The Donor's Trick

The bedroom still clung to the sticky haze of desire.

Jeffrey Moss's phone on the nightstand lit up with a message sprawled across the lock screen. "Jeffrey, Emma's pushing again. The doctor said the surgery has to happen soon. Have you... sorted out Amelia yet?"

Amelia Fuller leaned against the headboard and reached out on impulse to grab the phone. She unlocked it.

In the chat, the contact marked as Caiden Phillips turned out to be Jeffrey's buddy.

Maybe because there had been no reply for too long, the other side fired off a string of messages. "Emma can't wait any longer. Hurry up, man. Amelia hasn't gotten suspicious, right? But don't worry. I already greased the wheels at the organ transplant center. Just need you to sweet-talk her onto the operating table. Such high compatibility. It's like the universe is helping Emma."

Finally, there was a PDF file with a red mark that had been sent back and forth.

Amelia's physical exam report showed all her data matched a woman named Emma Foster at 95 percent.

The shower shut off in the bathroom. Amelia mechanically put the phone back in place and lay down.

Jeffrey emerged with the fresh scent of body wash and leaned in to wrap an arm around her out of habit.

Amelia started to pull away, but the phone rang right on cue. Jeffrey let go of her almost instantly.

A few seconds later, he bent down to plant a kiss on the top of her head and said gently, "The office has an emergency. I need to handle it. Sleep early. Don't wait up."

Amelia kept her eyes shut tight until she heard the front door click shut. Then she got up and sat at Jeffrey's computer desk.

After five years of dating, Jeffrey never took his phone into the bathroom.

Amelia had always trusted him. She never snooped, not even on his phone.

The computer had his chat app open. Naturally, he forgot to log out.

Amelia's fingers shook as she tapped the trackpad. The chat with someone named Emma stared back from the pinned spot.

The last message had gone out ten minutes earlier. "Suddenly craving that pastry from the alley behind the university district. You used to sneak over the wall to buy it for me. My chest feels stuffy now. I can't eat anything. Just thinking about that one bite."

"Stop messing around. I'll come over now. No pastry. Eat the nutrition plan the doctor set first."

The so-called emergency turned out to be another woman's craving for pastry.

Amelia felt her hands and feet plunge into ice water. Her fingers trembled as she scrolled the mouse.

She did not suspect. She masochistically hunted for proof they had once loved each other.

She searched for even the tiniest trace that could prove these five years of sincerity were not a complete joke.

The chat history stretched long with Emma's messages that alternated between coquettish whining and complaints about her illness.

Jeffrey replied with patience and indulgence Amelia had never seen. He cared about every test result and remembered her preferences down to the details.

Scattered among them were bits about Amelia herself.

"You come see me so often. Won't your girlfriend get mad? She seems pretty into you."

"Don't worry. She's easy to placate. And her kidney compatibility is so high. Once she donates it to you, everything will be fine."

Every word carved into Amelia's heart.

She lost track of how long she scrolled until she lifted a hand to her cheek and felt it soaked.

All these five years of love had been for her two kidneys that matched Emma so well.

But Jeffrey did not know, years ago, Amelia had already donated her left kidney to a uremia patient who had waited for ages.