Clutching her first-aid bag, she started the rescue mission with the other villagers. Since they had no technology, they could only shout and wait for responses from beneath the rubble. Once they detected a response, everyone would stop and dig through it.Even though some victims were rescued successfully, the rescue mission was too slow to be effective. Jenny felt anxious as the clock ticked away. However, there was nothing she could do about it."Chief, is the landline connected?" After performing first aid, Jenny went up to the village chief to ask. In their situation, they needed to establish contact with the outside world as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the chief shook his head, looking despondent. "No. We only have one landline in the village. But the cables were damaged, and we couldn't find anyone to repair them right away. I'm afraid we'll be cut off for a while."Jenny frowned and stared at the collapsed houses they had yet to check. She was sorrowful and pleaded, "
Crawling through the hole, Jenny followed the sounds of crying and quickly located the kids, who were lucky enough to be hiding in the corner of the wall, forming a triangle of life that spared them from being crushed by the rubble.She walked over and called out softly, "Lilian, Justin, are you hurt?"The kids were shocked to hear someone speaking, and they broke into tears when they recognized Jenny. "Jenny!"They crawled out and quickly ran to her, finally crying out loud when they were safe in her arms. She comforted them until their crying softened. Then, she confirmed with them again, "Are you hurt?"The kids shook their heads, but tears welled up in their eyes again. "Daddy and Mommy are still in there…"Her gaze followed the direction they were pointing. She saw nothing but a collapsed wall and guessed that the couple must have been in another room when the earthquake struck. Since she hadn't heard a sound from them after entering the house, she knew things weren't looking
"Dr. Walter? Is that Jenny Walter? What happened to her?" Alec's expression became serious, and he stared intently at the chief. The chief froze upon seeing the grave look in Alec's eyes, but he soon recovered. "She's buried under a collapsed house."Alec almost lost his balance from hearing that. "What?"Despite his speedy arrival, he was still too late for her. Standing in front of the rubble where she was buried, he immediately commanded people to start digging. As he had gone in a hurry, he only brought some simple tools instead of huge excavating machines. Even so, using the tools was much better than having the villagers dig with their hands. The villagers immediately jumped into the rescue mission after receiving the tools. Underneath the rubble, Jenny and Justin huddled in a corner. She ignored the pain in her right calf and scanned the area for a way out. She was discouraged when she realized they were trapped without any chance of escaping."Jenny, am I going to die he
The man approached them until he was standing right in front of her."Alec…Faust?" She stared at the familiar face in disbelief and wondered if it was an illusion."Yes. Can you walk?" He was overcome by an inexplicable mix of emotions when he found her safe and sound. He wanted so badly to pull her into an embrace, but he decided to act cautiously, worried that she might flinch at his touch.She nodded at him in a daze and didn't ask questions about his arrival. She looked at Justin in her arms. "Can you lift him out?""Sure," Alec readily agreed and took Justin from her. However, he waited for her to go with him. It took him much difficulty to get to her, and he wanted to make sure she was in his sight.She propped herself up with a hand on the wall and limped behind him as she endured the pain from her right calf. Noticing her limping, he halted and bent over. "Get on. I'll carry you.""No…no, I can walk." She shook her head. How could she possibly have him carry her on his ba
Jenny blushed at the village chief's assumption. She was about to clarify her relationship with Alec, but he spoke at the same time, "Let's get your wound treated. I've asked Vincent to bring a rescue team here. They should arrive soon.""Okay." She didn't object to it because she needed to treat her right calf injury lest it became infected.Alec helped her to a temporary tent. He immediately got a pair of scissors and cut off her jeans at the calf area to reveal a bloody wound."I'll do it myself." She felt a little embarrassed, His presence was touching enough for her, and she would not expect more from him. Ignoring her, he went to work. He rinsed, disinfected, and bandaged her wound seamlessly. This came as a surprise to her. When he was done, he reminded her, "Get a good rest, and don't move around.""I'm fine, but there must be a lot of injured villagers. I need to quickly treat their wound." She was the only doctor around. Alec frowned at her words. She was his priority
Justin, about your parents…" Jenny stared at the sensible child in front of him as she struggled to explain the death of his parents. Compared to her, he was more forthright on the topic. "I know that Mommy and Daddy went to heaven. They became stars and will look after Lilian and me from the sky."She was taken aback. "Stars?""Yes, Alec told me that." The five-year-old nodded. He was too young to grasp the concept of death."Does Alec have a soft side to him?" Jenny wondered. Right then, Alec walked into the tent, and they looked at each other. She asked, "Has the rescue ended?""Yes, for now." He nodded. "Without more advanced detectors, we can't tell where the buried victims are. We can only wait for the rescue team to arrive."After a day's hard work, everyone was tired to the bone. It was counterproductive to request that they blindly search for victims. The best thing everyone could do was to wait.The fact weighed heavily on her heart. She understood that Alec was stati
In Jenny's eyes, Alec was never a kind and merciful person. He went silent because he understood what she was implying. "I'll turn in the evidence proving she had hired the assassin, but the Blooms will definitely help her out. I assume that she won't go to jail.""You have the capability to drag someone down if you put your mind to it." She chuckled, thinking that Alec was making excuses."Jenny, I probably haven't told you stories from my childhood. Are you interested?" He suddenly changed the topic and looked at her as he took a trip down memory lane.She was confused by the random mention and thought he deliberately wanted to change the topic. She felt infuriated but didn't refuse to listen because she was interested in his past.A long time ago, Alec's dad and Max's mom eloped, leaving Alec and his mom behind. He was a young child then, but he was acutely aware of the changes in his family. Despite that, he was sensible enough not to ask questions. Instead, he gave his best in
Jenny was ready to retort by clarifying that she backed down because it was impossible to take action on Yvonne, who had married into the Blooms. She didn't show Yvonne mercy for Alec's sake.However, she was interrupted by a villager who hurried over. "We heard crying from Clearwater Elementary! Some kids are still trapped under the school! The village chief wants me to inform you, Dr. Walter.""Alright. I'll head over." She snapped back to reality and quickly packed her first-aid supplies. Similarly, Alec was pulled back to reality, but he didn't complain about the interruption because rescuing victims was the priority."I'll hold that for you." He reached out to take the bag from her when she was about to put it on. Since she was focused on the rescue, she didn't refuse his help. After the initial earthquake, Jenny had once rushed to Clearwater Elementary and saved a few children. Since the villagers didn't hear any other response from below the rubble, they left to help the ot