The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

However, it seemed that Emma had a special feature that made her could be accepted by the members of Jita Kyoei. Apparently, now Emma already had enough friends to share her laughter and to protect her.

Calvin shoved his hands into the pockets of his white and black patterned coat. He smiled gently. Seeing the figure of Emma who was not walking alone anymore made him feel happy.

“Her back could be perforated if you keep staring at her like that.” Ian laughed.

Calvin gasped then looked at the guy walking beside him, “What?”

“You like her, aren’t you?” Teased Troy who was standing to his right.

Calvin didn’t answer but looked down in amazement. Could it be that he had unwittingly had a crush on Emma Hilland?

.....

***

Ever since Emma beat up Carter Barewood and his two bastard friends, there’s been no more extortion activity in the campus park warehouse. This made Emma feel very happy. Even she saw that Roger was not as gloomy as usual. That’s what made Emma feel her struggle was not in vain. Well.. even though she enjoyed that day’s fight.

Luckily, the news that Carter’s group was beaten to a pulp by the mysterious helmeted man did not spread at all on campus. It must be because Carter was so embarrassed that he decided to cover it all up, while the losers were also unlikely to open their mouths wide. They had been saved once, so they should be grateful. No more looking for trouble by spreading any unnecessary news.

Emma didn’t have a class today. Kathy said there was a location selling a lot of street food and fresh fruit called Ahmed Street. Merchants on Ahmed Street would only open their stalls in the afternoon when the sunlight was no longer dazzling. Usually, they would be open until ten at night.

The time showed four in the afternoon. There should be quite many merchants who have opened their stalls by now. Emma didn’t want to come home too late because she was going to try to make a fruit salad and candied lemon that the recipe she just got by watched a television cooking show last night.

Using the help of GPS, Emma drove her car towards Ahmed street. No need to look for long, it turned out that the busy street was adjacent to one of the town squares of Handway. As Kathy said, it was like a paradise for food hunters.

Emma parked her car in the large parking lot reserved for visitors to Ahmed Street. She immediately stepped down excitedly, carrying her little brown sling bag and several folded grocery bags in her calf-length mantel pocket. Emma would be hunting a lot today.

Emma was not the type of girl who could eat too much. But she always felt hungry. The fact was her eyes were hungry.

Yes, the girl was actually quite a shopping freak. Either when she was shopping at the mall or supermarket. Emma often bought things and groceries that she didn’t really need. And as a result, those foodstuffs eventually become damaged because they were stored for too long in her cabinets.

It’s no different when she was strolling through food heaven like now. Emma bought many kinds of street food just to have a taste of them all.

“Ouch.. My hands are full.” She complained alone. But the grilled dumpling tent at the front looked very tempting. “Should I put all the food in one plastic bag?” Emma muttered to herself.

“No need. I’ll just hold it.”

Emma jumped in surprise and turned to the tall figure who was already standing beside her with a friendly smile. His slanted eyes would form a crescent moon shape when he laughed. But it just made him look more interesting and funny.

“You are here?” Asked Emma.

Calvin nodded, “I’m looking for food for dinner at home.” Then, he rubbed his chin with two fingers. His eyes fell on stuff in Emma’s hands, “You bought that many foods?”

“Oh.. Yes. It’s because all the foods look delicious. But I can’t seem to finish them all.” Emma laughed.

Calvin chuckled and took the bags from Emma’s hands, “Let me hold them.”

“Is that all right? I’m just troubling you instead.” She was still trying to hold back so that not all the food was transferred to Calvin’s hands.

The man shook his head, “It’s okay. Maybe you can share this with me a bit.” He laughed jokingly.

Emma smiled widely and nodded, “You can take whatever you want. It’s even okay if you want to eat them all. I’m already full though.”

A few minutes later..

Calvin’s face became flat. He cynically glanced at Emma who was receiving a plastic bag containing a portion of still steaming roasted dumplings.

“You just said you were full..” Calvin said with his mouth full of sweet toast, which was one of Emma’s leftover foods.

“My stomach is already full. But my tongue still wants to taste other foods.” Emma giggled after thanking her new food.

Emma’s spontaneous answer made Calvin accidentally spit out some of the food he had chewed, “Ugh! Sorry...” he said while checking Emma’s coat, whether it was hit by the spit.

Calvin’s behaviour made Emma laugh amused. Then, she took out a bottle of mineral water, opened the lid, and handed it to Calvin who was still coughing with his mouth full of food, “You shouldn’t have put that much food in your mouth.”

Calvin breathed a sigh of relief as soon as his entire food had been swallowed with the water. He returned the bottle to Emma, ??”Thank you.”

Emma took the bottle and closed it again, “You’re welcome.”

“Eum.. That..” Calvin realized something.

Emma looked at Calvin, waiting for him to continue, “What’s wrong?”

“Sorry, I forgot. Give me the water bottle back. I’ll buy a new one for you.” He continued with an uncomfortable expression.

“Oh.. No need. There’s still plenty of it left and I don’t drink too much when I’m walking around like this either.” Answered Emma.

“Is that all right? You know I was drinking from that bottle, right?” Calvin said a bit confused.

Emma frowned as she stared at the contents of the mineral water bottle. She was just wondering if the leftovers from Calvin’s mouth might have been in it. Fortunately, the water was still clean, “Hmm.. Do you have a contagious disease?”

Calvin shook his head hastily, “Of course not. I mean.. I don’t think you’d want to drink from someone else’s bottle.”

“Oh..” Emma understood, then smiled faintly and lowered her gaze back to the bottle she was holding, “You’re right. I should be like that. I’ve always been like that.”

Emma’s answer made Calvin’s chest thump and a tingling feeling welled up inside.

Then Emma looked at Calvin’s face again, “Do you remember the conversation we had when we met at the seafood shop that time? After that, I felt that it seemed okay to open myself up to other people.”

Calvin was still looking at Emma with an innocent face.

Emma smiled gently, “I used to think, even though I’m hiding, someday there will be good people who will find and help me. But it seems, the real world doesn’t go the way I thought. Even good people have their own problems because the world is that rough. Therefore, I was the one who had to step out. I didn’t expect, the little thing you said to me made my mind change.” She said honestly.

Calvin smiled warmly, “It’s okay if the world knows a little about you, Emma. If you continue to stay in a tightly closed room, you’ll soon run out of air to breathe. An open gap doesn’t kill you. Instead, it helps you to stay alive.”

“You sound like a guy I know. He’s annoying, but he’s always right.” Emma said as she stepped back.

“Emma.. Does this mean I can find out more about you?” Calvin asked, catching up to her pace.

Emma cleared her throat awkwardly, “Depends on the situation and the question.”

Calvin smiled, “Ok. Then, can I ask you something?”

Emma turned to him with raised eyebrows.

“Who’s the man you’re referring to? Is he.. someone important to you?” Calvin continued. He could see Emma’s face light up when she talked about that person. For some reason, it made him feel uncomfortable.

“He was.. The protector man since I was little. His name is Jonas.” Emma answered.

“Oh.. Protector, huh..” Calvin muttered. It seemed, even though Emma had always kept herself hidden, there were dozens of men who were willing to protect her.

Secretly, Emma glanced at Calvin who was walking beside her with his head lowered. A gloomy aura seemed to surround the guy.

“I hope you don’t have to be so awkward with me, Calvin. You being so careful makes me feel that I haven’t made it out of my old life. Didn’t you say you wanted to be closer to me?” Emma looked away as her own words made her cheeks blush. She must be crazy!

Calvin was stunned as he continued to stare at Emma. Made him walk forward without realizing there was an old lady who suddenly stop in the middle of the busy street.

“Hey! Don’t daydream,” Emma immediately grabbed Calvin’s hand as soon as he almost hit the old lady with his big body.

Calvin, who had felt like he was stepping on the wind, staggered because of Emma’s hand’s pull. He didn’t hit the old woman he almost hit earlier. However, his body ended up crashing into Emma’s body, until in the end, it was her body who was about to fall backwards. But quickly, Calvin fixed his footing and grabbed Emma’s waist.

Their eyes stared at each other. It felt as if a God had cursed the time to stop ticking. The two of them froze. They had never been in such a close position. A position they thought could only happen in romantic dramas.

For the first time, Calvin could see Emma’s two irises, which turned out to be much prettier than he thought. He could see his own reflection in the two hazel brown irises.

All this time, Calvin had never dared to look Emma in the eye for more than five seconds. In fact, it made the man feel confused with himself. But now Calvin realized why his mind kept falling every time he faced Emma. Maybe what Ian said was true. That he liked Emma.

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