The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

“Well,” Levi nodded slowly, “It’s sweet, soft and.. warm,”

“Warm?” Emma repeated confusedly. “You seem to lose your mind,”

“No.” Levi shook his head, “I guess that’s how I feel,” then he was stunned, ‘about you,’ he continued in his heart.

Emma shrugged at Levi’s weirdness. Maybe the man was already sleepy and starting to talk nonsense. It was 1 am anyway.

“Well.. I think I did need sugar to fill my exhausted energy.” It felt so long ago that Emma had forgotten what it was like to be starving. Maybe she should appreciate food more from today.

“Looks like my arm is a little troubled,” Levi said quietly when he felt a strange sensation in his wound which he thought was unusual. He looked at his arm which was wrapped in a handkerchief with quite a lot of blood already seeping out.

But Emma didn’t answer. This made Levi frown and glance at the girl who was still in his embrace. Oh.. she was already asleep.

Levi turned on his cell phone screen to see the time. It was almost 2 am. They had been trapped in the barn for nearly eight hours. Emma must have been exhausted. He saw Emma was unconsciously trying to keep her head from falling in her sleep. Then Levi smiled faintly, “You’re still trying to be a pricy girl even in your sleep, huh?” he mumbled.

.....

Then carefully, Levi brought his hand to hold Emma’s head and slightly pushed her against his chest. It seemed that her consciousness had indeed gone somewhere so she didn’t notice it.

“Um..” After a few seconds her head rested on something warm, Emma instinctively turned her body to the side and stretched out one of her arms to hug what she thought was a warm pillow. It was indeed very comfortable in the cold air.

But what the sleeping beauty Emma did make Levi hold his breath. He never thought to prepare himself when Emma instead turned to hug him as if he was a giant Teddy Bear. Besides making Levi lose his breath, that girl also managed to make his heart pound hard that it hurt his chest cavity.

“Shit! What the fuck is she doing?” Levi mumbled softly. But of course, Emma had fallen asleep deep into dreamland so she didn’t hear it.

Levi looked down at Emma leaning against him. Her hair was still tied back to show the outline of her face and her beautiful closed eyes. Maybe Levi had gone crazy for thinking that could the feeling tickling his chest was something called falling in love? Might it be that he liked Emma, the first girl in his life?

He brushed the strands of Emma’s hair that crossed her fine face. He couldn’t smile even though his eyes were lulled by the beauty. He couldn’t smile, though perhaps he had fallen in love because, in the end, they were strangers. And it would continue to be so.

Levi felt a throbbing pain in his chest. Actually, was he certainly a selfish person? Why did he feel confused about Emma’s mindset? But if he really was a selfish person, he might have given up everything and followed his heart’s desire, namely trying to get Emma by his side.

‘You are a star in the sky which I can’t reach.’ Levi said in his heart while fixing his coat which he lent to Emma to be her blanket so that it could cover her body properly.

Levi didn’t know whether he should be grateful or cursed because he could be trapped alone with Emma in this place. He was happy and angry. He knew that in this way, his feelings would definitely grow. But he could not refuse it. It was like a wound that kept getting infected.

Until the end, Levi would leave things like this. He didn’t expect Emma to have the same feelings as him. And hopefully, that would never happen. But if possible, if there was a God, he would beg to be allowed to continue to meet her. Just meet, nothing more.

If people say that love was deadly, then Levi admitted it now. He didn’t know whether he loved Emma or not. But he wouldn’t deny it anymore. His feelings for Emma ??were not something ordinary. He probably would be playing with something dangerous because now, he could feel that it was only Emma who could fill the emptiness in his heart.

Emma woke up from her sleep by feeling her pillow shaking. Her brows furrowed in upset and confusion. Her whole body ached from sleeping in such a bad position on the hard mat. She felt so tired. His eyes were so heavy and she felt reluctant to get up from the warm pillow she was hugging. As long as the weaker clock hadn’t rung, Emma would continue to sleep.

‘Wait a minute!’ Emma’s consciousness seemed to be screaming at her. Emma’s eyes suddenly opened wide.

She felt the pillow, or whatever she was sleeping on was moving up and down rapidly. Emma moved her hand and felt what she was touching which was hard and warm. She immediately got up from her sleeping position.

It felt like Emma was going mad soon. It turned out that she had been sleeping on Levi’s body while hugging him!

“You are out of your mind Emma! Where is your dignity?!” She cursed herself.

“Huh?” She muttered as she looked at Levi who was lying on the floor. He looked.. sick.

“Levi,” Emma shook his shoulder but Levi did not wake up from his sleep. His face looked corpse pale and sweaty even though the air was freezing cold.

“Hey.. Levi. Are you okay?” She tried to wake him up again. But Levi only responded with a groan and a frown. Then Emma tried to touch his forehead and, “Gosh! He has a bad fever. The wound.. Ah.. I think it’s because of the wound,” Emma muttered quickly.

Then she again tried to wake Levi up by shaking his body even harder, “Levi! Levi! Wake up!” but Levi’s eyes remained closed.

“Oh my! What should I do?” Emma held her own head after removing Levi’s coat that previously covered her body and then used it to cover his body now. Emma started to panic. The only thing Emma was afraid of was the possibility of Levi getting tetanus.

Emma looked up at the cracks in the roof and realized the colour of the sky had changed somewhat. She immediately reached for her cell phone which turned out to be only five percent battery left and was still no signal. For some reason, the signal couldn’t get inside the barn even though many of the roofs had been damaged. It was a strange thing actually. But Emma had no intention of thinking about it any further.

After glancing at the time, she found that it was already five in the morning. With that, Emma immediately stood up from her seat and ran towards the door which was still closed. She banged on the door with all her might, screaming for help. She thought that, since morning had come, then maybe someone was already outside. But when she peeked through the gap of the wooden boards, it was still quiet and dark outside.

“Ugh! What should I do?” Emma muttered with a thumping heart. Then she shouted again, “Help! Is anyone outside?! Please!”

“You’re.. noisy.”

Emma quickly looked back and found Levi was sitting with his back against the wall while holding his head.

“Levi!” Emma immediately rushed to him. “Are you all right? You have a high fever. It looks like your wound is infected. How are you feeling now?” She asked quickly.

But Levi just let out a long sigh. His breath was heavy and ragged. He didn’t answer any of Emma’s questions. His eyes looked blank looking down with a slightly downcast face. It seemed like a high fever had put him in between his unconsciousness.

“Levi..” Emma looked at him while sitting in front of him, “What should I do?” She asked in a weak voice. She was thirsty, hungry, and afraid. She kept imagining if something bad happened to the man in front of her.

Then Emma immediately shook her head to put herself together again. She could not lose to the situation. She was the strong Emma Hilland. She had trained in various dangerous situations, although she was always under Jonas’ supervision. For some reason, Emma’s mentality became weak whenever she was with Levi. It seemed that Levi was giving her bad energy.

Emma slapped her cheek. Then she looked back at Levi, “Don’t worry, Levi. I’ll definitely get us out of here. I’ll take you to the hospital soon. Everything will be fine.”

Then Emma was about to get up again to find another way out. But she almost fell because suddenly Levi grabbed her wrist. Emma unavoidably fell to her knees. At first, she was about to throw anger at Levi, but she was stunned when Levi was staring at her with a sad look.

“Don’t leave me, mom,” Levi said as he continued to grip Emma’s wrist.

“What?” Emma’s eyes twinkled. But if someone was losing control, wouldn’t it be fun to play the game along? Then Emma nodded with a smile, “I won’t leave you. Now please let me go, Levi.” She spoke softly just like a mother to her child.

But Levi shook his head. His face even looked like he was about to cry, “I’m sorry. Please don’t lie to me. I beg you. Please stay.” he buried his face in Emma’s hands like begging.

‘Looks like continuing to talk to a delirious person isn’t a good idea.’ Emma thought to herself. Then she patted Levi’s back, “Levi.. Wake up. It’s me, Emma. I’m not your mother.”

Emma felt sorry for Levi. It seemed that he was very worried about his sickly mother. Just by looking at this, Emma could guess that Nancy’s illness was severe enough to possibly threaten her life. As someone who had lost her mother to a serious illness, Emma understood Levi’s feelings so well.