The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

285 Dangerous World

Warning! Sensitive Topic. Please be wise in reading. Thanks.

**

“Well, at least after submitting the petition, the university has created a new grading system. Maybe they actually do feel afraid if all the ballet students leave the class. But that doesn’t help at all.” Linda said.

“I know that the scoring system is different now. But, how can our dancing be good if we have an instructor like Tania? If we keep fighting her, she will purposely give bad training so that our skills will also suffer. In the end, it will affect our performance on stage and get us bad grades from the judges.” Another girl explained.

“If that’s what you’re afraid of, you can practice at Poppy’s studio,” Emma said with a smile on her face.

Emma’s words made all her The Black Swan friends look at her questioningly. What they knew was that Emma was worried that the existence of the Black Swan group would be known by people in her environment.

Then, why did she suggest all ballet class students learn at Poppy’s studio?

The girls seemed to think, then one of them replied, “Actually, that’s a pretty good idea. But we’ll pay double for ballet lessons off campus. Not all of us have extra money, do we?”

“I happen to work at Poppy’s studio. If anyone is having a hard time paying the fees, I’ll help out with a discount.” Emma answered.

.....

“Emma, are you serious?” Poppy stared at her in disbelief.

“You don’t have a shortage of teaching staff, do you, Poppy? Don’t worry, I’ll be in charge of this. I won’t burden your business.” She winked.

“It’s not that, Emma. But...” Poppy stopped. She couldn’t continue because there were too many people.

Emma smiled gently at Poppy, then held her hand while shaking her head slowly, “It’s okay,”

Then Emma turned back to the girls around her. “I mean what I said. If you are interested, please text me. I will register you immediately.”

“Is that okay, Emma?” Tilly asked. She also felt that what Emma was offering might burden the girl herself.

“I love ballet with all my heart. I think you can choose this class as an additional class because you really like ballet. I don’t want people who love ballet to be forced to move to another class just because of an unprofessional instructor. Therefore, I will help you, girls.” Emma explained.

After that, the girls came out of the room because the ballet class itself was still long enough to start.

Poppy and Rachel immediately approached Emma to talk to her. They were confused at Emma’s out-of-the-ordinary act.

“What were you thinking, Emma?” Rachel asked.

“I don’t mind at all if all of our friends learn at my studio. I will indeed give a special discount to my own friends. But you don’t want people on campus to know about Black Swan’s existence, do you? Inviting them to our studio will increase the risk of being exposed about what we are doing.”

Emma smiled faintly. “You don’t need to worry, guys. I have a new thought now.”

“New thought?” Poppy repeated questioningly.

Emma nodded. “The Black Swan is no longer a group that wanders around in the middle of the night to save people in narrow alleys. We are a group that is being hunted by various dangerous big gangster groups. Therefore, we must strengthen our group to deal with them.”

Rachel crossed her arms over her chest. “So you plan on getting all the girls from this ballet class into the Black Swan?”

“You came to the right conclusion, Rachel. During my time in this class, I got to know all the girls here. I know what kind of people they are. They are persistent and disciplined girls. Therefore, it would be great if we got additional members who have those personalities.” Emma answered.

“Well... Looks like you’re starting to get ambitious,” Rachel muttered.

Emma smiled faintly. “Someone said to me; that to make your business big, you must have big ambitions. Although it sounds greedy, I consider the Black Swan group as my business. Not for profit in the form of money, but with this group, I realize I can reach my dream of seeing Handway become a safe and peaceful city.”

“Your ambition is not wrong at all, Emma. As long as the goal is good, I will always support you.” Poppy said warmly.

“Thanks, Poppy. I really appreciate it.” Emma answered.

“Are you sure they will accept your invitation? What if one of them refuses and instead leaks about Black Swan to the entire campus?” Poppy asked.

“I’m confident that they won’t spoil this secret because I know what kind of people our friends are. And if our group is eventually found out...” Emma stopped her sentence.

Seeing Emma pensive herself, Poppy smiled gently while stroking the girl’s shoulder. “I know you’re still worried that people will see you differently, Emma. But you have to remember that we and all our friends are beside you. You will not be judged alone.”

Emma shook her head and then looked at Poppy and Rachel. “Guys, honestly, I don’t care about that anymore. I don’t care anymore if people find out about my real self. I don’t care if people think that I’m weird. ”

“Oh... I’m glad you’ve changed your mind, Emma.” Poppy said.

“If so, what’s bothering you now?” Rachel asked.

“It’s the safety of all members, Rachel. If our identities are discovered by the enemy, then all members will be in danger.”

“Emma, ??we are not the same girls as before we joined the Black Swan. Now, we are strong girls and can protect ourselves. You don’t have to worry about that.” Poppy said.

But Emma shook her head slowly. “I don’t know, Poppy. But I still feel that this will be dangerous. I’m not looking down on women. I know that all of our members are very strong. But the fact that we are all women doesn’t rule out the possibility for our enemies to take advantage of that. You get what I mean, don’t you?”

Poppy and Rachel seemed to think for a moment then nodded. What Emma said was true. So far, they had not thought about that.

Even though they had become strong, it didn’t change the fact that they were women. It was very sad to admit this. Even though they felt like denying it, it was the truth.

In this world, the burden that women carry was greater than that of men. Women seem to have to live in fear of danger.

Why was it? It was not a job problem and it was not a social status problem. When gender equality had been upheld, it was no longer a problem.

Women did not judge themselves as the most hurt creatures. A woman did not ask to be protected. A woman was not selfish by saying that their burden was heavy.

But, the truth of the world had to be faced by women.

In this world, there was one thing that no one could change – A thing that had been arranged by the universe that had not been able to be changed by human hands until now.

A woman could conceive, while a man cannot.

What Emma feared the most in her life was maybe the same as what other women feared. That was being a victim of sexual harassment.

It was true that sexual harassment could happen to both men and women. Even, to children and adults.

But the worst thing was when a woman got pregnant because of that terrible thing. When the victim’s traumatic wounds were still fresh, she must be faced with a choice of whether she should keep the fetus in her womb or not.

If she chose to keep it, then she would become a mother with all the responsibilities. She had to go through the process of being pregnant for nine months and giving birth, which was not easy.

And if she decided to take care of the baby, she would have a lifelong responsibility as a parent, plus the fact that the child was the result of the harassment.

If she decided not to not keeping the fetus, she would have to go through the painful process of expelling the fetus.

The risk of pregnancy, too, was not solely the only problem women had to experience. In this world, there were still many men who regard women as objects of lust and procreation.

It was sad, but that was still a reality that had to be faced by various women in various parts of the world.

The stigma was off the mark, making men with primitive brains feel superior. They felt superior and thought that they had a higher degree than women. This even made them didn’t hesitate to commit crimes against women.

It was that kind of man who always looked for opportunities to harass women and turned to find fault with the victim to justify their dirty actions.

Emma grew up in an environment filled with men. In fact, she was the only daughter in her family. She did get very strict protection from her family.

However, because the men in Emma’s family loved her, ??they were the ones who provided her with important insights about how dangerous the world was for women. About how depraved the brain of a man who had a deviant mind. And a fact that there were not a few predators that roam freely in this world.