The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

“Oh no!” Emma muttered as she watched the cat step closer to the edge of the ground, toward the water.

Emma quickly got up and stepped carefully towards the cat. But unfortunately, the cat with the big bright blue eyeball instead ran up onto the frozen water.

“NO!!” Emma exclaimed while holding her head with both hands. “Heiii!! Kitty!! Come here.. Come..” She tried to call the cat who was already on the thin ice.

‘Damn! If it falls..’ She thought.

“Pixy!!”

Emma jumped when a man’s scream echoed beside her ear. The man who made the sound was already standing beside Emma with a panicked face.

“I-is that your cat?” Emma asked no less panicked.

The man turned to Emma and nodded curtly. Then, he looked back at the front with a worried face while calling his cat named Pixy. However, no matter how much the man tried to call his cat to return to the ground, the cat didn’t seem to care and instead had fun running around on a thin layer of ice. It made Emma and him cringe in horror.

.....

“We have to help her immediately. The further away, the thinner and weaker the ice will be!” Emma said by rushed removing the earphones from her ears.

The man huffed in annoyance, then tried to stomp his foot, which was wrapped in shiny black loafers, on the ice layer of the riverside. Emma watched it by covering her mouth with her hands to hold back a scream of fearsome at what she saw. The man continued to put his other foot on the ice.

“It worked...” Emma mumbled both pleased and amazed.

But suddenly.. Crack! Crack! Crack!

The layer of ice that was supporting the man’s entire body began to crack under his two black shoes. The man looked down and realized the ice had cracked wider and wider.

“Come back! Hurry up! You’ll fall!” Emma exclaimed while waving with a panicked face.

The man immediately ran as slowly as possible. And when he almost reached the ground beside the river, the ice he stepped on was broken.

“OUCH!!” Emma couldn’t contain her screams.

Luckily, the man managed to land one foot on solid ground before his entire body plunged into the icy cold water. Only one leg was plunged calf-high into the water. Emma immediately helped the man get to the ground properly.

“F*ck!” the man muttered while looking at his cat that had run further and further away. His face looked really worried. It seemed that he loved his cat so much.

Emma looked at the man pityingly. Emma had never had a pet because she wasn’t good at caring for a living being other than herself. But, she could understand how worried the man was when he saw his beloved figure in danger. Even the life of an animal would become as important as a human’s when it was owned by the right master.

It was only natural for the ice layer to crack when it was the man who was standing on top of it. From what Emma saw, the man had almost the same size as Calvin Lee. Maybe he was a little taller than Calvin. His skin was pale white like a vampire and he had very deep and sharp grey irises. His jet black hair was soft, with the backside styled like a tail covering his neck and the bangs covering half of his forehead that almost touched his long eyebrow.

The man’s backhands full covered with tattoos that seemed to be continued all the way up. Come to think of it, that man had an extremely gloomy and cold aura. It looked funny when a man with such an appearance owned a beautiful white cat with the name ‘Pixy’.

“Can you catch it for me?” The man looked at Emma.

The girl who was judging the appearance of the man in front of her openly, quickly snapped out of her daydream. But the man didn’t seem to care at all... or maybe he’s just not aware.

“E-excuse me?” Emma shifted the knitted hat that covered her ears. She thought she heard wrong.

The man nodded hastily, “Your body looks light. Looks like you can walk on that ice.”

Emma was dumbfounded with her mouth slightly open. She didn’t expect the man to be so headstrong and ignorant by asking a girl he didn’t know to defy death to save his cat which he didn’t take care of properly so it could release to such a dangerous place.

But unfortunately, the jerk man asked the right person for this crazy thing. Emma didn’t have a sweet tongue and behaviour, but her heart was very warm. Even without being asked, Emma might end up climbing onto the thin ice to help the cat.

“Daman it!” The man muttered himself as he took out his cell phone.

Emma could peek a little that the man was typing the fire department’s emergency number. But just like Emma, ??he knew it was hard for his cat to stay safe while waiting for Handway City’s fire department that popular to be a bit slow to arrive at the disaster scene.

“I’ll catch her,” Emma said suddenly.

The man immediately turned to Emma with a slightly surprised face.

Emma nodded after taking a deep breath and exhaling roughly, “I’ll walk on that ice and save your cat.”

The man sighed and nodded in understanding. Then, Emma stepped closer to the ice layer in front of her with a pounding heart. She gulped a few times while catching her breath.

“Wait! Bring this,” The man handed Emma a sachet of a pink cat snack with a cute cat cartoon picture on it.

Emma looked at the snack with a straight face, then took it from the man’s tattooed hand, “Thanks for the help. This is very useful.” she said sarcastically.

Then, Emma exhaled loudly through her mouth so the steam billowed in front of her face, “Okay Emma. You got this. You are a ballet dancer who is as light as a feather...” she mumbled herself to calm herself down.

“Her name is Pixy.” Said the man. It made Emma look up sarcastically and nod lazily.

One of Emma’s feet was already on the ice, then she continued to put the other. The ice was very slippery, so Emma had to be very careful with her steps. Unknowingly, she had walked far enough on the ice.

The setting sun gave a beautiful panorama to Emma’s eyes. But her heart was still beating hard. She looked back to see the man in grey clothes was still standing in the same place watching her.

“Hei.. Pixy! Come here Pixy!” Emma exclaimed when the white cat stopped a few meters in front of her.

Seeing a glimmer of hope, Emma became excited to take a step closer. Then, she took a packet of cat snacks out of her pocket and opened it, “Come here sweetie.. There’s food here..” she said again.

Pixy, who looked a bit tired after running around, was now sitting on the ice while watching a human girl walking carefully towards her.

No matter how hard Emma called and showed the food at Pixy, it seemed that the white cat was indeed that stubborn. It didn’t move at all. Just sitting with her cute big eyes and wagging her tail slowly. It made Emma shake her head in annoyance.

“Ugh.. It’s so cold here. Is it because her fur is very thick, so she looks normal?” Emma muttered by hugging herself because the wind in the middle of the river was blowing very hard. Her steps began to tremble and the layer of ice she stepped on began to make a slightly loud sound, indicating that the layer was indeed getting thinner.

Crack!

Emma immediately stopped her footsteps as soon as she realized the ice in front of her cracked a little when she stepped on it, ‘Shit.. I can’t walk any further that way..’

Emma looked back and realized she was quite far from the riverbank. If she fell into the water, she certainly wouldn’t be able to swim to the shore.

“Pixy! Come here sweetie.. come here.. Please!” Emma coaxed while crouching there to provoke her with snack she was holding, “Come on.. I beg you.. come here. We can both die here if you don’t obey.”

It seemed like Emma’s desperation had finally moved Pixy’s heart, causing the cat to stand up and start walking elegantly like a model on ice. She turned to Emma ??who smiled widely at her.

“Yes, yes! Come on, honey! Good girl..” Emma said, continuing to shake the snack in her hand. Every now and then she looked down to see the condition of the ice that was supporting her body, whether it was still safe or not.

Then finally..

Whoops!

“OH, Finally!! You’re so naughty! You should feel lucky because you’re so cute!” Emma said while holding the cat with super soft fur in her arms.

She turned around and began to walk carefully back to the riverbank. She could see that the man who owned the cat looked relieved. Emma smiled broadly at him, “I did it!”. The man raised his thumb above his head.

But halfway then, Emma found a new problem. During her life, she had never held a dog or cat because always lived a restrained and serious life. Emma had never owned a pet or knew anyone who had one. It could be said that this was Emma’s first experience.

Since Emma didn’t hold Pixy properly, the cat started to wriggle its body. Emma started to feel troubled and panicked because she felt that Pixy would fall from her arms. The cat even scratched its paws on Emma’s body.

The man looked at Emma who was struggling in the middle of the ice, “Damn! She can’t hold the cat properly?!” he muttered with a worried face. His feet were itching so badly that he wanted to run over there to help. But of course, he couldn’t.