Swimming

"That should be okay." Lina said as she looks at herself in the mirror.

She changed into a one-piece black swimsuit that offers the most coverage on her hips. She started bruising already. She really went down hard given the size of her bruise and how dark it has become just after a few hours. Good thing her swimsuit covers almost the entire area of bruising. She wanted to wear swim shorts but there's nothing packed in her suitcase.

She tied a towel around her waist and headed down to the pool area.

The lap pool area opens from the family room near the kitchen, so she went there straight. The girls are warming up beside the pool by playing a game of tag with Henry. He looks like he is genuinely having fun playing with the girls.

She reached the pool and the twin sees her first.

"Oh you're here, warm up so we can start." Jia tells her as she chased Henry.

"I'll beat you today." Senna told her confidently, shrieking as Jia chased her instead when she let her guard down.

Lina is not sure why but she feels a little conscious with Henry being around. But she quickly removed the towel on her waist, threw it at the lounge chair nearest to her and jumped into the pool to do a warm up lap. She should really start stretching first but she's too disconcerted to stay close to him.

The water is a bit cold but she forgot about it as she stayed in the water a little longer. After 2 slow laps and some attempt at stretching. She said, "I'm ready girls, if you are."

"So how many laps are we doing?", Senna asked as she jumped into the pool.

"I don't want to swim today; you can race with them brother-in-law." Jia said, walking towards the lounge with the goggles.

Henry agreed and jumped into the pool too, splashing both Senna and Lina with water.

"Let's just do 4 laps." Lina suggested, feeling unsure.

"Okay, 5 laps then," Senna agreed, followed by, "I always start slow. I need the chance to catch up."

"I'm okay with that." Henry agreed so Lina nods her head and gets into position. Senna on the first lane, Henry in the middle and Lina on the furthest lane. Jia threw them each a pair of goggles and told them to get into position.

Whenever she swims like this with her sisters, she follows Senna's pace. She's the weakest swimmer amongst them but she's the best football player. She will just pace with Senna to take it easy.

They got into position, starting in the pool already, not diving to start. And off they go as Jia blew the whistle in her hand.

Henry is a strong swimmer but he is not taking of but instead just matching the speed of the ladies on either side of him. They all had a good, steady start.

On the third lap, Senna started speeding up so the other two does as well.

By fourth lap, all three swimmers started feeling and getting competitive and was swimming stronger and faster.

For the last lap, after Lina made her turn and kicked from the wall, she felt out of breath. She turned her head to breathe in some air, but suddenly got pulled down deep into the pool. She ended up breathing in and swallowing water because of the timing when she went under. She tried kicking up and to swim upwards but she's struggling to move her feet, it's like they turned into stone at the same time shackled by iron chains.

She can only flail her hands to try and help her up but it's not working either. Her chest burns and her legs are numb, everything started turning hazy. She kept moving her arms hoping she will be noticed by her sisters and help her. She started losing consciousness and her energy depleted quickly. Before blacking out completely, Lina felt hope when strong hands and arms pulled her out of the water. As soon as her head broke out of the water, she took painful deep breaths and started throwing up water.

Henry did his last lap turn a bit sooner than Lina and was powering through the last lap when she heard a scream followed by splash of water. He stopped swimming, stood up and looked up just in time to see Jia jump into the water swimming towards the turn point. He quickly swam to where Lina was. He got there first and pulled her up, making sure her head is out of the water. He was very relieved to hear her coughing, it means she's conscious. He quickly guided both of them towards the side of the pool. Senna and Jia were there already to help pull her up and out of the pool completely.

Lina's eyes were bloodshot, she was coughing non-stop, almost wheezing, and still throwing up water every few seconds. She's shaking helplessly in the ground, shivering. Henry was tapping her back and rubbing it to help her expel the water she had taken in.

The staff and guards are now nearby the surrounding the pool area, after hearing Jia's scream for help. Butler Li came and felt her pulse which is weak and fast. She's very, very cold to the touch.

Butler Li started calling out instructions. "You, call Doctor Jin now! You, prepare a warm bath quickly, help prepare the clothes. Quick, quick. Both of you, take the little misses to get changed." And they quickly did what they had to at the butlers' instructions.

Henry's mind was completely blank. He had closed million dollar deals just by feel and winging it. He had spoken in front of dignitaries and royalties a few times in his life as a successful CEO. Held countless conferences all over the world. He constantly has to face problems and issues and through all of that, he has never had a blank mind but now, he can't think of anything. Lina almost drowned right there. Right within his reach.

Butler Li called his name a few times to get his attention.

"Master Henry. Master Henry! Let Dirk carry her into the room so we can warm her before the doctor comes." He tells Henry as he taps on his shoulder. This shook Henry from his state of shock.

"I'll do it." He tells Butler Li, and then to the girls who didn't want to go with the staff coaxing them.

"Girls, go get changed, don't catch a cold. She will be fine." He assured them as he carried Lina up.

The girls timidly let one of the female staff lead them to their room. Once they have reached their room, they rushed to shower and get changed so they can go back to their sister as quickly as possible.

Lina, on the other hand, is not doing fine right now. She's still coughing roughly and shaking like a wet puppy. Henry carried her straight to the bathroom into the pristine white marble oversized oval shaped bathtub where the staff had warm water filling it already. Towels are already placed by the vanity and bathrobes hanging on the hooks on the wall. The staff inside moved out of the way and went out of the room when he came in. Henry gently placed his shivering bundle into the warm water that wasn't filled enough in his opinion. This is a problem with having such a big tub, filling it takes some time.

It feels like déjà vu from last night.

However, last night she's too warm and now she's shivering. This is not good for her body at all.