My mother is hospitalized due to a terminal illness. She's in urgent need of a kidney transplant to save her life. I'm the only one who can perform the surgery, but I give the kidney to a stranger.

My father and husband get on their knees before me on the day of the surgery. They beg me to save my mother. However, I shrug and say, "I can't do anything about this. A life is a life, regardless of who the person is. This is what she gets for coming late—death is waiting for her."

Outside the operating room, the entire hallway echoed with the desperate cries of my father, Logan Mitchell, and my husband, Ethan Blackwood.

Dad was kneeling on the ground, his aged face contorted with emotion.

"You're the only child we have, Rosie! We scraped and saved to put you through medical school! How can you just stand by and do nothing?

"Are you even human? The person lying in that bed is your mom! She gave birth to you and raised you! How can you just give the kidney that can save her to someone else?"

Ethan's eyes were bloodshot. He tugged desperately at my surgical gown.

"I'm asking you one last time. Are you going to save Mom or not? When we got married, she gave us all her savings to buy us a house. Is this how you repay her?"

I yanked the gown out of his grasp and coldly asked, "So what if she bought the house? She did it willingly. I didn't force her. And didn't you enjoy living there?

"I told you. The patient inside is first in line. Don't you understand the concept of first come, first served? Why did Mom have to get sick now, of all times? This is what she gets for coming late. A life is a life, regardless of who the person is. I can't save her. Don't waste my time. Get out of the way."

Dad's tears flowed freely at my words.

"Please, I'm begging you. I know you're an expert here. You can arrange a kidney transplant with just one word. Your mom is really on her last legs!"

"I'm begging you! Please! I'll even kneel for you if I have to! Just promise you'll save her. I'll give my life if it means you'll do it!"

With that, he immediately bent down.

His foot slipped, and he fell straight down the stairs behind him.

A nurse from the distance rushed over and helped him up.

When Dad finally made it back to me, his ankle was swollen beyond recognition.

Ethan's eyes were filled with rage. He grabbed me and dragged me to the door of a ward. Pointing at the figure inside, he shouted furiously, "Look for yourself! Look how sick Mom is! We weren't lying to you!

"You've seen her medical records, haven't you? If she doesn't get surgery now, she won't survive long enough for the next kidney to arrive! And as far as I know, the patient in there isn't even in critical condition!"

While he raged, I remained eerily calm.

I glanced at the monitors and the frail figure on the bed as I replied calmly, "So what if she's unconscious? There are tons of people in comas here every day. Many of them die too. Stop making a scene."

Frowning, the nurse spoke up with irritation, "Dr. Mitchell, your mom's condition really is critical. We've issued three DNR orders already. Didn't the hospital just a mile away from us recently receive a kidney? Maybe you could—"

Before she could finish, I cut her off sharply, saying, "Who's the doctor here? If I get that kidney here, what if someone else needs it over there? Are you that bored? Do you want me to talk to the head nurse and give you more to do?"

The nurse fell silent, her head lowered.

Just then, the alarm on the monitor blared again.

My mother, Daphne Elliott, was visibly struggling to breathe.

Dad wiped his eyes fiercely, trembling as he pulled two dirty bank cards from his pocket.

Dad begged me. "This is all the money we have. Take it. Please save your mom's life. I don't want anything else. After she's out of the hospital, our house will be yours. We'll leave this place. We won't cause you any more trouble. Please, save her! She's your mother!"

I swatted his cards away and replied coldly, "Sorry, but this is a hospital. We have rules here. I can't operate on family. Don't waste my time."

The argument had drawn a crowd of onlookers.

Ethan's chest was shaking with anger as he slapped me hard across the face.

"Rosie Mitchell! All that education, and for what? The person lying there is your mother! If you don't help her, she'll die! Do you understand that?"

Dad's eyes grew dull with disappointment. He pointed at my nose and angrily yelled, "You're our only daughter! We worked ourselves to the bone to send you to school. We're not asking you to support us in our old age. But now, you can't even fulfill the responsibility of saving a life?

"When you were young, no one was there to take care of you, so your mom had to carry you while working. She was fired from five different jobs because of that! When you were in school, she'd get up at the crack of dawn, even in the freezing winter, just to make you breakfast.

"Rain or shine, she'd never let you walk home alone, and this is how you repay her? You're worse than an animal!"

I rubbed my ears in frustration.

"Are you done? Was I the one who made her do all that? She did it because she wanted to! Her illness is a genetic issue. If death wants her, there's nothing I can do. I'm a doctor, not a god.

"If you have the time to argue with me here, you'd be better off preparing for her funeral so you're not scrambling when she's gone."

Dad suddenly gasped for air and collapsed straight to the ground.

Ethan caught him just in time, but he didn't stop yelling at me.

"Your mom did all that because she loved you. She would give her life for you without hesitation, and this is how you talk about her? Mark my words, Rosie Mitchell! Karma will catch up to you."

As the crowd around us grew, I rolled my eyes.

"You're not the one about to die, so why are you all so anxious? I know she's my mother. Maybe you should ask her if she'd want me to break the rules."

I turned and pretended to ask into the ward.

Mom was still unconscious, so naturally, she didn't respond.

I spread my hands and said, "See? Even Mom doesn't want me breaking the rules."

Ethan's eyes were bloodshot as he screamed at me, "Are you insane? How is she supposed to answer you when she's like this? I'm telling you now. Either you save her, or we're getting a divorce! You won't get a single penny from me!"

I didn't even look up. I just continued texting on my phone.

"Where the heck is the kidney? Isn't it here yet? The patient's in the OR waiting for a transplant!"

As soon as I sent the message, the kidney arrived in front of me.

The family of the patient in the operating room followed closely behind. Their faces were filled with hesitation.

"Dr. Mitchell, maybe we should let your mom have the kidney. She's in worse condition than my son. He can last another two months."

Dad's and Ethan's eyes lit up at the suggestion. But a second later, I shook my head, rejecting her offer.

"They're all patients in the hospital. I won't play favorites. Don't worry. Every life matters equally."

Dad suddenly slapped his head, and blood poured down his face. "What have I done? How did I raise such a heartless daughter?"

Ethan immediately pulled out his phone and had his lawyer draft a divorce agreement, threatening to make me leave with nothing.

I ignored him and turned to head into the operating room. But just then, a few bystanders stepped forward, blocking my way.

"Dr. Mitchell, we all know that you're a skilled doctor. But you became a doctor to save lives. You can't just ignore your mother. If you do this, who will trust you to treat them in the future?"

"Yeah. If you perform surgery on your mom, we'll look the other way. No one will report you, so it won't count as breaking the rules!"

After noticing that I wouldn't listen, Dad turned to the patient's family and kneeled in front of them. He begged them to forgo the surgery and give Mom a chance to live.

The family agreed, but I still refused.

"Surgery isn't a game. I've been preparing for this for a long time. Each patient's case is unique, and so is the surgical plan. You can't just swap one patient for another like that."

As I said that, I signaled to my colleague to take the kidney into the operating room.

Dad's desperate pleas only made the crowd more hostile toward me.

Someone pulled out their phone and started a live stream, inciting the entire internet to condemn me. The insults flooded in.

"This is what an expert doctor looks like? She can't even save her own mom, and she's supposed to save others?"

"Even animals know how to take care of their family. This ingrate is worse than an animal! She's not fit to be a doctor!"

"Get out of the hospital! If you don't, we'll never go there again!"

Someone even threw a set of keys at my head. Blood poured out instantly, and the scene quickly spiraled out of control. By the time the hospital administrators arrived, my surgical gown was stained with blood.

After hearing the nurse's account and seeing the comments online, they urged me to save Mom, but I still refused.

"I have my principles. No one gets special treatment. Not even my mother."

I left those words behind and stepped into the operating room.

Behind me, Dad's wailing echoed as he recounted all they had done for me over the years.

The cake soaked in rain on a stormy night, the textbooks paid for with spare change, and the mud-covered doll that conveyed love and blessings.

Despite their financial struggles, they had always given me all the love they could. I had been lucky enough to grow up in a warm family.

The day I got into the hospital for my residency, Dad and Mom held my hand and walked me around the village.

They had proudly told everyone that our family finally had a top student. They called me the pride of the Mitchell family.

When they found out that I was getting married, they had each worked three jobs for three years just to scrape together the down payment for a house. All so I wouldn't feel inferior in front of Ethan.

For 30 years, I'd never envied anyone else. I knew that their love for me was real, and I loved them too.

If that one thing hadn't happened, I might have risked my job to save Mom. But unfortunately, we couldn't turn back time.

The door to the operating room closed, shutting out Dad's desperate cries.

When the surgery was finally over, five hours had passed.

As I took off my mask and stepped out the door, I was met by a crowd of reporters eager to interview me, along with passersby condemning me on behalf of my parents.

"Hi, Dr. Mitchell. We heard you'd rather save a stranger than your mother. Is there something more to the story?"

"What story? She's just an ungrateful monster! The Mitchells raised such a heartless daughter. What a stroke of bad luck! She deserves to be hit by a car or struck by lightning!"

"She calls herself a doctor? Calling her an animal would be an insult to animals! The patient's family even agreed to give up the surgery, yet she still acted high and mighty. She prioritized her reputation over her own mother's life!"

"Get out of the hospital, Rosie Mitchell! Get out of the medical field!"