Filed to story: The Regretful Billionaire: An Unpredicted Reunion >>
After changing, Sam turned around and answered, “Yvonne, I don’t care about your past because I’ve decided to marry you. I don’t mind if you’re involved with Eustace or not.” He walked up and hugged her. “I love you as you. It doesn’t matter who you were with before.”
His hug filled her with uneasiness, but she didn’t push him away. Endurance would be her first lesson.
A while later, Sam finally let go of Yvonne. He appeared hesitant to speak.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, sensing his hesitance.
After some thought, he decided to be upfront with her. “My dad had a talk with me just now. He said that… we probably can’t bail out your family.”
“Why?” Yvonne gasped in shock. She married Sam because she needed their financial support. Without it, the Dickmans would go bankrupt. She didn’t do all of that out of love for her family. She merely understood that she had to protect them, for she would lose her standing in the Blooms if the Dickmans went down.
Feeling guilty, Sam couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eyes. “Eustace talked to my dad before, and he said he’d bring down your family if we were to help you out. If we did nothing, he’d hold back too.”
All color drained from her face. She bit her lip hard and hissed, “Eustace Quincey!”
“Yvonne, don’t lose sleep over it. We should feel glad that Eustace promises not to hurt your family. Perhaps your dad could seek help from others in Parrington. I believe someone will lend a helping hand,” Sam comforted her.
She smiled bitterly, knowing that no one could help them. Else, her family wouldn’t have landed in this dire situation. She looked at Sam, incredulous that the man she looked down on was now her greatest support.
“Sam, would you look down on me if I’m no longer the daughter of a wealthy family?” she asked.
Without thinking, he shook his head. “Of course not! I don’t care about your status. I just want you by my side.”
Yvonne felt conflicted and was in no mood to talk. She started planning her next step.
Danika finally wrapped up her first day at the free clinic in Clearwater at 8 pm. To her surprise, she was flooded with patients despite the small population. She was occupied from the morning until night and on every single case that showed up. It was tiring but fulfilling.
took
After washing up, she lay in bed to read some books. Without an internet connection, that was her only. pastime in the village. She felt dizzy the moment she opened the book. Turning around, she saw the lamp on the headboard shaking violently. She froze for a second and came to a grim realization.
“It’s an earthquake!” She jumped off the bed and dashed to the first floor. There, she banged on the door of the couple who ran the hotel and yelled, “Mr. Randall! There’s an earthquake!”
Soon, the door flung open. Mr. and Mrs. Randall were quick to react and told her, “Run! Go to the village. hall! It has the flattest ground in this area!”
Then, the three of them sprinted to the village hall.
To their horror, the earthquake didn’t subside after a few minutes. Instead, they met with another quake of a larger magnitude that caused them to stumble on flat ground. They couldn’t imagine what it was like for the villagers in their houses.
“It collapsed! The house collapsed!” someone shrieked and slapped their thighs furiously. Ten villagers had gathered on the ground in front of the village hall. Danika stood there with the crowd as she watched houses nearby collapse. Her heart sank.
As the earthquake grew.in strength, more villagers gathered on the flat ground. Everyone cowered in horror and despair as they watched the collapsing structures around them.
“Look out!” Someone tried to warn the others seconds before the village hall collapsed in a huge boom. Debris and rock rained down on the villagers.
It was 9 pm at Quincey Mansion. Eustace came home early, which was a rare occurrence. He had wanted to take a good rest in bed, but a bad hunch plagued him. He had a feeling that something terrible was going to happen.
He took out his phone to call Danika but was reminded of Vincent’s words. Danika was in a village with no phone service, so it was impossible for his call to go through. Filled with anxious energy, he hopped out of bed and went to the balcony.
Suddenly, his phone buzzed incessantly, prompting him to rush back to his bedroom to take the call.
“Mr. Quincey, we just got the news of a huge earthquake in Elmwood District. Clearwater Village, where Miss Zellweger is posted, is one of the epicenters. The entire village has lost contact with the outside world,” Vincent reported in a great hurry.
An earthquake? Looking pale, Eustace forced himself to calm down. “Get the helicopter ready. Bring medicine and aid supplies. We’re going to fly there.”
“Yes, sir.”
After the call, Eustace’s heart pounded wildly. He finally found the source of his unexplainable worry.
Eustace climbed aboard the helicopter at the heliport, and Vincent joined him. “You don’t have to go with me, “Eustace said. “Go to Claymond City instead and prepare the aid for the earthquake. Bring your satellite phone with you and wait for my orders.”
“But Mr. Quincey, your safety is-”
“Enough!” Eustace cut him off. “Keep this from Grandpa.”
With that, he instructed the pilot to take off. Vincent had no choice but to take the orders. Staring at the slowly disappearing helicopter, he prayed that Eustace would return safe and sound.
There were no more earthquakes in Clearwater Village, but some aftershocks lingered. Even then, Danika and the other villagers didn’t stay put on safe ground.
“Chief, please count the villagers. We need to know if everyone’s here,” she ordered. She had no idea about the magnitude of the earthquake, but it was definitely a huge quake. If some villagers were trapped in their homes because they couldn’t escape in time, they would need emergency rescue and aid.
The village chief counted the villagers with the help of some volunteers and soon returned to Danika.” There are 3,520 villagers in Clearwater, but only 2,500 are here with; 1,020 are missing.”
“A thousand of them aren’t here?” She was shocked to learn that many did not escape in time.
“Yes. Clearwater is a huge place. Some villagers lived in the middle of the hill and couldn’t run to us because the earthquake happened too fast.” The chief sighed.
Danika looked at the collapsed houses and came to a decision to kickstart the search and rescue mission immediately. “Please get the men from the village to search and rescue the victims. I will get some first- aid supplies from the clinic. Let’s try our best to find every single villager.”
Everyone knew that saving each missing person was mission impossible, but they had to try for the possibility of a miracle. The chief nodded, but he shook his head soon after. “Dr. Zellweger, you shouldn’t go. I’ll have someone get you the supplies. You’re from the city. I don’t want anything to happen to you here in the village.”