Chapter 3

When we got home, Ethan slammed the door so hard it shook.

"Sophia, did you take crazy pills today? Would it kill you to back down a little?"

Ethan loosened his tie and pointed at my nose, cursing.

"Ten thousand dollars! How much do I make in a month? And you, playing the hero, just threw away all my savings!"

I looked at him jumping around in rage, finding it incredibly ironic.

"That was a human life! If I hadn't acted, that child would be dead!"

"If he died, that would be Amanda's fault for not watching him properly. What does it have to do with you?"

Ethan frantically ran his hands through his hair, pacing around the living room.

"Great, now the whole complex knows you're an unlicensed menace. I'm embarrassed to even go outside!"

I ignored him and pulled out my phone to check the community forum.

The forum had exploded.

Amanda had posted a long accusatory essay with an eye-catching title.

[Warning! Unlicensed Emergency Responder in Our Complex Using the Guise of Saving Lives to Violently Harm Children!]

In the post, she vividly described how I had forcibly grabbed her son and how I'd used brutal techniques to abuse him.

She even insinuated that I was trying to create panic at the park to promote my safety training courses.

The neighbors below all chimed in.

"Oh my God, that's terrifying. How did someone like that get into our complex?"

"Support Amanda's fight for justice! We must resist unlicensed practitioners!"

"I heard she got fined $10,000 by the association. She must have done something really shady."

I looked at these vicious comments, my hands and feet going cold.

Just yesterday afternoon, the situation had been completely different.

Yesterday afternoon, I'd been walking my golden retriever in the park.

Suddenly I heard heart-wrenching screams coming from nearby.

I ran over to find Amanda collapsed on the lawn, holding her two-year-old son in her arms.

The child's little face had turned purple-red, his hands flailing in the air, his lips turning black, unable to make a single sound.

A box of peeled grapes lay scattered beside them.

Clear signs of airway obstruction from a foreign object.

I didn't have time to think. I tied the dog leash to a tree and rushed over.

I took the child from Amanda's arms and held him from behind.

I made a fist with one hand, positioning my thumb side against the child's abdomen on the midline, two fingers above the navel.

With my other hand gripping the fist, I thrust quickly inward and upward.

One, two, three, four, five.

"Waaah--"

With a weak cry, a whole grape shot out of the child's mouth and rolled onto the grass.

The child's face gradually regained color as he gasped for air.

Amanda had knelt on the ground, clutching my hands, crying with snot and tears streaming down her face.

"Sophia, you're an angel! You're my son's savior!"

But in less than twenty-four hours, the angel had become the villain who violently harmed children.

"What are you looking at? Haven't you embarrassed us enough?"

Ethan snatched my phone away and threw it hard onto the couch.

"I just went downstairs--someone slashed our tires!"

He pointed toward the window, his eyes bulging red.

"It was definitely someone from the complex! All because of you!"

I looked at him coldly.

"So?"

"So you need to go apologize to Amanda right now! Take some flowers and beg her to delete that forum post!"

Ethan barked orders at me.

"Why should I? I did nothing wrong."

"Nothing wrong? Not having certification IS wrong!"

Ethan moved closer, grinding his teeth.

"Sophia, I'm warning you. If you don't apologize tomorrow, we're done!"

I looked at this man I'd shared a bed with for three years.

"Fine. Then we're done."