Chapter 72: A Life Saved
It was the weekend.
Normally, the students of class 22D would not have a break, but their progress had far exceeded Tina’s expectations, so she allowed them to take a regular weekend.
On this day off, Hugo and Jennie went back to Jennie’s hometown.
There had been an incident in Jennie’s family. She didn’t specify what, only mentioning it was inconvenient to take Zackary along and asked Tina to look after him.
Jennie had prepared both breakfast and lunch; all Tina needed to do was heat them up.
Tina, having no experience with children, occasionally played with Zackary when Hugo and the others were home.
After playing with toys for half an hour, Zackary grew bored. “Tina, I don’t want to play with toys anymore.”
“What would you like to play then?” Tina’s own childhood hadn’t been joyful, and she didn’t know what children his age enjoyed.
Zackary looked down, too scared to speak.
Although Tina was gentle, he was inexplicably frightened of her.
He was afraid that if he asked for too much, Tina would get angry.
His mother had instructed him not to anger Tina and to always listen to her.
“Are you very scared of me?” Tina sat next to him and gently touched his head, trying to soften her voice as much as possible.
“I-I’m not scared!” Zackary said, conflicted.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.
He didn’t want to lie, but telling the truth might hurt Tina.
Tina could sense the boy’s dilemma, pinched the bridge of her nose in resignation, and wondered if she really looked that intimidating.
She always spoke to Zackary in the gentlest tones and couldn’t understand where the fear stemmed from.
Tina sighed and patiently said to Zackary, “I’m very patient, I won’t get angry with you. You don’t have to be afraid of me. Whatever you want to do, just tell me. As long as it’s reasonable, I’ll agree.”
Zackary looked into Tina’s eyes, blinked his little eyes for a long time, and finally mustered the courage to say, “Then, can I go to the amusement park? Mom and dad promised me we’d go a long time ago, but we never did.”
“Okay,” Tina agreed.
“Really? You’ll really take me to the amusement park?” Zackary hadn’t expected Tina to say yes without any hesitation, and his eyes lit up with joy.
Tina smiled and stroked his head. “Really, go change your clothes.”
“Thank you, Tina.” Zackary, not tall enough, stood on the sofa, gave Tina a kiss, and ran off to change.
Tina was stunned by the sudden kiss, taking a while to come back to her senses.
This-was the first boy to ever kiss her!
Zackary quickly returned, dressed and ready. Tina called a taxi, and they headed to the amusement park.
When they were halfway there, Tina’s phone rang.
It was Sophia.
“Miss Reed, why is there no one at your home? I came to visit,” she said.
Tina was taken aback. “You’re at my house?”
“Yeah, Jared and Hayden are here too. Jared has been knocking on your door for a long time. Miss Reed, where did you go?” Sophia asked.
Tina was at a loss for words, wondering why Jared seemed to be haunting her everywhere.
She pinched her forehead and said, “I’m taking Zackary to the amusement park. No one’s home today. Maybe you can come another day?”
“The amusement park?” Sophia exclaimed with excitement. “I want to come too. Wait for me at the entrance, I’ll be right there.”
Before Tina could reply, Sophia hung up.
Tina was left speechless.
Since it was the weekend, traffic was heavy, and the area around the amusement park was filled with parked cars. The taxi could not get through and stopped at the nearest restaurant to the park.
Tina paid the fare.
As soon as she got out, she heard someone crying out in panic, “Mom, what’s wrong? Don’t scare me! Can someone please call an ambulance?”
Tina looked in the direction of the voice. A woman in her forties, dressed elegantly, was beside an equally well-dressed elderly lady who was pale and motionless.
Passersby stopped to watch; some pulled out their phones to call 911.
“Is there a doctor? Someone please save my mother!” The wealthy woman, realizing her mother was no longer breathing, panicked.
Tina stood nearby, hesitating whether to intervene.
She had previously drawn attention by saving Sophia, and if she intervened again, her identity could be exposed to even more people.
“Grandma Lehman?”
While Tina hesitated, Zackary suddenly spoke up.
Tina turned to him, “You know her?”
Zackary nodded, “Shehas visited our house. She is a kind lady. Others look down on mom and me, but she always smiles and talks to us, even giving me candy.”
He was young and only knew to call her Grandma Lehman, unaware of her true identity.
Zackary, seeing Grandma Lehman motionless on the ground, started to cry, “Tina, is Grandma Lehman going to die? She’s such a good person; why would she die?”
Tina pursed her lips, then gently touched his head and softly assured, “She’s not going to die.”
With that, she walked over to the distressed woman.
In her heart, she sighed. She had learned medicine to save lives and could not stand idly by and watch someone die in front of her.
If she did, neither her mother nor her mentor would forgive her.
“I’m a doctor,” Tina declared as she knelt beside the elderly woman and assessed her condition. She told the wealthy woman, “She’s in bad shape; I need to treat her.”
“Please save my mother!” The wealthy woman begged, as others doubted Tina’s ability due to her young age.
Tina stopped the wealthy woman from continuing to bow and took out her medical supplies from her backpack.
Some bystanders began recording with their phones, while others whispered among themselves.
“That old lady looks like she’s already passed away; this young girl dares to try and save her. Isn’t she afraid of being accused?”
“Ah, young people are so inexperienced, not knowing the dangers of society. If she can’t save that person, the family will surely blame her.”
The crowd’s murmurs reached Tina’s ears, but her expression remained unchanged as she focused on treating the woman.
After about half an hour, the elderly lady suddenly coughed.
The surrounding crowd became excited. “She’s alive? My goodness! Did she just bring a dead person back to life?”
“Is she really alive? Am I seeing ghosts? Can someone really revive the dead? Impossible!”
“How is it impossible? That old lady clearly stopped breathing, and after the girl performed acupuncture, she came back to life. Young man, there’s always someone better than you, and there are things you haven’t seen before.”