Yours, Until Needed
Chapter 59: Rescue

Chapter 59: Rescue

That event left me drained. My already tiny social battery kept on taking hit after hit.

Jessica had to stop pestering because Mrs. Grant gave her an earful about looking desperate. She didn’t like me, but she hated Jessica more.

We did get to socialize with Mr. Graham and his family, who seemed otherwise okay, if not for overly emphasizing the family-centered image that they want Windham to have.

In short, they wanted their contractors to be free of blemishes and to look like the harmonious family that they kept portraying.

So, it was no wonder that they kept on looking at me. After all, I’m the source of these recent blemishes.

It’s not that they disrespected me, but they remained curt while actively interacting with Lucian—A clear disparity.

He’s got the Sinclair blood flowing through him, after all.

Don’t take his position as a project bidder to mean that he should be subservient to the owners of JG.

Lucian only started working with Sinclair Construction, among all the other businesses under the Sinclair banner. All the rest were being run by Grandpa and Father-in-law.

Not winning this contract would be nothing but a smidgen to the Sinclair’s bottom line. It’s just that Lucian doesn’t like losing, but he detests being controlled more.

The people of JG only started singing a different tune once I saved their little boy.

Yes. I ended up saving someone that night.

I went home as a drenched puppy who now had a slightly better reputation.

I felt suffocated in the main hall, with everyone giving me odd looks, so I decided to hide out by the pool area.

This party was mainly for people in the business world, so everyone wanted to maximize the opportunity to socialize and stay inside, making the place a peaceful hide-out.

It was late into the night, and the pool lights brightly illuminated the water, but a layer of gold and silver balloons of different sizes covered it.

The rest of the venue had a romantic feel, with lighting just enough to still be able to enjoy the night sky.

So when I started seeing bubbles and the balloons started shifting, I figured something was wrong.

I had developed a strong urge to always check swimming pools from Alexa’s repeated attempts at drowning me. Or throwing my keepsakes in.

She once threw Grandma’s bracelet in, and I panicked just to retrieve it. So you could now guess who ended up as a great swimmer.

True enough, something was wrong. When I pushed the balloons with my foot, I saw a small boy sinking.

I jumped in, far from my initial idea of calling someone’s attention to check on the problem.

When Lucian returned with a plate of food and drinks, he was surprised to see me sitting on the side of the pool, all wet and panting.

The dress became heavier, but thankfully the high slit made it easy for me to reach the kid.

Lucian called in for assistance, and the paramedics while I checked on the child’s breathing. CPR for kids.

As much as I hated it. This kid may end up living partly because of Alexa’s evil deeds. Forced to learn how to help myself and other kids survive in case she went overboard again, I had learned and practiced first-aid, both for children and adults. My diving license also required that.

I was worried about how I found the child sinking at that point. And how I’ve been bringing bad tidings everywhere. If this child did not make it today, I would surely be blamed.

Selfish right? However, I had to distract myself to avoid falling due to pressure.

It took time, and I was starting to feel dread as I continued. But just as the paramedics arrived and the people started realizing that something was happening by the pool, the child started coughing up water.

I suddenly felt weak and wanted to sob for every cough he let out. I fell back on my butt and had probably fallen back into the pool had Lucian not caught me.

My ears blocked out all the sounds earlier, focusing entirely on the child’s possible movements. So it was only now that I saw the flurry of people who rushed after Lucian called out the emergency.

That honestly felt like forever, but the entire thing didn’t take that long.

I panted as I looked at the child being swarmed by the paramedics and then at Lucian, who put his coat on me. Then I remembered how cold it was and how I had lined myself with warmers to wear this dress.

Luckily, it only gets cold in this city, and snow doesn’t fall here. Had we been back home, we’d be dead for something else entirely.

"I only left you for a few minutes, and you’ve managed to get yourself in another situation."

I wanted to retort, but all I could do was shiver in his arms. It was really cold, alright?!

One of the paramedics probably realized that I existed and wanted to check on me.

So I tugged at Lucian, wanting to know about the child who was covered from my view.

"Ma’am, please come with us. We need to check on you, too." Said the first responder.

My teeth chattered as I asked, "How...how is he?"

Then she looked at me before smiling a bit, "Thanks to you, ma’am, he’s still breathing. We just need to make sure that nothing else has gone wrong. If you had come any later, he might not have made it." She suddenly had a serious expression, and I trembled at the thought.

I was dried and asked to change out of my drenched dress. Even with my hair still wet, I felt infinitely better. Just as I left the bathroom, I saw Lucian talking to Chairman Graham while he waited for me.

"There you are!" Someone suddenly charged at me and held both my hands. I actually resisted the urge to throw in a kick because my instincts detected the sudden jolt.

"Chairman Graham, did you need anything from me?" I couldn’t help but ask as I found our position awkward.

"Thank you very much, Mrs. Sinclair! That boy you just rescued was my grandson. When the emergency personnel came, we worried about who could’ve fallen in, but then we learned that it was a child, only to find out that it was our little boy!"

The Chairman looked really distressed, far from his very composed look from earlier.

"Thank you so much!" He kept on thanking me, and I kept on saying that it was fine—nothing that others wouldn’t also do.

Lucian had to intervene, or we would’ve been stuck there receiving thanks. So when I let out a sneeze, Lucian managed to swoop me away, citing the need to rest and that the Chairman should go after his grandson, who had been sent to the hospital for a further check-up.

We agreed to receive their thanks properly next time so we could leave.

The eyes of the people were now looking at me a bit differently, and I walked more confidently while leaving than I did when we entered.