With all her heart, Cecelia whispered as she approached him quietly, afraid that he would be angrier.
Kevin didn't brush her off. His eyes narrowed slightly, and Cecelia couldn't see what he was thinking.
After a long while, he left without another word.
Cecelia looked after him, not knowing whether she had persuaded him to accept her words or not but not daring to ask more.
Now that she had found him, she was relieved.
It seemed like Kevin would not leave so soon.
***
Late at night
After working hard all day taking care of the injured, Cecelia went back to her tent, exhausted.
She took off her clothes, cleaned herself with a wet towel, and put on clean clothes. Then she lay down on a folding bed and shut her eyes.
Being a volunteer was much harder than she had thought. They must neglect food and sleep and be ready to help at any moment.
The last two days, she fell asleep as soon as she touched the bed. But today, perhaps because she finally met him, she tossed and turned and found herself too excited to sleep.
"Kevin..." she whispered his name and slowly fell into a sweet dream.
Half asleep, she seemed to hear the volunteers cry outside the tent, accompanied by the roar of rolling stones.Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #'s-temptation_17802288405978205/chapter-680-will-you-send-me-away-again_52278756491980765 for visiting.
***
Inside a tent on the other side, a figure sat up all night, quietly by the bed.
The girl's presence disturbed his peace of mind.
In the middle of the night, a flash of lightning in the sky lit up the sky, and then a deep peal of thunder went rolling and tumbling down the clouds.
Heavy rain hissed down from the sky black as hell, pouring through a hole in the tent.
Kevin pulled up the curtain and looked out at the rain, his face dark and tight.
Heavy rain after an earthquake was not a good thing.
The town was surrounded by mountains, which might suffer landslides and mudslides.
The volunteers next to him came to think of it too. They all looked graved.
Suddenly, a volunteer ran over, looking fl.u.s.tered.
"Oh, no, come with me now!"
"What happened?" Someone asked.
"There was a mudslide on the mountain opposite us, and the tents of the medical rescue team were buried by mud-rocks!"
Medical rescue team...
Kevin's face changed.
"Where are the people from the medical team? Did they come out?"
The volunteers had never seen such a horrible look on Kevin.
"Only a few escaped, the others... are buried alive..." He sputtered.
Kevin felt his heart lurch in horror. He sprang up and made a mad dash to the medical tents where Cecelia was.
"Don't go... It's dangerous over there!" The volunteer beside him seemed to know his intentions and tried to stop him.
But the mad man could hear nothing.
By the time Kevin reached the medical team's tents in the heavy rain, he had got a thorough souse in a thunderstorm.
The tents had disappeared, torn and buried by the mud-rocks.
Some medical workers were tending those who had escaped before the mudslide.
Cecelia was not among those volunteers.
It was very late on a rainy night, and it would be very difficult for a new rescue team to come before dawn.
His heart sank, and, without a word, he seized a shovel for digging, rushing through the crowd to the mud-buried position of the tents.
"Hey! You can't go in there! It's dangerous!" Someone noticed his crazy abnormal behavior and exclaimed.
That area could face a second collapse at any time.
Kevin, seemingly deaf, walked on into the darkness ahead. He looked around at the mess and, by the dim light of the lamp, determined the place where Cecelia's tent was.
He started digging.
"Come here quickly, Sir! It's dangerous there. We need to evacuate first. A new rescue team will come to help later!"
Kevin was deaf to the voice shouting to him and went on digging in the heavy rain.
The storm had increased the difficulty of rescue. He shoveled mud-stones with great effort but made very slow progress.
He didn't know how long it took. His face was covered with grime and sweat, and his clothes were sodden with rain and sweat. He was exhausted, panting for breath.
Only one voice hovered in his ear: She must be fine.
Finally, the shovel hit the tent buried under rocks.
Dropping his shovel, he lay prone on the ground and heard a faint voice coming, "Kevin... Kevin, I'm here…"
With a thrill of joy that had never occurred to him, he began to pull the mud and rocks away with his hands. His fingers were excoriated and became bloody, but he did not know the pain.
Only one thought stirred in his mind: She was still alive, and he must get her out of danger quickly.
Finally, her delicate, mud-stained arms appeared.
Then the neck, and the face...
She opened her eyes just a bit. The moment she saw him, she burst into a weak smile.
"Kevin... You've come. I knew it... You'll save me... Can't let go of me..."
Then she fainted away.
He scratched the dirt away from her hurriedly.
When he carried her out carefully, she fell in a dead faint.
The rain stopped at last.
He laid her flat on the ground and patted her face.
"Wake up. Cecelia, wake up!"
But the unconscious girl gave no response.
She was not breathing and had no perceptible pulse.
Taking a deep breath, he pushed down on her c.h.e.s.t to restart her heart.
She was still lying as if she died.
He bent his head and gave her mouth-to-mouth breathing without hesitation.
Her lips were so delicate, soft, and cold.
Unfortunately, he had never realized that last time when she kissed him, he had been repelled, even felt disgusted at that time.
It was a long time before she regained consciousness and began to cough and opened her eyes slowly.
His heart sank to its place, and he held her in his arms.
Their clothes were so wet that he could not warm her. He could only hold her tight and then rub her cold hands and feet.
At that moment, there was no more brother or sister in his mind.
He only wanted her to be alright.
He could save her life at all costs.
He wondered when she had become so important to him.
But it didn't matter.
The mudslide let him see how she mattered to him. He could finally face his true heart.
"K-Kevin... Will you send me away again?" Cecelia gasped as she touched the lips he had kissed.
He rubbed her hand and shook his head.
Cecelia relaxed, a reassuring smile on her lips.
Just then, a new rescue team arrived.
A bright light came, "Is there anyone?"
With one last effort, he picked up Cecelia and went over. He had just handed the girl to the rescuer when his tall body gave out, and he fainted from exhaustion.