The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

186 Shocking News

“Oh.. Emma. What’s wrong with you?” Poppy immediately squeezed Emma’s arm gently with an uneasy look at Rachel. “It’s fine if you can’t, Rachel. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to rush a meeting. I heard you were off work today and my mom happened to be too. So I thought it was a good time. But I didn’t mean to force you. Of course, this can be done another time even if my mother doesn’t come along.” She continued.

Rachel glanced at Emma briefly. She seemed to move her eyebrows slightly to signal to her that she would be fine if she went to RJC’s headquarters alone. Rachel then cleared her throat before shaking her head, “No, Poppy. Emma’s right. I forgot that I had nothing to do this afternoon. So I could really take you there.” she smiled.

“Are you sure? There’s no need to think about how I feel if you don’t have time.” Poppy laughed awkwardly by scratching the back of her head.

Rachel nodded, “I mean it. What time do we meet?”

“Hey.. Isn’t that PB?” Kathy stared out the window overlooking the campus garden and the trail beside it. Her finger pointed at the figure of a tall man in a bright grey fur coat standing with his back to them and a book in his hand.

Emma immediately turned to where Kathy’s finger was pointing, “I guess that’s him,”

But suddenly, the man turned towards them. Quickly, Kathy put down her finger. But she and Emma were already caught watching him.

Emma and Kathy had to smile stiffly. They were so stupid. That was embarrassing. Emma felt her pride was tarnished because she was caught watching a man secretly by himself.

Marcel smiled back at the two girls who were staring at him. Then he waved his hand over his head. Emma and Kathy also waved back briefly.

.....

“Um.. It was unexpected,” Emma returned her gaze to Kathy who was still smiling wryly.

Kathy raised her eyebrows as she sipped her Americano again, “He’s gorgeous today, as always.”

Emma just shook her head slightly, “Anyone could be handsome and anyone could be beautiful with the help of money,”

“Damn.. You’re getting wiser, Emma. But I agree with you,” Kathy nodded.

“So, you girls are going to meet this afternoon?” Emma asked Poppy and Rachel who had been busy discussing their business.

Poppy nodded, “Would you like to come along, Emma?”

“I have something to do this afternoon.” Emma refused with a shake of her head.

Suddenly, a barista came to their table with a tray of four plates of Cheesecake. The three girls gave confused faces while looking at each other.

“Who ordered this?” Poppy asked her three friends.

“Not me,” Kathy replied.

“Me neither,” Emma added. When she turned to Rachel, she saw that the girl was also shaking her head.

Poppy looked back at the barista, “Sorry, looks like you got the wrong table. We didn’t order this,”

The barista shook her head. But she still put the small plates one by one on the table.

“Sorry, but we didn’t order this,” Emma tried to stop her.

“Someone ordered these for you,” said the barista. Then she pointed at one of the tables near the café door, “He ordered them for you,”

“Huh?” The three girls were stunned to see the direction the barista’s finger was pointing at. It was PB aka Marcel Douglas.

“Thank you again,” The barista said. In her heart, she felt the world was unfair. It was not that she didn’t know the most handsome man on campus named Prince Bold. And the four girls, of course, were privileged with beautiful faces so that PB could treat them in such a romantic way.

“Ah.. T-thanks,” Poppy said as soon as she woke up from her shock. But the barista just walked away ignoring her.

Marcel who was sitting at a small table near the door just smiled gently at the four girls who were looking at him with confused faces. Then he pointed to his own chest and pointed at their table. His mouth moved saying, ‘May I join?’

Emma and Rachel gasped and secretly glanced at each other. But they were too late to move compared to Kathy who immediately nodded and held up her thumb.

‘Gosh.. Of course, you are, Kathy!’ Emma thought as she looked at the curly-haired girl.

Then Marcel reached their table, “Hi,” he said as he pulled up a chair to sit there.

“Thanks for the cake, PB.” Kathy and Poppy said. Emma and Rachel smiled at him too.

“You’re welcome. My girl-friends said the Cheesecake here was delicious. Is that true?” He asked as he sat down. Treating the girls was the right move for him to have something to talk about.

Kathy nodded, “This is delicious. Do you want to try it?”

Marcel shook his head, “I don’t really like cheese and sweets. You can enjoy them.” he smiled.

“Actually, I’m wondering why you suddenly treated us. Could you possibly have something to say?” Emma asked directly in a friendly tone. She was not the type of girl who liked the small talk, especially with men.

Emma’s question made Marcel chuckle a little. His smile was deadly to girls who didn’t have strong shields, really. Luckily, only Kathy was that kind of girl at the table.

“Honestly, this is my form of apology for what happened that day.” Marcel scratched the back of his non-itchy head.

“Well.. Of course,” Emma nodded. She was the victim who suffered the most serious injuries.

“What happened?” Kathy asked confusedly.

Emma shook her head with a smile, “It’s nothing, Kathy. It was just a bit of a misunderstanding. We agreed to forget it too. Is that right, Marcel?” she looked at the man who looked uncomfortable.

Marcel nodded doubtfully, “That’s.. right.” From Emma’s words, it was as if the girl had forgiven him. But from the tone of her voice and the way she looked, it was clear that she had a grudge against him.

“Oh PB, how is your grandmother?” Kathy asked.

“My grandmother? She’s well. Maybe you can have dinner with her one day. She doesn’t have many friends,” Marcel said.

“It must be fun,” Kathy replied.

Emma looked at Marcel, “Are you sure that’s okay?”

Marcel smiled meaningfully at Emma then nodded, “Of course, you can, Emma. Now my grandma can go wherever she wants. I think she’d like to meet you again, ladies.”

Marcel’s face which seemed to have been freed from a heavy burden made Emma’s heart warm. She glanced at Rachel who also smiled faintly because she had the same thoughts as Emma.

They knew that Marcel had always been worried about his grandmother’s safety due to the Creeper. Now the Creeper had fallen. Nothing else would harm his grandmother and Redvalley. Emma was very happy to know that Lilian was able to freely enjoy the beauty of Handway City.

“Tell me when you have time. Maybe we could all meet at the same place. We haven’t been out together in a long time either,” Emma said.

“Wow.. That’s a great idea, Emma. Didn’t we promise to go out together again when we got back from Madam Art Street?” Poppy said.

“That’s right. We even have an additional member now. The more crowded, the more fun.” Kathy nodded, looking at Rachel.

Marcel smiled warmly, “Thanks for giving me a chance.” he muttered to himself.

Outside the café, four men were standing under a line of trees where the snow had started to melt.

“Isn’t he a total jerk?” Troy said.

Ian smiled faintly, “That guy knows exactly how to win the girls’ hearts.”

“Is that guy deliberately using the girls to weaken us?” Calvin wondered. Seeing a devil like Marcel laughing with the four girls made his chest feel like it was burning with jealousy and worry.

“Perhaps,” Frank answered. Then he felt his phone vibrate. He took it out of his pocket. It was a message from one of his men, “Guys! You must hear this news!”

Troy looked at the phone Frank was holding, “What’s wrong?”

“The Creeper has fallen. RJC took them down,” Frank raised his head to look at the rest of his friends.

Calvin’s eyes widened, “You serious?!”

Frank shook his head, “That’s not all. There’s more shocking news.” He moistened his dry lips in one lick, “You know Chingsu District?”

“I know the Creeper is split in two. One holds the Chingsu District. Reportedly, it’s led by someone named Lee Mu Fei. But they’ve never committed a crime like the Creeper whose headquarters in Greenvalley.” Ian replied.

“If you did know that, you should know that the Creeper in the Chingsu District is much stronger than the one occupying the base in Greenvalley,” Frank said.

Ian, Calvin, and Troy nodded. Of course, they knew that the Creeper members in Chingsu District had high standards of strength. In fact, it was said that they were made official guards by the founder of such a large factory area.

“You know why RJC was able to take down all the Creeper? It was because Black helped them.” Frank continued.

“What?!”

**

A black motorbike arrived in the basement of a building. The arrival of the person riding the motorbike was welcomed by the guards on duty at the gate. Nothing else stopped him from asking about his identity or his purpose in coming to that place.

Emma got off her motorbike and took off her helmet. Then she walked into the building to take the elevator to her destination floor. It was the floor where Marcel Douglas’ study was located.

In the elevator, Emma met Danis and Damian, “Oh Hi,”

The two men seemed a bit surprised to be able to share the elevator with a man named Black. After the success of their group in crippling an enemy group called the Creeper, the two of them secretly idolized the Black figure who was the core of the mission’s success, “H-hello,”