Alex was sitting in a daze, staring out at sea, when he heard a soft voice in his ear saying, "Alex." When he turned around, he saw Minnie looking at him apologetically.
"I'm sorry, I was too impatient. I shouldn't have hit you. I feel terrible," she said as she squatted down next to him.
"Forget it. Anyway, it's no use saying anything," he replied calmly. The sea was helping him to relax.
"Yes, try to relax. Who knows when the storm will come? Besides, I don't think it will get us. It will probably miss us completely," she said with a smile.
She continued, "Why are you just sitting here? It's so boring. There's a swimming pool over there. I know you can swim. Why don't you teach me?"
Sitting on the deck, Alex said with some amusement, "You don't have a swimsuit with you and I wouldn't be any good at teaching you anyway. Why don't you take a swimming class yourself? It's better than learning from me."
"I want you to teach me, really. You haven't got anything else to do." Ignoring his reluctance, she pulled him up, saying, "If you don't teach me, I won't let you read Cathy's letter."
He felt that he had no choice, so he stood on the deck and started to teach Minnie to swim. She watched him closely and was sure that he was enjoying looking at her body.
"You said that you wouldn't be a good teacher, but I think that you're better than the swimming coach," she joked. She picked up a swim ring and tried to put it on him.
Alex blocked the ring with his arms and said, "Why are you giving me a lifesaver? I'm not getting into the water."
"Oh, let me just see you with it on. It won't kill you," she answered, putting the swim ring over his head.
"Why is there a rope on the ring?" he asked when he noticed that the swim ring had a nylon rope attached. It made him feel uneasy.
"I don't know, it just does. Don't worry about it. Come on, teach me some more." Minnie looked a little nervous. She continued, "Actually, you've taught me for such a long time, I bet you're getting tired. I'll give your shoulders a rub. Sit here."
"Don't," Alex said, trying to stop her, but she had already pulled him over to the railing. He stood facing the sea with his back to her.
She said softly, "Are you comfortable? Relax a little. I'll rub your shoulders." Then, very quietly, she squatted down, put her arms around his legs, and clenched her teeth. With all her strength, she lifted him and threw him over the railing.
"Aaah—" he screamed. He had never expected Minnie to try to kill him. By the time he knew what was happening, he had already fallen over the railing. His body dropped quickly, and with a "plop", he fell into the sea. Fortunately, he was still wearing the swim ring and the rope was trailing back to the boat. The waves were splashing him in the face, making it difficult to keep his eyes open.
Minnie quickly grabbed the end of the rope and tied it to the railing. She heard a noise behind her and turned around in surprise. Lee was walking over, smiling and clapping his hands. There were a lot of people with him.
They all stood by the railing and looked down at Alex in the water. Most of them were from wealthy and powerful families and weren't worried about the consequences of what was happening. Instead, they were excited. Some of the more sympathetic internet celebrities were concerned about him. They thought that he might be in real danger, but they felt that there was nothing they could do. They just covered their mouths and started to cry.
Lee held Minnie in his arms and said, "Well done, babe. You've done way better than I imagined. I would never have thought of something like this."
"Thank you, Lee. Can I be your girlfriend now?" she replied as she leaned into his arms. She felt very warm and secure. Now that I've done what he asked, I'm sure he'll want me to be his girlfriend, she thought.
"Of course," he replied. Then he looked into her eyes and said, "Sweetheart, tell me about it. How did you get him down there?"
"It was very simple. I told him that I wanted to learn to swim and asked him to teach me. I convinced him to put on the swim ring, and then I used all my strength to get him over the railings." Minnie looked at him happily. She was immersed in the joy of becoming Lee's girlfriend and didn't give a second thought to the fact that she could have killed Alex.
"Oh, really. Like this?" Lee picked up a swim ring from the ground and put it over Minnie's body.
"Yes, that's it. He didn't even realize what I was doing," she replied sweetly. Then she suddenly noticed a strange glint in Lee's eyes, which made her heart race. She cried out, "Lee, no."
"You're going down too," he said with a sinister look in his eyes. He grabbed her by the arms and threw her over the railing into the sea.
Lee felt only bitterness and anger toward women after what Angelina had done to him. He wanted everyone else to feel as miserable as he did. At that moment, he channelled all his anger and hatred toward Angelina onto Minnie. He hated her passionately for what she did.
Terrified, Minnie screamed. She fell into the sea with a "plop" and her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose instantly filled with water. She struggled to swim, and she panicked when she remembered that her swim ring didn't have a rope for someone to pull her in. She was sure that she was going to die.
After a few minutes of choking up saliva, she was completely exhausted. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her collar. She felt like she could see a twinkling star in the dark water, and she seized the hand with all her strength.
It was Alex who was offering her a helping hand. His lifesaver was attached to the ship by a rope, so as long as he controlled his breathing and ensured that his body did not slide out of it, he knew that he could conserve his energy. Through the spray of the waves, he had seen a figure falling into the sea, and he didn't hesitate to hold his hand out to them. The other person was very close to him in the water, and he was determined to save them.
With all his strength, he tried to wind the rope around the person's body. He instructed them to hold onto the rope, and then he breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the rope was not cut intentionally, the other person was now safe too.
When he looked again, he realized that the person he was saving was Minnie. The idea briefly crossed his mind to let her drown in the sea, but his conscience got the better of him, and he knew that he would save her.
Although Minnie couldn't see the person who saved her from the waves, she knew that it was Alex. She was too scared to think too much about it.
Within a few minutes, several young men were leaning over the railing to see what was happening. They were shouting and taking pictures.
One asked, "What's happening?"
"People are falling into the water," replied another.
"They'll be eaten by sharks," laughed another.
But there were other people, mostly girls, who were weeping. They had seen Lee pushing Minnie over the railing and thought it was like a scene from a horror movie. The idea of that scared them.
Lee called out to one of his staff, "Bring the knife." He was planning to cut the rope that attached Alex's swim ring to the railing.
Suddenly, Hannah rushed over shouting, "No." She kneeled in front of him and pleaded, "Lee, please let them live."
She cried bitterly. She knew that she had to do something to save Minnie.
"Lee, don't cut the rope," someone else shouted.
"Oh, all right, I won't cut the rope. But I'm telling you all, no one is allowed to pull them up. They can stay down there until they die," Lee said and walked calmly away.
Hannah went to the railing and looked down into the sea. The deck was more than twenty yards up from the water, and it was dark, so she struggled to see anything. All that she could make out was some white spray at the end of the rope.
Is Minnie dead? Hannah thought in panic. She could not stop tears from rolling down her face.
Suddenly, the boat rocked and there was a loud clap of thunder in the sky. The people on deck felt the temperature plummet by at least ten degrees. Strong gusts of wind blew across the deck, and people were struggling to stand upright.
Lee and his friends suddenly felt uneasy. They were no longer in the mood to party.
Lee went to the bridge and found the captain, who was frowning. He asked him, "What's the matter?"
The captain looked back at him and said, "There's a tropical storm blowing in our direction. I've just changed course so that our ship won't get trapped in its center."
Lee frowned. He stood next to the captain and looked at the position of the storm on the screen.
The captain tried to reassure him, "Lee, don't worry. According to the radar, we can get to a safe position before it comes. Also, the storm doesn't seem to be too strong. As long as we're not in the center of it, we should be fine." Lee relaxed a little.
However, he didn't feel like going back up on deck, so he stayed on the bridge with the captain.
**
After half an hour, the cruise ship was almost out of the range of the storm, when suddenly, there was a loud "bang" from underneath the boat, and it shook violently. Some people on the deck fell, some of them staggered, and a few almost fell into the sea.
Lee, who was sitting on the bridge, fell off the sofa onto the ground. Lying there, he yelled to the captain, "What's going on?"
The captain was mystified. He looked at the console in front of him in horror. He wanted to regain control, but the screen and control panel were going crazy. The captain was completely flustered. He was trembling, and his legs were weak.
"What's the matter?" Lee shouted as he rushed at him and grabbed him by his collar.
"We hit the reef," he replied with his heart pounding.
"What? You're such a waste of space. Get us home now. I want to go back," Lee shouted, spraying saliva onto the other man's face.
"I'm trying to go back now, but there's something wrong with the ship's power system. I don't know if I can get us back. I've sent an S.O.S. to the coast guard. They'll send a ship to help us straight away." The captain was still struggling to control the cruise ship. Lee kicked him hard. He didn't want to listen to his excuses, he just wanted him to get the ship safely back to the port.
"There's water coming in," someone said from the lower deck.
"My God, how can this happen?" asked his friend.
Another confirmed, "There's more than three inches of water on the floor."
A group of people ran to the door of the bridge and started shouting desperately at the captain.
The captain was in despair. He looked at the light on the control panel that confirmed that the ship was flooding. The light turned red. He panicked and started mumbling to himself, "It's over. It's over—"