The Life You Save May Be Your Own

My brother and I get into a car accident. My heart is ruptured—I need emergency surgery. But my mother, the hospital director, calls every available doctor… to my brother's room. He only has a few scrapes, yet she orders a full-body scan for him while I lie there bleeding out. I beg her to help me, but she snaps, visibly annoyed, "Can't you stop fighting for attention for once? Your brother almost injured a bone!" In the end, I die on the operating table. But after the news of my death breaks, my mother, who has always hated me, completely loses her mind.

The moment I discover I'm pregnant, Courtney Smith, the leukemia patient I saved three years ago, turns up on my doorstep once again. She claims that her leukemia has relapsed again, so she wants me to abort my baby in order to save her life again. But I'm pregnant with my deceased police husband's baby. So, I tell her that I can only donate my bone marrow to her once I've given birth to my baby. After hearing my answer, not only do Courtney and her family not feel any gratitude toward me, but they also berate me for not helping them out till the end. "You can still have another baby once you lose this one! But if your pregnancy affects my illness in any way, will you be able to take responsibility over this?" Then, the Smiths abduct me to a shady hospital, where they forcibly put me through an abortion and remove my bone marrow. While their operation is a success, my baby and I end up dying on the surgical table. As they gaze at our corpses, the Smiths' faces are plastered with icy expressions. "Don't blame us for what we did. If you were the one with leukemia, we'd still make Court donate her bone marrow to you. One's life is determined by fate. If you can't survive, that just means you're fated to die." When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the timeframe three days before Courtney finds out about her leukemia relapse.

After being accepted into Doctors Without Borders, I handed over the position of Chief at the capital’s hospital to Elaine Brown. My best friend frowned at me. "You’re destroying any chance of a future with Jeffrey if you go.” I gave him a faint smile. "I'm just returning him to the woman he's always had in his heart." In my previous life, Jeffrey Carter and I were the infamous bickering couple everyone in our circle knew to avoid. He resented me for refusing to replace Elaine when she applied to join Doctors Without Borders. She later caught an infection and died on the job. I resented him for his hypocrisy. If he loved Elaine so much, why did he agree to my parents' demands to care for me for the rest of our lives? We spent seven years of marriage together, yet the best we ever wished for each other was a miserable death. However, amid the gunfire and chaos on the battlefield, he used his last ounce of strength to shield me completely when his heart was pierced by a bullet. "I've arranged for someone to meet you. Once the sweep ends, run. You must survive!" he whispered, his voice fading. "I'll protect you fully in this life… and in the next, we’ll never meet. "Elaine, I'm doing this for you." However, the bomb dropped from above gave us no chance to escape, and we were both annihilated. When I opened my eyes, I had returned to the eve of our wedding. Jeffrey… In this life, I would fulfill your wish.

I accompany my husband, Michael Yates, to a stationed assignment on a remote island. Out at sea, a sudden storm hits. The ship capsizes and begins to sink. As the commanding officer, my husband gives the last life vest to his so-called godsister, Naomi Hollister. I don't cry or scream. I just watch silently as he carefully fastens the straps around her body. In my past life, I had clutched my pregnant belly and begged him for help. After a brief hesitation, he finally put the vest on me. But Naomi was swept away by the waves, and her body later washed up on shore. Only half of it remained. Michael insisted it wasn't my fault. He also said that saving me was his duty, both morally and professionally. He even took leave to stay by my side before I gave birth. But when my water broke in the dead of night, he pushed me into the sea. His eyes were bloodshot and burning with hatred. "Leah, if it weren't for you, Mimi would still be alive! Did you really have to force me to give you the vest when you were just pregnant? Couldn't you have waited a little longer? Why do you get to live? Go down there and die with her!" I drown, and fish tear my body apart. I die without even a full corpse left behind. And then, I open my eyes. I'm back on the day of the storm.

When the yacht begins to sink, Penelope Griffith chooses me to fill the last vacant spot on the lifeboat. I'm saved, but Arthur Johnson drowns before the second lifeboat reaches him. He disappears into the ocean, leaving only a corpse behind. Penelope pretends not to care and still marries me. Yet, she proceeds to trample all over me during our five years of marriage, blaming me for Arthur's death. When I can't take it anymore and ask for a divorce, she chooses to end both our lives. The next time I open my eyes, I realize that I've been transported back in time to the day of the yacht accident. I decide to forfeit my chance of survival this time, letting the man Penelope loves the most take my place.

At the orphanage gates, the fake heiress stole my proof of identity and slipped into a waiting luxury car, smiling triumphantly. I leaned against the attic while waving goodbye to her. "Have a safe journey, my scapegoat." In my past life, I was taken back to a wealthy family. I thought I'd found my family. My adoptive parents smiled at me, bought me dresses, and called me their darling daughter. Three months later, I was wheeled into an operating room. My heart was removed. I died on the operating table. They didn't even hold a funeral for me. After being reborn, I wanted to make everyone pay the price. This time, it was them who should be on the operating table.