Chapter 1

My husband, Zachary Henson, had always believed parallel universes were real.

When our son's candy went missing, he comforted him by saying the version of him in the other universe would have twice as much.

When a pair of gold earrings turned up in my things out of nowhere, his smile came out strained.

"The Doris Dickerson in that other universe must be losing her mind looking for these."

Little by little, I started to believe it too.

Until one day, he told me he had crossed into the other universe.

He said the other version of himself, the one in the parallel world, had married his ex-girlfriend and even had a son with her.

I pressed my fingers to my temples.

His ex, Bella Cobb, had been my closest friend all through college.

After I married him, she drifted further and further away from us.

Last week she was diagnosed with leukemia, and she became one of Zachary's patients.

And my son, born with a congenital blood disease, was in the same ward as her. Both of them were waiting for a marrow match.

I was rushing to bring my son his meal, so I didn't dwell on it.

But when I got home, I found the door code had been changed.

Zachary looked at me the way you'd look at a stranger.

He said he had come from another universe, and that his wife was Bella Cobb.

When we got to the hospital, he threw his arms around Bella and wept like his heart was breaking.

And when he opened his mouth to say he was giving the marrow my son had waited six months for to Bella,

that was when it hit me.

"Your son isn't going to die in the next hour or two. Since I'm here, I'm going to save my wife."

"You wait for the Zachary from this universe to come back, and let him figure something out for you."

I dragged the corner of my mouth into a smile.

I sent a message to the first love who had just come home.

【You find a way to save my son, and I'll divorce him immediately.】

1.

He replied in a heartbeat.

【Done.】

I planted myself in front of Zachary and said, hard and flat.

"I don't care where you came from. My son has waited six months for this match."

"You have no right to take it."

Bella lay on the hospital bed, her face bloodless.

She looked wasted down to nothing, her hand still clutching a fistful of Zachary's shirt.

"Zachary, don't do this."

"We never got our happy ending in this life. Just knowing that in another universe we're married is enough for me."

My scalp prickled.

My father walked in, pushing us along.

"The specialist from New York is already waiting in the OR. Why isn't Julian in there yet?"

This was a top surgeon my father had pulled strings to bring in from New York, one of those flying-in specialists.

They'd given up their off hours, all for Julian.

"Whatever the three of you have going on, it can wait behind Julian!"

"I already collected a sample. If this donor turns out to match Bella, then Bella gets the surgery first."

Zachary's words twisted my father's face.

He stared at him, unable to believe it.

"What did you say?"

Zachary said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Julian's been waiting here in the hospital so long, he's used to it by now."

"But Bella is different. She can't afford to wait."

I drew in a slow breath.

"Julian is your son too!"

"He can't afford to wait either!"

His expression didn't soften at all.

"I'm Bella Cobb's attending physician. I have to be responsible for my patient."

I clenched my jaw and stopped pinning any hope on him.

This was not some swapping of people between universes.

He had decided long ago to give this match to Bella Cobb.

Ever since Julian got sick, Zachary had been right there in the hospital, yet he'd barely come to the ward to see his own child.

After Bella was admitted, he became a different man.

Not only did he take over as her attending physician, he even reached out to fellow students under his old mentor, bringing them in to consult on her case.

This flying-in specialist too.

He must have reached out for one as well.

He'd just been slower than me, which was why he was stalling now.

Stalling so the match results would come back, and then Bella could have the surgery.

My heart felt like someone had thrown it on the ground and stamped on it, hard.

All these years, I'd known he had no love for me.

But it had never crossed my mind that he could be cold enough to give up on his own child.

Julian's attending physician, Grayson Chavez, was Zachary's senior fellow under the same mentor.

Seeing the state of our ward, he couldn't help pressing.

"Why isn't the surgery underway yet?"

"Don't you know the specialist is already waiting?"

Zachary frowned.

"Grayson, didn't I already tell you? We're waiting for Bella's match to come back."

"The specialist is here anyway. What does it matter who gets the surgery?"

Grayson was choked by his attitude, and couldn't hold back.

"I understand wanting to be responsible for your patient, but this match is what Julian has been waiting for all this time."

"Julian is my patient. Fine, you never cared much for your own son on an ordinary day."

"But at a moment like this, how can you..."

Zachary answered with righteous conviction.

"It's precisely because he's my child that he can't be treated as a special case."

"If I really let him have the surgery first, wouldn't everything descend into chaos after that?"

Grayson's eyes went wide, finding him utterly absurd.

"Your son's procedure is fully legal and by the book. You..."

Zachary's complete indifference left him with nothing to say, so he turned to me.

"The boy can have the surgery right now. Come with me to sign the forms."

I looked at him with gratitude.

"Grayson, thank you."

Zachary shot to his feet.

"Don't you dare sign!"