The Borrowed Tomorrow

I struggled to pull away, but Jeannie did not hesitate for a second and slapped me.

"How can you be this selfish? I've never fought with you for anything else. I'm only asking for this one thing! As long as you agree to donate your kidney, we'll register our marriage right away. Is that enough?"

I stared into her eyes and finally saw the truth. The gentle, obedient, and almost saintly side of her that I had seen for the past two years was all an act.

The love I had given her, the wedding fund I had carefully saved, the future home we had planned together, and even the life that I had imagined with her… None of it had ever meant anything to her.

To her, they were just resources to drain dry; bargaining chips she could use to save her first love.

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and tore the compatibility report into pieces.

"I'd rather feed my kidney to a stray animal than donate it to a scumbag dying of late-stage AIDS."

"What did you just say?!" Jeannie Cooper's scream shattered the quiet of the examination room. She lunged at me, grabbing my white coat with both hands. "How could Elliot possibly have a filthy disease like that?! Just because you don't want to donate your kidney, you made up a disgusting lie!"

Her fingernails dug so hard into my skin that they nearly pierced it. Her eyes were wild with hysteria.

Looking at her, I almost wanted to laugh.

"A lie? Jeannie, have you forgotten what I do for a living? I'm an attending physician at this hospital. Do you really think I can't access his preliminary blood test results?"

Jeannie froze. However, it was only for a moment. The madness quickly returned to her eyes.

"Impossible! Elliot is such a pure and kind person! He wouldn't even dare hold a girl's hand casually. How could he get a disease like that? It has to be you! You tampered with the hospital's system because you wanted to leave him to die!"

I grabbed her wrists and shoved her away. Then, I straightened the collar she had wrinkled.

"Pure? Kind?"

I walked to my desk and logged into the hospital's internal database. After entering Elliot's name and identification number, a sealed electronic report immediately appeared on the screen. I turned the monitor toward her.

"See for yourself. HIV antibody screening, positive. CD4 cell count, under 50. This is a textbook case of advanced AIDS. His immune system has already collapsed. His kidney failure isn't from overwork. It's a severe complication caused by AIDS."

Jeannie's eyes locked on the report. Her pupils instantly widened. The strength seemed to drain from her body, and she swayed violently.

"No... That's impossible… That's impossible..." She stared at the glaring word that read out 'Positive' on the screen. The color vanished from her face.

Then, a sharp, agonized scream burst from her throat. She clutched her head and stumbled backward until she slammed into a medical cabinet.

"It's fake! All of it is fake! Carson, you're unbelievably cruel!"