THE BAD BOY OF MANHATTAN
Part 13's. Things To Do List

"You ...."

James looked at Elric who was still clutching Emma and Emma's hair gripping Elric's fingers and thighs. Alternately, from Elric to Emma, Emma to Elric, followed by her index movements to the right and to the left.

"Geev!" jolt Elric and Emma together while pushing each other away.

Emma immediately stood up and tidied up her messy hair. His face looked pale, thinking about what James was thinking. Don't-don't, that handsome guy thinks, he and Elric ....

"James, this girl is crazy. He's a monster!" elric exclaimed while pushing Emma's body to fall onto the sofa.

"Mrs. Howards .. emm ... James, this kid, a very terrible creature." Emma hit Elric's shoulder tight.

"You are terrible!" hardik Elric did not accept.

"You ... sort of descendant of Lucifer!" maki Emma furious.

"Hey, hey, already, already .. stop!" sergeant James prevented the two who were about to claw each other back.

Emma scooped her face violently. He thought his internship was over. James will report the incident to Elric's parents, and he will be fired. And also, dismissed from Calhoun School. Suddenly the shadow of the student loan he had to pay immediately made his headache strike again.

"Emma, come with me" said James, grabbing Emma's arm and taking her out of the library.

"James! Careful, he's after a rich man!" elric exclaimed as soon as the two had disappeared behind the door.

"Elric! Stop (stop)!" James leaned his head into the library and warned Elric who was lip-shrinking.

James takes Emma through a long corridor and crosses paths with Nathan and Alya who are about to head to the studio. Nathan looked at Emma's reddened face. The girl smiled faintly at him.

"You done, Miss Lopez?" ask Nathan.

"Yes, sir," replied Emma.

Nathan turned his gaze to James who was still holding Emma's arm. Lips throbbing. While James rounded his eyes at Nathan warning him not to comment anything.

"I'll take Emma home." James paid no heed to Nathan and Alya's astonished gazes.

"Hey, don't we have a meeting soon?" ask Nathan.

"I'll catch up" said James. He continued to step with Emma past the husband and wife until she disappeared behind the living room door.

"What's happened (what happened)?" ask Alya.

"James is after Miss Lopez," Nathan cheers as he leads Alya into the studio.

"Isn't Miss Lopez too young for her?" muttered Alya.

Nathan tapped his shoulders. "That's what I told him (that's what I told him too)."

***

James opened the car door for Emma. But the girl just stood there pecking while peeking at her nape. He's really nervous. Nervous as this man standing before him was James Howards, plus, the incident with Elric just a moment ago. Emma's really fucked up.

"Come on, Emma, come on in" James said.

"Emc ... Mr. Howards .. I mean, James ... I'm .. I'm just gonna take the subway," Emma said nervously. Many times the girl rubbed her face trying to relieve her nervousness.

James clucking. "I want to talk to you .. about Elric," she said, leaving Emma gasping.

Oh, naw. Emma's body is shaking. He was sure James would tell him how bad he was as a personality teacher.

"Comma .. hello?"

Doubtful Emma steps into James' car. Comfort was immediately felt as he put his tat pan in the front passenger seat. Luxury cars with sophisticated interiors, full of buttons similar to the interior of a space shuttle.

"Where are we going?" james's question surprised Emma.

"Huh?"

James chuckles. "Your house? Where's where?"

James touched the screen on the dashboard and wrote the name East Harlem there. The female voice of artificial intelligence explains that the car will go at medium speed to the East Harlem area with an autopilot system.

"You and Elric, which I saw earlier .. are you ...."

Emma shook her head quickly. "Not ... not what you think." Emma swallowed her saliva again with great difficulty. "Maybe I was a bad teacher. I can't even control my emotions against Elric. The boy was right .. I was temperamental, and a monster," he said softly.

"Yes, I mean .. You and Elric, were you in a serious conflict?" ask James. He folded his hands to the front of his chest while looking at Emma who was bowing her head.

"Yeah" replied Emma.

James chuckles. "Elric is indeed a child who .. hmm .. how do I say it, yes. He's a tough kid. Let alone a young teacher like you. I'm sure even senior teachers will give up on it."

Emma breathed heavily. "Are you going to tell Elric's parents that I molested him?" Throat's choked.

James let go of his laughter. "Maybe."

"Oh, God," complained Emma while twitching her forehead.

"No, Emma, I'm not going to complain about what you did to Elric's parents" James said. "Just .. I'm glad someone could make Elric out his emotions like that. It's good for her."

Emma dared to look at James. Not brave, it was just that, the look in the man's eyes made him tremble. Emma still could not believe that the one next to her was James Howards. Jesus, James Howards.

"Thank you, Mr. Howards," said Emma.

"Hey, I told you, call me James, okay?"

"Sorry."

The car pulled over in front of an old apartment building whose paint already looked dull. The voice of the woman of artificial intelligence announced that they had reached the East Harlem area.

"Thank you, James," said Emma as she opened the car door, but it turned out that the door opened automatically.

"Take care, Emma," James said, waving to Emma before the car door closed again.

Emma breathed a sigh of relief. He held his chest that was pounding hard. After James' car disappeared from her sight, Emma pranced in excitement.

However, a moment later he fumbled around his waist, and it came to his senses that his sling bag was not there. "Oh, sh it!" mean it. He remembered that his bag he had left in the library room when James pulled him out of the room.

There was a cell phone, a tablet, a headache medicine and also a notebook in his bag. He patted his forehead hard. Surely the child of breng sek is now opening his things.

"Aargha!" maki Emma furious.

***

"What the heck is this (what the hell is this)," quipped Elric as he watched the little notebook he had just picked up from Emma's bag that was left behind.

It's a strange girl. Who would still want to write notes manually in a notebook like this in 2038?

Emma Lopez, of course!

Elric broke down on his soft bed. He checked Emma's bag. There's a cell phone he guessed five years ago, a cheap tablet, and a headache medicine.

Elric opened Emma's notebook, which mostly contained poems with literary language that he did not understand. Then there was the note Things To Do List that made Elric pull the corner of his lips.

Looking for a decent job

Paying student loans

Renting your own apartment

Controlling emotions

Self healing

***