On the day of my heart transplant surgery, my husband, the hospital director, took all the doctors in the hospital, just because his childhood sweetheart had menstrual cramps.

I could only watch the heart I had been waiting for eight years, change its color and stop beating beside me. And since my chest cavity was opened, a piercing agony enveloped me.

Eighteen hours had passed, but no one entered the operating room.

With my own eyes, I watched the electrocardiogram turn into a straight line and I died at the hand of the husband I had supported.

After I died, James Hawtorn, my husband, deleted the only surveillance footage in the operating room and claimed that my weak body led to my death in the operating room.

Since my parents had nowhere to ask for help, they closed the doors and windows, turned the gas on and committed suicide on New Year's Eve.

James just stood in front of my house with cold eyes as he watched my parents dying in agony. He even forced them to sign the transfer of their properties. After that, he took his childhood sweetheart to live in a life of luxury.

When I opened my eyes again, I was returned to the day of my heart transplant surgery.

——

“Go! Get all hospital medical staff to the top-floor VIP ward immediately. Wanda is having severe abdominal pain. There's no second to spare! Whoever arrives late won't get to keep their job!”

My husband's words made me snap back to my senses.

I glanced at the half-used syringe of anesthetic that was discarded beside me and the massive operating surgical lamp above me, then realized that I had been reborn!

And I was reborn on the very day of my heart transplant surgery.

In my previous life, I had dragged my sick body for eight years, waiting for this heart to be transplanted into me.

But on the very day of the surgery, because his childhood sweetheart, Wanda Gilmore, had menstrual cramps, James called every single medical staff member in the entire hospital to her ward. He even ordered the doctor who was halfway through administering my anesthesia to leave the operating room immediately.

After my repeated pleas and threats, James finally sent a random intern to perform my open-heart surgery.

But when the doctor saw my open chest cavity, he fainted. And I could only watch helplessly as the heart I'd waited eight years for turned color and stopped working before my eyes.

For eighteen hours, I was left alone in the operating room, without any care. And finally, consumed by excruciating agony, I died in bitter resentment.

After my death, James deleted all the surveillance videos of the operating room as soon as possible.

When my parents came to confront him, he coldly informed them that my own body had failed me, leading to my death on the operating table. Then he labeled my parents, who were protesting at the hospital, as medical troublemakers and exposed them online.

Exposed online and with no recourse left, they lost all hope. So, they committed suicide by turning on the gas at home.

When my parents suffocated to death, he was at the door, watching them with cold eyes. Then he tricked them into signing a property transfer agreement by revealing the truth of my death.

After all my family's assets, including the hospital, had been transferred under James's name, they directly threw me and my parents into a mass grave.

My soul, having died unjustly, could only watch helplessly as James married Wanda and lived a rich and happy life.

If I live again, I'll make those who wronged me pay!

With this thought, I dragged my numb, drugged body to the outer room and retrieved my phone, then I sent a message to my parents. The moment I received the reply, I finally felt relieved.

Outside the door, James's furious voice boomed once more. “Go! What are you waiting for? Get all the doctors to the top-floor VIP!”

"Director Hawthorn, the young lady is in the operating room awaiting surgery. She's already halfway through the anesthesia. If you take all the doctors away, what about her operation?”

Smack!

A sharp slap rang from outside the door.

James' cold voice came in from outside the door.

“Your young lady has waited eight years for this surgery. Can’t she spare just a few more minutes? Last month, the hospital admitted a girl suffering from menstrual cramps so severe that she tried to jump off a building! This is a matter of life and death! Wanda can't wait any longer!"

The young nurse burst into tears. “But the young lady can't wait either! The donated heart will become inactivated after a while and there will be no way to transplant it again. Besides, the transplant doctors can't treat menstrual cramps. What's wrong with keeping them here for the young lady's surgery...?”

Suddenly, James grabbed the nurse by the hair and slammed her against the operating room door. Gritting his teeth, he roared fiercely, “Who the hell do you think you are, meddling like this? Stop calling her ‘Young Lady’ in front of me. This hospital will bear the Hawthorn name sooner or later!”

James's words sent a chill down my spine. So, it seemed he had been thinking about this for a while now …

Back then, when he was just an average resident, it was my parents who propelled him to where he is today.

The bone-chilling chill spread from my back to my whole body and then my legs went weak and I fell straight to the floor.

The loud thud drew the attention of the people outside. The operating room door was yanked open from the outside and James rushed inside anxiously.

His gaze immediately landed on my phone, which was still lit up from the message I'd just sent to my parents. The screen was still on their reply page.

He glanced at the brief “Okay” and flashed a wary, anxious smile. "Mabel, what did you tell your parents? Didn't we agree, we won't tell your parents about today's surgery so that they wouldn't be worried?"

My hand stiffened as I snatched the phone back as quickly as possible.

“I didn't tell them. I just messaged to say I had a meeting. I was worried they'd call during my surgery and no one would answer.”

James exhaled in relief, scooped me up in his arms and whispered in my ear, “Look at you. If you need your phone, just call me. You're about to have surgery. If you hurt yourself, I'd be heartbroken.”

In my previous life, my desperate resistance only earned his cold indifference. This time, I wouldn't be so foolish.

Fighting back my nausea, I replied to James, "James, when will my surgery start? My anesthesiologist left in a hurry after administering half the injection. Did something happen?"

James held my hand and explained gently with tender eyes, "There was a major car accident in the city center just now and a lot of critically ill patients were brought to the emergency center, but don't worry, it won't delay our operation. I'll arrange for the doctor to come over.’

I grabbed James's sleeve. “Alright, James, I trust you. I've made up my mind. If my surgery is successful, I'll have Mom and Dad hand this hospital over to you.”

A flicker of excitement and complex emotion shone in James's eyes. He paused for a few seconds, kissed my forehead and left with a smile.

A few minutes later, a doctor in a white coat came in.

I looked at him and immediately a sense of relief came over me. Perhaps my words had made a difference, or maybe he was worried about the message I’d sent to my parents, but either way, in this life, he finally sent an expert.

I looked at the heart beside me—the one I’d waited eight years for—and breathed a sigh of relief. I had finally passed the first hurdle of my rebirth.

But I never imagined that trouble would still find its way...

Halfway through the surgery, a jet of crimson blood spurted out from my chest cavity.

The professor's face immediately turned deathly pale. He nervously swallowed repeatedly, called a nurse and whispered urgently, “Go! Get Director Hawthorn here! Bring the last remaining dose of that hemostatic medicine! It's a matter of life and death! Hurry!”

That hemostatic medicine was a secret formula passed down in our Jameson Family and there was one left in our generation. The medicine could pull back from the brink of death in critical moments.

A few minutes later, James rushed in from the outside with the medicine in his hand.

The professor rushed over to take it from him, but he shoved him aside.

“Professor Donovan, this is a lifesaving medicine! Mabel's ECG readings are all within normal range—is it really necessary to use such potent medication?”

Professor Donovan's voice trembled with urgency. "Director Hawthorn, the readings appear normal only because of the equipment! The young lady just suffered massive hemorrhaging! Hand over the medicine now! If we delay, she won't survive!”

James leaned forward and glanced at me. "If there is a severe hemorrhage, just get blood from the blood bank! You only think about this medicine when trouble hits—what good are you then?”

"I had called the blood bank, but it takes time to get the blood. Young lady can't wait any longer!"

James still did not move.

Professor Donovan did not want to argue anymore. He stepped forward to snatch the medicine from James's hand, but at that moment, a young nurse rushed in and grabbed James's hand.

"Director Hawthorn, something happened! Miss Gilmore cut her wrist because of the unbearable pain …"

Before she could finish, James flung Professor Donovan's hand away and stormed out of the operating room.

Before leaving, he glared at Professor Donovan and barked, “I'm taking this medicine to save Wanda's life. You figure out a solution here. If anything goes wrong, I'll punish you."

Professor Donovan was so furious that he paced back and forth in the operating room.

Outside, a young nurse picked up her phone and held it before him. “Director Hawthorn is so biased! That Gilmore girl only cut her wrist with a nail-sized gash. Why should she get that medicine instead of our young lady?”

I listened to the chaos unfolding in the operating room through a haze. But compared to the physical agony of open-heart surgery, the pain in my heart now felt ten thousand times worse.

Fortunately, Professor Donovan had years of experience and connections in the medical field. In addition, my father had always treated him well during his time at the hospital, so he did everything he could for me. After about ten minutes, the blood from the blood bank finally arrived.

When the surgery neared the end, Professor Donovan held me, who was now awake, with tears in his eyes. "Miss, this is all Uncle Donovan can do for you. Since the surgery was interrupted midway and the blood transfusion was delayed, there will likely be many serious complications after the surgery. You must not get too emotional, or your life will still be in danger."

I watched him breathe a sigh of relief.

“It's okay. At least the heart is replaced. Life will be easier than before...”

Yes, this time around, after being reborn, at least I had survived. After all, the heart I had waited eight long years for was too precious to lose.

All the way from the operating room to the ward, the entire hospital felt eerily silent—there wasn’t a single person around. Patients on every floor called out for the doctor over and over again, but no one answered.

Professor Donovan, who was pushing my bed, shook his head and sighed repeatedly.