Five Years as Spare Parts

After a miscarriage, Lena lies in a hospital bed while her husband William, a doctor, coldly tells her the lost baby is convenient: part of her uterus can now be transplanted into Juliet, his first love, who cannot bear children. He calls it the medically optimal solution and her chance to atone for occupying Juliet's place for five years. When Lena refuses, he threatens to stop her father's medication.

William slaps her, has a nurse prepare her for surgery, and parades Juliet into the room, where Juliet pretends to fall and William strikes Lena again. To force her consent, he phones the hospital and orders her father's ventilator stopped; the alarm echoing down the hallway breaks her. She kneels and agrees to sign, and he schedules the operation for eight o'clock the next morning.

Left alone in the dark, listening to her father's weak heartbeat, Lena remembers the five years she gave up medical school and worked three jobs to support William, and the Lena she once was dies inside her.