A Lifelong Love

As the last glow of sunshine disappeared from the horizon, the sky gradually became dark.

As the flying roar of the plane sounded in Jane Sidney's ear, she turned to look at the student next to her, and patted her on the shoulder slightly, "Betty, are you feeling better now?"

Betty Smith was her student, and she was the second-grade math teacher of the Viaduct No.1 Primary School.

A few days ago, she took Betty Smith by high-speed rail to the capital to participate in the National Olympic Mathematics Competition. Now that the competition was finished, she took her back to Viaduct City by plane.

But Betty might not have been on a plane before. Even though she had taken the airsick medicine, Betty was still dizzy and her condition was not well.

"Miss Sidney, I want to drink water." Betty raised her head to look at Jane.

After touching her forehead and confirming that she did not have a fever, Jane nodded caringly, "Then you sit here and don't walk around." She raised her head and looked around, hoping to see a stewardess.

But the stewardess did not come out for inspection, so Jane decided to get water by herself.

"I'll be back soon, wait here." Jane smiled at Betty, patted her hand slightly, and then went forward to the storage room.

It would be better if she ran into a stewardess here.

But she saw none before she went into the storage room. She didn't think too much, found the hot water tank, and poured a glass of water.

As she was about to turn around and leave, she didn't expect that there was a tall man standing in front of her, with good features and short hair. He was as handsome as a movie star, but his face was dark. He was wearing a white shirt, a black vest, suit pants, and black leather shoes.

Jane was startled, wondering when this man appeared in this place.

But seeing that he was just standing there without malicious intent, Jane thought about leaving with the hot water. But the moment she passed by, her waist was held by this man!

She was taken aback immediately, struggling and shouting loudly, "Let go of me! What are you doing?!"

But clearly, he was much faster and stronger than Jane. The more she struggled, the more the man clenched her arms tighter.

After fierce struggling, he pressed her against the door of the storage room directly. Moreover, he locked the door at the same time.

"Help! Help!" Jane shouted, but the man covered her mouth to prevent her from shouting more.

Her face was against the door under his oppression, while he circled her tight from behind, clinging to her back.

"Name your price." The man whispered in her ear. He turned her face around and kissed her wildly.

Jane was startled, trying hard to avoid his kisses and shaking her head in haste, "No, don't do that to me! Let me go! I'm a teacher, not those who sell their bodies!"

There was a half glass of hot water left in her hand. At this time, she felt that the man touched her belt on her jeans and tried to pull it out.

Jane was more annoyed and panicked. She shouted out of anger, "Go to hell!"

As she struggled, the glass in her hand was hit on the man's head.

Suddenly, the man's head was broken and he rolled his eyes before he fell down.

Jane took a few steps back in horror, the tears from the corners of her eyes were still on her face at this time, and her heart kept beating fast.

Her hands were weak, and the cup fell directly to the ground, making a clanging sound.

If it hadn't been for her elder brother who had taught her some self-defense skills, she would have been raped by this man today!

But now...

Looking at the motionless man on the ground, she cursed inwardly that he was a beast with a human face!

But she just hit him... She walked closer to him, and then kicked his hand once.

He didn't move.

Signing heavily, Jane turned around, opened the door of the storage room with a pale face, and hurried out.

She took a deep breath in the short corridor, trying to calm down. That man might be still alive... he couldn't die that easy.

A stewardess happened to pass by, so Jane stepped forward and said as calmly as possible, "Hello, miss, I'm afraid a suspicious man has entered the storage room."

"Really? I'll send someone to check out right away. Miss, can you please hurry and sit back to your seat?"

"Okay." Jane nodded. Then it occurred to her that she still needed hot water, "Also, please get me a glass of hot water. I'm at seat 28."

"As you wish, Miss. Please give me a second." The stewardess agreed and planned to do her job.

Jane exhaled a sigh of relief, settled her mind, and got back to her seat.

Betty was not in good condition, feeling dizzy all the time. Jane could only circle her softly as she comforted her, "Wait a second, you'll get the hot water soon."

But at this moment, there was a burst of noise outside the cabin, followed by a few violent shouts and gunfire!

"Ah!" Someone screamed, and the passengers in the cabin were in chaos suddenly.

"Bang-" Hearing another shot, everyone was startled.

"Freeze, all of you!" After the gunshot, someone yelled, "Squat down and hold your heads!"

Five foreign men had red bands on their heads and tattoos on their arms. They held AK-47s in their hands and looked fierce.

One of them was holding a gun toward four stewardesses who curled up in a corner. Some of them had blood on their arms, others were beaten up black and blue, and one at the door died in a pool of blood.

The other four robbers walked over with AK-47s and shouted as they walked, "You bastards, all squat down, otherwise I will shoot your heads bloom!"

Everyone was stunned. They dared not to resist and all followed suit.

Jane's eyes were wide-opened to see what had happened in front of her!

Did they have to...? She looked at Betty, and found her panicked, "M, Miss..."

Jane put her arms around her immediately and whispered to her, "Betty, don't be afraid."

As she said that, a robber heard her in the distance, so he came with an AK-47 and put it directly against Jane's head, rebuking loudly, "Fucking bitch!"

"Sorry! Sorry!" Jane suddenly apologized in a cold sweat, but she protected Betty behind her firmly. She raised her eyes to the robber, her chest heaving ups and downs because of tension, "Please! Don't kill me! Please! I am a teacher! This is my student! Please! Don't kill us!"

Although she had no idea about the background of these robbers, she could tell that some of them respected intellectuals and doctors, so she dared identify herself as a teacher.

"Teacher?" The robber stared at Jane, frowning. Obviously, he was hesitating.

"Rock, Go!" At this moment, another robber shouted from behind the cabin and motioned.

Rock stared at Jane silently, and then he took the gun back and walked towards his partner who had just shouted at him.

Jane felt relieved temporarily, but her hair was soaked with sweat, and her palms were full of sweat. Looking at Betty, she found her already faint out of shock.

"All women and children should stand in the middle aisle!" At this time, another robber shouted, pointing a gun directly at the woman sitting in the first seat, "Go!"

Jane almost had her heart in her mouth. Seeing Betty fainted beside her, she made up her mind and pushed Betty under the seat. Covering Betty with her clothes, she stood up hastily as she raised her hands.

Hearing the sound, a robber turned to stare at Jane. But since she was standing in the aisle as they ordered, he turned around to observe if others had obeyed their instructions.

"Teachers and doctors stand here!" The robber stared at Jane as he gave the order.

Jane gritted her teeth, held her head with her hands, and forced herself to stand opposite the robbers.

Two women followed her.

The robber who had given the order stared at Jane, reaching out his hand to pinch her chin, "Good girl!"

Sweat fell from Jane's forehead. She bit her red lips tightly and turned her face away. The fear in her heart continued to expand. For the first time, she felt that life was so fragile that the robbers had her life under control. As long as they were not happy, they could kill her in one shot!

Rock walked out of the captain's room and said something to the robber who had shouted before. And then some robbers were ordered to prepare a real-time video.

The rest, however, directly pulled Jane and two women behind her as well as the four stewardesses, made them kneel on the ground, and tied them from behind, forcing them to face the camera.

Everyone shrank into a ball in horror, for fear that bullets would shoot through their heads at any time!

Jane gritted her teeth and cursed in her heart, "These damn executioners will surely go to hell after death!"

Rock stared at Jane. He stepped forward, grabbed the camera, and faced Jane directly, "Teacher? Miss! You're-beautiful!"

Jane gritted her teeth and said angrily, "Thanks!"

"Good!" Rock stared at Jane with admiration, and moved the camera closer to her, while another robber grabbed her hair directly.

Jane gnashed as she endured the pain because her scalp was about to be torn off.

Rock had his speech at this time, "We are King-Se, and we are live broadcasting on this A389 Airplane! Unless you can meet all our requirements, otherwise, starting from this beautiful teacher, we will make sure all the beautiful heads blooming!"

As he spoke, he directly pressed the AK-47 upon Jane's temple, "Hurry up! You have ten minutes! Otherwise, you are gonna wish you hadn't made the wrong decision!"

He said that as soon as he raised his hand, planning to smash the AK-47 on Jane's head!

Jane trembled uncontrollably. She closed her eyes, waiting for the heavy blow.

However, the pain didn't come as expected, because a man held the gun directly.

It... it was him?!

"It's improper for a gentleman to treat a lady like this." Edward Pike's low voice sounded. When he raised his hand, his right elbow directly hit on Rock's temple, and his left hand had already seized the AK-47 from behind!

That was awesome to watch him finish the shot within a blink.

He raised his right knee and kicked, while Rock was kicked to the hatch.

The robbers finally realized what had happened and shot at the man who appeared suddenly, "Fire!"

"Bang, bang, bang!" Three robbers fell down in succession, while the AK-47 in the man's hand was smoking.

"Hurry up and hide!" Edward yelled, and his sharp eyes stared towards Jane.

Jane hurriedly pulled the other two women and the stewardesses aside, "Get down, all of you. And bow your heads!"

There was also a gunshot sounded in the captain's room, and then a figure flashed out from there.

"Bang!"

"Boom!"

"B-o-o-m!"

The bullets flew across the cabin, and everyone felt that their blood had stopped flowing. All of this happened too fast!

Then the cabin was in silence.

"Boss, are you alright?" Someone shouted, and then he continued to shout to the guests, "You are all safe now. All the robbers are dead."

The passengers raised their heads with pale faces.

The young man comforted women and children in the aisle first, and then he went to the first seat. But when he watched Edward leaning on the seat, he shouted in surprise, "Is there a doctor here?! Boss! Boss!"

"I'm okay." Edward shook his head lightly, and then touched his forehead, "Ah-" It hurt. Damn it! He couldn't even remember who had hit him on the head at that time!

He almost got shot because of this. Fortunately, these robbers were all dead now.

"Boss?" Sean Richard supported him nervously, "Your forehead?"

"It's not a gunshot wound. I didn't know who had smashed me before. Damn it. My grandpa really pissed me off! What on earth did he give me to drink?" Edward frowned, but his expression turned normal soon, "Also, look what kind of plane ticket you had bought for me! The terrorists even hijacked the plane!"

Sean was a little embarrassed, "Boss, I was out of choices. At that time, all the transportation was controlled by Old Master Pike. I took a lot of effort to buy this plane ticket. Otherwise, you might have to stay in Pike's Castle for a blind date."

Seeing Edward's face turning gloomier, Sean found his voice lower and lower, and finally he dared not speak.

Edward rolled his eyes at him, glanced at the robbers' bodies on the ground, and then raised his eyes to look at the passengers who were with lingering fears at this moment.

Jane looked up at the man who had saved all the people in the plane, feeling shocked again in a cold sweat.

He was indeed the man she had seen in the storage room! And the wound on his forehead was exactly what she had smashed with a glass. Unexpectedly, he rescued them in this hijacking accident... She thought he was a bad guy before!

Jane lowered her head to block her sight. He wouldn't recognize her in this way, would he?

"The plane is about to land at Oakland International Airport, please pay attention." At this time, the radio rang.

The rest stewardesses had no time to mourn their dead colleagues and hurriedly prepared for landing. Although the passengers were terrified, they had finally survived this, so all of them sat back to their seats and waited for the emergency landing.

This A389 Airplane was hijacked half an hour after taking off, and it took another hour to resolve the crisis. Now that the government had already been notified, they had to make an emergency landing and accept all the inspections.

Jane held Betty up. Seeing her in a terrible condition, she couldn't help raising her hand, "Is there a doctor here? Please help my student. She is sick."

"I am." Another woman said and hurried over to see Betty.

Edward was supposed to take a rest in the business class, but when he was about to leave the cabin, he heard Jane's voice.

He frowned, and some images flashed in his mind. Perhaps because he had drunk the "water" given by his grandpa, he was so dizzy that he wanted to drink some water to dilute the drug in the storage room. But someone smashed his head for no reason.

The woman who spoke just now. Her voice...

Edward turned around, staring at Jane who was taking care of Betty as well as asking the doctor about Betty's condition. His eyes went gloomy, and then he walked towards her.

"She is fine? That's good to hear. Thank you, doctor." Jane thanked the doctor repeatedly. Betty was a bit sobered up at this time, so Jane comforted her that the crisis had been solved and they were safe now.

The doctor nodded and then got back to her seat.

"Excuse me, Miss, did you go to the storage room before?" Edward stared at Jane while he observed her reactions.

Jane felt nervous to face him, grasping Betty harder. Betty looked at her in confusion, "Miss?"

"It's okay." Jane coaxed Betty first, and then looked up at Edward, answering while nodding, "No, I didn't."

"Thank you for saving us," Jane added after a long time of silence.

The man was unexpectedly skillful to defeat the robbers without taking much effort. Who was he?

Edward focused on Jane all this time, so he had noticed that Jane had grasped Betty.

He didn't respond, only staring at her.

Jane couldn't help wringing the clothes she had put on Betty's body, losing her ability to answer in panic.

Edward didn't leave until they were notified that the plane would land in three minutes. The moment he turned around, Jane finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Miss, I'm thirsty." After Edward took a few steps away, Betty told Jane again.

Edward heard this.

Thirsty. Hot water.

When he got up from the ground, he saw the broken glass beside him.

He thought to himself, "Say it again it wasn't you, Miss Sidney. You had almost broken my head!"

Edward was unhappy after he learnt the truth, but he did not stop.

Seeing him leaving without stopping, Jane was relieved, "Betty, hold on. Soon the plane will land, and then I can get you some hot water to drink."

The plane made a forced landing. When the door of the plane was opened, armed special forces with live ammunition were all standing beside the plane. The guns were loaded and pointed at everyone who got off the plane.

Jane held Betty's hand tightly, holding their passports, air tickets, ID cards, and other documents in her hand, and queuing to get off the plane.

She saw that Edward and Sean went to the special soldier, seeming like they were having a conversation.

And then, Edward joined the special forces to check the passengers' IDs.

Sean was puzzled to find his boss acting like this. After all, he never cared about this before. He only ran into these robbers accidentally and killed them afterwards this time.

But now he was so righteous to help with the checking of the passengers' IDs.

Finally, it was Jane's turn to be checked. She handed her documents to the special soldier who was responsible for inspecting their documents.

"I'm Jane Sidney, a second-grade math teacher of the Viaduct No.1 Primary School. She is my student, Betty Smith." Jane introduced them briefly to the soldier.

The inspector had a detailed check upon Jane's ID card and passport, double checking with Jane a few times, and then turned to check her teacher certificate.

"Let me see," Edward said beside him.

The inspector delivered the document to Edward, "Please, Mr. Pike."

Edward stared at Jane, and then the ID card, the passport, and finally the certificate.

Jane didn't dare to look at him. The wound on his forehead was still bleeding even after binding up. She did hit him too hard.

"She's good." Edward returned the documents to Jane.

Jane's palms were sweaty, and she nodded, "Thank you." After that, she took Betty to follow the crowd in front of her and entered the airport reception room.

Next, they still had to stay here longer for further investigation.

Seeing that many people were calling their families to tell them they were safe, Jane remembered that she had turned her phone off all this time. The hijacking incident was probably a national sensation, so she should tell her brother and the colleagues at school about this.

Turning her phone on, she was stunned to find more than 300 missed calls.

"Ring, ring..." When she was about to make a call, her brother called her first.

"Stephen," Jane answered the phone.

"Jannie, are you alright? You almost frightened me to death! I've made hundreds of calls!" Stephen Sidney was so worried that he couldn't even wait to charter a plane to get by her side, "Where are you? I'll go and pick you up."

"Aren't you going to study national medical?" Jane asked, "Stephen, I promise I'm fine, and I will be back soon. I am in Oakland City now, and it is heard that we'll probably be back to Viaduct City by tomorrow morning."

"Let's have a video chat. I want to see you." Stephen hung up as he said that, and then he signed in his WeChat account, an instant-messaging application.

Jane had to sign in her Wechat account as well and have a video chat with him for a while.

After making sure that Jane and Betty were both okay, Stephen enjoined Jane repeatedly that she should be careful. He didn't hang up until his phone was almost out of power.

Time passed quickly. Since the robbers were already dead, and the investigation was proceeding, the government invited some psychologists to comfort those who were with psychological problems after being hijacked.

Others who thought they were fine could take other planes first.

Therefore, Jane took Betty back to Viaduct City immediately.

When they got off the plane, Stephen, President Smith, and other colleagues of Jane were already expecting them.

After they greeted each other, Betty was taken back to school by other teachers, while Jane was taken home by Stephen.

Once they got home, Stephen served her a wonderful meal, "Jannie, I did this to celebrate your safe return. Just eat as much as you want. I can cook you more if necessary!"

Jane smiled to see so many dishes on the table, "Thank you, Stephen. Join me and enjoy these dishes."

Right after she said that, Stephen's phone rang. He beckoned Jane to eat first, and then he went to the balcony to pick up the phone.

"Huh, Edward Pike, my boss, why do you call me?" Stephen sneered a few times, "What? Someone broke your head? Who did that?"

"You want me to treat you? And you don't want to leave any scar? Well, does it matter if a man has a few scars?!" Stephen smiled and looked at Jane in the dining room, "I gotta go. My sister just got home and I want to have dinner with her."

"You don't want me to go to the hospital? And you want me to treat you in my house?" Stephen gave it a thought, "Fine, you can come here if you want. But you can only come alone. If your men scare my sister, I'll throw all of you downstairs!"

"18, Oxford Street." Stephen gave him his address and then hung up the phone.

"Who is that?" Jane asked as she ate, "Come, have some dishes."

"Just a friend. He'll be here later. Is it okay if he comes here? Do you mind that?" Stephen had seldom invited his friends to home. For one reason, he thought that Jane might mind that; for another, he was kind of a neat freak, so he was afraid that others might stain his tidy home.

But Edward was somewhat special.