The night before my wedding, my mom caught my fiancé cheating. She had a heart attack on the spot.
When I was alone and helpless, my childhood friend rushed back from Ohio to perform a heart transplant for my mom—by taking my heart and giving it to her.
I got an artificial heart instead.
When the surgery failed, my childhood friend stayed by my side through the darkest year of my life. Then he proposed.
I said yes.
But years later, I overheard him talking with his friend.
“The heart that was supposed to go to her mom—you gave it to her ex’s other woman? Weren’t you afraid Sue would find out?”
“I had no choice. Ava needed that heart.”
“And Sue?”
“As for her… I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to her.”
At that moment, a chill spread through my body.
The salvation I once believed in—what a fucking joke.
I was never the one who was loved.
——
A sharp, suffocating pain spread from her chest. Sue clenched her mouth shut, but tears kept falling.
From the study, her husband Irwin Bondi’s voice carried over.
“Prepare a few more suitable heart donors, just in case.”
His friend, Mavy Blatt, scoffed. “Still looking? Didn’t you already give Sue’s heart to Ava back then?
“Damn, you’re heartless. That heart was supposed to save Sue’s mom, but you gave it to Ava instead. Sue’s mom died because of that, and now Sue has to live her whole life with an artificial heart!
“Aren’t you afraid she’ll find out one day?”
Irwin’s face darkened, his voice laced with a chilling edge.
“Ava is the one I love. No matter how many times I could do it, I’d still make the same choice. As for Sue… I’ll spend my whole life making it up to her.
“She can never know about this.”
His words hit Sue Goodmark like a sledgehammer. Her already fragile walls crumbled completely.
Her hands trembled. She couldn’t even hold onto the pastry she had brought.
It slipped from her grasp with a clutter, and the sound echoed in the quiet hallway.
When footsteps approached quickly, panic surged in Sue’s chest. She turned and fled to her room.
“Sue!”
Irwin chased after her, bursting into the bedroom. Seeing her curled up on the floor, face twisted in pain, he panicked. He scooped her up and laid her on the bed.
“Is it your chest again? Hold on, I’ll get your meds!”
Sue grabbed his wrist, her voice weak. “It won’t help…”
The artificial heart had too many flaws. Sudden chest pain, difficulty breathing, body convulsions—it could strike at any moment.
No amount of painkillers could fix it.
Every time, she had to endure it on her own.
Once the pain dulled slightly, Irwin hesitated before asking, “Sue… did you hear what Mavy and I were talking about?”
A storm raged inside her, but she kept her face blank.
“No. I was bringing you some pastries, but before I got to the door, my chest started hurting. I didn’t want you to worry, so I came back here instead.”
Irwin let out a breath of relief.
But then Sue asked, voice calm, “Is there something I’m not supposed to hear?”
“No, just some medical talk. It’s pretty gruesome. Didn’t want you losing sleep over it.”
She stared into his eyes and caught the flicker of guilt.
For years, she had trusted the sincerity in those eyes.
Now, she wished she never had.
Five years ago, she had a fiancé.
The night before their wedding, her mom walked in on him in bed with her best friend, Ava Allder.
Her mom was so furious that she had a heart attack.
But then her fiancé and Ava got married.
And every so-called friend and relative Sue had left took the chance to kick her while she was down.
