The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

136 Trustworthy

Marcel took off his big coat and hung it on the hanger pole near the door, “Would you like a drink?” he asked Emma, ??who had just sat down at the tavern’s table chair.

Emma shook her head with a smile at the man who was now only wrapped in a black turtle neck knitted sweater, “Thank you. I’m not thirsty.”

Lilian came out of the kitchen, “Emma can get her own drink here. She’s been with me almost a day-long and had time to help me cook for a while in the kitchen.” she explained as she joined the two youth at the tavern table.

Marcel looked at Emma with a bit of surprise, “Oh.. You were?” Emma just shrugged her shoulders. “Looks like you two get close easily.”

“Actually, I asked Emma to spend New Year’s Eve here with us. That’s because she doesn’t have any family in Handway.” Lilian held Emma’s shoulder warmly.

Marcel nodded lightly, “That’s fine. You can stay here as long as you want, Emma.”

“Haha.. I won’t stay that long. Maybe I’ll be home tonight.” Emma answered awkwardly.

“But isn’t it a bit dangerous to come home too late? We have one more room you can stay in if you want.” Lillian said.

“Oh.. Thank you so much, Ma’am. But I’m not used to staying at other people’s houses. Thank you for the offer.” Emma rejected. Actually, it was not too much of a problem if she had to stay overnight. But seeing PB who had returned made Emma think that her presence might disturb the two of them. Because basically, Emma was still considered a stranger to them.

.....

“Oh, Grandma. You haven’t said why you called me many times while I was in the toilet. Did something happen?” Marcel asked.

Instantly, Lilian and Emma’s faces became somewhat tense. They glanced at each other awkwardly for a moment. Both had the same thought that this was not the time to talk about it. With Emma as a stranger, ??it would be very uncomfortable to talk about family matters.

“It’s nothing too important. I’ll talk about it later,” Lillian replied.

Marcel gave a confused look. But, because he was not a pushy person, he decided not to ask more.

Feeling a bit awkward, Emma cleared her throat, “Besides cooking a heavy meal, don’t you make dessert?” she asked Lilian.

“Oh.. You mean sweets?” Lilian asked before shaking her head, “We are a type of family that doesn’t really like sweets. Do you like them?”

Emma shrugged, “I can eat it if there is one,”

“Actually, Marcel and his brother used to like sweets when they were little, but we deliberately didn’t get them to eat sugar because our family has a diabetes history,” Lillian explained.

“You are? In that case, you do have to be careful with food.” Emma replied.

The conversation between the two women felt wrong to Marcel’s ears. His brows furrowed, “Emma knows that I have a brother?”

“I was telling Emma why I only have you in this world. Your service to the Redvalley Street has impressed Emma as much as anyone else,” Lilian nodded with an innocent face.

Emma felt so awkward. The old woman indeed talked too much when it came to her grandson. Perhaps, it was because she was quite old that she was not able to think logically about her own grandson’s feelings. As Emma had heard, when someone was entering old age, her mind usually turned into a child again.

Marcel slowly massaged his forehead. Even though he had tried to prevent Emma from knowing who he was and what he was doing. However, judging by Emma’s face and her grandmother’s attitude, it seemed that she had already poured out everything she knew to the girl she had only met a few times. Marcel shouldn’t have loosened his guard from the first time he saw Emma come to his grandma’s tavern.

“That’s right. I feel admiration for PB who loves his family so much.” Emma said by looking at PB intently. She tried to show on her face that she didn’t really want to hear the story. She knew PB felt uncomfortable with his grandmother’s mouth.

Seeing Emma’s eyes, Marcel immediately sighed softly. He seemed quite relieved, hoping that Emma wouldn’t really interfere in his life, “Thanks. Maybe you could just call me Marcel instead of PB. I don’t even know why they made that name for me.”

Emma chuckled as she nodded in understanding, “Looks like your grandma knows the answer, Marcel.”

Lilian laughed as she looked affectionately at her grandson, “That’s because you’re so handsome, my dear. You’re like a prince.”

Of course, Emma wouldn’t explain things like that from her mouth directly. She would feel very embarrassed if she had indirectly praised the person she had just met as ‘A Prince’. Although Emma had changed a bit, of course, she still had great pride.

Finally, the night came down. Emma spent several fun hours at Marcel’s and his grandmother’s house. Even though Marcel and his grandmother only had each other, their warmth matched a complete family. It seemed that Marcel really loved his grandmother and he didn’t hesitate to show it, even in front of Emma. Seeing things like this always made Emma feel jealous.

“Thank you for accompanying my grandmother while I was away for work,” Marcel said by walking Emma to her car. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you home? It’s past eight night.”

Emma shook her head, “No need. If you take me, then your grandmother will be alone. My house is quite far from here.” Emma answered.

“I can ask one of my men to follow your car if necessary.” He offered again.

Emma shook her head again, “Thanks, Marcel. It’s not the first time I drive home at this hour. I’ve been on the road later than this. I drive a car, anyway.”

Finally, Marcel nodded to give in, “Here’s your food. Shall I just put it in the passenger seat?” he showed two plastic bags he was carrying.

“Sure, thank you,” Emma answered by pressing her car key.

“You’re welcome,” Marcel replied. Then, he opened the rear passenger door and placed the two white plastic bags on the seat.

“Eum, Emma. Regarding earlier, I’m sorry if my grandmother’s behaviour might make you feel uncomfortable. I hope you can understand the old lady’s mouth.” Marcel said as he closed the car door.

“Ah.. About that, huh?” Emma muttered. “Actually, I want to apologize to you for not being able to avoid hearing stories I shouldn’t have heard. I understand that you don’t like it when other people hear them.”

Marcel smiled forcefully and nodded, “That’s quite heavy.”

“I know. My saying that I admire you, it’s not a mere small talk. It’s not easy to do what you did.” Emma replied. She looked at the man who was standing uncomfortably with an occasional long sigh, “No need to worry, Marcel. That story will only end up in my ears. I won’t tell anyone else because the main character doesn’t want it.”

Marcel could finally feel relieved. He was sure that Emma’s words could be trusted. For some reason, he could sense that she was someone whose words could hold onto. At first, Marcel was quite worried because all he knew was that Emma was friends with Calvin Lee. Of course, Marcel knew who Calvin Lee was and what he was doing.

“I’ll be leaving now. Thanks for the food,” Emma said as she opened the driver’s door, then, she paused for a moment before getting inside, “Um.. Would I look rude if I gave you advice this early?”

Marcel chuckled, “I can listen to it,”

“If possible, I think you should spend more time with your grandma. She looks really.. you know? Lonely,”

Hearing that, Marcel sighed deeply before nodding, “I’ll work on it. Thanks for thinking about my grandmother. I appreciate it.”

“I don’t mind this feeling. See ya,” Emma answered by getting inside and closing the car door. Then, the maroon car drove away, leaving a tall man in a beige sweater standing, still watching.

Emma looked in the rearview mirror above, then, found Marcel who was already walking back to his house. Lilian was about to take Emma to the car as well, but the two young people immediately forbade her because the very cold night air might make her knees hurt.

Actually, Emma felt a little sad when she finally decided to go home. She had felt happy because she thought she could spend New Year’s Eve with someone. However, she had to come back to reality. Everyone had their own family. Although every family had a different colour, what Emma had seen so far was that they all loved each other. Emma was begun to think, what was exactly wrong with her own family? Why did everyone turn their backs on each other like strangers?

Emma deliberately pressed the gas pedal not too deep, so that her car’s speed was slower. She felt not in the mood if she had to arrive at an empty house sooner. It was like being on the road was less painful than hearing her own breath in an empty, lonely house.

By driving around the street, Emma realized that Redvalley Street was quite big. Even though it only had one name, Redvalley actually had several blocks of shops and residences. It was hard to believe that the street was controlled by a group led by Marcel Douglas.

By hearing for herself the background of Marcel’s life, Emma realized one thing. It seemed she had to change her way of thinking. She could no longer beat all the gangsters. Although Marcel’s group could be categorized as gangsters, he was indeed a good gangster.

Seen the line of shops in front looks still brightly lit. Emma was stunned to find that some shops were still open on New Year’s Eve. It seems that they were deliberately making the best of their time to collect the deposit money which was said to have increased quite high. This made Emma feel sorry for the shop owners. However, she was sure that Marcel would come up with a wiser policy after discussing it with his grandmother.