The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

325 Hot Car

“It’s a place I used to go as a kid when I wanted to cry,” Calvin replied with a chuckle.

“Could I see it?” Emma asked.

“But you might feel uncomfortable because it’s an abandoned basketball court,” Calvin rubbed the back of his head.

“I wanted to see why you felt comfortable crying there when you said it was a stupid place,” She smiled gently.

Then, the car drove to a place which was only lit by two lampposts whose light was dim and one was flickering.

Calvin parked his car beside the court. “See? This place is gloomy, right?”

Emma nodded. “Was it the same as this before?”

“There weren’t too many wild weeds back then. Now they are quite tall and there are lots of them. It might be dangerous if someone were to wander there at night,” Then Calvin pointed to a long metal chair located on the side of the court. “I used to always sit there and cried,”

“You must be very lonely,” Emma said quietly.

.....

“When all my family left me one by one, it was so painful when I had to realize that I was left alone in this world. Usually, I always keep myself busy with various activities. I purposely tighten my time with anything so that I don’t have to remember being alone. However, all those thoughts eventually would pop up when I was about to sleep and just woke up.” Calvin explained.

“I promise you, Calvin. I’ll make those people pay their sins,” Emma said.

Calvin looked at Emma with a gentle smile. “You are a brave girl and have a heart like an angel, Emma. In my life, you are the only person who dared to risk yourself to help me. That is what makes you very special to me,”

“I think you deserve it, Calvin. I have absolutely no qualms about making sacrifices for someone like you. Basically, I dared to do this because I was inspired by you. At a time when no one cares about their surroundings, you are willing to fight alone to stop crime. Truly, you are the real hero,”

Calvin let out a long sigh. “Thank you for thinking of me that way. But, lately, I’ve started to realize that it seems like the empty feeling inside me will never be filled even though all of this is over,”

Brow furrowed, Emma looked at Calvin questioningly. “Are you still lonely until now?”

Calvin chuckled. “Of course, Emma. Even though I always endured it and covered it with a smile, the immense pain of losing everything I had is too difficult to erase. No matter how hard I tried, it never worked,”

“Did you know, Emma? As time went on, I realized that my action of hunting down those thugs was my way of venting my loneliness. The goal of eliminating the gangsters in Handway City was actually just an excuse for me to have a purpose in this empty life of mine. So I started to think; if this is all over, what else should I do to endure this pain?” Calvin continued with a downcast face.

Emma understood the pain Calvin felt. During this time, Calvin always smiled friendly to everyone. From his warm and cheerful demeanour, no one would have thought that he had a sorrowfully dark past.

Loneliness could be felt by everyone. However, not everyone was able to cover it with a smile.

When you have to keep smiling over the real pain that continued to tear your heart, it must be so hard. And Calvin had to do that for years, even when he was quite young. Calvin could still be a perfect man in front of everyone, even though he was falling apart inside.

Emma lifted her hand and grabbed the side of Calvin’s face to direct him to raise his head and look at her. She smiled gently and said, “What you’re going through is hard, Calvin. I understand that. However, you have to keep in mind that life goes on. If your goal has been reached, then you can make a new one. When you have written a full page, you can turn the sheet to write on a new page,”

Calvin smiled with tears in his eyes. Even though the car was dark, Emma could see the outside light reflection on two jet-black irises.

“Can you help me with that? It might be hard for me to do alone,” Calvin asked in a slightly restrained voice that made it sound a bit hoarse.

Emma nodded. “I’ll be by your side the whole time. You don’t have to worry about anything,”

Emma’s answer warmed Calvin’s heart. He immediately leaned forward to hug her. “Can you promise me?” he whispered into Emma’s ear. The scent of her soft flowing hair gave him a deeper calm.

“I promise,” Emma answered while wrapping her arms around Calvin’s big back which felt a bit hard.

“Thank you, Emma,” Calvin said, closing his eyes to enjoy how warm the girl drowned in his arms.

Then, they broke the hug. However, they were still very close. Emma’s hands were still resting on the shoulders of the man in front of her.

Calvin held the sides of Emma’s jaw and neck which felt slightly hot and soft in his palms. Their eyes stared at each other for a long time. Even though the lighting there was poor, they seemed to have the ability to see each other through to each other’s souls so that they didn’t need any words to be able to know what the person in front of them wanted.

Slowly, Calvin pulled Emma’s face closer to his and landed his lips on hers which were far softer than he had ever imagined.

Emma wrapped her arms around Calvin’s neck. Although where they were sitting now made it difficult for the two of them to move freely, that didn’t prevent them from hooking up to each other as close as possible.

All this time, Emma had never imagined she would kiss Calvin. And she did not expect that the man was comfortably warm and gentle. This was her second kiss, and how Calvin gave off his warmth made Emma instantly forget the first.

With one hand holding the back of Emma’s head and the other holding her lower back, Calvin couldn’t seem to stop himself from pulling Emma deeper into him, as if he could swallow her alive like a sweet and chewy jelly candy.

The kiss that had Calvin planned would only last less than five seconds, now had even bewitched him to become wild. Since Calvin wasn’t the pushy type of guy, he wouldn’t carelessly kiss a girl aggressively on their first impression. However, he did not expect that things would turn out like this.

Huffed, Emma’s whole body started to feel hot from the heat that enveloped her from Calvin’s body. The soft lips that now felt hot seemed to be sending electric shocks that continued to sting her body. Instead of stopping it all, Emma’s hands tightened around Calvin’s neck which felt right in her arms. She raised herself even further until she was kneeling on the chair.

Just let’s say Emma had gone mad. Or maybe she was influenced by the stupid movie that they accidentally watched at the car cinema earlier. She didn’t know what possessed her to make her desire explode like this.

Feeling that Emma was already perched higher than him, Calvin found it difficult to move and felt sorry for Emma, whose knees probably hurt because she was perched on the box between the two front seats of the car. Finally, in one tug, Calvin moved her body to the driver’s seat and sat on his lap.