Chapter 5
Cutside the apartment building, the property management staff, security guards, a delivery driver, and curious residents came out to see what was happening. All eyes were fixed on the 25th floor.
Perched precariously on the edge of a balcony sat a young woman who was dressed immaculately but visibly distraught. She had no safety harness and no barrier. One woning move, and she would fall to her death. It was clear she had suicidal thoughts.
“Who is she?” someone asked.
‘sure of the Bennetts. I just called them. They’re ontheirway”
No way! Isn’t she Mr. Bennett’s only daughter? If amthing happens to her, how will the Bennettscope? The neighbors murmured among themselves. Most knew. each otherwell, so they were familiar with each family circumstances.
“I thought Mr. Bennett’s daughter was a cheertul, outgoing girl. What happened to her?”
“Exactly! She’s got everything going for her and a wealthy family. What could possibly drive her to this?” Amid the concemed whispers, Ethan and Seceni got out of the car, quickly piecing together what was happening.
When ena heard that it was Mr. Bennett’s daughter, ber expression changed. “Could it be Llly?‘
“You Imow ber?” Ethan asked with his arms crossed as if he was watching a show.
“Yes, her name is Lily Bennett. She’s 22 and the daughter of one of my dad’s close friends. She went to the same university as your ninth sister. What could’ve pushed her to this?” Serena muttered as she pulled out her phone, searching for Lily’s phone number and calling her..
However, the call went straight to voicemail. There was no chance to plead or reason with her. “Laly, please don’t do anything stupid!” Serena clenched her phone, visibly anxioux. She turned and made a beeline for the building, intent on going upstairs to talk Lily down herself
However, as she moved, Lily stood up on the edge of the balcony. She glanced down at the crowd below, then raised her head to take one last look at the skyline, as though bidding farewell to the world. She looked ready to jump off anytime soon.
“No, no! Is she Jumping?” The crowd panicked. The property stall frantically tried to inflate a safety cushion. They come as soon as possible, but inflating the rustion needed time. There was nothing they could do.
ther
“Lily! It’s Serena. Please don’t do anything stupid! Hurry up and head back in Serena yelled, desperation in her voice. Lily didn’t move an inch. She spread h arms and took a step forward.
She stepped into nothingness, allowing her body to free–fall from level 25.
“No!” Serena.ched out. Some people watched the whole scene with their eyes wide open while some tumed away, unable to watch the horritic scene unfold. Even if the cushion had been ready, a fall from the 25th floor left little chance for survival.
Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, a blurshot past Serena, faster than she could process. She could feel a gust of wind passing by her. The shadow darted through the cord with incredible speed, positioning himself directly beneath Lily’s trajectory. He raised his arms, steady and focused.
The next moment, Lily landed safely in his embrace. Against all odds, Erhan caught her. The scene felt almost too exaggerated.
The silener that followed was deafening. There was no blood and no impact
Even Lily herself was stunned. Slowly, she opened her eyes. She was confused and disorientated. When she realized he was in the arms of a stranger, her first thought was disbelief. She glanced up at the building to check if she was at the bottom “I.. I’m not dead?
“Does it look like you are?” Erhan replied whille glancing down at her. His face was mere inches from hers. She could feel his breath on her skin.
“That’s impossible! I fell from so high up. I should be dead! Even if you tried to catch me, you shouldn’t have been able
Π
Lily muttered.
Based on basic physics, a person weighing about a hundred pounds falling freely from a height of 25 stories, with each floor being nine feet tall, would experience gravitational acceleration, resulting in an impact feme roughly 19 times their body weight. Which meant she was about 1,900 pounds!
In other words, the man standing before her had somehow caught her despite the impact force equating to 1,000 pounds. That was completely absurd
“Want proof you’re alive?” Ethan asked.
“Proof?” Lily was puzzled.
“If you wear dead, you wouldn’t feel any pain. Agree?” Ethanasked.
“Agree” Lily said confidently. She thought she wouldn’t be able to feel any pain since she was already dead.
“Ouch!” she yelped, clinging tightly to his neck. She felt pain in her backside. It looked like Ethan had pinched her.
are you dead or alive?” Ethus teased
I guess “Lily wanted to fight back, but she couldn’t the words to because she truly felt the pain in her backside.
“Lily!” Before she could process the situation fugler, Serena rushed over, her face pale with worry. “Lily, are you okay?–
Lily felt untreal.
“Foolish girl! Why would you jump? Don’t you know how much your parents love you? You’re the only daughter. What would they do if they lost you?” Asa Friend, Serena lingan lecturing, her after seeing Lily was fine.
Lily shook her head in disappointment. “In their eyes, I’m just a tool for securing benefits. Whether I live or die, it doesn’t matter to them.” Hertone was heavy (with disappointments, making it clear that lies drastic decisimustemined froin some umeulved (antly conflict.
Serena softened, her voice tuming gentle. “Lily, no matter what, parents always love their children. I don’t know what happened, but let’s sit down and talk this Through Nothing is impossible,”
Chapter:
“okay” Since she failed to jump off the building, Lily nodded in agreement. She hoped that with Serena’s help, her parents would stop forcing her to marry
someone he didn’t like.
“I know you saved Lily’s life, but how long do you plan to hold her like that?” Serena asked. With that, Ethan quickly set Lily down.
“Sorry about that! Got caught up in your conversation,” Ethan said sheepishly.
“It’s fine. Thanks for saving me.” Lily blushed and thanked him, though she couldn’t stop staring at his hands. “Are your hands okay?” she asked worriedly. Catching a person from such a height would break any metal, nonetheless a person’s hands
“My hands? They’re fine, Ethan said, waving them in the air to show the women. He could catch something that weighed 20 thousand pounds if he had to thanks to his years of training.
However, Siena wasn’t convinced. She grabbed him by the ann and dragged him toward the car. “No way. We’re going to the hospital to make sure.”
