Chapter 17 A Handsome Man

Rachel Ruan gasped and ran to the side of the swimming pool. Suddenly, a figure rose up and broke the surface of the water, making a great splash. It was the same tall and handsome man that she had noticed before. He was holding the little girl in one arm and swimming towards the side of the pool.

Rachel heaved a sigh of relief. She realized that her legs were still trembling with fear. Every time she read about a child dying in a drowning accident, her heart went out to them.

Now that she'd seen a child in danger with her own eyes, she was frightened beyond belief. It was a terrible feeling. Fortunately, the child was safe now.

"Oh, my god! My daughter! John, why weren't you taking care of your younger sister?" A woman had just come out of the washroom while the girl was being rescued from the pool. Distressed, she began yelling at a ten-year old boy.

"I...I was having fun. I didn't notice where sister was," the boy stammered as he kept his head down. He was also shaken by what had happened.

Thankfully, the little girl had been rescued in time.

The rescuer had already placed the girl on the ground near the side of the pool. He was performing chest compressions on her. After a few seconds, the girl coughed and spat out some water. As soon as she opened her eyes, she cried,"Mom! Mom, please don't blame brother. It's my fault. I shouldn't have gone into the pool by myself."

The woman ran up to her daughter and hugged her. Crying, she kissed the girl's forehead and said,"May, are you all right? You frightened me so much, you know that?"

"I'm all right, mom. I'm fine," May replied weakly.

Finally satisfied that her daughter wasn't in danger anymore, the woman heaved a sigh of relief. She held her daughter even tighter and turned to the man who had saved her. "Thank you so much! I don't even want to imagine what would've happened if you hadn't been there. We're very grateful to you."

She then shouted at the boy behind her,"John, follow me. We are going back home!" Carrying her daughter in her arms, the woman hastily left the swimming pool with her son in tow.

The onlookers around them also drifted away after they left, all except Rachel. She looked curiously at the man who'd been left alone there. No one had even bothered to hand a towel to this hero who had just saved a life.

Not only was he good-looking, he also had a very kind heart.

The towel hanger on the side caught Rachel's eyes. She walked up to it and grabbed one of the clean towels before approaching the man.

"Like the old saying goes, a hero is always alone. You saved her daughter, but all she did was thank you and leave. I think she should have at least treated you to a meal. What do you think?"

The man turned around to find the source of the voice. He took off his pair of swimming goggles. Water dripped down from his hair. When he saw Rachel approaching him, his face broke into a charming smile.

"Actually, I feel pretty good, now that a beautiful woman is handing me a towel."

Rachel blinked and marveled in her mind, 'What a pure handsome man!'

He was handsome with a good set of facial features. His bushy and black eyebrows made him look lively, while his pair of bright eyes gleamed like diamonds. And now that he was smiling at her, she also saw that he had very nice teeth.

Rachel was especially attracted by his eyes. They looked pure, reminding her of a pond of clean water.

It was rare to find men with such pure eyes these days.

"I know I'm really good-looking, but do you have to stare at me without even blinking? Aren't your eyes getting tired?" he teased and laughed.

"What? Oh, right." Rachel chuckled. "You are really handsome. You look more beautiful than the women I've met," Rachel admitted. She looked down and finally remembered why she had talked to him in the first place. She walked forward and said,"The towel, here you are."

"Caution! The floor is wet!"

"What?"

Rachel hadn't noticed the puddle of water on the ground where the little girl had been lying down earlier. Before she could react, she slipped and fell towards the swimming pool.

The man jerked forward and grabbed her hand to pull her up, But the floor was too slippery.

Thump! Thump!

There was a huge splash as they both fell into the swimming pool.

With the man's help, Rachel heaved herself up the wall of the swi

"You're my wife in name only, on paper only. My heart and love will never be yours."

Edward made it clear to Daisy that she was nothing to him. They were both victims of family greed -- the marriage was arranged for them.

Six years passed. She remained quiet, gaining a reputation in the army as a tough-as-nails colonel. When she walked into his life again, Edward fell in love with this woman...

mming pool and spat out some water. She looked down at her wet clothes and then shifted her eyes to the handsome man next to her. She felt really sorry for bringing him trouble, so she put on an embarrassed smile and apologized.

"It's all right. But I was worried that I'd have to save a second person today," he teased. The depth of this swimming pool wasn't dangerous at all for adults.

He shook his head and wiped off the water on his face. He didn't seem to mind it at all.

They sat on the side of the pool with their legs in the water, exchanged glances and began laughing.

Rachel looked at the damp towel in her hands, put it aside and flashed an embarrassed smile at him. "I didn't mean to do it. I'm sorry for getting you wet all over again."

"Of course I know you didn't mean to do it. Never mind. I should be thanking you for your kindness of bringing me a towel," the man said in reassuring tone before introducing himself. "My name is Albert Jian, I'm twenty-one years old and I'm a university student. What about you? Are you a university student too?"

"I'm Rachel Ruan. I've been working for three years," Rachel replied. In her mind, she marveled at the fact that he was only twenty-one years old! What a young and handsome man.

Albert was surprised to hear Rachel's words. He took a better look at Rachel, who didn't seem to be a day over twenty, and then he said with disbelief,"But you look younger than me! I thought that you were a second year in university."

Rachel giggled. In fact, many people had made the same remark about her. She lowered her head to look at her petite body, which might be the reason people thought she was younger than she actually was.

"Oh, my God!" Rachel suddenly yelled as she took out her phone from her pocket. The phone screen went black. The water must have leaked into the phone and damaged it.

"Don't worry. Don't switch on it now. Your phone might just be malfunctioning for the moment because of the water," Albert said as he reached out his hand to take the phone.

Rachel handed it over to him before turning around to look at the glass windows. She wondered whether Hiram had finished his meeting with the client or not.

She glanced back at her wet clothes again. They were heavy and sticking to her skin. A gust of wind blew over, making her shiver.

The new clothes she'd bought earlier were in Hiram's car, but she couldn't go get them now since the car keys were with Hiram.

"If you've time to spare, I can take your phone inside and dry it with a hairdryer," Albert offered. The worried look on Rachel's face as she stared at her wet clothes didn't go unnoticed by him either.

"Okay, please give it a try." Rachel wouldn't be able to contact Hiram now, so she figured she'd better try to repair her phone as soon as possible.

Albert began walking away with her phone. Rachel shrugged and stood up, and headed towards the towel hanger. She wanted to dry off with a clean towel first.

Just when she reached the towel hanger, a pretty woman dressed in a blue uniform came over holding a white bathrobe in her hands.

"Hello, miss. A gentleman requested that I give you this lady's bathrobe. Please change into it and give your wet clothes to me. I will dry them for you," she said courteously.

"Okay, thank you!"

Rachel took the bathrobe from her hands and nodded. Without even a doubt, she knew that it was Albert who'd asked the waitress to bring her the bathrobe.

She changed into the bathrobe and waited for Albert there. Moments later, Albert came back with her phone. He looked at Rachel sheepishly and said,"Your phone is fixed, but someone called you just now. I was only trying to see if your phone was okay, but I answered the call by accident. The man on the other line asked where you were, and I told him that you were changing your clothes.

I don't know if I've said something that will mess things up for you. I'm so sorry."

Rachel took her phone and opened up her call log. She raised her eyebrows when she saw Hiram's name.

"It doesn't matter. It's just a friend of mine. I think my clothes would be dry now. I should get going. Bye-bye!" Rachel said abruptly before quickly striding towards the dressing room.

She changed back into her own clothes and hurried to the hall. When she arrived there, she saw Hiram already seated and waiting for her.