The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

92 Recovering

Instantly, the cold air outside pushed its way inside. Emma laughed at Hellen’s words. Hopefully, the old lady was just joking. “Thanks for giving me a place to rest, Mrs Hellen. I’ll return the coat when I’ve done the laundry. See you next time.” She said.

“No need to rush if you don’t have time. See you again.. Be careful on the road.” Hellen replied.

Finally, Emma returned to her motorbike. As she predicted, the bike was already covered by quite a layer of snow. Luckily, Emma had covered it with a motorcycle cover cloth.

“Hh.. I’m sorry.. you’ve only been with me for a month, but you’ve already injured like this..” Emma said by rubbing her broken and badly scratched motorbike’s body.

***

The sound of the alarm woke Emma from her poor quality sleep. She groaned at the unbearable drowsiness, and her whole body aching in excruciating pain.

Emma looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand beside the bed. It showed six in the morning. Emma immediately pressed the white button above the cloud-shaped clock to stop it from beeping.

“Ugh.. I think I can’t do this. If I force myself.. maybe I will die on campus,” Emma muttered to herself. She wasn’t planning on being hyperbole. She just really felt that her body would fall apart if she forced herself to go to campus.

Previously, Emma had just arrived at her house when it was almost 3 a.m. Then, she had to bathe, clean, and treat her very painful wounds until 5 a.m. That meant, Emma only had the time to sleep for about an hour after having spent all her energy fighting against dozens of men and one monster.

.....

For the first time ever of her study at Jardin University, Emma finally decided to skip college. She didn’t even think about her ballet class today. Because it’s also impossible for her to dance ballet with her injured inside and out leg.

Emma woke up again when the sun was already very high above the roof of her house. The birds no longer seemed to be singing outside her room window. Emma glanced at the clock on the table again, it was already 2 p.m. Her stomach had even turned into a marching band as the protest of extremely hungry feel.

With weak steps and a little limp, Emma stepped her bruised and injured legs into the kitchen. She yawned very wide with messy hair. She was really in a mess after experiencing various body strength tests last night. She opened a big, two doors refrigerator, then looked at the filling for a while, before closing it again without taking anything. Instead, she walked over to the counter, poured a glass of water, and gulped down its contents. While doing so, she checked her cell phone.

‘Hi, Emma. Where are you? Why are you not coming today?’ -Calvin

‘Emma.. I haven’t seen you since the morning. Are you not healthy today? Poppy and I really worry about you. Please let me know when you read this message. Don’t make me worry, okay?!’ -Kathy

Emma smiled by reading the messages from her two best friends. Then, she replied by telling them that she was fine and just feeling a little unwell, so she decided to skip today’s college.

“Ugh.. I’m so hungry..” She muttered by holding her stomach. After cooking so many times, Emma had no idea what to cook anymore. Actually, she could have cooked a simple menu. But, to Emma, ??cooking was an art job. Even though in the end, she would eat it herself, cooking a special menu gave a feeling of pleasure that made her stress evaporate instantly.

“Oh, right!!” Emma exclaimed before running towards her sling bag which she had placed on the shelf. Then, she opened the bag and took out an orange notebook with a dove picture on its cover.

Her lips bloomed as she opened the pretty notebook. It was the recipe book Nancy gave her. She excitedly looked through inside and decided to make a Seafood Risotto.

‘Hope it tastes as good as Nancy’s..’ Emma thought after she finished plating.

She sat at the dinner table with a plate of steaming risotto and a glass of fresh apple juice which she always kept in the refrigerator. The final result of the dish made Emma smile in satisfaction. It turned out to be really good! Well, even though it can’t match what Nancy made.. but Emma was already satisfied with it.

“Think about her, I just wonder, how is Nancy doing? I don’t know why do I miss her? Even, we’ve only met each other for once.” Emma muttered to herself.

Thinking of Nancy made Emma think of Levi too. Maybe, because she had never met a man who acted so rude to her, made his image so imprinted on Emma’s mind.

“Hem.. Why am I thinking about him, anyway? I should just go to the hospital to check if my internal organs are still okay.” Emma grumbled, realizing that she had done washing the dish. Even the homework would feel so little if done while daydreaming.

While driving, Emma called Jonas to report her current condition with a little spark of lying. Of course, Emma wouldn’t tell him that she was involved in a fight and a bike accident that made her have to go to the hospital for over-worried about her own condition.

“It’s not even a month, why should it be repaired?” Jonas asked in surprise.

“Well.. I find the engine sound a bit strange. Maybe it’s because it’s too cold here. I think the oil was frozen.” Emma answered casually.

“Hey.. You don’t understand anything about the vehicle engine. Why would I provide a motorbike for you, if I knew that the oil will freeze? What are you actually doing there, Emma?” Jonas asked again. Now, his tone sounded irritated and more serious.

“You already know that I’m not familiar with the engine. Because of that, I could have used the bike the wrong way. Are ballet and studying hard sound strange to you? Because that’s just what I’m doing here.”

“Ugh.. Why does it seem so hard to believe your words, Emma? Even when you were a kid, you got me in trouble a lot because you were so clever and lied too much.” Jonas replied.

Emma stifled a laugh, then chuckled, “I’m no longer a kid, Jonas. Please, just trust me this time. I’m not causing any trouble here. My life is fine and always will be. So.. don’t worry about me or dare to send people to spy on me. I will really hate you if you do something unbelievable like that. I’m just reminding..” She said.

“Very well.. I will do as you wish, according to your dad’s orders. As long as you keep the update to me according to the schedule, then, I will not disturb your private life. So, apart from sending an engine and bike detail repairman, what else should I provide for you, Princess?” Jonas asked sarcastically.

Emma laughed a little, then, started to think for a moment, “Um.. Maybe you can send me more voice changing devices. And.. oh, right.. Please, increase my credit card limit a little.”

“Sorry, What?!” Jonas sounded disapproving of the request. Seriously? The credit card limit that Emma currently held was already very big!

“Well, lately, I just loved doing shopping. I often did cooking experiments, bought make-up kits, and you know.. Handway City has lots of nice places. I hang out with my university friends almost every day.” Emma explained with a dust rain of lies.

Silence for a few seconds on the other side. It seemed that Jonas was trying to regulate his patience with the only daughter of the very feared leader of the mafia group. No wonder, if she was very arbitrary and looked not afraid of anything in this world. “Okay, Emma. Okay. Fine. I’ll accept and try to understand all your excuses. I’ll do it. Are you happy now?”

Emma nodded excitedly, “So much! Thank you Jonas!” she said. “Is there anything else you want to tell me? Otherwise, I’ll hang up because I’m driving right now.”

“You’re only being polite after receiving everything you want, huh?” He mumbled with a click, “There is no more.”

“All right, then. Bye ..” Emma answered with an amused laugh before pressing the phone button on the steering wheel of her car to end the call.

Emma walked into a hospital corridor. This was the first time she had visited the Handway City hospital. And, she never thought that she had to come here for health treatment.

After undergoing several examination procedures, Emma finally came out of the doctor’s room with a large brown envelope in her hand. From the results of the examination, there were no significant internal injuries that would affect Emma’s health in the future. But the doctor advised her to rest and not do any physical activity for days, which of course, Emma would most likely violate.

After redeeming her medicine and paying for the administration, Emma glanced at her watch and realized that she still had plenty of time left before had to head back home. If normally, Emma would spend her free time practising ballet or self-defence at home, now, she couldn’t do that in order to recover faster.

“Hmm.. Should I just go find something to eat?” Emma muttered as she started the car engine. Then, she drove to a location near the hospital which was not too far from her campus. Yes, she went to a river that was a silent witness to the ridiculous event that had happened to her.

Emma bought an instant cup noodle from a mini-market and a bottle of instant hot water that could be chemically heated. She parked her car on the side of the road and walked down to the river.

Different from the last time Emma visited, several small families were playing in the snow with their children along the riverside park. Maybe, it’s because the sky was still quite bright, so the place was not as deserted as that time. Emma had no intention of being there until the sun went down. She just wanted to breathe the cold breeze that blew in the place that calmed her soul.