The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

Emma could only nod and follow the man down the huge high wall that separated the sea and the shore.

“How did you find out about this place?” Levi asked with his hands in the pockets of his brown coat.

“One day, I was wandering around the pier and found this place. I know it’s not a tourist spot, but it’s like a treasure to me.” Emma said. The day she meant was when she was investigating Hell Gate’s headquarters at that time. She accidentally found this place and immediately thought that one day she would visit it again. However, this had only materialized today.

“You walked around here? You better not come here alone because I heard a lot of crime going on in the harbour area.” Levi said.

“It is? I didn’t know that,” Emma looked thoughtful. Oh.. maybe it was because too many crimes happened in Handway City that she couldn’t tell the difference between dangerous and harmless places anymore.

“You’d make me feel better. I think what you said was true.” Levi said suddenly as they almost got to the car.

Emma looked at him and smiled warmly, “I’m glad to hear that. And glad to know that we’re even now.”

Emma’s statement made Levi stare at her questioningly.

.....

Then Emma chuckled, “The last thing you did for me. I don’t know what you thought about it, but it made a big impression on me. You gave me the strength to live my day again. You gave a new perception to my mind which is still developing and trying to be mature. It meant a lot for me that I felt indebted to you.”

“Debt of gratitude.” Levi chuckled, “It’s a satan’s circle. But today, I might be happy to go to hell.”

Emma laughed, “You’re so weird. Very, very weird,” she said by shaking her head.

Levi smiled. Then he glanced at the large silver watch wrapped around his tattooed wrist, “Emma,”

The girl stopped walking when she almost reached the car door, “Yes?”

“Are you really thinking of going home now? So, we’re here just to watch the waves crash against the rocks?” He asked.

Emma pulled her hand back from the car door. Her face looked contemplating, “I did think so. You forced me to choose a destination so suddenly.”

“Thanks for blaming me. How about we walk around here a little bit? It’s still quite daylight.”

“Is it?” Now it was Emma who turned to glance at her leather strap watch. But it was already four in the afternoon. It happened that the trip from her house to this place was not close. It might take them an hour to arrive.

Emma was about to refuse Levi’s offer. But she could see the unusual look on his face. Admittedly, Emma couldn’t clearly see what that expression meant. It looked sad and happy, looked sad and calm. Emma couldn’t figure it out.

“Well, fine by that,” Emma said by approaching Levi back. In the end, she gave in to her own desire to help the man who seemed to be having problems with his feelings.

“I don’t know what else to see here,” Emma said as she started to walk with Levi beside her.

Levi shook his head, “I just need some peace.”

“I hope you won’t regret it. You know I talk a lot. Looks like you won’t have that peace.” Emma laughed.

“For that one, I can tolerate. Fortunately, the sound of the wind is madly strong here. If later you talk but I don’t answer, that means I don’t give a damn.”

“Haha..” Emma laughed sarcastically by glaring at the damn man, “You’re overly good at playing with people’s temper, are you?”

“Maybe it’s because I’m always holding back my temper?” Levi said.

“Hm?” Emma looked interested, “Just like?”

“Like a coconut. The shell is rock hard and difficult to crush. But the contents are very soft, even dominated by liquid.” He answered with a long sigh.

Emma nodded in understanding. From what Levi said, she could conclude that he was always trying to be strong even though he had a fragile soul inside. It seemed like she wasn’t the only one with such a fate.

“You might be right about coconut. But did you know? Coconut gives a lot of benefits. Maybe that’s why it has a very hard and thick shell, which is to protect its precious contents.”

“You think so?” Levi looked at Emma as he slowly stepped on the sand.

“That’s not my opinion. But research does say that coconut has many benefits. For example, it can produce great oil. I also use it for my hair.” She explained.

Levi nodded in understanding, “I can see it. Your hair is like the tail of a wild horse.

Emma looked back at him with a straight face, “Should you liken it to a wild horse’s tail?”

“That’s the first thing that popped into my head the first time I saw your hair,” Levi answered.

Emma couldn’t help but sigh. Then she returned to the main topic, “I myself also thought that I was awfully weak. That’s why I tried to be strong. In the past, I hated the soft side of myself and my weak heart towards other people. But as I lived it, I realized that caring and compassion for others do not make me weak. In fact, they become a source of strength that is not only useful for me but for many people as well. When I closed my heart, I became a selfish person. In the end, all I did were only benefited myself. I did not develop and become a selfish human being.”

Levi was silent listening to what Emma was talking about. He admitted what she said was true. But it was certainly not easy to be useful to many people in his case. Either Emma was pretty good at controlling herself or indeed the problems the two of them faced were too different. Just like fate, wasn’t everyone’s life problem different? Therefore, we should not lecture others as if we know everything.

They continued to walk, enjoying the calm atmosphere. Although the blowing wind was strong and cold, the two of them felt peace in their hearts. It seemed that Emma didn’t wrong to agree with Levi’s offer to take a longer walk in that place. She herself must cultivate her mentally in facing new problems in her life.

“Hey! Look at that,” Emma pointed ahead at a building shaped like a barn. She stepped faster to approach the building made of wood.

“Is that a barn? In a place like this?” Emma muttered.

“Looks like this building has been abandoned. In another way, from the windows, it looks like a church, perhaps?” Levi concluded by looking straight at the open barn door. There was darkness inside.

Emma stared at the two windows Levi was referring to. The two slightly broken windows were so high that they almost touched the roof of the barn. They were stained-glass windows that formed a picture of hills with sheep and shepherds. Then for the other window were pictures of a cross and a woman who seemed to be the Virgin Mary. Those were too pretty windows for an abandoned barn.

Suddenly, Levi’s phone rang. He immediately moved away from Emma to pick up the call.

Emma glanced briefly at Levi who was standing a few steps with his back to her. Emma shrugged and moved toward the barn. She was genuinely curious about the building. Apart from its unusual location, the barn looked dearly unique. From its shape and material, which was made of wooden planks with faded paint, Emma was sure that the building must have been so tempting when it was taken care of.

‘Could this be a gangster’s base?’ Suddenly a thought popped into Emma’s mind. ‘But if it’s truly a gangster’s base, there’s no way the door would open like this. It’s dark inside anyway. Looks like someone used this place to be a warehouse.’

Emma stepped back away from the barn. Then she pulled out her cell phone from her sling purse that she hung on her shoulder. She opened the camera and took pictures of the unique building like a tourist.

She was thinking of showing the building to her three best friends and Jonas. Maybe the windows could be the inspiration for the window at Poppy’s under-renovation studio. It would definitely be gorgeous when exposed with sunlight.

Ah.. Talking about the sun, the sky had turned reddish-orange. Emma glanced at her watch and found that they had been playing there for about an hour. Emma felt Levi approaching behind her. She was about to turn to the man to say that they should be back soon.

But Emma became confused when Levi strongly grabbed the strap of her purse instead. It all happened in the blink of an eye. Emma did not expect that the person was not Levi Wargos, but a guy who was a thief.

“No!!” Emma yelped as she felt her purse slip from her unwary arm.

On the other hand, Levi had just pocketed his cell phone. But when he turned his back to Emma, he saw the mugging process carried out by a guy so quickly to her.

“EMMA!” Levi was too late to tell her. With fast feet, the thief was already running as fast as a squirrel.

Emma who had regained her sense, immediately ran after the criminal. Damn it! She had her important ID card and cell phone inside the purse.

Not even running five steps, Emma found a tall man was chasing the thief at a crazy speed. Emma even needed to look twice before realizing that the man was Levi Wargos.

“Levi!” Emma shouted as she ran. But unfortunately, the short skirt and heels were not a good combination for running on the beach sand.