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.

Linda stared at the agreement in disbelief. She thought to herself, was it really necessary?

It was just one heart. And he actually dared to propose divorce over this.

Linda angrily threw the pastries into the trash, "If you don't want this home, then never come back."

At that moment, the phone rang. Linda picked up her phone.

"Linda? Where has Herbert been lately?" My dad, who rarely called, was asking about me. After all, he usually only ever mentioned Hans.

Linda thought for a while and realized only my parents could force me to show up. Plus, Hans had mostly recovered by now. So she told my dad about Hans's surgery.

My parents rushed to the hospital overnight. At the first sight of my parents, Hans couldn't stop his tears.

After the three of them cried together for a while, my parents asked about me, "Where's your younger brother? You're in the same department and he hasn't come to see you yet?"

Hans hesitated. "He's already been discharged."

My mom hugged Hans, "Discharged? His body's pretty strong, doing surgery and leaving just days later, not afraid of dying out there."

My dad quickly stopped her. "What are you saying? Even though Hans had surgery, there's no guarantee there won't be future problems. If he dies, what will happen to Hans?"

After hearing this, my mom slapped her mouth repeatedly, "Oh crap! Even if I die, I prefer to die before Hans."

"Don't worry Hans, Mom and Dad will always protect you." Hearing his parents' words, Hans felt a wave of warmth in his heart.

The next day, when Linda entered the ward, she saw a heartwarming scene of my parents surrounding Hans. She felt it a bit harsh to her eyes, because she had never seen my parents treat me like that.

"Linda, you're here. Hans's heart is all thanks to you." My parents focused only on thanking Linda, never mentioning me.

Linda asked if there was any news about me.

As soon as my parents heard my name, their faces fell, "Why care about him? He's already discharged, meaning he's fine. Better focus more on Hans."

"Hans has always been weak since he was little, while Herbert has always been strong as a bull." My parents had always wanted to pair Hans with Linda, but because of Hans's health, they never said it aloud.

Now that I was out of the picture and Linda was about to divorce with me, they could finally make it happen.

Before Linda could say anything, a colleague walked in, "Dr. Cardel is so good to her husband, coming to guard him every day."

Hearing this, my parents assumed it was a done deal, while Hans blushed slightly.

But Linda's face showed anger instead, "Who told you he's my husband?"

The colleague didn't notice Linda's expression and laughed, "Everyone in the department knows. Don't pretend anymore." After saying that, she hurried off to work.

My parents pulled Linda aside, "Linda, since Herbert isn't around and everyone thinks Hans is your husband, they'll take better care of him."

Seeing Hans's pale face, Linda forced down her anger.

Back in the office, before Linda could find that colleague to ask questions, someone said her mentor had arrived. Hearing this, Linda quickly ran to the director's office.

The moment she saw Derek Albine, Linda rushed up and shake hands with him, "Dr. Albine, it's been so many years, how's your health?"

Derek nodded, then smiled and looked Linda up and down. "I heard you performed a heart transplant. Truly the student surpasses the mentor."

Derek then reminisced about when he had operated on young Linda and how she had now inherited his legacy as an adult.

Linda froze in place, "Dr. Albine, what surgery are you talking about?"

Derek hadn't expected such a reaction from Linda, "The heart transplant surgery, the one you had when you were a child."

The office fell silent for a moment before someone rushed in,

"Dr. Cardel, come quickly! The family members at ward 32 are fighting!"

Hearing ward 32, Linda immediately thought of Hans. She dashed to the ward.

As soon as she entered, she heard someone shouting, "How dare you deny it! My nephew donated his heart to your daughter!"

Linda rushed forward and separated the two people.

Upon seeing Linda, Maria, Linda's mother, her eyes turned red with grievance. The other person, after being pulled apart, pointed at Linda and shouted again, "It's you! My nephew Herbert's heart is inside you!"

Linda stared at the person in disbelief, suddenly remembering my words, "What's going on here?"