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Before Donating, I Saw the 60% Match—Not Cutting This Kidney!
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Before I gave my mother a kidney, I happened to catch sight of the transplant match numbers floating above everyone's heads. Over my sister, the favorite since childhood, was 80%. My fraternal twin br...
章節（4）
第1章
Right before I gave my kidney to save my mother, I happened to see the transplant match numbers floating above everyone's heads.
Above my sister, the one who'd been doted on all her life, was 80%.
Above my twin brother, born only minutes apart from me, was 85%.
I blinked, not believing it, and found an excuse to go to the restroom.
Only to see that above my own head sat just 60%.
My whole body went rigid. I told myself it had to be pre-surgery nerves, some hallucination.
Then I heard my mother, her voice low, warning my sister and brother.
"Not a word about the match numbers, do you hear me!"
"Leonora Walker's getting married soon. I won't drag her down."
"And Rupert Walker's a man. He can't go ruining his body over me!"
After all that tenderness, when she finally brought me up, there was only one line left.
"That one's husband cheated on her anyway, and the baby in her belly's about to be gone. Giving up one kidney is no big deal for her."
The words were sharp, like a needle driven straight into my heart.
To trick her into agreeing to the transplant, I'd deliberately put on an act with my husband, Clyde Farley, and I'd nearly aborted the only firstborn grandchild of the Farley family.
I never imagined I was the child with the lowest match in the whole family.
Then this kidney? I'm not giving it.
1
"Secretary Chavez, send a car for me now."
Staring at that clear 60% above my head, I called Ivan Chavez.
A bitter smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.
"Right away, Mrs. Walker. I'll have a car come for you."
"Should I contact Mr. Farley?"
"...Not yet."
I thought of Clyde, whose overseas acquisition had reached its critical stage.
After a few seconds' hesitation, I said no.
I hung up and slid the phone into my bag.
【Aria's Pregnancy Log Group】
A text popped up.
【Aria, did you get rid of the baby?】
【I don't mean anything by it. I just know your donation surgery is coming up, and I want to build your strength back.】
【Aria, please don't read too much into it!】
My mother-in-law sent one message after another.
When I still didn't reply, she finally just wired over a million.
【Aria, this is a little something from me.】
【Buy yourself plenty of the things you like to eat.】
I held my phone, and my eyes went damp before I could stop them.
Seven years married to Clyde, and I'd put my career first and never had a child.
The Farleys never once pushed me.
Even this time, when I insisted on aborting the baby so I could donate a kidney to my mother.
They quietly supported me too.
The laughable part was my own birth mother.
She'd lied to me, out of nothing but favoritism.
【Mom, I'm keeping the baby.】
I typed fast and had just sent the message.
When the restroom door was pounded hard.
"Aria Walker, what are you doing in there?!"
"Don't tell me you've changed your mind about giving Mom a kidney?!"
"You're the only one of us three who matches. You can't back out now!"
Rupert's voice came through, thick with impatience.
I reached out and opened the door, and without a word, I slapped him across the face.
"Rupert, I'm your older sister. Watch how you speak to me!"
Rupert froze from the slap, fury in his eyes.
He was about to hit me back when Leonora yanked him away.
"Don't be angry, Aria. Rupert was just worried something might happen to you in there."
"After all, it's almost time for the miscarriage—"
"I'm not going through with the miscarriage."
I cut Leonora off, saying it flat and plain.
"And I won't be donating the kidney either."
"What?"
"Aria, what are you saying?"
"You're the only one who matches. If you don't donate, what happens to Mom?"
"Do you want to just stand there and watch Mom suffer until it kills her?"
Leonora wiped at her tears and shouted the words out.
The ward door wasn't shut all the way, and the other patients crowded close, muttering their outrage.
"What an ungrateful wretch!"
"Raising a child like that would be enough to drop you dead!"
"Not a shred of devotion. Someone like that ought to get hit by a car the second she steps outside!"
Every cursing word carried into my ears.
I looked again at the 80% and 85% floating above their heads.
And said it calmly.
"I'm going to contact the county hospital and pull up your transplant match results."
第2章
Back when Mom's condition turned critical, the kidney match test had been done at the county hospital.
It never once crossed my mind that they'd band together and lie to me.
"You already got the results!"
"You just don't want to donate, so you're making up excuses!"
Rupert flew into a rage all at once, cursing at me.
The corner of my mouth curved into a mocking smile.
"I want to see your match results."
"If I don't see them, I'm not donating the kidney."
That said, I didn't argue any further. I turned and left.
All the way down to the hospital entrance, Ivan attentively hailed a car and held the door for me.
"Mrs. Walker, are we going back to the old Farley estate, or to the old apartment you rented?"
"The apartment first. I need to pick something up."
After Mom's condition became critical, I'd rushed back right away to do the match test.
When she learned I was the only match, her eyes filled with fear, and she brought up Clyde.
"Will Clyde really let you donate a kidney?"
"You're carrying the Farley family's only grandson."
"The Farleys won't come after our family over this, will they?"
At the time, all I cared about was her illness.
So I told a lie.
I said my marriage to Clyde had long been dead in name only.
I said Clyde had already cheated on me with an actress.
And that I'd been thrown out, left with nowhere to live but an old apartment.
The look of sheer relief that had washed over Mom's face surfaced in my mind again.
Back home, I looked at Dad's urn and the memorial photo in his police uniform.
My eyes stung with tears.
"Dad, in the end I broke my promise after all."
"I can't let go of the resentment and the knot in my heart."
"This time, I don't want to be dragged along and hurt by her favoritism again."
"You'll understand me, won't you?"
I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes and carried Dad's ashes and photo downstairs.
Just as I reached the door, Ivan's frantic voice came from below.
"You can't go up there!"
"Mrs. Walker doesn't want to see you!"
"Doesn't want to see us?!"
"And she went out of her way to hire you to put on an act?!"
"Mrs. Walker? Aria was kicked out of the Farley family ages ago!"
Rupert finished, cocky as ever.
Then the "buddies" he'd brought along suddenly shoved Ivan down, slamming him into the shabby wall.
"Aria, you ungrateful little snake, get out here!"
"Your abortion appointment is almost here. If you don't go through with it, what happens to tomorrow's kidney transplant?!"
"Are you just going to stand there and watch Mom die?!"
After bellowing all of it through a loudhailer, Rupert smugly dialed his girlfriend.
"Don't worry, Shauna. There's no way the kidney's coming from me, I promise!"
The 85% match reading above Rupert's head swayed with every move he made.
I walked out and helped Ivan up.
"That's deliberate assault. Just report it to the police, Ivan."
"Deliberate assault, what?!"
"Aria, do you even hear yourself?!"
"You clearly hired an actor to block me on purpose!"
There was no fear in his eyes at all. Rupert frowned and gave the silent Leonora a shove.
"Aria, I'm begging you, as your older sister..."
"I'm about to marry into the Kim family in New York. I only want Mom to see me walk down the aisle in my wedding dress."
Every word broke into a sob. Leonora choked the whole thing out through her tears.
I looked at the bold red 80% match reading above her head.
A mocking smile tugged at my lips.
I turned to face Mom, pale-faced, a urine bag hanging at her waist.
And I asked it again, out loud.
"Mom, is my kidney really the only one that matches yours?"
第3章
"Aria, I'm begging you."
"Just give me one kidney!"
"I know I favored the others before. I know I hurt you."
"But it was because I was bedridden for a year after giving birth to you. You can't blame me for that…"
My mother's words, the same ones as always, filled my ears again.
In a haze I saw her again, that girl warped by her mother's cruel favoritism.
The one who grew up with no sense of safety, timid and full of self-doubt.
Rupert and I were twins, born together.
Yet she pinned all the blame on me alone.
"I won't donate."
I said it calmly, then turned without hesitation and got into the car.
"Aria, you have to give up that kidney!"
Rupert wrenched my shoulder back hard.
Dull pain shot through me and I tipped sideways.
I had barely steadied myself when Leonora hooked her foot under mine.
"Crash!"
My father's urn hit the ground.
A gust of wind swept through, carrying a little of the ashes away.
I froze for a second, then yanked off my coat and threw it over the scattered ashes.
"Rupert! Leonora!"
I spun around and slapped them both across the face in fury.
"Smack! Smack!"
The crisp sound of it rang out.
Rupert clutched his cheek, eyes blazing.
"Aria, you want to die!"
He drew his arm back and swung a vicious slap at me.
I twisted aside just in time and steadied myself again.
Then Leonora's voice came, low and venomous.
"Aria, the Delgados won't take a daughter-in-law who's missing a kidney."
"So be a good girl. Lose the baby, and give up the kidney…"
Something rammed into my waist and I went down, sprawling on the ground.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
"Who gave you the nerve to hurt Mrs. Farley and the Farley family's only heir?!"
"Do you have a death wish?!"
Ivan scrambled up, blood streaming down his face, frightened and frantic as he reached to help me.
But one of the "buddies" behind Rupert grabbed him and yanked him back.
"Mrs. Farley?"
"Only heir?"
"Aria, are you addicted to your little act?"
"No wonder Dad always favored you, our resident drama queen!"
"Even on his deathbed, you were the only one he wanted to see!"
Hatred and jealousy twisting his face, Rupert pulled out his phone.
He started a livestream.
"Hey, everyone, long time no see!"
"Today I've got another explosive show for you all!"
"The wife of Clyde Farley, richest man in New York, having a live abortion!"
He sneered the words, then shoved the phone right up to my face.
The pain at my waist had eased a little. I got to my feet and pulled my own phone out of my bag.
Cold-faced, I threw out one line.
"Rupert, I'm giving you one minute. Cut the stream right now!"
"Or the Farleys won't let you walk away…"
"Let me walk away?"
"Aria, quit dreaming!"
"You're not about to tell me Clyde Farley's affair was fake, are you? That he's madly in love with you?"
The streaming phone pushed into my face again.
I frowned and forced out the words again, my voice hoarse.
"Rupert, I'm saying this for the last time!"
"Shut off the stream and take Mom home!"
"Say it ten thousand times, it changes nothing!"
"Aria, today you're getting rid of that baby! And you're giving Mom your kidney!"
Rupert's face darkened. He pulled out a bottle of pills.
"You don't want to go to the hospital? Then we do it with the pills!"
He twisted the cap off and closed in, step by step.
Behind him, Leonora's panicked voice cut in out of nowhere.
"Wait!"
"Rupert, shut off the stream, now!"
"Farley Group just put out a statement setting the record straight…"
第4章
"Clyde Farley denied the affair…"
"And then he shows up at one of the top baby stores in the country."
Leonora forced out every word, her voice shaking a little.
"You mean the affair wasn't real?"
"Then the baby in Aria's belly is the Farley family's only grandson…"
"Sis, are you out of your mind?!"
"You really think Aria's that stupid?"
"Carrying the Farley heir, and she still went and got tested to match Mom, still insisted on giving her a kidney?"
Rupert cut her off, impatient, not the least bit bothered.
"Isn't your fiancé one of the insiders? Just call and ask him yourself!"
He pushed Leonora on it while watching, delighted, as the viewer count in the stream kept climbing.
Leonora hesitated a few seconds, then dialed.
"Rufus Delgado, I know I shouldn't be bothering you right now, but I wanted to ask—"
Before she could finish, the muffled sounds of a man and a woman came through the phone.
Leonora gripped the phone, humiliation held tight behind her eyes.
A few seconds later, the man's irritated voice came on.
"Leonora, what is it?!"
"Rufus, I just wanted to ask, is it true that Clyde Farley cheated?"
"True or not, what does it matter?"
"Insider business isn't yours to dig into!"
"Men are all the same. Home fires burning, side flags flying."
The call cut off.
Leonora's face went red with embarrassment.
"I told you Clyde Farley definitely cheated!"
"That so-called clarification is just to save the Farley family's face!"
The corner of Rupert's mouth curled. He thought he had it all figured out.
I held the phone, my thumb hovering over the button.
Just as I was about to press it.
Mom's pained moaning rose up.
"Aria, Mom really hurts so much…"
"Mom's begging you, just give her one kidney!"
My finger stopped. I looked at her, and the corner of my mouth twisted into a bitter smile.
"Do you know what Dad said to me the last time he saw me?"
"He said he wanted me to try, one day, to make peace with you."
"He said there's no such thing as a mother who doesn't love her children."
The smile stretched wider as I spoke again.
"Back when Clyde Farley and I got married, we needed a parent to attend."
"You were busy going with Leonora to her new company. You turned me down, cold."
"When I was pregnant, sick enough with morning sickness to be hospitalized, I wanted the sweet-and-sour ribs you make."
"You were busy with Rupert's live-stream show. You hung up on me, annoyed."
Word by word, I forced it out of my throat.
I pointed at Dad's portrait.
"Now, look at Dad's ashes and his photo, and say it again."
"Of the three of us, am I really the only one who could match?"
The room went quiet for several seconds.
"Aria, if you won't donate the kidney, you're driving Mom to her death!"
"Mom's already being torn apart by this illness. If you won't give her a kidney, she might as well just throw herself in front of a car and be done with it."
Leonora's voice cut in, threatening, telling her exactly what to do.
Mom froze, then understanding flickered in her eyes.
"Aria, I know I was in the wrong before."
"Getting sick like this now, it's what I brought on myself…"
Choking out the words, she threw herself hard against the Cayenne Ivan had driven over.
"Aria! You drove your own mother to this!"
"All my followers saw it! You ungrateful little wretch!"
"You wanted to call the Farleys, didn't you?!"
"Go on, call them!"
"If they actually show up, I'll eat dog shit on stream!"
I bent down and gathered up Dad's ashes, piece by piece.
Then, just as Rupert wanted, I pressed the call button on my phone.
"Mom, someone here is trying to use force to make me get rid of the Farley family's only grandson."