The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

309 This Is It

Rachel stared at Martin for a moment with a straight face. She didn’t really like a man who had a somewhat flirtatious nature like him. However, she knew that Martin was not a bad person. Maybe he was just trying to be friendly.

“Yes,” Rachel nodded once.

“Damn... you are so talented. It’s delicious!” Martin said.

“Hey, you better clean up those crumbs you dropped. Emma will break your finger if she sees them. She doesn’t like her house messy and dirty,” Kathy handed Martin a box of tissues.

“Oh, All... alright,” Martin replied and directly did what Kathy said.

On the other hand, Emma was busy talking to Troy, Calvin, and Ian by the stairs.

“If he finds out you’re women, it won’t be long before they find out your base, Emma. You’d better be on your guard,” Ian said worriedly.

Emma nodded. “I guess so. Maybe I’ll do some revamping at this base. The problem now is security at Poppy’s studio. She has many kids students coming during the day. Could they possibly take advantage of that?”

“Involving children will only give the gangster group huge trouble. Chances are, they won’t do it,” Ian answered.

.....

But Emma thought for a moment. “But the Beast Empire also kidnapped children, didn’t they?”

“More like homeless children, Emma. It would be a different case if they kidnapped children from good families, who even sent the children to a dancing studio. You can imagine what those children’s parents would do if their child is hurt.” Calvin replied.

“Well, that’s true. Maybe if the parents join forces, they’ll be stronger than those gangsters because basically, gangsters bribe the police to shut up.” Emma muttered.

Ian nodded. “And those cops will stand up for whoever can bribe more. If the parents can do that, then that will be the end of the story for the gangsters. But unfortunately, the parents won’t do that,”

Troy nodded in approval. “The old people in this city tend to mind their own family matters. They aren’t young people like us who still have a lot of time and energy. Even so, what they can do is actually bigger than us. Therefore, gangsters never go looking fuss to them. The thing that moves those parents is hurting their babies,”

“I see,” Emma muttered.

Suddenly, Troy felt his phone vibrate and took it out of his jacket pocket. He paused for a moment staring at his cellphone screen before speaking, “Guys. It’s RJC. They sent me a message.”

“What did they say?” Emma asked.

“Wait... Does that mean you know that the leader of the RJC is Marcel Douglas?” Ian confirmed it once more to Emma.

The girl nodded lightly, “Of course.”

“Marcel will be shocked to death if he finds out the truth,” Calvin muttered to himself and got an approving nod from Ian.

“They asked me how to contact Black,” Troy said. Then he looked at Emma. “RJC would like to contact you.”

***

“You’re still going to stay here?” Martin asked with an unhappy face.

Calvin nodded then raised one hand briefly. “See you tomorrow.”

“Just go. Don’t disturb them,” Nicko said to Martin. He smirked at his friend’s sullen face.

Martin grunted. “I’m going,” he said before slamming the engine and riding his big motorbike at top speed.

“Don’t mind him, Emma. His madness will only get worse at this time of night,” Nicko said.

Emma laughed awkwardly. “Really?”

“Then let’s go now. That you for having us, Emma.” Ian said.

“Don’t mention it. See you tomorrow,” Emma replied with a sweet smile.

When the man rode away, she turned around to face Calvin. “What do you want to talk about, Calvin?”

He smiled faintly and awkwardly. “Actually, I don’t know where to start. There are so many things I want to ask and tell you, but never got the right time,”

Emma could see the worry on Calvin’s face. Actually, she knew that he must have a lot of questions. First, it should only be about when he met Emma when she was alone with Levi. But now, there must be more questions about Emma’s status as the leader of the Black Swan.

The two of them ended up on the first floor of Poppy’s empty ballet studio. Emma only turned on one light at the reception desk. They sat there, facing each other, yet silent to one another.

“Maybe you’re tired of hearing this, but I still can’t believe you’re Black,” Calvin said to start the conversation.

Emma smiled faintly. “I have my own intentions by covering it up,”

“You’re badly hurt, Emma.” Calvin brought his hand to Emma’s chin. But his hand stopped mid-air, “Can I?”

The girl nodded slowly, so Calvin proceeded to touch Emma’s injured soft skin. There were some bruises there. Even, a corner of Emma’s lips was badly injured.

“They must be so painful,” Calvin muttered slowly. “I’m sorry, Emma. But, are you sure you really want to continue this? To be honest, I can’t stand to see you face this kind of danger,”

Emma touched Calvin’s wrist and pulled it gently down. She smiled gently. “Before falling asleep at night, I often think; what if one day you find out that Black is me? How will you react? What will you do? It all makes me curious. And all your reactions now are exactly the same as I imagine,”

Calvin smiled faintly. “I know this is out of the topic, but I’m glad to know I’m in your mind before you sleep,”

“Gosh... I think about a lot of things before going to bed, really. I’m the type of person who can’t empty my mind when I’m about to sleep,” Emma laughed.

Calvin just smiled gently. He felt the little pricks that tickled and hurt him at the same time. As time passed, for some reason, he felt the distance between the two of them getting farther. Even, when they faced each other with this, he still felt that Emma was too far away for him to reach. It was as if she kept stepping backwards away from him and disappeared into the fog.

“Oh...” Calvin remembered something. “Regarding that day when I fought with you, I’m really sorry for being rude to you. Was after that... you okay?”

“Oh,” Emma nodded casually. “I’m fine. You don’t need to feel guilty, Calvin. At that time, you didn’t know I was me or even a girl. All you know, Black was a man – just like what I wanted.”

Emma looked at Calvin in guilt. “Honestly, I was also very hard on you. Unlike you, I knew that you were Calvin but I almost broke your shoulder.”

“It doesn’t matter, Emma. Maybe I would be relieved if you did break my shoulder then, so I wouldn’t have to hit you. Until now, I feel like cutting off my own hands.” He laughed.

“Haha... You’re too much as usual,” Emma chuckled.

“Eum... Did anyone else find out about your secret before us?” Calvin asked, moving uncomfortably.

“Yes? Of course. All my girlfriends share this secret with me.” Emma answered lightly.

But Calvin shook his head slowly. “I mean... someone other than your girlfriends. For example, the guy named Levi yesterday,”

Emma was stunned for a moment. A feeling of discomfort slowly crept up to her hump. ‘This is it,’ she said in her heart.