Chapter 1

I smelled the strong scent of jasmine flowers as soon as I woke up in the hospital bed.

I opened my eyes and saw Dario Ajello, my fiance, changing out the water in the vase sitting by the windowsill.

"Lena, your body can't hold on much longer. You need to go through with the transplant as quickly as possible," Dario said, helping me sit up against the pillows as he patiently fed me some water.

I pushed his hand away and said determinedly, "I've already told you. I don't want Lucia's kidney!"

Dario smashed the glass onto the ground and yelled at me with red eyes, "Elena Rossi! Stop being so difficult! Lucia is the only person whose kidney matches with your blood type. You will die if you refuse to receive her kidney!"

"I would rather die than accept her kidney," I said, reiterating every word clearly as I watched him lose his cool.

Dario quickly regained his composure and apologized, "I'm sorry. I was just too worried about you. I just didn't want to think that you'd leave me… It's too much for me to bear."

I felt my resolve soften. After all, Dario was a childhood sweetheart of mine, and we'd been together for 15 years. Our feelings for each other were very strong.

Dario was a usually cold and aloof young man, but he had reserved all of his gentleness and tenderness only for me. Even after being the biggest authority figure in Notoroville, he still had never once raised his voice or said anything grave to me.

"Elena, if you can't make it, then I'll give up on mine as well," Dario said seriously. "I won't give up on you if there's still the tiniest hope for your survival."

I knew of his love and feelings for me, but I still didn't want him to be Lucia Rossi's boyfriend for the month.

He eventually gave in after seeing how stubborn I was about it. He gathered me in his arms so tightly that it felt as if he wanted me to melt into his body.

"I'll do whatever you say and find another suitable donor for you. But you must also promise me that you'll receive all the necessary treatments and take care of yourself."

I thought that Dario would forget about Lucia's demand if I was firm about rejecting it.

However, three days later, my main doctor, Dr. Fabio Romano, happily announced to me, "Elena! The kidney donor issue has been all sorted out. The transplant surgery will be in one week's time, so you just need to hold out until then!"

I was very surprised. After all, I had a very rare blood type, and we hadn't been able to find any suitable kidney donors even after half a year of searching high and low. Dr. Romano had even just told me yesterday that my body would give out soon if they still couldn't find a suitable donor for me.

But now, he suddenly told me that they'd found me a donor.

I asked him who the donor was. Dr. Romano kept stammering and stuttering as if he was trying to hide the truth from me.

In the end, he told me nothing. I had an increasingly bad feeling about this.

It was boring staying in my hospital room all day. I would often take a stroll out to the park next to the hospital building to get some sun.

Today, I was sitting in the sun as usual in the yard when I suddenly overheard a conversation between two nurses nearby.

"She just got slightly scalded on her hand, and her boyfriend immediately summoned all the doctors to treat her at once. That's got to be some absolute power he has!"

"Of course! You're talking about Don Ajello. He's the most powerful person in Notoroville. And everybody knows how much he spoils his little darling to death!"

"That woman's such a lucky person. I bet every woman in Notoroville must be so jealous of her!"

"Yeah. It was just a very minor burn, and yet, he still got every doctor in Rosa Hospital to treat her."

"And you know that we're the top hospital in Notoroville, where the doctors only treat socialite patients from the upper crust of society."

My glass slipped from my fingers and fell to the floor, shattering into pieces.

The person they were talking about, the so-called Don Ajello, was none other than my fiance, Dario.

Still, I refused to believe them.

Until I went into the VIP hospital room and saw Dario looking at the woman in his arms with the gentlest, most doting, and most loving eyes I'd ever seen.

The woman was none other than Lucia, my stepsister.

Dario gently held her legs up, a look of anxiousness on his face as he barked occasionally at the nurse dressing Lucia.

"Be more gentle with her! You hurt her again!"

Meanwhile, Lucia kept leaning shyly into his embrace, pulling him closer as she whimpered in his arms, "You promised me you'd bring me to Velnise if I let them dress the wound…"

Dario just let her hug him as he replied in a soft, gentle voice, "Alright, alright. You can go wherever you want as long as you let them treat your burn, my little darling."

At that moment, the nonchalance and calmness I'd been trying so hard to maintain finally shattered.