Chapter 2

"Eva, are you alright? Have you caught a cold from being in water for too long?"

Eva feigned pushing Jack away. "I'm fine. I'm not that weak. Jack, don't do this. Naomi is watching us."

"Let her watch. You're her best friend. I should care about you. She, on the other hand, has been so petty on who should get rescued first."

Jack stressed on the last sentence, clearly saying it out loud for me to hear. What he did not know was that I completely lost my ability to swim after I rescued him.

He insisted on showing off and swimming out into the deep that day, but ended up being taken away by a strong current. His friends did not dare to rescue him. Only I, recklessly without thinking, plunge in to save him.

I pushed him with all my might, inching him close to the shore. At last, I finally managed to hauled him up to shore, but at that instant, a hidden current flung my calf toward a jagged rock.

My tendon tore on the spot.

The pang of agony emptied me of my strength and I started to drown. Had the lifeguards on the beach not found me and saved me in time, I would have been long dead.

The doctors said that the muscles and nerves on my leg had suffered irreparable damage. I could never swim with high-intensity again.

"Jack, I'm not lying to you! My leg hit a jagged rock the last time I saved you! I could no longer swim!" I shrieked with all my remaining strength.

Jack noticed how pale I had gone. He felt that something was off with me. Just when he wanted to pull me up, Eva pretended to be shocked and covered her mouth.

"My God, Naomi, you were hurt? How could I not know about this? That day when I picked you up from the hospital, the doctors said that you only had a sprain and all you needed to do was rest.

"You even said that thanks to Jack, you had gone through a near-death experience and you could brag about it for the rest of your life."

At that, Jack retracted his feet once more. "Naomi, continue with your lies then. Your leg was hurt? You really would come up with lies just so that we would rescue you first."

"Jack, don't blame Naomi. After all, she's your girlfriend. It's only normal she feels this way seeing you save me but not her. It's all my fault. If I didn't buy so many gifts for your promotion, Naomi wouldn't have to wait."

Eva clutched onto Jack tighter while trying to so-call justify my reaction.

Jack patted her on the back in consolation while turning to me, rebuking, "You hear that? Naomi, I was wrong about you! Eva is so much more understanding and mature! Can't you be more like her? Stop causing a scene. It's annoying!"

Perhaps realizing that he had lost his cool, he added, "Naomi, I'm only doing this for our future. As long as I please Eva, and once I get promoted, I'll let you buy anything you want. Why are you so stubbornly focusing on a safety clip?

"Just wait for a while. I've studied the water. It won't rise so quickly. Once we head back, I'll properly make it up to you."

I could barely hold on any longer, clinging to a fractured length of eaves floating beside me and scrambling toward the rope ladder. The cold rungs of the ladder were right before my eyes.

I reached out, almost about to touch it when Eva's foot slipped, stepping hard right on the back of my hand.

An excruciating pain shot right through me. I yelped. The force knocked me backward and I plunged into the water completely.

"Oh, no! Naomi, I didn't know you were below. Are you alright? Come on, now. Stop fooling around. If not, Jack would get worried."