Chapter 4
Emma stared at the envelope for a long time.
It felt heavier than paper should.
She had already learned that Noah had known her since childhood.
What secret could possibly be bigger than that?
With trembling fingers...
She broke the seal.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
Twenty-three pages.
Every page numbered.
At the bottom of the first page, Noah had written:
Please finish reading before you judge me.
Emma took a slow breath.
Then began.
Dear Emma,
If you're reading this, then you've already opened Gift #87.
That means you've waited exactly as I hoped you would.
Thank you.
Because if you had opened this while I was still alive...
You would have tried to stop me.
Emma frowned.
"Stop you... from what?"
She turned the page.
When I was twelve years old...
My father died waiting for a heart transplant.
Emma's eyes widened.
Noah had rarely spoken about his father.
He only ever said,
"He was a good man."
She kept reading.
The hospital found a donor six hours too late.
Six hours.
For years, I hated the world because of that number.
I promised myself that if I could ever save someone else's life... I wouldn't hesitate.
Emma felt her chest tighten.
She remembered...
Years ago...
Noah had insisted they both register as organ donors.
At the time, she hadn't thought much about it.
She turned another page.
When the doctors diagnosed my cancer...
I asked them only one question.
'Will any part of me still be healthy enough to help someone else?'
Emma stopped breathing.
"No..."
She whispered.
The next page contained copies of medical forms.
Highlighted in yellow were Noah's signatures.
Organ donation authorization.
Bone marrow registry.
Cornea donation.
Research consent.
Every space had been checked.
Every line signed.
Tears blurred Emma's vision.
He hadn't spent his final months preparing only birthday gifts.
He had spent them making sure every part of him that could save another person...
Would.
She reached the final pages.
Then suddenly froze.
There was another document.
Unlike the others...
It wasn't signed by Noah.
It was signed by a hospital director.
Across the top were the words:
CONFIDENTIAL RECIPIENT RECORD
Emma frowned.
"Recipient?"
She slowly lowered her eyes.
Then...
Everything around her disappeared.
The recipient's name read:
Emma Carter
Her heart stopped.
"No..."
She whispered.
"No..."
She turned the page frantically.
Medical dates.
Operation reports.
Recovery notes.
Everything pointed to one impossible truth.
Three years earlier...
During what Noah had called a "routine surgery"...
Emma hadn't received a donor organ from a stranger.
She had received one...
From Noah.
While he was still alive.
A memory crashed back into her mind.
She had been diagnosed with severe liver failure.
Doctors said she would probably wait months for a compatible donor.
Instead...
A match had appeared almost immediately.
She remembered asking Noah,
"Who saved me?"
He had smiled.
"A very generous person."
She never questioned it.
Now she knew why.
Noah had donated part of his own liver.
Secretly.
Without ever telling her.
Emma collapsed onto the bedroom floor.
"You idiot..."
She cried.
"You beautiful..."
"...selfless idiot."
She rushed back to the laptop.
The video resumed automatically.
Almost as if Noah had expected this exact moment.
He smiled gently.
"So..."
"I guess you know now."
Emma nodded through tears.
Even though he couldn't see her.
"You were angry when I kept visiting the hospital."
He laughed softly.
"You thought I was hiding another woman."
"I wasn't."
"I was healing."
Emma remembered every argument.
Every accusation.
Every cold silence.
Every apology that had never seemed enough.
"I asked every doctor not to tell you."
"Because if you knew..."
"You would've refused the transplant."
He was right.
She would have.
Without hesitation.
Noah leaned closer to the camera.
"I've never regretted it."
"Not for one second."
"Even if I had known I'd only get a few years afterward..."
"I would've made the same choice."
Emma buried her face in her hands.
She had spent years believing Noah gave her happiness.
Now she realized...
He had given her life itself.
The screen slowly faded.
But before it went black...
Noah smiled one last time.
"Oh..."
"One more thing."
Emma looked up.
"If you're watching this..."
"...someone should be knocking on your front door."
She frowned.
"What?"
Exactly then...
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Emma's blood ran cold.
She slowly turned toward the apartment entrance.
No one knew she was home.
No one knew about the blue room.
No one...
Except Noah.
She walked toward the front door.
Her hand rested on the doorknob.
A voice called softly from the other side.
"Emma?"
"I'm sorry to come without calling..."
"My name is Lily."
There was a long pause.
May you like
Then the stranger whispered words that made Emma's knees nearly give way.
"I'm alive today because of Noah."
