THE BAD BOY OF MANHATTAN
Chapter 9. Elric, you're Punished.

"I want to talk to you, Elric!"

Nathan sat on the living room couch and gestured Alya who was pushing the wheelchair Elric occupied to get closer to him. While Elric turned his face away from his father's gaze.

"I don't understand what's on your mind, El .. Why are you doing all that?" ask Nathan.

"There's no excuse. I just want to" replied Elric casually.

"Why? You lack attention? What do you want to show me?" Nathan asked again. While Alya touched Nathan's arm slowly to calm him down.

Elric did not answer. He still turned his face away from Nathan, making his father sigh many times heavily. Nathan's handsome face looked crimson withstanding anger.

"Elric, you're grounded. I'll delay your school by one year. I'll invite the personality school teacher to discipline you before you're ready to go back to formal school" Nathan said.

"What (what)?!" elric was surprised. So did Alya, who did not know Nathan's plan before.

"Personality school?" ask Alya.

"Yes!" Nathan firmly.

"No! You can't do that, Dad (no! you can't do that, pa)!" elric protest. He almost got up from his wheelchair, but the pain in his thigh caused him to sit back down.

Nathan pulled the corner of his lips. "No arguing, El .. that is my absolute decision (should not protest, El .. My decision is unanimous), you agree to be guided by a personality teacher, or ... you were sent to Wilderness Camp specifically for troubled teens" he explained.

Elric snorted annoyedly. He had no choice but to obey. He could not escape anywhere because the gunshot wound to the thigh that made his thigh bone rupture would take several months to heal. For the first month, he had to rely on a wheelchair.

Alya escorted Elric to his new room next to the guest room. Previously, Elric's room was upstairs.

Patiently, Alya helped Elric lie in bed. He covered his son and stroked his head. "You don't hate me, do you, El?" alya asked with soft eyes looking at Elric. The young man just nodded.

"Do you have a problem?" alya asked carefully.

Elric nodded back. "I'm tired, Mom (i achieved, ma)" he said.

Alya sighed. It was very difficult to invite Elric to chat from heart to heart. The boy was very closed and cold. It's not easy to understand what he really wants. Perhaps Nathan's plan to invite a personality school teacher to Elric was appropriate. Alya hopes that the teacher will be able to help Elric to be more open and warm.

***

And at night, because he was curious about Nathan Bradley's son, Emma was looking for information on the internet. However, the first time he only found photos of nine-year-olds with geeky faces. The principal said, Elric Bradley, the boy's name, is sixteen at the moment.

There are some recent photos of Elric Bradley that Emma found, but all of them are candid photos of entertainment reporters who seem to be stolen remotely. There was not a single photo of the boy showing his face clearly. Only shots from the side, or the back, only showed her slightly curled long hair.

Emma threes. This Elric Bradley reminds him of the breng boy and Noah's gang member who once hit him in the face. Postured tall body with a peculiar appearance. He was sure, Elric and the boy breng sek had the same bad temper. Or maybe Elric was worse, because he must have been just a spoiled, wayward, unruly, annoying rich kid.

And the first day Emma started her internship arrived. He came to Greenwich Village, one of Manhattan's elite areas, with a thumping chest. In addition to entering the house of a large and luxurious top musician, Emma is also very nervous because this is the first time she will guide a troubled child. Even in him, he has a lot of problems. Sometimes it is difficult to control his emotions. Emma is sure, the child she will face, will greatly make it draining to be patient.

A woman of Latin descent like herself, wearing a domestic assistant uniform, leads her to meet an Asian-faced woman. Emma knew it was Nathan Bradley's wife. Beautiful, elegant, yet simple in appearance. Unlike the wives of other famous musicians who generally look glamorous.

"Hi, you must be Miss Emma Lopez, right?" The woman, Alya, greets Emma and regrets her. "I'm Alya Bradley."

"Hi, Mrs Bradley." Emma greeted Alya.

Alya smiled faintly. "We desperately need your help to make my son, Elric ... be more open and empathetic with those around him, especially respecting us as parents."

Emma listened carefully to everything Alya told her about Elric. That the only son of his puppet was a quiet and cold child. However, he was very unruly and always looked angry. He always broke the rules set by his father. Elric seems to have done it on purpose. No matter what he really wanted, he never wanted to talk about it with his parents. And last time, Elric did something that made Alya and Nathan shocked. That is, involved in a robbery at a supermarket on the outskirts of Manhattan, until his leg was shot. That was the height of Nathan's anger, and decided to postpone his formal schooling and this year Elric would only go through nonformal homeschooling - a school of personality guidance.

Alya escorts Emma to a special room that seems to have been set to become a comfortable nonformal classroom. Or maybe this is the family library room, because there are shelves surrounding the walls of the room filled with many books. And what made him link his eyebrows was, a long curly-haired teenage boy who sat on a wheelchair and turned his back to the window, and was busy playing his gadget.

"Elric, this is Miss Lopez. He will be your teacher in a year" Alya told the boy. But there is no answer. "Miss Lopez, I leave it all to you" she said, touching Emma's arm, then exiting the room.

Emma took a deep breath. He looked at Elric's back for a moment. "Hello, Elric .. nice to meet you. My name is Emma Lopez. You can call me Emma. I hope we can be good friends" he said.

Elric immediately pressed a button on the armrest of his wheelchair to turn around. Instantly his eyes were rounded looking at the Latino-faced girl standing a few meters before him, who was also very surprised to see him.

"You .. the child breng sek!"

"You .. the crazy girl!"

***