As the two headed to a safer area, Christopher sat her down gently and whispered, "Sorry if I've crossed your boundaries. I was acting out of panic as well. I hope you understand."
"It's alright. I should be thanking you, actually. I was being too rash," Joanna replied, calming down and realizing she had momentarily lost it.
She put some thought into this and asked herself, 'What does my exhusband's life have to do with me? We're already divorced.'
However, despite regaining her rationality, Joanna still continued staring out into the ocean, crossing her arms before her chest. She started calling out to the man in her head, 'Come back, Ace Moran. For the sake of your two children, I'm begging you to come back!'
After that, as if the man himself had heard her pleas, she witnessed a miracle happening right before her eyes.
Ace, who had disappeared into the waves earlier, was able to swim against the current, returning to the shore with his extraordinary swimming skills.
"They're back! They're back!" Everyone was overjoyed, quickly going forth to give him a hand.
Ace was absolutely exhausted by that point. As he handed Cecilia to Christopher and Ethan, he immediately lay flat on the ground, panting heavily.
"My daughter! Oh, my precious daughter! How are you feeling right now? It's Mom and Dad! Please just say something!" Cecilia's mother cried as hard as she could, knowing everyone was now focusing on saving the woman's life.
Joanna, on the other hand, approached Ace. As she hid her joyful tears away, she put up a nonchalant act while speaking in a sarcastic tone.
"Hah, as expected of Mr. Moran, I suppose. Who knew you'd be brave enough to swim into the deep zone? I wonder if you just decided that you needed to save the sharks by volunteering as food? How touching! You're just willing to sacrifice yourself for a greater cause!"
Ace, consumed by fatigue, simply didn't have the energy to talk to her. All he could think about now was how adorable Joanna's face looked under the warm sunlight. It looked like she had a halo around her, making his heart skip a beat.
"Maybe I should start calling you Mr. Nice Guy since you're just SO brave." Joanna continued on saying these unnecessary matters, but took this chance to express concern, despite still hiding it in a dismissive tone. "So? How are you, Mr. Nice Guy? How are you holding up? Do you need a doctor? "
Finally, Ace managed to catch his breath but acted like his life was on the line. He looked towards the woman weakly and said, "I… I can't breathe"
"You can't breathe?" Joanna frowned, doubting him slightly.
'Can people still remain conscious and speak when they can't breathe?' She wondered.
"Quickly!" Ace closed his eyes, panting feebly. "I need air!"
"Does that mean you need CPR?"
"Something like that, yeah," Ace replied, looking like he was in immense pain.
Joanna furrowed her eyebrows and pondered for a few seconds, then snapped her fingers. "Well… I'll think of something! Just hold on, okay?"
Ace then closed his eyes, unable to hide the tiny smile on his face like a childish boy. He couldn't wait to receive 'CPR' from her…
"Are you ready?" Joanna took a deep breath and asked bashfully.
"Yes." Ace nodded and felt a pair of lips smashing into his, yet the feeling was completely different from what he longed for.
Realizing that something was off, the man opened his eyes, enraged.
"Pierce!!"
Apparently, the person giving him CPR wasn't Joanna, who he initially expected. Instead, it was one of the members of the rescue team, a tanned burly man.
"Damn it!" Ace immediately leaped from the ground, pushing the burly man harshly and forcing him ten feet away.
Seeing this, Joanna was overwhelmed with glee. "Oh my god, you're alive, Ace Moran! Thank the stars!"
"Did you do that on purpose, Joanna?!" Ace looked exceedingly disgusted as he wiped his mouth over and over using the back of his hand.
He thought to himself, 'That was so humiliating! I cant believe that I, Ace Moran, was tricked! I cannot accept this. I won't let this damn brat off so easily!'
However, Joanna was clueless about Ace's intentions from the start. She truly believed that the man needed CPR and went out of her way to find the best professional around them.
Seeing how energetic the man seemed, Joanna was genuinely happy that he was no longer in critical condition. She instinctively gave him a big hug, whimpering. "Thank god, Ace Moran! You're alive! You really are a tough cookie, just like Christopher said!"
Ace's rage was instantly replaced with calmness as he felt the woman's soft touch. Not just that, but she really was expressing concern toward him. It was rather hard for him to get mad at her at this point…
Unfamiliar with this version of Joanna, who seemed to care about his wellbeing a lot, Ace cleared his throat and joked around with her.
"If you're so scared of me dying, why would you say you'd never shed a tear for me if I did? You little liar."
The man's words snapped Joanna back to reality, which made her let go of him, keeping her distance. "You don't even cherish your own life! Of course, I wouldn't cry over your death."
"But these tear streaks…"
"I just got some sand in my eyes, that's all!'
"And what about your dress? It's drenched. Did you try to dive in to save me?"
"That's… I just like walking by the seaside! What does that have anything to do with you?" Joanna refused to admit just how much she worried about the man.
Ace seemed to have understood this and nodded gently. As if he was trying to comfort her, he said, 'Alright, alright, I know you don't care. Then you shouldn't be too worried if anything like this happens again. Just know that I will come back safely, no matter what."
"Again?!" Joanna frowned deeply, as if she had just heard something absurd, and slapped the man across the face.
She then warned him, shoving her fist in front of his face. "Just die if you dare to act so recklessly again! Then you won't make anyone else worry about you anymore!"
"Worry?" Ace smiled as he questioned back. "Didn't you say you don't care about me?"
This time, Joanna was unable to come up with a proper reply. It was obvious. She clearly hadn't moved on from the man yet, no matter how much she wanted to deny it. Her entire being was constantly worrying about him. She never wanted anything bad to happen to him.
She then tried convincing herself that she was worrying about him for her children's sake, as he was still their father at the end of the day.
The light breezes seemed to carry the smell of romance surrounding the two as they silently understood what the other was really thinking…
Just then, news about Cecilia had finally arrived. "She's awake! Miss Cecelia is finally awake!"
Giving each other a glance, Ace and Joanna also went over to take a look.
Cecilia seemed to have ingested too much water, so she was unconscious for quite some time. After the rescue team did their best to save her, she was finally able to vomit the seawater and regain her breathing.
Although she was laying in Christopher's arms, her eyes darted wildly around the crowd, as if she was looking for a certain someone.