The Black Swan Behind

200 Set Free

Levi suddenly lifted his face to look at Emma again with a straight face. Then he let go of her hand, “Ah.. It’s you,” He said like a mumble and leaned his back against the wooden wall.

Emma smiled in relief, “Finally.. Are you sober now?”

“Stop asking me silly things, Emma. Why do you keep bothering me?” Levi asked.

“What? What do you mean?” Emma looked confused and offended.

Then Levi laughed sarcastically, “Don’t ask again. Why did you make me like this? Why are you playing with my mind? Why Emma? Why did I have to meet you?”

“Levi, you have a high fever. You’re not thinking straight now. Stop talking. You need to rest.” Emma said. She didn’t understand what the madman was talking about. It was as if Emma had wronged him.

“You shouldn’t care about me. You shouldn’t keep paying attention to me. Everything about you, everything you do just makes me lose myself. I want you out of my life. But.. you keep me looking for you,” He muttered.

Emma was stunned, trying to digest the strange sentences Levi said. At first, Emma chose not to pay attention to the delirious guy. But what Levi had just said made Emma’s cheeks heat up. She seemed to follow where his talk was going.

Emma cleared her throat, “Stop acting silly. I won’t tolerate you anymore even if you’re delirious,” she said before about to get up.

.....

But Levi swiftly pulled her wrist again hard and hugged her.

Emma gasped and froze for a few seconds. When she regained her consciousness, she immediately pushed Levi’s chest with both hands. But Levi’s power was surprisingly strong. Then Levi buried his face in Emma’s neck.

“Can you help me? Just wait a minute. This is all I need. Everything is unbearable heavy. I am afraid of losing everything. Therefore, I have to give up what I want,” He whispered.

Hearing what Levi said, Emma stopped struggling. Her eyes blinked slowly. She could feel Levi’s pounding heart and heavy breathing. His body temperature was severely high as if it could burn Emma’s skin. But one thing that kept Emma from throwing her fists at the first man who acted so impolitely at her. It was because Emma could somehow feel the sadness that he was feeling.

Levi Wargos was the most annoying man Emma had ever met. However, he was a good friend. Just from his behaviour, Emma could tell that Levi was a strong man, both physically and mentally. He thought about everything using his logic.

When they first met, Emma felt Levi was a man who had no feelings. He even acted annoyingly cold to a girl like Emma who had always received preferential treatment from men because of her beauty. But now Emma realized that Levi was not a man who had no feelings. He was a man who hid his feelings.

Suddenly, a sound came from the wooden barn door. Emma immediately turned towards the door and saw the shadow of someone standing in front of the door from the gaps in the blocks. She quickly directed her hands again to free herself from Levi’s embrace. This time, she unleashed her true strength, “Levi! Let go!” she said as she pushed hard against the man’s chest.

As soon as Levi’s arms were released, Emma immediately got up and ran to the door, “Help! Open the door! Help!” she yelled as she knocked on the door.

Emma could hear someone outside messing with something in front of the wood blocking the door. It looked like that person was unlocking the barn. After a while, the door finally opened.

The sun was still not shining bright but the light was enough to illuminate the inside of the barn. Instinctively, Emma took a few steps back. It was because she was used to not approaching the unseen at close range. She would not know what kind of people were behind the door.

A rather fat old man with a moustache stood in front of the big door while opening it wider. His face looked worried when he saw a lady in the barn, “Oh my! How did you get in here, Miss?” the man asked, stepping inside.

“It’s a long story. But you have to help my friend. He’s in danger.” Emma said as she walked over to Levi who was sitting against the wall with his eyes closed.

“Ah.. Could it be that you are the person that man is looking for?” The man said more to himself.

“What man?” Emma asked with a confused face. She felt so weak because she had been through thirst and hunger for hours. She didn’t want to waste any more time. Moreover, Levi’s condition was seriously alarming.

“Wait a minute here. I’ll call him,” The old man said and immediately walked quickly out of the barn.

“Hey, Sir! Wait..” Emma called him, still not understanding what the man meant. But the man only turned around briefly as he signalled for Emma to wait a moment.

Emma snorted. Then she turned back to Levi and knelt in front of him, “Wait a minute. The door is open. I’ll take you to the hospital. Be patient.”

Levi’s eyes slowly opened. He stared at Emma for a few seconds, “Oh.. It’s open, huh? That’s good.”

Emma nodded with a faint smile, “Have you regained your senses?” she put the back of her hand on Levi’s forehead to feel his temperature. It was still highly hot, just as before. But Levi’s face was not so pale anymore.

Levi immediately slapped Emma’s hand, “Ugh.. Don’t talk to me too much. My head’s killing me. I might be talking nonsense,” He closed his eyes again which felt burning hot and heavy.

There was the sound of footsteps stomping the wooden floor. Emma turned towards the voice coming from the doorway. She was surprised when she saw a man walking behind the old man who owned the barn, “Lukas?”

“You two have been together here last night?” Lukas walked over to Emma who was still kneeling in front of Levi.

Emma nodded, “We accidentally got stuck here. It was a long story. Basically, we met a thief and he cut Levi’s hand with a knife. Now it gets an infection.”

Lukas looked at his brother who was still sitting with his eyes closed. He lowered his body to match Levi’s height, “Hey, bud! Get up! Let’s go home.”

Hearing the familiar voice, Levi opened his eyes slowly, “Lukas? How did you get here?” he asked, thinking maybe he was just hallucinating because of the pain in his head.

“You’ve been missing and unreachable since last night. That was why I took the earliest flight home to look for you and then found your car on the road, so I looked for you around here. Everyone’s worried about you.” Lukas explained.

From the gaze of the thick-eye-browed man, Levi could understand the meaning of the sharp eyes staring at him. He massaged his head which was getting worse in pain, “Sorry to bother you. Let’s go home soon.” He tried to get up with a bit of a stagger while Lukas helped hold one of his arms.

“You should take him to the hospital. I’m afraid the wound is infected with tetanus.” Emma said to Lukas.

“There’s no need to mind me. But I think I can’t get you home, Emma. I’ll..”

“Don’t worry.” Lukas cut Levi’s words. Then he looked at Emma and smiled, “I’ll take you home. How about it?”

Emma frowned and gave an awkward chuckle, “Actually, it’s not necessary. You can order me a taxi because I ran out of my phone battery. Unlike Levi, I’m fine.”

“Well.. I’ll order a taxi for you now.” Lukas took out his cell phone and slightly stepped away from them.

Levi reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out some money from his wallet. Then he gave it to the old man standing with them, “Please buy this girl water and food. She hasn’t eaten or drank for almost twelve hours. You can take the change.”

“It’s not so necessary,” Emma said reluctantly.

“You have no cash.” Levi cut her. He remembered that he had spent all the cash in Emma’s purse to give to the damn thief.

The old man could only shrug and accept the money, “Alright. I’ll be right back. Wait near the bus stop which is quite busy.” He said to the only girl among them. He knew that pickpockets were frequent in this area.

Emma nodded, “Thank you. You can find the easiest one. I’m not a picky eater.” She said before the man left.

Secretly, while calling a taxi, Lukas glanced to see it all. When he was done, he turned off his cell phone and put it in the pocket of his black coat before walking over to Levi and Emma who seemed to be chatting a bit, “I’ve already ordered a taxi.”

Then the three of them came out of the barn and headed for the road where Luke’s car was parked behind Levi’s. Because he was sick, Levi got into Luke’s car first. Meanwhile, Lukas took Emma by foot to the bus stop, which the barn owner man previously said. Incidentally, the stop was not far from their car and was in the opposite direction.

“Sorry. It looks like my brother gave you troubles,” Luke said on their way.

Emma shook her head, “No need. We actually got into this problem because I was off guard to get my purse robbed by criminals.” she answered before telling a little about what had happened to her and Levi.

Lukas nodded slowly, “Then, why did you two go out together? Sorry, I didn’t mean to interfere. But as far as I know, Levi never goes out with his friends.”

“Oh, he never?” Emma raised an eyebrow, “I don’t know what he’s usually like, but he called me to ask me out yesterday.”

“Hm.. Looks like you two are quite close.” Lukas muttered with a flat face while looking straight ahead.

Emma stared at Lukas for a few seconds. The man indeed was a bit weird. Maybe it was because his nature was too contradictory to Levi. “Actually, we’re not close at all. You could say we’re just friends. Neither Levi nor I want to know about each other’s private lives.”