The Borrowed Tomorrow

The phone rang for a long time before someone finally picked up. "Hello?"

There was a smugness in Jeannie's voice that she could not quite hide.

"You took the medication?" I asked without wasting time.

Jeannie let out an icy laugh on the other end. "So what if I did? Carson, if you won't donate your kidney, what's wrong with me taking a few vials of medicine? The drugs belong to the hospital anyway. Just write them off as damaged or missing. Do you really have to be this stingy?"

I walked over to the window and looked down at the busy crowd moving through the streets below. "That medication isn't something you can use casually."

Jeannie exploded immediately. "Stop trying to scare me! I already asked other doctors. It's the newest anti-rejection breakthrough drug, and Elliot feels so much better after taking it!"

I lifted an eyebrow. "He already took it?"

"That's right!" Jeannie's voice shot up several octaves. "I already gave him one injection! Carson, let me tell you something. Once Elliot gets better, I'm leaving with him immediately.

"As for the 500,000 dollars in wedding funds, consider it payment for those few vials of medicine. We're even!"

I almost laughed at her absurd logic.

Five hundred thousand dollars in wedding funds and three vials of a priceless experimental drug that was still in clinical trials. Yet, she thought a casual 'We're even' settled everything.

"Jeannie, do you even know that drug causes severe immune suppression? If he really is—"

"Shut up!" She cut me off so abruptly that I could not finish. "You're just jealous of Elliot! You don't want to see him recover! First, you made up lies about him having AIDS, and now, you're trying to scare me with side effects? Carson, how can you be so vicious?"

I held the phone farther away to keep her shrill screaming from rupturing my eardrums.

"I'm vicious?"

"I'm warning you, if you dare call the police on me, I'll expose you online for refusing to donate your kidney! I'll make sure the whole internet knows you're a hypocrite who lets people die! I'll ruin your reputation!"

After screaming herself breathless, she seemed to be waiting for me to beg.

I stayed silent for two seconds before answering, "Do whatever you want. I just hope you won't regret it."

Then, I hung up. The screen went dark in my hand. I walked over to the sink and carefully washed my hands.

She had taken the bait.

If she insisted on driving herself into a dead end, there was no reason for me to stop her anymore.

That afternoon, the head of security came to see me. "Mr. Lloyd, about your desk drawer being forced open, do you want us to contact the police?"

I shook my head. "No need. I accidentally lost the key, and I had already moved the medication elsewhere."

The head of security visibly relaxed. "That's good. The drug is still in clinical trials. It'll be a huge problem if it's actually gone missing."

After he left, I sat back down in my office chair. Suddenly, my phone began vibrating nonstop. It was the hospital group chat. Someone had posted a video link and tagged me.

[Dr. Lloyd, you need to see this! Someone's spreading rumors about you online!]

I tapped the link, and a bold headline filled the screen: [Cold-Blooded Doctor Refuses to Save a Life, Killing Fiancée's First Love to Keep Their Wedding Fund for Himself]

The thumbnail showed Jeannie with tears streaming down her face.

I leaned back in my chair. "The show's finally starting."

In the video, Jeannie was wearing an old T-shirt that looked faded from countless washes. Her hair was messy, and her face looked pale and exhausted. She stared into the camera, crying so hard that it seemed she could barely breathe.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Jeannie. My fiancé is Carson, an attending physician at Central City Hospital. My first love, Elliot, was diagnosed with kidney failure yesterday and urgently needs a transplant.

"Carson's the perfect match, but he refuses to donate because he wants to keep all 500,000 dollars of our shared savings for himself! He even forged a fake AIDS report and used it to slander Elliot!

"Elliot is only 25 years old! He's never even held a girl's hand. How could he possibly have a disease like that?"