Suju called in to apologise for the boiler and everything else Cay complained about. He was here mainly to make sure that the two have check out and left the key at the designated area (“Just leave it over the door, where I got it from.”).
The two left when they felt ready, at least after showering themselves for the last time in the apartment with its’ broken boiler. Their last day in Roma had been an unforgettable and painful one, Cay left the city reluctantly yet at the same time determined; he had no choice but to proceed with the schedule, he had to consider his travel companion’s convenience. Even though Judas rarely complaint nor mentioned anything that indicated negativity about the trip.
They arrived at Murano, a neighbor of Venezia, where it appeared to contain limited activities for them to enjoy until the afternoon. From what the two understood, Murano was a place where glass production and crafting had been at its’ prime during the mid-nineteenth century. It was only natural for them to visit the Glass Museum based near the first port where their waterbus had landed. The first hall they went into while there contained a some of Murano’s history and its’ ties with the island of Venice, the narration and visuals were projected on a whole by an old Sony projector. There were only three benches to sit on with half of the hall filled with visitors.
The rest were mostly galleries of glasswork by artists and glassmakers who left an impactful remark on the glass industry in Venice and the rest of Italy. Most of them were Venetians while others from all around Europe. The museum was designed to decorate Italy, particularly Murano and Venice, the huge contribution it had in the world of glass. Glassmakers revived the techniques of old due to its highly-praised aesthetics on the finished product, they did so not entirely around durability and mass-productivity. It was the Italian of them to relate glasswork with art.
Their second visit of the day was the Basilic of Saint Giorgio, which held most of the islands’ surface mass. Instead of the usual Catholic church-like interior, the calming atmosphere was replaced by the artistic flow of world peace and abstracts. An artist by the name of Michelangelo Pistolleto’s abstracts dominated the current exhibition with his intellectual creativity. Cay and Judas took the chance to see more contemporary artworks by taking advantage of the free admission, they were convinced the visit would last them for another few more hours.
A sculpture of Venus, the Roman goddess praised for her mythical beauty, was positioned against a pile of clothes. It was hard not to spot Pistoletto’s representative work as it was stationed near the door frame leading to more galleries. On the description displayed beside the bust’s buttocks it explained the rapid changes of consumerism trend and the sculpture itself represented classical art, while the heap was consumerism consumed.
According to Cay’s knowledge, the three-piece concept art related closely to mythology. It would have been rejected by Roland Barthes because it was missing the “Signifying” component (“It needs to visualise the thought of looking at this piece of work”, Cay said), had the semiologist had still been alive to see Pistolleto’s work. Judas mentioned that it was simply a woman fumbling through her heap of unwanted clothes, looking for a worthy evening dress to go with before joining in a bar party with her fellow friends that night. The work was called “Venus of the Rags”.
Their visitation of the island church was worthwhile, taking just over two hours off their time. They were just in time for lunch and decided to cool their heads off from the hot afternoon by returning to the main island.
*
Cay experimented a lot, especially with outfits that might suit him and hairstyle to replace his parent-regulated one he had for the past sixteen years. He felt confident about his appearance enough to start chatting with unacquainted girls online, which to his amazement was not entirely disappointing. He sported a typical Malaysian youth’s look with a button-up shirt, skinny jeans, and a ruffled hairstyle that took long to stylised due to his rough, straight hair.
Vanity, he called, was starting to grow on him. He was not handsome in most ways, and his height was only acceptable in general; He spoke with a pretentious look on his face, and imitated how a confident man would be like. It had yield borderline-disastrous results at his first few attempts with girls people in the classroom and Facebook, but the effort paid off with practice and learning from previous failures.
By then, he had met his first girlfriend, Cer. His ever first lover was a year younger than him and a student studying in the same institution. They met online over a minor coincidence when he was surfing on Facebook, looking for people to add into his circle of “friends”. They had a fun chat while as the two rapidly exchanged messages as seen on the small royal blue frame on the lower right corner of the social media platform page.
His pursue for the young woman started when she offered him a piece of candy from an unknown brand just outside of his classroom, it was during break time after long hours of boring tutoring. He accepted her offered as she handed it over onto his hand, it had a milky-coloured wrapper in a traditional packaged method. He agreed to meet with her the next day near one of the pillars of the canteen. The unexpected presence of an interested female sparked conversations in his class after recess, Cay had enjoyed the overheard gossips made by classmates around him.
Cer was not the intelligent type in the way she spoke. However, Cay did not care much at that time as the two quickly fell into a deeper relationship as they spoke more about their daily activities and feeling for each other. The conversations became more natural as the two engaged each other in a marathon of questions and long answers. Love, was what simpleton Cay called at that time.
They started dating after a few weeks. Their first official meeting was in a café fifteen minutes away by bus, he had specifically chosen it because it was the only café he visited occasionally for coffee and book reading. The two arrived at the same time about five minutes early, courtesy was an upmost importance to the two. He arrived by bus with a musty smell onboard; she reached the door to the café after kissing her mother goodbye while in the vehicle.
Her mother gave him a smirk after speeding away in her Honda Accord as Cer walked past the opened door held by him. The choice of tables was merciful, they had chosen the couple table beside the glass façade with the sun-brightened road outside as background. They talked more and Cay felt the need to order a cake preferred by the girl. They ended up sharing one with chocolate brownie as the main ingredient, the cream spread between the layered lines looked inviting. It had been a wonderful afternoon as the two spoke on, all the while their toes grazing each other lightly.
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