Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Valena stood frozen for a moment before finally following after her family. Sera was already sobbing in Jorge's arms, while Elara stayed quiet, her expression unreadable. Valena herself was still trying to piece together what had happened by the time they reached the hospital.

The hospital that night was flooded with harsh white light and the sharp bite of antiseptic. Valena sat in the waiting area with her family, hands wringing in her lap.

The doctor treating Leovan came out of the IGD, his face grave. "He's stable for now, but there's significant damage to one of his kidneys from the impact."

"What does that mean?" Jorge asked, his voice tight.

"We need to monitor him closely over the next twenty-four hours. If his condition doesn't improve, he'll need a transplant."

Sera pressed both hands over her mouth, tears sliding down in silence.

"The party... doesn't matter anymore," Sera murmured, more to herself than to anyone else in the room. No one argued. The birthday and engagement preparations that were supposed to happen within days simply faded into the background, swallowed by a far bigger panic.

That night turned into days of unbearable tension. Further tests confirmed everyone's worst fear: Leovan's kidney couldn't be saved. He needed a donor, and time wasn't something they could negotiate.

One by one, the family got tested for a match. Jorge wasn't compatible. Neither was Sera. Even the distant relatives they reached out to came back with nothing.

"What about me?" Elara asked one evening, sitting beside Sera and holding her hand tightly. "I want to help, even if the odds are slim."

Her results came back two days later: not a match.

Valena heard all of it through a door that hadn't quite shut, standing silently in the hospital corridor. She watched Jorge and Sera's backs as they sat side by side, and Elara, still faithfully clutching Sera's hand, as if she'd been part of the family for years. No one turned to look for her.

Her mind drifted back to when she was little and Leovan used to carry her around the mansion garden just because she'd been crying, scared of the neighbor's dog. To the nights she'd run a high fever and it was Leovan who stayed up beside her bed, not Sera or Jorge, who'd been out of the country at the time. Leovan had once told her, "You're my sister, Val. Blood isn't the only thing that makes someone family." The words felt bitterly ironic now, with Valena thrown out of her own room for a girl who'd shown up just three days ago. But no matter how much had changed, what she felt for Leovan hadn't changed with it.

Without telling anyone, she found the doctor on duty a young man with calm eyes named Dr. Sean Weiss and asked to be tested as well.

"Are you sure?" Sean asked, studying her closely, as if trying to read something beneath the request. "You don't have to do this alone, Miss Dominique."

"I'm not a Dominique," Valena said quietly. "Not really. But Leovan is still my brother."

Sean didn't respond to that. He just nodded and processed her request.

The results came back three days later: a match.

Valena stood in front of the hospital bathroom mirror that night, looking at her own reflection. There was no hesitation in her eyes only an exhaustion she'd been carrying alone for a long time.

She didn't tell her family. Instead, she quietly signed all the necessary paperwork, asking Sean to keep it confidential until after the surgery.

"Why does it have to be a secret?" Sean asked, the two of them sitting in the empty waiting room ahead of the operation.

Valena looked out the window, toward the city lights blinking in the distance. "Because I'm not doing this to make them see me differently. I'm doing it because I really do love him even though lately it's been hard to believe that love still gets returned the same way."

Sean looked at her for a long moment, something shifting in his expression. Not ordinary sympathy something deeper than what he was supposed to feel for a patient.

The surgery took six hours. When Valena opened her eyes in recovery, the pain spreading through her abdomen felt lighter than the loneliness of knowing not a single member of her family knew she'd just given up part of herself.

Sean walked in calmly. "You're awake, Miss Dominique. How are you feeling?"

Valena managed a small smile before asking, "How's Leovan?"

Sean looked at her. "You're barely out of surgery and you're already worrying about someone else?" He chuckled.

"Is he okay, Dr. Sean?" Valena repeated the question.

The young doctor nodded. "This time, please, don't push yourself with anything strenuous. Your body isn't the same as it was, Miss Dominique."

"Okay."

***

Leovan regained consciousness two days later, his condition improving fast. The whole family gathered around him, tears of relief filling the room.

"Who was the donor?" Leovan asked weakly, looking at Jorge.

Jorge shook his head. "The doctor said the donor asked to stay anonymous."

In the next room, unknown to anyone, Valena lay alone, enduring pain that spread not just from her surgical scar, but from somewhere deeper somewhere she didn't yet realize was starting to break down from within.

Through the wall, she could faintly hear laughter mixed with tearful relief — Sera's voice, thanking God over and over; Jorge's voice, sounding lighter than it had in days; even Elara's laugh, joining in with the rest of them. The noise of their happiness slipped through the door left slightly ajar, as if deliberately reminding Valena just how quiet her own room was. No hand held hers that night. No one asked what it felt like to lose part of her own body. She could only stare up at the white ceiling, letting the tears fall in silence, as though she too had learned how to grieve without burdening anyone else with it.

Only Sean came to check on her every night, jotting something down in her chart with his brow furrowed, as if he'd found s

omething that shouldn't be there.