Chapter 4

The sharp ring of a phone broke through my thoughts.

I unplugged the charging cable and answered almost immediately.

“Emma, Sophia’s craving your chicken noodle soup. Make it and bring it to St. George’s Hospital now.”

Edward barked the command and hung up before I could respond. I quickly prepared the soup and hailed a cab to the hospital.

When I opened the door to Sophia’s private room, Edward was sitting by her bedside, gently stroking her shoulder, whispering soothing words until she drifted off to sleep.

As soon as he saw me, his tender demeanor vanished. He carefully lowered Sophia’s head onto the pillow, then dragged me out into the hallway, his grip rough and angry.

“Are you doing this on purpose, Emma? Taking your sweet time, knowing full well Sophia was waiting for you!”

Without waiting for an answer, he opened the thermos, and before I could react, he dumped the soup straight into the rubbish bin.

Edward’s face was like stone, his jaw clenched with the effort to contain his rage. He looked ready to lash out at me again, but the sound of crying from the room pulled his attention back to Sophia.

He threw me one last furious glare and rushed back inside.

“Edward, don’t worry about me. My kidney failure is getting worse... That’s why I left you all those years ago—to seek treatment abroad. But there’s been no donor. I’m dying... I just wanted to come home and see you one last time.”

“It won’t come to that. Don’t say such things.”

Edward gritted his teeth, his voice tight with the effort of reassurance. “You’re the one who found Dr. Vincent. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to walk, let alone dance. I owe you everything. I’ll donate my kidney to you. I won’t let you suffer.”

I stood frozen. My mind couldn’t process what I’d just heard.

It was me who had sacrificed everything to give Edward his legs back, not Sophia.

Sophia glanced at me over Edward’s shoulder, a smug, taunting glimmer in her eyes as she wrapped herself more tightly around him.

“Edward, I’ll never take your kidney. You need both to stay healthy, and if you only have one, you’ll never be able to dance again. But maybe Emma could give me hers? She doesn’t do much with her life. What’s the harm in losing a kidney?”

Edward considered the suggestion and slowly turned toward me.

“Emma, why don’t you give Sophia your kidney? I’ll be good to you. I’ll take care of you.”

I shook my head and answered plainly, “I can’t.”

To Edward, it must have seemed like I was being difficult, selfish. But in truth, I literally couldn’t donate my kidney. The body I was trapped in was full of wires and metal, not organs.

Edward’s face twisted with fury, interpreting my refusal as cold indifference.

“What do you mean you can’t? Are you really so heartless that you’d let her die? I can’t believe I ever saved someone as selfish as you.”

He raised his voice, shouting, “I gave you your life back! You owe me this! You can’t just refuse!”

Human emotions are messy and complicated, too complex for a machine to grasp. But as a robot, I could only repeat myself mechanically, “I can’t.”

It wasn’t hard to see that Edward was on the verge of losing control.

He glared at me, his voice dropping to an icy tone. “Fine, have it your way. But I’m telling you, Emma, you will donate that kidney.”

The machine received his command. Despite how unnatural it seemed to comply, my programming—rooted in love and obedience—made me slowly nod in agreement.

Edward’s anger melted into relief as he called for a doctor, watching eagerly as I was wheeled into surgery. He held Sophia close, his eyes gleaming with joy.

“Sophia, we’ll be back to dancing together in no time.”

But their joy didn’t last long.

The surgeon emerged from the operating room, his face a mix of confusion and disbelief.

“Are you having a laugh? This isn’t a person! It’s... It’s a machine!”