Milady's Fine Gentleman 264 By The River Styx

He wiped his sweating forehead with his handkerchief as he ma.s.saged his stomach that had never stopped churning.
As he was doing so, he heard a bloodcurdling, heartwrenching scream from the second floor.
'Man Rui!'
Without delay and with such big manly strides, his forehead and back still sweating profusely, he ran and made his way towards the plight of stairs until he reached the source of the scream. His heart was beating loudly against the walls of its ventricles. Internally, he prayed and prayed for everything to be alright.
When Zhu Li Qiang arrived inside Man Rui's room, he could make out a commotion going on inside the bathroom. He hurriedly entered it as well.
Lo and behold he saw the last of the movements in the tub: it was Teng Man Rui squirming, her hands involuntarily thras.h.i.+ng out if the water and into the air, trying to grab whatever material she could while gasping for air, only she could only take in water as she was still submerged underwater.
It seemed that her body had been acting up on her own, and her consciousness had long left her. She was left on her own survival instincts. Just seconds more, Teng Man Rui stopped moving. She had pa.s.sed out.
Whoever said that drowning is the easiest way to take up one's life lied big time.
The truth was that it could be one of the most painful ways to die.
The panic that rose internally from not being able to breathe normally, accompanied by the body's basic need to gulp air was overbearing, enough to introduce insanity to a still functional mind.
What could be the last moments of the people who drowned? Most probably, they experienced unparalleled pain from the razor-sharp water which entered the air pipes that were designed only for air.
Most probably Teng Man Rui experienced the same. Thus, the reason behind her involuntary thras.h.i.+ng and las.h.i.+ng and squirming.
Who would know if she regretted her decision to take her life? Only she could attest to it, that is if she survives…
If she survives…
Immediately, Zhu Li Qiang scurried onto the side of the tub and yanked the drowning lady out of it by grabbing one of her thras.h.i.+ng arms. He placed his arm just behind her knees, at the folds and carried her completely out of the bathtub, and laid her on the wet floor beside it.
With one scan he could distinguish the hideous marks on her body – hickeys – that should have not been there in the first place. He squinted his eyes but set it aside in the meantime. It did not present much importance compared to the life-and-death situation involving his most precious angel.
Collecting his presence of mind and alertness and all that he got, he proceeded in performing first aid in the form of cardiopulmonary resuscitation: thirty pumps using the rescuer's palm heel just below the sternum followed by two air supply through the mouth, repeated twice or until a response is observed from the patient.
Zhu Li Qiang was already trembling but that, too, needed to be set aside. All he could think of now was saving Teng Man Rui from herself, and further, from her eternal repose.

The only consolation at present was that she had a pulse albeit so weak, almost none.
'Come on, Man Rui, breathe!' He thought glumly while performing the procedure perfunctorily.
'Love, I'm still here. Live for me, please.' He begged silently and as he did, his tear ducts moved to action and worsened the whole d.a.m.n critical situation.
All this time, the maid Chichi stood alongside the bathroom wall, quivering. She couldn't move nor s.n.a.t.c.h her gaze away. She couldn't even ask for help. She had lost her voice after her bloodcurdling scream a few minutes ago.
'One. Two. Three. Four…'
'… Twenty-eight. Twenty-nine. Thirty.'
'Come on, love, breathe!'
Zhu Li Qiang placed his thin tender lips onto hers and blew air onto her respiratory system.
'Breathe!'
He did it twice.
All this time, his tears flowed down his cheeks, blurring his vision. Still, he continued.
'One. Two. Three. Four. Five…'
'Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen.'
'Man Rui. It's me.'
The maid, Chichi found herself crying at the sight. Finally, she found her shaky voice, "Young Miss… please don't leave us… Please breathe. Young Miss, your guest Mister Zhu Li Qiang is here to see you… Young miss….
*sobs* *sobs* *sobs*
For the third time, Zhu Li Qiang performed the cardiopulmonary resuscitation procedure. He felt his energy slipping through his weakening body as the number of repet.i.tions he did for the procedure increased. He grew more and more helpless for every pump and every blow that he did to her. She wasn't responding, but as long as she still had a pulse, he would continue. He swore to the heavens he would dedicate his life for her if she lives.
'So live, Man Rui. For me? Please?'
For every pump on her chest, the flowing of his tears intensified.
Nothing could ever compare to the hurt and pain and grief he was feeling at that excruciating moment.
Nothing could ever compare to the eagerness he had to bring her back from the River Styx [1].
'Don't go with the grim reaper, my angel. Your place is here on earth. With me.'
'Don't board his boat. Don't cross the river Styx.'
'We still have a life to live, together, you and I, remember?'
'We have yet to start that life.'
"Don't leave me, I'm begging you! Huhuhuhuhu!" He exclaimed while he broke down in his own pool of tears and sweat as he pulled her up in his embrace and cradled her in his arms, not regarding her nakedness. 'It doesn't matter.'
His tears dripped and hit her on her forehead, cheeks, and neck.
"Man Rui, please…"
"Please."
"You have me. You are not alone."
"Just open your eyes."
"I'm sorry I was late."
"Don't leave me yet, angel."
"Your place is here with me."
"Please."
He continued cradling her in his warm, tight embrace as his tears poured onto her.
In the middle of his sobs, the body Zhu Li Qiang was hugging convulsed. And in another minute, Teng Man Rui, eyes still closed, coughed hard, spitting both air and water, and what seemed to be traces of blood combined, through her mouth and nostrils. Her brows twitched.
"Man Rui!"
"Young Miss!"
"Quick! Get a blanket and throw it onto her!" Zhu Li Qiang commanded Chichi who had renewed vigor from the young miss' improvement. It's time to address the secondary concerns now that life had returned to the lady.
"She's alive!"
"Thank G.o.d!"
The maid scampered and went towards the bedroom and onto the walk-in closet to carry out the Zhu young master's order.
Teng Man Rui's eyes opened infinitesimally before they closed again.
"Hurry!" Zhu Li Qiang carried her in his arms, her, still in her own nudity.
Chichi threw the blanket on the young miss as instructed by the young master Zhu who tucked and covered the lady's exposed body with it burrito-style.
"Where are the other servants?"
"They are at the back courtyard doing inventory. I am the only one left here to wait for you."
"Good. Grab her things – clean clothes and some private lady things. You know what to do. Put it in a bag. Hurry!"
"We need to get her to the hospital. I'm going to head towards my car first, you follow with her things. Join me."
"Mhm." The little maid Chichi nodded her head, her eyes burned with enthusiasm and sense of duty. 'The young miss needs me. I will provide my utmost service to our kind young miss when she needs me most.'
She accomplished her task, now fired up more than ever knowing that her dearest young miss, Teng Man Rui was past the critical stage.
Or was she?

[1] River Styx – the river that connects the world of the living and the underworld for the dead in Greek mythology