Chapter 7

By the time Yuliana reached the scene, Alyssa's car was already submerged in the ocean. Alyssa was slumped over the steering wheel, unconscious.

Without a second thought, Charlie plunged into the water, fighting the battering waves to reach her.

He swam with everything he had, shouting over the roar of the waves, "Alyssa! Alyssa, don't be afraid! I'm coming for you!"

"It's my fault… It's all my fault," he choked out. "I shouldn't have made you angry. I shouldn't have let you drive off alone. If you hadn't been so upset with me, you wouldn't have been speeding. This never would have happened…"

He trailed off. The mere thought of it seemed to cause him unbearable pain. He took the full weight of the blame upon himself, consumed by remorse.

Yuliana stood on the shore, a memory surfacing of the time she nearly died from an alcohol allergy last year. Back then, Charlie had stayed away, claiming he was buried in overtime. He never once visited her during her entire hospital stay.

The contrast between love and its absence was glaringly obvious.

The saltwater was piercingly cold at this time of year. Charlie's face had turned deathly pale from the cold, yet he pushed forward with a terrifying determination.

When he was still some distance from Alyssa's car, his face suddenly contorted. Yuliana recognized that look—he hadn't warmed up before diving in, and his calf was cramping.

"Can any of you swim? Someone, help him!"

But none of Charlie's friends gathered there knew how to swim. They could only stand there, uselessly watching the tide.

Charlie's strength was flagging. He struggled to stay afloat, nearly dragged under by the waves several times, choking down mouthfuls of saltwater. His lips had turned purple, and his face grew more ghastly by the second, yet he refused to turn back.

"Charlie, come back!" his friends on the shore shouted. "Otherwise, you'll lose your life too!"

But Charlie didn't listen. He fought the current as if he had already decided that if he couldn't save Alyssa, he'd rather go down with her.

Finally, he reached the car. Seeing Alyssa motionless inside, he shouted her name at the top of his lungs, "Alyssa! Alyssa, wake up! Look at me!"

But Alyssa had completely lost consciousness and remained unresponsive. In a desperate frenzy, he slammed his bare fists against the window—once, twice, over and over until his hands were shredded and bloody. Blood stained the frothing water around him, yet the glass refused to yield.

As the water rose past Alyssa's chin, Charlie delivered one final, bone-shattering blow. The glass finally gave way, the shards slicing deep gashes into his hand.

He hoisted Alyssa onto his back. No matter how many waves slammed against his face, he wouldn't let the woman on his back suffer even a scratch.

After they finally made it ashore, Charlie had barely set Alyssa down before he passed out.

Fortunately, the ambulance arrived just in time to rush them both to the hospital.

Charlie's friends watched the ambulance fade into the distance, letting out a collective sigh.

"Charlie is usually cold and distant with everyone. How did he end up so hung up on Alyssa? He's reckless when it comes to her. Once, just to keep her from drinking, he drank himself into the ICU, nearly losing his life."

"Yeah, he'd give her his heart if he could," another added. "Remember that high school hiking trip when they ran into a mudslide? He pushed Alyssa to safety and got trapped in a cave himself. The rescue team spent three days and nights saving him. Any later, and he would've been a goner."

"Everything Charlie has ever risked his life for has been for Alyssa. I thought he still had feelings for her, so I was trying to get them back together."

They kept reminiscing about the epic love story of Charlie and Alyssa, completely forgetting that Yuliana was standing right there.

Their words left Yuliana's mind blank. At that moment, she finally understood why everyone had looked at her in shock when she stood up at Charlie's wedding. Looking back, she must have seemed like a complete joke to them.

His heart had already belonged to someone else. No matter how hard she tried, she was never going to move the needle even a fraction of an inch.

She had been wrong from the very beginning, and this total defeat was entirely her own doing.

…

When they arrived at the hospital, the doctor was already wheeling both of them out. The group crowded around him anxiously.

"The lady is out of danger. But the gentleman… The bones in his hand are shattered. He may lose the use of that hand permanently."

The doctor couldn't help but add with a sigh of admiration, "In all my years, this is the first time I've seen a man so willing to sacrifice himself for the one he loves."

Yuliana stood at the back of the crowd. Watching the agony etched on Charlie's face, she lowered her eyes and let out a cold, hollow laugh.