The Black Swan Behind

191 Big Head

“It seems that Marcel doesn’t get what we mean,” Troy said furiously.

The four guys just looked at the man with fed-up faces. It seemed they couldn’t live peacefully even for just a month. In fact, they had already seen that the tide of the martial art studios’ students losing had already stopped. But the line was up again now. And when they traced it, RJC was the culprit.

“To be more precise, he doesn’t care, mate.” Martin spun in the office chair he was sitting on.

“RJC won’t listen to us. Looks like we have no other way but to attack them. Let the violence do the talking.” Ian said.

“When are we going to attack them?” Nicko asked.

“We should discuss this with Calvin Lee too,” Frank added.

“I’m going to call him to come over. I saw that jerk with Emma Hilland. It’s time for us to screw up their date,” Martin said before quickly pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. “Hello! Calvin. Come to the meeting room now. We’re going to attack RJC soon.”

On the other line, Calvin immediately grabbed his cellphone which he had placed on the chair. He immediately turned off the speaker mode on the phone before placing it to his ear, “You don’t have to shout like that! Fine. I’m going there now.”

After that, Calvin turned off the phone. Then he turned to the side and found Emma was staring at him with wide eyes framed by beautiful curly eyelashes.

.....

“You.. have any business?” Emma asked lightly.

Calvin chuckled awkwardly. He nodded as he scratched the back of his head, “Sorry you had to hear that. Martin usually would only call me to tell a joke that was not important. I didn’t expect him to say something important this time.”

Emma shook her head, “No need to apologize. You didn’t turn on the speaker on purpose to let me hear the call either. If you’re going, I can do the work on my own.”

“We still have tomorrow or this afternoon to work on it, Emma. You don’t have to do all this alone. This is our job.” Calvin lifted the laptop on his lap. “I’m really sorry that I have to leave now. The thing is.. it’s quite serious.”

“I understand and don’t mind it.” Emma put down the thick book she had been reading to Calvin to retype, “All right. Either this afternoon or tomorrow morning, I have time for both.”

“Oh.. Thank goodness. I feel bad for you, Emma. You don’t have to worry. Just give me the book. If I have some free time in the meeting, I can work on it a bit.”

“It’s not necessary, you know?” Emma chuckled.

But Calvin grabbed the book Emma was holding and took it, “Please. Just so you know. I’m defending myself so I don’t feel too bad for you.” He winked at her.

Emma smiled, “Alright. But don’t push yourself. You know it, right? If you don’t concentrate on doing it, it puts you at risk of making a lot of mistakes.”

“Got it. I’ll keep that in mind.” Calvin replied. After he had packed all his things into the bag, he didn’t leave immediately, but stood looking at Emma, ??”Let me take you downstairs,”

Emma’s brows furrowed, “Take me? Hey.. I can go alone,” she laughed.

“It’s so quiet in here, Emma. Maybe some asshole might have stopped you on your way down.” Calvin said.

“Gosh, Calvin. This isn’t the first time I’ve been walking alone around here. I’ll be fine. Do you think I’m a kid?” Emma rolled her eyes.

“Oh, really?” Calvin mumbled, “I guess I’m too worried about you,”

Emma let out a long sigh, “That’s unnecessary. You’d better get going now before Martin calls you again. He’s a very fussy guy.”

“You’re right. Then I’ll go first,” Calvin said.

“Bye,” Emma waved her hand briefly and the man in the knit sweater waved back shortly.

As soon as Calvin disappeared behind the wall, Emma’s face immediately turned serious. Her brows furrowed to describe how confused she was at the information she had just heard.

Jita Kyoei would attack RJC? Why? Hadn’t RJC stopped recruiting martial arts students?

The creeper had fallen. RJC had no enemies threatening its territory anymore. Then what was all this? What actually happened?

Emma took her sling bag and put it on. It was a fourth-floor hallway in the new campus building that was still rarely used. Coincidentally, she and Calvin got a group assignment. Thinking that doing it required concentration, the two of them decided to do it in a quiet place and ended up choosing this place.

“Shouldn’t I find out about this?” Emma muttered. If her two friends got into a fight, then one of Emma’s goals in carrying out her last mission would mean failure.

Emma went to the ballet class. After putting her things in her locker, she approached her two friends who were gathered together.

“Where’s Kathy?” Emma asked by looking around to find a figure who usually just tied up her red hair carelessly.

“Kathy doesn’t go to class today. She said her hand hurt from yesterday’s accident.” Poppy answered.

“After regular classes, she went straight home to go to the hospital to have her bones checked,” Rachel added.

“Oh..” Emma mumbled by sitting on the floor. She started hitting her ballet shoes on the floor to make them comfortable to wear. It was a common thing for ballet dancers.

Poppy looked at Emma with a questioning face, “Did something happen, Emma?”

“What?” Emma raised her face in confusion.

“You look like you have a lot on your mind. It’s very clear on your face even though your face was fine this morning.” Poppy said quietly.

“I feel it too,” Rachel added while hugging her own knees.

Emma smiled faintly and sighed softly, “I just realized that what I’ve done, which I thought had worked, turned out to still be failed. It makes me feel uneasy.”

“Oh.. Is that your coursework?” Poppy guessed.

Emma smiled faintly, “Kind of,”

“Don’t think too much about it, Emma. I know it hurts when you try so hard and it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to. But things can still be fixed.” Poppy said.

Emma took Poppy’s hand and held it for a moment, “Thanks, Poppy.”

Although Emma could trick Poppy, it was different with Rachel. She knew that what was bothering Emma wasn’t her coursework. It must be something else, which probably had something to do with the gangster problem.

“Poppy,” A woman approached them.

“Oh, yes?” Poppy immediately rose from her seat.

“Oh, yes?” Ms Tania repeated. “Maybe you could replace it with ‘May I help you, Ms Tania?’. I think that would sound more polite and pleasant.” The woman said.

Emma then frowned and turned to Rachel who also looked displeased with the woman. But Poppy had indeed been too kind to allow the rude, snobby woman to do as she pleased.

“Sorry. May I help you, Ms Tania?” Poppy corrected her question.

“Class is about to start. But I left my files in the administration room. Could you possibly get them for me?” The woman asked.

“C-can’t it be taken after the class is over?” Poppy looked awkward.

Ms Tania shook her head, “Unfortunately, there are some of my notes in there. There are important data that I must take home immediately. Maybe I would run out of time if I have to go to the third floor to get the file when class is over.”

“Pardon, Ms Tania. But we all know that a warm-up is important before dancing. Isn’t there a score today? It would be a disservice to Poppy if she had to dance without a warm-up as usual. The administration room is quite far from here.” Emma said.

“Hm.. Ms Hilland. Isn’t it rude to suddenly step into other people’s conversations? I thought you were a classy lady,” The woman said with a condescending look at Emma.

Emma smiled kindly and nodded, “Perhaps my attitude makes you think of me as a rude woman. I was just thinking about my best friend who might be in trouble just for helping someone who accidentally forgot her stuff elsewhere.”

“Emma,” Poppy whispered as she looked at the brown-eyed girl with a panicked face.

But Emma didn’t seem to care. She was so annoyed with people who acted as she pleased and still thought that she was the coolest like that woman named Tania. She knew she shouldn’t serve an annoying person. But if that person had harmed others, then the person must be stopped before her head get any bigger. And again, she hated to see her best friend being trampled on by someone.

“Ah.. So you’re that kind of person, Emma Hilland? Well, I understand. But don’t blame me if you’re not satisfied with your grades.”

Emma nodded firmly, “Yes, I am that kind of person, Ms Tania. So it doesn’t meet your view of a classy lady? What does a classy lady look like in your opinion exactly? Do they always obey you to keep their grades?”

Ms Tania chuckled then shook her head in disbelief, “You’re a master at talking back, aren’t you?” Then she looked at Poppy, “Ms Castonia, it seems that I feel you are no longer competent to be my assistant. The three of you, ah.. and your red-haired friend. You better be prepared to see your grades later.”

“We never expected to get good grades from a teacher like you from the start,” Rachel answered straight away with a straight face.

Rachel’s words made Ms Tania choke even more, “What a strange class. Even a giant could be a dancer here. It destroys the elegant image of ballet.” She said to herself before walking away, leaving the three impudent girls.

“She has a fucking garbage mouth,” Emma clenched her fists. She felt like she wanted to sew the woman’s rude lips.