Alive

Just when Nhu Loan thought her lungs would give out and her brain would explode, the grips on her head and shoulder loosened and her face encountered air. She gasped desperately for it. Next thing she know, someone pulled her out of the water. From the feel of the hand she knew it was a guy.

"Loey? Stay with me! No! No!"

Those were the last words she heard before she went unconcious.
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When she woke up, Nhu Loan found herself lying on a hospital bed. And sitting on the side of the bed was LTQ.

She tried to recall what happened and tried to pierce the pieces of blurred memories she had of the previous night together. She was drowning... someone came... I was at Jimmy's, she thought... Jimmy... dead. Her brain couldn't take it. No matter how she tried she couldn't grasp the fact that he was dead. Just like that. An hour or two after he and DTV had just saved her life, he died. How? Why?

No. It's not possible. She thought.

"Oh, you're up." LTQ said sleepily as he lifted his head from the bed.

Nhu Loan made no reply.

LTQ searched for something to say to break the awkward silence. "How do you feel?"

Nhu Loan: Jimmy. He's dead...

LTQ: Yes, about that... I'm sorry, Loey. There wasn't anything we could've done about it.

Nhu Loan felt drops of tear rolling down her face. Without being able to hold it back, she started crying.
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After several hours of crying, Nhu Loan was finally able to pull herself together. "How did you find me?" She asked, her voice hoarse.

"You left your purse at Nguyen Hung's place and DTV overheard your conversation with Jimmy so he pointed me there. Thank god I got there in time..." It seemed like he wanted to say something more but finally decided not to.

"Was it Jack's men?"

"I'm not sure... he died and I rushed to the hospital. Turns out what I should've done instead is give you CPR. Wait any longer and your life would be in serious danger. Ah. I was so stupid."

"So...you killed the guy?"

LTQ acted as if he didn't hear the question. "The important thing is that you're safe now."

No one said anything for awhile. LTQ finally decided to leave to get Nhu Loan something to eat or drink.

"No, don't leave just yet." Nhu Loan said. After all that happened, she couldn't bare the thought of being by herself again, even just for a few minutes.

He hesitated for a minute, then slowly sat down again. "Alright," he said, "I'll stay."