Today, many people went to this river (the river that Rosendo passes by on his way to Nicolas' house) to witness the spectacular scene of the water crashing against the banks.
Johanna and Cheryl were also there, accompanied by their close friends. They stood by the railing like children, laughing and scattering whenever the water rushed towards them. Sometimes they even used umbrellas to shield themselves from the splashes.
Not many people played around like Johanna and her friends did. It's not that others didn't want to; it was just too dangerous. If they were accidentally blown into the river by a gust of wind or swept away by a wave, it would be disastrous.
While playing, Johanna accidentally twisted her foot and exclaimed in pain, "Ouch! Cheryl, I've twisted my foot." Unable to bear the pain, she squatted down.
Unaware that death was beckoning her way, a strong gust of wind suddenly blew in with a thunderous roar as it sent waves crashing against the bank. When the water receded, Johanna was nowhere to be seen.
Cheryl had intended to help Johanna but before she could reach her friend's side, Johanna had already been swept away by the river. Cheryl witnessed everything unfold before her eyes and let out a piercing scream," Ahhh!"
"Cheryl... Cheryl! What happened?" one of their female companions who came along asked nervously. Apart from Cheryl herself, no one else knew that Johanna had been carried away by the river.
"But... but Johanna has been swept away by the river! Sob... sob... Please go save her! ...Johanna..." Overwhelmed with panic and fear for what might happen to Johanna now, Cheryl burst into tears.
"Help! Someone fell into the water! Help!" Some of those who came with Cheryl made emergency calls, while others informed Johanna's family. Some continued to shout for help.
With such strong winds and rapid currents, who would dare to go?
"Help... Help!" Suddenly, Johanna's cries for help echoed from the river but quickly faded away. Her figure was nowhere to be seen in the water.
"Help, Cheryl, help me..." Johanna, who had just been swept away by the river water, didn't even finish her sentence before being mercilessly submerged by the water.
"Johanna, Johanna..." Cheryl couldn't bear it any longer and ran towards the river, ready to jump in and save Johanna. She was panicking; she couldn't swim herself and going down would be a dead end. Fortunately, her friend held her back; otherwise Cheryl might have met a tragic fate.
The people who came with Cheryl started asking for help from those on the shore. But no one dared to go into the river to rescue them.
In fact, many people wanted to help because both the victim and her friends were beautiful and wealthy. However, when they saw waves being stirred up by the wind on the river's surface, they shook their heads involuntarily and silently prayed for those in danger.
Cheryl began pleading with everyone she encountered: "Sir, please save my friend... Please...." Cheryl cried as she grabbed onto a middle-aged man.
"Miss," said the man remorsefully while shaking his head. "It's not that I don't want to save her; it's just that the current is too strong and there's too much wind. If I go in to rescue someone now, I might get drowned before saving anyone else. So I'm really sorry but I can't take that risk."
Suddenly Cheryl spotted a familiar figure—a sight that felt like seeing light at dawn—she quickly ran towards that familiar figure shouting: "Rosendo! Rosendo! Hurry up and save Johanna! She got swept away by the river... Please save her..."
Hearing Cheryl crying out in distress, Rosendo turned his head and saw tears streaming down Cheryl's face. He asked with confusion: "Cheryl? What happened?"
Cheryl ran up next to Rosendo, urgently grabbing his hand and explaining: "Johanna was just swept away by the river. You have to save her..."
Rosendo, upon hearing the news, immediately surpassed Cheryl and ran towards the river. It was a matter of life and death, and he couldn't afford to hesitate.
"Where is she? Where is she now?" Rosendo asked anxiously while taking off his clothes.
Cheryl pointed to a small piece of wood in the river and said to Rosendo, "She was just there, I saw Johanna right there. But... but now..." Cheryl's voice trailed off into sobs.
"Don't worry, she'll be fine," Rosendo reassured Cheryl before jumping off the railing with a loud splash into the water.
Rosendo swam quickly towards the spot that Cheryl had indicated. After looking around and not seeing any sign of Johanna, he dove underwater.
40 seconds later, Rosendo resurfaced from the water. At first, Cheryl felt relieved when she saw him emerge but in an instant he disappeared back under again.
She knew that Rosendo hadn't found Johanna yet; he was coming up for air. On the shore, hundreds of eyes anxiously watched the surface of the river as they silently prayed for both Rosendo and Johanna.
Fortunately, the water in the river wasn't too murky so Rosendo could see objects one or two meters away at its bottom. Suddenly, he spotted something white on the riverbed - his first thought was Johanna because ever since he had known her she usually wore white clothes. He swam over quickly only to discover that it really was Johanna.
Johanna was currently unconscious; if she didn't start breathing soon then she might never return to this world again. When Rosendo jumped down to save her it became clear that Johanna had already been submerged for some time at this point.
In order to save her life, Rosendo kissed her mouth - let me clarify here! It wasn't some kind of inappropriate act; rather, he was trying to transfer the little oxygen left in his body into Johanna's mouth. Surprisingly, Johanna instinctively began to inhale the oxygen that Rosendo gave her - perhaps it was her survival instinct kicking in.
Rosendo gave what little remaining oxygen he had to Johanna. As a result, he was now severely lacking oxygen himself and still had about ten meters to swim before reaching the surface of the water. In order to alleviate his struggle with hypoxia, Rosendo drank two mouthfuls of water and then swam desperately towards the surface.
Finally, Rosendo and Johanna emerged from the water with a gasp for air. After taking a few quick breaths, Rosendo hurriedly checked on Johanna only to find that she wasn't breathing anymore.
He quickly freed one hand and pinched her philtrum; after doing so, Johanna slowly regained consciousness. She coughed up some water and then muttered in confusion, "Is this heaven?"