely empty. A nurse was tidying up the bed.

"Where's the patient from this bed?" Linda asked.

The nurse looked up and saw it was Linda, "The patient was discharged."

Hearing the nurse's words, Linda felt a bit annoyed. She thought I had just had surgery, yet didn't stay to recover properly. Where had I run off to?

She took out her phone and dialed my number. But the call never went through.

"Fine, if you have the guts to die out there, don't come looking for me." Linda stormed back to Hans's ward.

Sensing Linda's anger, Hans spoke up, "Is Herbert very angry, refusing to forgive you? It's all my fault, I'll go explain to him right away, don't let him misunderstand you because of me."

Hans hurried to get out of bed, but Linda immediately stopped him. "Why care about him? What you need to do now is focus on recovering."

"That way, when you're discharged, Mom and Dad will be happy to hear the good news. As for Herbert, he won't die, he's already been discharged," she said.

Linda recalled how I had desperately begged her before the surgery and she still felt upset.

She couldn't understand why I, as his relative, could be so heartless toward my brother. Seeing Hans always thought of me, she felt even more that I wasn't as good as him.

She thought that since I was so stubborn and insisted on leaving, I could just calm down on my own. When Hans was discharged, it wouldn't be too late to call me back.

In the doctors' office, the colleagues were laughing and chatting. When they saw Linda walk in, they all immediately went quiet.

Linda felt something strange. "What were you talking about just now?"

No one answered.

After a while, a colleague came up and hugged Linda's shoulder, "What else could we talk about? Of course, we were saying how deep the love is between you and your husband."

Thinking about how I was forced to donate one of my hearts, Linda felt that I truly loved her deeply. Even though it was under pressure, at least I had helped her and saved a life.

Thinking of this, she forgave my sudden disappearance, but she was still angry that I wouldn't answer her calls.

A colleague noticed the melancholy on her face, "Is your husband in a bad mood?"

Linda stayed silent.

The colleague continued, "He just had surgery, feeling down is normal. You should be more understanding, do something to cheer him up."

Hearing this, Linda's brows gradually relaxed. She thought of how much I loved the pastries from the shop near home, so she decided to go home after work.

Linda carried the pastries back to our apartment, "Honey? I bought the pastries you like."

No one responded.

She had just set down the pastries when she saw the divorce papers I had placed on the table a week ago.

The moment she had asked me to donate my heart, I had already decided to divorce her.