49 The fall

"Lucy, are you alright? Can you open up the door?!"

Mike knocked on the door hard.

'Oh no, the old man is here! What did he want from me again?'

Lucy's watery eyes started to widen when she heard Mike's voice.

For a second, she has forgotten that she has fallen badly just now. All her pain disappeared completely when she heard the voice that she dreaded to hear the most.

"I'm fine. What do you want?" Lucy yelled out from the inside of the room without even speaking through the intercom.

Mike frowned his face when she heard the yell.

"Well, if you are fine, why, are you not opening the door for me?" Mike spoke gently to Lucy.

"I-I, I can't..." Lucy spoke so slow, that Mike could not hear what she was talking about.

Lucy flinched as she moves her limbs away from the fallen shoe cabinet.

"Aww, it's so painful!" Lucy hissed and grumbles to herself.

"Lucy, do you need my help?" Mike sounded worried.

'Hah, why did I hear his voice to sounds so worried? this old man is not here to tease me?'

Lucy frowned as she stares at the intercom. Mike has been speaking to her via the intercom, and his voice echoed all over her room.

Trying her hard to stand up again, Lucy clenched her fist and gritted her teeth withstanding the pain.

Limping to the door, she opened it only to see Mike standing with a surprised face.

"What?" Lucy said the word as soon as she opened up the door.

Mike was startled to see Lucy, whose eyes were red, and she looks pale.

Reaching out his hand to feel Lucy's forehead, Mike asked, "Are you alright?"

Mike sudden gentleness startled Lucy. She slapped Mike's hand away, and backed off.

"Don't touch -.." Lucy was just about to reply when she lost her balance, and stumbled down on the floor. Her face was just about to kiss the floor when Mike's hand enveloped around her waist, supporting her from falling.

Lucy could feel her face flushed from embarrassment.

"You, you let go of me."

"Are you sure you want me to let go?"

Mike smiled wickedly at Lucy.

Feeling flustered, Lucy pushed away Mike's chest away from her.

Embarrassingly, Lucy falls straight down on the floor right after Mike let go of his hand from Lucy's waist.

"Hah, looks like you prefer to kiss the floor, rather than to be in my arm?" Mike looked at his empty hands with a sad face.

Ignoring the pain she felt on her ankle, Lucy scrambles on the floor trying her hardest to stand.

"You, you suddenly came here and hugged me. Of course, I was shocked!"

"What, you are blaming me? You are falling, I can't just let you fall, can't I?" Mike leaned forward to Lucy and smiled cynically.

'Damn this devil! If he did not has such devilish face, I would have just punched him and ruined those high bridge nose of his!'

Lucy gritted her teeth and clenched her fist. "Well, thank you for half-saving me. So, why do you come here? Are you here just to irritate me again?"

"Half-saving? What do you mean?"

"Well, you did, let me go after that didn't you? In the end, I still fall on the floor, and hurt my ankle again..." Lucy grumbles the last word in an almost inaudible sound.

What Mike heard was only the part where Lucy said he still let her go...

"So, you did not want me to let go of you after all... hah! Then, why didn't you just said so? Ok, I won't let you go again after this. I promise!" Mike stood straight and held his palm up like he is taking an oath.

"You, you..." Lucy raised her hand like she is going to slap Mike.

'I am serious, and he is trying to be chicky with me?'

Looking at the agitated Lucy, Mike quickly hugged Lucy again. "Lucy, I am sorry for startling you. I am just worried about you. That's all... that is why I came..."

Mike spoke with a low voice as he whispers to Lucy's ear, sending shivers all over Lucy's body.

'What is going on with me... how could I... how could I feel weird when this old man hugged at me... and what's with this whispering?!'

Lucy's body froze as she heard Mike's word.

Mike walked into Lucy's room after feeling that Lucy did not push him away from the hug. Without Lucy knowing, Mike has already lifted her in a princess-carry style, and make her sits on the sofa.

Lucy just looks on as Mike walked over to the fridge, and took out a few ice cubes.

"I did not invite you in, you know? Also, if you want to have a drink, you can have it in your room." Lucy crossed her hands and looks at Mike questioningly.

"I am not going to have a drink, this is for you." Mike hold up the few ice cubes in his hand and waved it at Lucy.

Mike walked languidly towards Lucy with the ice cubes that are now wrapped with a piece of kitchen cloth. Seeing Mike's action Lucy's smug face was replaced with gratitude.

" The selection is going to be done in a few days. You need to take care of your health properly. Avoid falling or anything that could make you disqualified to enter the program..." Mike propped up Lucy's injured ankle and started to ice compressed it.

"Hiss... slower. It hurts!" Lucy pulled her ankle towards her body in protest.

Ignoring the stubborn facade Lucy was showing to him, Mike continued with the ice compression, and he spoke again. "Tomorrow morning, Dr. Nora will conduct physical and health checkups for all the people inside this bunker. That would be the first stage. Whoever that have any cardiovascular diseases, any hereditary diseases, or any diseases that need constant medication, would be disqualified immediately."

Lucy stares at Mike's hand while he was speaking. Surprisingly, Mike was very gentle towards her.

"The second stage will be carried out in the afternoon, which is the physical health and fitness examination. We all have to run for 5 laps, around the bunker, in under 3 minutes. With your injured ankle, I am afraid, it will affect your performance tomorrow." Mike looked up at Lucy, looking concerned.

"Make sure you iced it, and after that, don't stress your leg so much. If it still did not get better tomorrow, ask for an exemption, and redo the test when your ankle is better." Mike propped up Lucy leg on a cushion and he massaged it a little.

"So, the selection is going to be done tomorrow? That soon? What about the people that are not present here?" Lucy fired all of the question to Mike.

She remembers both her father and uncle were in Hawaii now. They would not be able to make it back by tomorrow to enter the selection.

"It depends. If they still have the quota left for the people in the bunker, they will get to retake the test... As I was saying, you better make sure you can run tomorrow. I did not know how much quota they have for us. "Mike frowned his eyebrows and stared at Lucy.

Nodding her head like a woodpecker, Lucy replied. "Okay, okay, I understand. Just don't nag at me anymore..."

Lucy did not pay attention to Mike soon after she replied to him. Mike was still massaging Lucy's feet when she picked up her phone and tried to call her father Seth.

"Dad, you need to come back. Now."

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