The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

120 Introduce Me

A blue car arrived in front of a small, rather shabby looking tavern. Emma opened the door of the tavern with a tall man standing behind her tucking his hands in the pockets of his large coat.

“Excuse me.. Are you open?” Emma asked by poking her head into the no-customers tavern, “Excuse me...” Emma called again.

“Yess...” An old woman’s voice answered from inside. Before long, the woman stepped quickly out of the kitchen to greet her first customer, “Oh, Dear, forgive me to keep you waiting. Please come..” she stopped when she saw the face of the girl who was perched on the door. “I think.. I know you?” she continued with a thoughtful face.

Emma smiled and nodded, “We met at the clothing store that time. I was with my two girlfriends, one of whom accidentally hit you over.”

“Oh, My.. Yes.. Yes.. I remember now. Please come in.. It’s cold outside.” She immediately set a table, “We just opened, so it’s still a bit of a mess.”

“No problem, Ma’am. I’m the one who comes too early.” Emma answered by helping the woman down the chair from the table for herself and Levi to sit down. Levi just stood there, screening around the room. That man was useless.

“Please have a seat. Are you going to order yet?” The woman asked. She was Lilian Douglas. The grandmother of Marcel Douglas a.k.a PB.

Emma handed the menu book to Levi, “You can have a look at the menu.” She said quickly before turning back to Lilian who was still standing beside their table.

Emma immediately pulled another chair to come closer to her, “Please have a seat, Ma’am.”

.....

“Ah.. Thank you,” Lillian sat down, “I’m sorry if I seem to have forgotten your name. I’m senile.” she laughed.

“Don’t bother. My name is Emma Hilland.” Emma smiled.

“Emma.. Right. That’s your name. And.. is he your boyfriend?” She looked at Levi warmly.

Levi, who was busy looking at the menu book, immediately raised his head with a surprised face mixed with disapproval.

Even though she was equally surprised, Emma was able to quickly hold Lilian’s wrinkled hand, “He’s not. He’s just my friend.” she gave an awkward laugh.

“Oh.. My bad,” Lillian said quickly.

Emma shook her head, “No problem.”

“By the way.. How do you know that this is my shop?” Lilian asked.

“Actually, I’ve been here once before. But we didn’t know each other at the time, so it’s only natural that you didn’t recognize my face.” Emma explained.

“Oh.. Have you? Then, I will remember you from today,” The woman gently stroked Emma’s charming face.

Emma smiled warmly at Lilian’s motherly treatment. Then, she realized something, “Oh, where is PB?”

“PB?” Lilian muttered before she finally remembered that it was her grandson’s nickname on his campus, “Oh.. My grandson.. He doesn’t live here, Emma. I live alone. I haven’t seen him in a few days because he has a lot of work.”

“Oh, Is that so? You must be lonely living here alone,” Emma muttered. “I didn’t know that PB has a job outside. Why didn’t he just stay here with you?”

“It just so happens that his workplace is quite far from here that he rented a room to stay nearby it.” She answered.

“I ordered Sashimi and a bottle of Sake.” Levi interrupted the two women’s conversation.

“Oh.. You have made your order, haven’t you? Then, how about you, Emma?” Lillian asked.

“I’ll just order crab soup and Sake,” Emma answered.

Lilian nodded as rose to her feet before placing back the chair she was sitting on, “I’m going make your orders. Please enjoy your time here.” she smiled.

“Thank you, Ma’am,” Emma said no less friendly. As soon as Lilian left and disappeared behind the kitchen door, she immediately glared at Levi, “Hey, why would you be so rude to the elder?”

“No matter how old she is, she is a stranger to me.” He answered casually. Then, he continued to screen the room, “This place is so shabby.”

“What are you saying?! Lower your voice!” Emma whispered angrily. She was even more furious when she saw Levi instead respond to her with a snort. “Hei! I know your house is nice and your car is luxurious. But that can’t be a justification for you to insult other people’s house.”

“Who’s insulting? I was just commenting on the shape of this place. Even you think so too, right?”

“But you don’t need to get it out of your mouth either.” Emma hissed. Finally, she felt tired and realized that arguing with the madman in front of her would only be a waste of energy. “Anyways.. how come you’re not wearing a gloomy colour?” Emma asked, staring at Levi’s khaki-coloured coat. It made him shine even more than his usual look.

“I just adjust to my mood.” He answered carelessly.

“So you’re saying your usual mood is gloomy? Haha..”

Levi raised his long eyebrows, “Maybe,”

“Oh, Levi,” Emma leaned forward, “From what I told to earlier.. if you were in my position, what would you do?”

“Hmm..” Levi leaned his back against the back of the chair. He seemed to think for a moment, “Before your secret spilled out, maybe you can make a first move,”

“First move?” Emma repeated thoughtfully.

Levi nodded, “Before that happens, you can create a new rumour that can be related to your secret. So, when it’s finally spilled out, people have an explanation before they even have to ask you again.”

“Hmm.. I understand, but...”

“Since you didn’t explain it in detail, then I can’t provide input that might be more precise with the problem you’re facing. However, you should know that a problem is not created without a solution. In fact, it could even be that the problem that just happened was the answer to the previous problem that still doesn’t have a solution. In the end, it all depends on how cleverly you to take advantage of the situation.” Levi explained.

Emma tilted her head, “That’s quite a make sense,” she muttered. She even deliberately didn’t tell Levi the problem in detail because she didn’t want him to get to know her too well. But his answer was quite good.

“A suggestion must be based on logic. Therefore everything must make sense.” Levi replied.

“Actually, you do somewhat resemble a man I know very well. You guys are annoying, but unfortunately also quite wise.” Emma said by imagining Jonas, who recently seemed very busy, so he couldn’t talk with her on the phone for too long.

“I assume he is a great man so you could compare with me,” Levi replied.

“He’s better than you. And you’re actually nothing compared to him.” Emma rolled her eyes lazily.

Finally, their quarrel stopped because Lilian came with the food they had ordered.

“Please enjoy,” The woman smiled kindly at them while placing the order on the table.

“Thank you so much,” Emma said.

Lilian left her guest because it seemed that another customer had arrived and she had to serve them.

“How is it?” Emma asked Levi.

The man shrugged his shoulders, “It’s okay,”

“Just okay? Maybe it’s because you didn’t order the crab soup. The first thing I said was delicious was the crab soup. Would you like to try it?” Emma instantly scooped up the soup and pointed it in front of Levi’s face.

Levi opened his mouth and put the soup spoon in. Then, he nodded slightly, “Well.. Not bad..”

Levi suddenly froze. The soup has not yet been completely swallowed. He felt his throat turn into stone. What did he just do? Did he just take a feed from someone? With his sharp eyes, he looked directly at Emma who was laughing with satisfaction.

“I told you it’s delicious.. It can even be paired with your mother’s cooking, right?” Emma said excitedly to herself. Then, she quickly realized that the man in front of her was looking at her with a strange face. Emma’s brows furrowed, “Are you okay?”

Suddenly, the tavern door opened. With the cold wind that blew in, a man in a light grey coat showing his white knitted sweater with a high neckline appeared. Emma ??who was sitting facing the door of the shop, immediately recognized who it was.

“Hey..” Emma raised her hand once in the air.

“Emma?” Marcel muttered with furrowed brows, “You are here?”

Emma nodded, “I’m recommending this place to my friend.” she turned to Levi who also had stopped his eating activity.

Marcel looked down and glanced at the face of a man who gave him a cold stare. The man with the grey eyes and the back of his hands full of tattoos. He didn’t look like a good person.

“What a coincidence you came here too. I had a little chat with your grandmother.” Emma said.

Marcel smiled faintly, “You were? I’ll go to the back to greet her, then.”

Emma nodded, “Sure,”

Levi looked at the tall man in an expensive-looking style. Everything attached and arranged on his body, from his feet to his head, was everything that belonged to the upper-class people. Levi smiled faintly.

“Why are you smirking like that?” Emma realized.

Levi slowly deflated his smile, then shook his head slowly, “Why did you forbid me to smile? It’s my right.”

“Whatever..” Emma muttered in annoyance.

“Hurry up and finish your meal. I have to go somewhere.” He said.

“Huh? You have a job?” Emma asked.

Levi nodded once, “Very much.”

“Thanks for the food, Ma’am,” Emma said.

Emma and Levi were already standing by the door. In front of them, Lilian and Marcel were sided to usher them out.

“You can invite your girl-friends to come next time. Don’t forget to bring Kathy too.” Lillian said. Of the three girls she had met in the store that time, it was only Kathy who stuck in her mind for good.

“Kathy?” Marcel mumbled.

Lilian nodded, “The beautiful red-haired girl who has lake-green eyes. I really like her.”

“Of course, I’ll take everyone.” Emma smiled. “We’ll go now, then,”

“You haven’t introduced me to them, have you, Emma?” Levi suddenly made Emma stop in her tracks.