The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

276 Watching Movie

The girl, whose height reached around Nicko’s chin, wore a white tank top with an unbuttoned Boyfriend-type cardigan. Her blond hair was thick and healthy looking, framing her pale face, flowing down like a waterfall and hanging in front of her full, soft chest.

Wait...

Nicko immediately slapped his own cheek unintentionally. Had he gone mad? How could he put attention to a girl’s chest? What kind of a jerk was he?

‘Nicko! Have you lost your mind?! Are you seriously paying attention to a girl’s chest? Don’t you have to gouge out your own eyes? What if your sisters get that kind of treatment from a man? Don’t you feel like killing him? Then, why would you do it to another girl?!!’ Nicko screamed in his heart.

“Okay. That’s fine. I’ll make another sandwich for you guys later. It’s a promise.” Emma said after passing a short conversation with the guys’ group.

“You don’t have to burden yourself, Emma,” Ian said.

“I’m not. It’s fine, Ian,” Emma answered before taking a step to leave with her. But her steps stopped when her bag and shoulder hit Britney’s.

“Ouch...” Britney was shocked when she collided with Emma.

Emma immediately grabbed the arm of Britney whose body had staggered a bit. “Sorry, are you okay? Gosh, why are you daydreaming in the middle?”

.....

“Oh... Haha... I’m fine. It seems I was daydreaming,” She scratched her nape uncomfortably.

“Let’s go to class,” Emma took the girl’s hand as she started to walk away, leaving the group of men behind them.

“Is it true, that pretty girls will befriend pretty girls?” Martin asked in a mumble, looking at the group of girls walking away.

“I’ve heard that somewhere,” Ian shrugged. “But, isn’t this campus famous for its pretty girls?”

“To me, all women are the same. What matters is their nature and heart,” Troy said confidently.

“Say as you please, naive man.” Ian rolled his eyes.

“Hey, I’m telling the truth!” Troy replied while following Ian’s footsteps as he walked away.

On the other hand, Nicko was still staring at the group of girls. However, his gaze was pinned on the girl with blonde hair who had been stealing his attention.

“Nicko! How long are you going to daydream there?!” Martin shouted at him.

Unknowingly, it turned out that his friends had walked away from him. Nicko quickly pulled himself together and was about to take steps to catch up with the boys. But he stopped again when his eyes found a keychain on the ground.

Nicko picked up a keychain that seemed to have fallen from its claw. It was a small black swan-shaped doll. On the side was embroidery with two letters ‘BS’.

**

The smell of popcorn wafted thickly in the large lobby with the yellow light. Since it wasn’t a weekend, the place wasn’t very crowded.

A tall man and a chic girl were standing in front of the food counter. From the strangers’ eyes, they would be judged as lovers. However, in truth, they were just friends.

“Why it takes so long for you to just choose popcorn flavour?” Levi massaged the bridge of his nose.

“I’m still wondering if my sugar intake today will be too much if I eat caramel popcorn,” Emma replied nonchalantly.

“Then, you can just buy the salty one. Easy, isn’t it?” Levi said.

Emma shook her head. “Hu’um. I’m in the mood for caramel flavour. Stop babbling and give me time to think. You’re making me take longer time.”

“Arggh.. You suck!” Levi massaged his forehead.

Finally, the two of them were done with their popcorn problem. In the end, Emma bought caramel popcorn, even though it would violate the sugar limit she had set for herself. She called it ‘Cheat Day’.

“I hope we don’t miss the movie because of your blood sugar problem,” Levi said as he walked to the theatre door with Emma beside him.

The girl snorted, “Hey, at least thank me because I bought tickets and popcorn for us. This is a downgrade for a woman.”

“Hey, Miss. If you don’t suddenly cancel our appointment, then the tickets I bought at that time won’t be expired. Besides, I already said that I was the one who bought all of this, but you were the one who insisted on buying them all. Then now, you’re using all of those to attack me?” Levi looked at the girl beside him in disbelief.

“As long as you keep accepting it, then I’m the winner,” Emma smiled proudly.

Levi couldn’t think again. How he would deal with the girl named Emma Hilland? He also didn’t understand why he could relate and fall in love with a girl with such an annoying character.

They should have gone to the movies last weekend. Levi had even bought the tickets. But one day before the due day, Emma suddenly said that she couldn’t go because she had important business. Therefore, their plans were cancelled and the tickets expired.

Emma was forced to cancel her plan with Levi because the Beast Empire attack was not finished yet.

At first, Emma thought, after attacking the group’s headquarters in one night, she would be free the next day. However, she did not expect that there were still many documents that needed to be checked. Plus, there were still quite a lot of captives still taking refuge in the building behind the ballet studio. Because of that, she was forced to cancel her promise with Levi.

Feeling guilty, Emma checked whether the same movie would still be shown another day. Luckily, the horror movie they wanted to watch was still available until the middle of next week. She immediately bought two tickets online. Then, she also insisted on buying popcorn and drinks, as her token of apology.

The two of them entered the theatre door. Like a cinema in general, the room was quite dark because the movie was about to start. Once they were inside, Levi swiftly took Emma’s hand to lead her to their seat.

“Watch your step,” Levi whispered as they were about to climb the stairs.

After searching for a while, they found the row of seats that matched their ticket number and sat there.

“Why is it so empty?” Emma muttered to herself.

“That’s because this movie has been playing for almost a week every day and today is a weekday,” Levi replied as he placed his popcorn and drink on the drink holder.

“But that’s good too, right? You don’t like crowds, do you?” Emma smiled guiltily.

Levi looked at her then let out a long sigh, “Say anything you want,”

Emma giggled. “The movie is about to start... Don’t scream next to me, okay?” she said, playing her voice to make it sound scary.

Levi just glanced at her in disgust. “We’ll see who’s the most scared later,”

“For sure, that person is not me,” Emma said with a proud face.

Half an hour later...

“ARGHHH!!” Emma covered her face with both hands.

“Shhh! Are you nuts? Don’t scream that loud! You’re embarrassing me!” Levi scolded in a whisper. However, he couldn’t hold back his laughter because he found it funny to see Emma who had been screaming in fear. That girl was indeed the queen of talk big.

“Sorry. I just remembered that I’ve never watched horror films in theatres. Usually, I watch them at home,” Emma said as she held her breath, “I didn’t expect the sound would be this big that it keeps me shocked,”

“Well, at least now we know who’s the most cowardly of the two of us,” Levi smiled triumphantly.

But Emma looked at him sarcastically. “I’m not scared. I’m just surprised. You should be able to tell the difference.”

Levi sighed tiredly. “You’re very stubborn, you know,” then he took out a pair of earphones from his pocket, “Come here,”

Emma looked confusedly at Levi who was moving closer to her face. Then, his hands slipped something into her ear holes. Emma touched the object that had plugged into her ear with a confused expression.

“If you’re startled by the big sound, maybe it will help a little,” Levi said as he leaned back.

“Earphones? Well... Your idea is fine,” Emma nodded slowly.

With both her ears plugged, the sound from the cinema speakers was not too loud in her ears.

“Are you really not afraid to watch horror movies? Could this possibly give you nightmares tonight?” Levi asked.

Emma shook her head. “I’ve never been afraid of ghosts. The reality of life is scarier,”

Emma’s answer made Levi burst out laughing, “You said it well. It’s true.”

Then Emma turned to him. “Why do you like horror movies?”

The man shrugged. “Because I was trying to scare myself?”

“What kind of reason is that?” Emma stared blankly.

Levi chuckled. “It is weird, indeed. But that is my reason. I’m looking for something scarier than what I’ve been afraid of.”

“Oh, so we’re going to talk about your fear again? Okay,” Emma said to herself.

Levi then looked at her with narrowed eyes. “You talk as if you are used to and fed up with my story,”

With an innocent face, Emma nodded in approval.

Even though it was annoying, Levi still chuckled at her response. He thought it was a funny thing – How Emma judged the side of him that he never showed to anyone. Emma was always outspoken and never pretended. And Levi shockingly liked that.

“Sorry if I keep complaining about my life in front of you. Honestly, I really can’t help it,” Levi muttered.

Emma turned to him and stared at him for a while before removing a pair of earphones from her ears and giving them back to the owner.

Levi looked at the two earphones that were now in his palms. “They didn’t help?”

Emma smiled and shook her head. “They did. But I don’t need them anymore,”

Levi’s face turned confused. “Why?”

“I am used to it already,” Emma answered with a wink.

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