The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

Chapter 52: Kathy’s Cry

“Eum..” Emma brought herself up to her feet, free from Calvin’s big hands that were still supporting her back waist to prevent her from falling backwards.

Calvin’s two deep black irises seemed to hypnotize Emma for a moment.

‘I was too shocked to turn into a statue just now.’ Emma thought to herself. Trying to match a logical theory to her body’s reaction which felt like she was paralyzed earlier.

“I-I’m sorry!” Calvin said in a hurry as he let go of Emma’s waist after making sure the girl was standing properly, “Are you all right?”

Emma nodded, “I’m fine. Thanks for catching me.”

‘Damn! Why did I just stare at her like that? This is so embarrassing!’ Calvin covered his face with one hand. However, he held his wrist with a somewhat confused face.

‘Is it just me? Why her grip was so strong?’

.....

***

“I’m so lucky to meet you today,” Calvin said with a beaming face.

“That’s actually my words. Thank you for bringing my groceries, Calvin.” Emma said with a glance at the bag containing various kinds of fruit that filled the guy’s hands.

“There’s no need to hesitate. A woman shouldn’t carry heavy things like this.”

“Em.. But that are just fruits.” Emma said as tilting her head.

Calvin cleared his throat, “I just wanted to look cool. Sorry if I’m overreacting.”

Emma smiled amused at Calvin’s innocence, “That’s my car.” she pointed to a red car in the parking lot.

Earlier, when they were busy hunting for food, the snow began to fall lightly. But it turned out that the pile of the white thing was quite large now to be able to cover some parts of Emma’s car.

“Thanks, Calvin. You are helpful.” Emma said by closing the back passenger door of her car, “Hem.. Anyways, how did you get here? I didn’t see your motorbike in this parking lot.”

“I came with the bus because the road is a bit slippery for bike tires. It happens that I’m not on duty today, so I felt not in a mood to ride a motorbike.” He answered.

“Oh, I see.” Emma nodded. She knew what Calvin meant was something like hunting down gangsters.

“Eum.. By the way.. what do you think to come here again with me someday? That’s if you have some free time, of course.” Calvin asked while scratching the back of his head.

“Why not? It will be fun!” Emma nodded.

“OK!” Calvin said excitedly. Then he escorted Emma to the driver’s door. But the sight of snow piled up on the car hood made his heart move.

Then, Calvin cleared the pile of snow on there and above the driver’s door. He was worried that if Emma went in and out of the car door, the thicker snow above would fall on her head.

“Hey.. You don’t have to do that. Your hands will get cold.” Emma gasped.

“Eh.. It’s nothing. I just wiped the snow off a little bit here.” Calvin said, continuing his activities.

Emma chuckled, staring at Calvin’s behaviour as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. She didn’t know that Calvin’s original attitude was much better than when they first met.

All this time, Emma was used to always getting good treatment from men. Because of that, she would regard their kind treatment as normal, thus accepting all the kindness with a cold heart. But somehow, if Calvin did it, Emma would feel a little uncomfortable because it made her chest feel weird. If he treated her too much like this, Emma really wanted to force the guy to stop doing it.

“Ah.. This,” Emma muttered as she put her hands in the pockets of the coat she was wearing. From there, Emma pulled out a peach-coloured glove with a tulip embroidered on it, which she planned to use if she felt the air was getting too cold. But since she’s been holding onto foods for a long time, she decided to keep in her gloves instead.

Emma stepped closer to Calvin, who looked like he had finished doing his unimportant activity. The guy noticed that the girl was now standing close beside him. He turned and gave an innocent smile that required a question.

“Hmm?”

“Give me your hands,” Emma said.

Calvin frowned and showed his hands as Emma asked. Then Emma took both already very red hands and patted them clean of the remaining snow that was left.

“Your hands are as cold as the freezer in my kitchen.” Emma shook her head.

Emma’s hands were so warm. But Calvin could not feel the warmth that continued to touch his frozen hands, because his whole face was burning now. With sparkling eyes and sealed lips, he was still looking at his hands which were being cleaned by Emma.

After making sure Calvin’s hands were clean. Emma pulled her pair of gloves out of her coat pocket and put them on Calvin’s hands.

“Well.. They look to be too small.” Emma muttered as she looked up to see Calvin’s face.

What in Heaven! Emma’s face that suddenly looked at him, made Calvin almost die of a heart attack. Emma’s two round eyes framed by eyelashes as thick as a Chinese dancer’s fan looked at him with a cuteness overload. It’s as if Calvin was looking at the two glazing eyes of the sacred cat pet of the Greek goddess.

Calvin quickly grabbed both of his hands and..

“Cough! Cough! Cough! Ehm.. I’m.. Cough! So.. Sorry! Because I ate a lot of fried food earlier so.. Cough! My throat suddenly itch..” He said as he covered his mouth and turned his face away.

“Oh.. I’ll get some water from the shopping bag in a moment.” Emma immediately stepped to the car door.

“No need!” Calvin stopped her. Then, he again held his mouth with both hands, “Cough! The itching is gone now,” He continued as clearing his throat.

Calvin held his skin secretly as he pretended to cough again. After he felt his facial temperature had returned to normal, he finally stopped the coughing charade.

“Sorry, I was going to lend you my gloves. But it seems that they are too small. They are actually too big for my hand. I thought they would fit on yours.” Emma said.

“I see..” Calvin replied, then, there was silence for a moment. “Sorry, but.. Can I try again?” he asked sheepishly.

Emma nodded then handed the glove to the guy. Calvin tried to put one hand inside the cute, soft, and warm thing. With a lot of force, the glove finally fit, though it didn’t completely cover the entirety of his large palm. Fortunately, these gloves were not the type that has a section of fingers, so Calvin could wear them.

“Oh? They could fit?” Emma muttered as she nodded lightly.

“Yeah.. They actually could. Even though I gave a little force.. Haha.. They feel really warm.” Calvin said intently.

“Okay. Then you can take it. I don’t need it because there’s a heater in the car.”

“Really? All right then. Thanks, Emma.” Calvin said happily, like a child who gets a present on Christmas Day.

“Well.. I’ll go home now. It’s getting late. You too hurry home. It’s cold outside.” Emma opened her car door.

“Okay! I’m also going to the bus stop now. Be careful on the road.” He said before closing Emma’s car door while making sure the girl was in the driver’s seat properly.

Emma stared at Calvin’s broad back as he walked further and further away. The man walked very fast because his legs were long. Unknowingly, Emma smiled to herself. She just woke up when she accidentally saw the reflection of her own eyes in the rearview mirror. Suddenly, her cheeks immediately became hot.

“Don’t overdo it, Emma. Control yourself.” She said while patting her cheeks to wake herself up.

Suddenly, Emma’s cell phone rang. She took it out of her coat pocket.

“Kathy?” She read the caller’s name aloud.

Ah.. Emma just remembered that during her sleepover at Kathy house, she exchanged phone numbers with the girl. Emma was surprised because so far she had never received a call from anyone except Jonas. Seeing someone else’s name pop up when the ringtone sounded, it still felt strange to Emma.

Emma cleared her throat a few times before dragging the ‘Answer’ symbol that was wobbling on the screen of her phone.

“H-hello?”

“Emma! This is terrible! This is crazy!” Kathy’s screams made Emma spontaneously take the phone away from her ear.

‘Crazy! Her voice was so loud. Is she talking about herself? Why would she scream on the phone like that?’ Emma thought with bulging eyes as she stared at her cell phone.

“What’s the matter, Kathy?” Emma asked, now not daring to hold the phone too close to her ear.

“It’s Poppy! She’s in danger! You won’t believe what I found!”

**

Emma stood in front of a house with a tall grey fence. She pressed the bell button a second time. When she was about to press it again, the fence finally opened. A girl with flowing red curly hair immediately hugged her with teary eyes.

“Kathy! What’s going on?!” Emma asked worriedly. She rubbed her back to calm her down.

Finally, Kathy led Emma straight into her room. The girl’s body trembled slightly from the shock.

“Calm down, Kathy. Inhale.. exhale..” Emma directed her to sit on the bed.

Kathy looked deeply at Emma. Then, holding her hand, “You must see this,” She said before pulling Emma towards the computer desk.

Kathy pressed one of the buttons on her computer keyboard until the computer screen that had been off turned on instantly. Emma lowered her back to look at the screen, which displayed a lineup of perhaps fifteen photos.

Although the photos had not been opened to fully display on the screen, Emma could see that in almost all of them were a face of a guy who had been sick of her for a long time.

“Donny?” Emma asked as she turned to Kathy who was sitting in front of the computer.

Kathy nodded vigorously before double-clicking her mouse to open one of the photos.

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