The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

227 Borrow Your Time

“It won’t take long. That annoying lecturer is deliberately pranking me. I’m sure it was on purpose,” Kathy said with the phone to her ear. Then she nodded. “Yeah, yeah.. I know. I’ll probably be home in about an hour. All right. Bye!” She put her phone in her bag.

“Geez.. My youth..” Kathy muttered as she stared at the pile of books, papers, and plastic folders that were on the waiting chair near the administration room.

Then she took the heavy objects into her arms. “Dammit! Did I go to university just to be bullied like this?” She grumbled as she started walking down the deserted campus corridor.

For the past few days, Kathy had been her lecturer’s errand girl. It happened again because she was trying to win over the lecturer’s heart to get the best grades.

Although Kathy was highly proficient in the computer and internet field, she would be a dumb girl if she was faced with textbooks. Her bad attitude also often made the lecturers dislike her.

Even when the campus was deserted, Kathy still had to stay to help her lecturer tidy up. But she had to do it in order to graduate on time.

Kathy had to walk with a pile of stuff that reached her chin. Fortunately, she was a strong girl. Even though her vision was slightly blocked, she still walked quickly.

At the same time, a door slid open, showing a man with golden brown hair with a tousled face that still looked undeniably handsome. A backpack hung on his shoulder. Unlike usual, he looked dishevelled.

Marcel was a bit surprised when he saw a girl pass swiftly in front of him. He frowned then he turned his face towards the girl who was walking fast. The curly red hair that bounced as she walked was familiar to his eyes.

.....

With wide strides, Marcel chased after the girl who was carrying the tall pile of books. “Hey!”

Kathy heard someone calling her. But she didn’t stop, only slowed down a little.

“Hey!” Marcel quickened his pace. “Kathy?”

Kathy’s eyebrows shot up. “Yeah? That’s me,”

Marcel’s brows furrowed even more. ‘She really doesn’t stop walking?’

“Who are you? Walk beside me, please. I can’t see your face,” Kathy said as she kept walking. She was in a hurry.

“Oh.. well,” Marcel muttered as he walked beside the red-haired girl. “Do you need a hand with that?” He asked while walking.

Kathy glanced sideways. “Oh? It’s you, Marcel.” She said. “They’re a bit heavy. Will you be fine with it?”

“Precisely because they look heavy so I offered help,” Marcel gave an amused smile. “Maybe we can stop walking for a sec?”

“You are right,” Kathy immediately stopped in her tracks and made the top two books fall to the floor.

Marcel moved to pick up the fallen books and put them back on the pile. Then he took more than half of the pile in his arms.

“Gosh.. It’s become light now. Thanks for the help, Marcel.” Kathy said. Marcel just smiled at her and then continued walking.

“What’re these for?” Marcel asked, looking at the pile of books in his hands.

“This belongs to my prof. He told me to help him clean up, while he went home first.” Kathy replied with an annoyed face.

“This is something the kids who often go after high grades do,” Marcel muttered.

“Of course, it is. Why do you think I would do such a troublesome thing?” Kathy let out a long sigh.

Marcel looked at the girl who was frowning. “Why don’t you just study, instead of doing this? In the end, it’s your academic ability that determines your grades.”

“I can’t do it. I don’t know why studying isn’t my forte. And it seems that nature has never been on my side to be good at academics.”

“I see,” Marcel nodded.

Kathy turned to the tall man and cleared her throat. “Anyways, why are you still on campus at this hour? Was it that.. maybe you slept in the infirmary?”

Marcel immediately turned to her. “How did you know?”

“A few days ago, Rachel said she saw you sleeping in the infirmary. And.. your face now looks like you just woke up,” She chuckled.

“Well..” Marcel blinked a few times before nodding lightly. “That’s right. I was sleeping,”

Kathy glanced at Marcel who was walking beside her. In fact, Kathy was very curious about Marcel’s condition after RJC collapsed. Kathy had heard the full story from Emma and Rachel. Even just hearing the story alone made her sad. Kathy would probably cry if she had to see by herself when Marcel opened his own wounds to everyone. But luckily, now Marcel didn’t look too bad.

After arriving at the lecturer’s room, Kathy and Marcel put the stuff on his desk.

Kathy stretched her waist as she groaned. “My back! This fight better worth it,” She muttered with a grin on her face. Then she looked at Marcel. “It would have been so difficult if you didn’t help. Thank you, Marcel.”

“You’re welcome.” The man replied with a sweet smile that would always cause two dimples on his cheeks every time he took it out.

“Are you going straight home?” Kathy asked, closing the door to the empty room.

Marcel nodded. “I accidentally fell asleep until this hour,”

“Do you know..” Kathy asked in a low voice. Marcel immediately looked at her questioningly, waiting for Kathy to continue her sentence.

“If I may speak.. I don’t think you’ve ever looked this dishevelled. Looks like sleeping on campus isn’t your habit also. Am I right?” Kathy continued by giving an awkward laugh.

Marcel thought for a moment then nodded. “You’re right. I wasn’t usually doing that.”

“You seem very tired. Do you have any extra activities?” Kathy asked.

“I did some model castings,” He replied.

“Model? That’s a great choice. You can use your face and attractive body shape to make it. No wonder you are a fashion icon on this campus.”

Marcel smiled faintly. “Thank you.”

“Then how does it go?” Kathy asked.

“It’s still going well until now. They said the same thing as you,” Marcel said.

“I’m not surprised,” Kathy shrugged her shoulders.

Marcel glanced at Kathy briefly. “Being a model is my dream.” He said without being asked.

Kathy smiled gently at him. “I’m so glad you can chase your dreams. You can be whatever you want and that’s a good thing. Never think about what people say because it won’t have any good impact on your life. Trust me. I’ve been there,” She said with a serious face.

“Did you experience it?” Marcel asked with raised eyebrows.

Kathy chuckled. “I did. I think anyone who is trying to fight for her dream must have at least once been criticized by someone else. But it’s our choice to listen to it or not.” She replied before taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. “Since figuring out my interest in the world of computer science, I’ve always wanted to be a good hacker. I want to be the next Steve Jobs. But over the years, someone has knocked me down. The saddest part is, that person was the closest one to me.”

Marcel looked at Kathy with a curious face. “Who is that person?”

“My mom,” Kathy laughed.

“Your mother?” Marcel repeated.

Kathy nodded. “But my mom isn’t bad. She loves me and wants the best for me. However, her ambition towards me has turned her way wrong, I think,”

“Because I’m the only daughter, my mom always said that I should be beautiful and be able to dance like her since I was young. She also wanted to be a ballet dancer. But she failed and is now forcing me to pursue her dream which is not my dream. She says that women must be beautiful, sociable, and so on in order to be accepted by society. It made me have a life principle that ended up tripping my own feet,”

“But isn’t it true? You have to be attractive to be accepted by society. Living as a physically ugly person is exhausting,” Marcel replied with a little pain as he recalled his childhood suffering just because he had an unattractive physique.

“I used to have that thought, Marcel. I’ve been trying to look cool and trying to get close to popular kids on campus to be part of them. Because, according to my mom, being part of that popular group was an honour. But in the end, I realized that it was all wrong. Pursuing compliments from people would only make you tired because it means you are not being yourself. You will keep smiling, but your heart is crying inside. In my opinion, people who suffer because of their bad physique are people who do not recognize how precious they are.”

Unconsciously, they had walked up to the front of the campus building. Kathy immediately stopped talking and pointed at the lobby door. “Oh my.. It turns out we’ve had quite a long talk,”

Marcel also just realized that they had arrived at the doorway of the main lobby.

“Did you come by car or bike? I’m taking the bus home, so I’ll be going that way. It’s nice to talk to you,” Kathy said with a small wave of her hand before stepping down the big stairs in front of the door.

Marcel looked at the red-haired girl who was walking away. He blinked a few times before clearing his throat and opening his mouth, “W-wait.”

Kathy immediately stopped in her tracks and then looked back at the tall man who was staring at her. “Anything wrong?”

Slowly, Marcel lowered his hand while briefly biting his lower lip. He didn’t continue speaking. His face looked worried.

Kathy gave him a confused look and went back up the stairs and stood in front of him. “Do you have anything to say?”

Marcel immediately looked back at Kathy with his green eyes. “Are you in a hurry to go home?”

“Well..” Kathy glanced at her watch. “That’s...”

“If you still have time, can I borrow your time to talk a bit more? The café is still open,” Marcel pointed to the new Café which was near the park and the tree line.

Kathy stared at the glass-dominated building that Marcel pointed to. Then she smiled faintly. “Okay,”