Who is Your Choice (Genevieve and Nathaniel) novel Chapter 1

Chapter 1

For the third time, Genevieve Kershaw woke up in a ward to the sharp smell of disinfectant.

“Ms. Kershaw, your health is collapsing.” Her doctor nudged his glasses and said solemnly, “The dialysis treatment is failing. You need to get a new kidney as soon as possible.”

Genevieve nodded absentmindedly and dialed Nathaniel Weston’s number.

It rang for a long while before the line cut off.

She tried three more times. Nathaniel never picked up.

Suddenly, her phone buzzed with an Instagram notification.

Elaine Harvey just posted a photo of her hands wrapped together with someone else’s.

Genevieve recognized the watch on the man’s wrist right away.

The caption read: “The person I’ve secretly loved is finally mine. Even if it’s a dream, I hope it never ends.”

Genevieve’s chest tightened. She hit the like button by accident.

The next second, her phone started buzzing nonstop.

“Genny, I can explain.” Nathaniel sounded desperate on the phone. “I only agreed to date Lainey because of you. She told me she loved me, and that she’d give you her kidney if I agreed to be her boyfriend for a month.

“I’m doing this for you. Just give me some time. OK?”

Staring at the white ceiling, Genevieve murmured, “Is it… truly just for me?”

“Perhaps you wanted to do it,” she thought to herself.

Their friends were all familiar with their shared history. Genevieve and Nathaniel grew up together and had been inseparable, from kindergarten all the way through college. To others, he was cold and aloof, but to her, he was nothing but kind and caring.

When Genevieve had cramps, Nathaniel would drive across the city in the dead of night just to buy her favorite dessert. When she mentioned she liked a limited–edition purse, it’d be

delivered to her the next day. On her 20th birthday, as fireworks burst over the sky, he dropped to one knee and proposed “Genny, let’s get married once you graduate.”

Everyone believed Nathaniel loved Genevieve more than anything in the world.

The fairytale fell apart six months ago, when Genevieve was diagnosed with kidney failure.

Nathaniel searched everywhere for a match for her, frantic and desperate, even drafting a will. With tear–filled eyes, he’d said, “Genny, I can’t live without you. If you go, I’m coming with you.”

Finally, he found Elaine Harvey, a young woman with a compatible kidney. He wrote her a check for 850,000 dollars on the spot in exchange for her kidney.

Elaine accepted the offer but delayed the procedure, claiming she was too weak and needed time to improve her health.

Over the past six months, she had turned down the operation three times.

The first time, she fainted from low blood sugar, and Nathaniel stayed by her side in the hospital for three days.

The second time, she said her anxiety was giving her nightmares, and Nathaniel sat with her throughout the therapy all night.

The third time, she suddenly came down with a fever, and Nathaniel left Genevieve, who was on dialysis, to take care of her.

This time, Elaine asked Nathaniel to be her boyfriend for a month in exchange for her kidney.

“Give her another 850,000 dollars,” Genevieve spoke up. “I don’t want you to date her. Just tell her to do the transplant right now. Can you do it?”

Nathaniel fell silent.

After a long pause, he said quietly, “Genny, we owe her a lot. I don’t want to push her.”

Her doctor sighed. “A month at most. You’re getting weaker. If you get a transplant before-”

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