A Heart Taken in Vain

That night, after Charles had left, Charlotte had kept asking to see him. "Daddy promised that you two would spend the day with me on my birthday. Where did he go? Is he still angry with me?"She'd wiped her tears away sadly. "I'll be good from now on and won't upset Xavier again."Xavier was Charles' first love, Ruby's, son. He'd been born with congenital defects. After Ruby had gotten divorced, she'd taken him to Charles' hospital.Since then, Charles wouldn't stop talking about Xavier. At home, he'd scold Charlotte constantly, saying that she was spoiled and childish.Even when Xavier had torn up Charlotte's doll or messed up her hair, it had somehow always been Charlotte's fault.Charlotte had cried a lot that day. The next time Xavier had come over, she'd run to her room and refused to come out.Charles had dragged her out coldly once and forced her to apologize to Xavier. I'd done all I could to smooth things over and calm everyone down.Remembering this, I'd felt a pang o

Charlotte reached out, trying to reach Charles. She was cold, and she wanted her father to hug her. Just as her cold fingers touched Charles' finger, he swatted her away. His face was ashen as he backed away. He couldn't even look at her."Rest… rest in peace," he muttered softly. "Your family hasn't come looking for you yet, so they probably don't care about you. You should find yourself a better family in your next life…"I lunged at him, trying to push him away from Charlotte.How could he be so cruel? How could he say something like that to a child?Charlotte was my precious daughter, the most wonderful thing to happen to me. I cared about her. I cared about her a lot!Tears of blood streamed from my eyes. I watched, my vision blurry, as Charlotte took her last breath.…When I opened my eyes again, I was in a quiet hospital room.The nurse breathed a sigh of relief when she saw me wake up. "You were unconscious for too long from just a concussion. I was really worried."

Seven years ago, Charles' family had forced him to go on a blind date with me. The first time we'd met, he'd told me bluntly that he loved someone else. I'd told him I'd understood, thinking that would be the last time we would meet. To my surprise, he'd contacted me again two months later. "You like me, right? Let's get married."To tell the truth, I had liked him. For me, it had been love at first sight.I'd been so happy at the time. Afraid that he would change his mind, I'd immediately hurried both our families through the necessary formalities.He hadn't shown any interest in the wedding preparations even then. He'd kept saying he was busy and had no time.Doctors were busy. I'd understood that.Later, I'd heard from someone else that a week before he'd contacted me, his first love had gotten married.To say that I'd had no other thoughts about that would be a lie.However, at the time, I'd naively thought that maybe he'd felt a little something for me too. After all, a

Panic flashed on Ruby's face. Hastily, she explained, "Charles and I are just friends. Don't say things that aren't true!"I scoffed. "I haven't even said anything. How can you be sure that's why I don't want to donate?""Then why?" Ruby replied instinctively. Then, she flushed, realizing her mistake. "There's nothing improper between us. You're just paranoid, thinking everyone's out to get you!"I looked at one of the reporters at the front. "Did Ruby tell you she's Charles' first love?"There was a murmur of disapproval from the crowd."So you're refusing to donate your daughter's organs to her son because you're jealous?"The reporters had been paid off by Ruby, so they tried to twist my words. They wanted to paint me as a jealous woman who would let a child die out of pettiness.I took out my phone and played a recording. Charles' voice sounded, echoing around the funeral hall. "You found out about my plan for a divorce, didn't you? Are you trying to threaten me with this?