A Love Beyond Life

When I met Jace Hawthorne again, he was a billionaire and I was a hotel waitress. He made a grand entrance to the event with his fiancée while I kept my head down and politely handed him a cup of coffee. Unexpectedly, he splashed it right in my face. "Anything you've touched disgusts me."

My cheeks burned and my heart ached with a tearing pain. Then, I fled in a hurry. In the restroom, his fiancée blocked my way and sneered, "You left him for five million back then. Do you regret it?"

Only then did I realize that she was the doctor who performed the lung transplant on me. Not only did she remove my entire right lung, but she also deliberately took away my child. That was the child I had conceived with Jace after three years of trying.

I took a deep breath and uttered three words, "I don't regret it." I didn't regret giving him my lung.

At that moment, a cold voice came from the doorway. "Honey, why waste time talking to a stranger?" The man who once would have given his life to save me now saw me as nothing more than a stranger, but even getting to see him one last time before I died was already a blessing.

——

"Sharon, I'm begging you. Please, save Jace. He's only twenty-nine." Jace's mother had always been proud and distant, refusing to even attend our wedding because she disapproved of me. She had never liked me, yet now she was kneeling before me, pleading.

"Cecilia, I … "

"He saved your life! How can you be so heartless?"

When the truck crashed into us, Jace had yanked the steering wheel to shield me with his own body. Now, he was suffering from respiratory failure and needed a lung transplant. Both emotionally and rationally, I should agree.

However, I was four months pregnant. It was the child I had conceived with Jace after three years of trying. If I underwent surgery and was put under anesthesia, it could harm the baby.

Seeing my hesitation, she grabbed my hand tightly. "Didn't your dad owe a lot of money to loan sharks? If you don't pay it back, they'll break his arms and legs, right? I'll pay it for you, as long as you agree to the transplant. I'm begging you."

"Cecilia, please stand up. I agree, but … "

When she heard my agreement, she immediately rose to her feet, wiped away her tears and dragged me toward the doctor's office. "Doctor, she agreed! Can we schedule the surgery right away?"

Before I could overthink, I was wheeled into the operating room. The anesthesia took hold quickly and my consciousness faded.

When I woke up again, I realized something was wrong. My lower abdomen was flat and there was no fetal movement in my belly. My baby was gone! Panic surged through me. Though the anesthesia hadn't entirely worn off, I forced myself to sit up and pressed the emergency call button.

A nurse approached with an indifferent expression. "What is it?"

"Where's my baby? Where is my baby?" Tears streamed down my face.

She casually replied, "We found fetal demise during the surgery, so we asked an obstetrician to perform a termination procedure."

No. That wasn't possible. I had just undergone a 4D ultrasound and the baby was clearly formed. How could it suddenly die in the womb? I grabbed her hand and wanted to ask more, but the noise at the door interrupted me.