Chapter 204: Impossible
Although the boatman named Loviso was in his fifties indicated by his gray hair and beard, he had obviously never seen two women kissing. Seeing Elisabeth kiss Julia, he was left frozen for a long time before he burst out in laughter and gave a thumbs up to the two women, while loudly saying something to Eric gleefully.
Although Eric couldn’t understand what the old man said, he could guess that the latter was gloating. He must have thought that Eric had been trying to court Julia only for Elisabeth to s.n.a.t.c.h her from him. In response to the old man, Eric could only smile in embarra.s.sment as there was no way for him to explain the situation due to the language barriers.
However, the scene of the two women kissing under the Bridge of Sighs was indeed very beautiful. After being momentarily shocked, he pointed his camera at them, and clicked quite a few images of them.
Similarly, Julia had been left wide-eyed from the sudden kiss. Feeling Elisabeth"s arms around her waist and her thin red lips sucking on her own lips, she remained unresponsive for well over a dozen seconds when she heard the shutter sound of Eric"s camera.
Suddenly, she came to her senses and pushed the woman who was holding her away, and yelled in protest, "Liz, you... how can you do this!"
Seeing Julia"s blushing face, Elisabeth hugged her waist again and kissed her cheek. Then, she raised her head and said to Eric, arrogantly, "Eric, Julia is mine now. You better not bully her again."
"Liz, what nonsense are you saying!" Hearing Elisabeth’s words, Julia became anxious and pinched her waist, causing Elisabeth to scream. The two continued fighting, causing the tiny gondola to sway around. Finally, the old boatman yelled at them to stop lest the gondola tip over.
***
The three spent the whole morning strolling along the Grand Ca.n.a.l and had lunch. Eric asked the local guide and took the water bus to a well-known Venetian mask shop.
"I don"t like these things."
Walking into the storefront, Elisabeth looked at the variety of masks on the surrounding walls and said.
"Why?" Eric took off a golden mask without a mouth hole and asked while looking at it.
Elisabeth replied, "These masks are said to have been worn by the n.o.bles who committed adultery and fugitives who smuggled themselves inside. They symbolize disguise and pretense."
"But doesn’t everyone wear invisible masks to hide their true selves?”
Eric replied casually, put down the simple “Bota” mask, and picked up another white ghost mask painted with golden patterns which he put on Julia"s face before continuing to look around.
Hearing Eric’s reply, Elisabeth couldn’t help but retort, "Sure... everyone has a mask on but that’s because they don’t want to appear... naked in front of everyone."
"You are just getting entangled in the question of real and fake. In fact, it is hard to tell. Look, I’m not wearing a mask, but actually I am, but in order not to be seen through, I won’t tell others that I’m wearing a mask. But if someone is wearing a tangible mask, you can tell right away ‘oh that guy is wearing a mask.’ Honestly, those who put on tangible masks are more honest than those who mask their true feelings behind hypocritical smiles."
Elisabeth carefully pondered Eric’s words. Although she had to agree that his words made sense, she still continued arguing, "You... you are changing the topic."
“Think whatever you want," Eric replied and then beckoned to the shopkeeper and asked, "Excuse me, do you speak English?"
"Of course," the forty-year-old shopkeeper with a moustache nodded and asked in fluent English, "Sir, which one do you like?"
Eric looked around for a bit and said, "I want to buy a full set, including hats and cloaks. But I don"t seem to see those here?"
"Come with me," the shopkeeper led Eric to a room nearby filled with clothes and said, "Here, please feel free to pick and choose."
After showing Eric the room, the shopkeeper left and returned to his spot behind the counter.
Eric didn’t mind. In fact, he prefered being able to choose clothes alone. He chose hats, cloaks, and folding fans and used them to dress Julia up as a mannequin.
"Hey, you"re so rude! Did you even ask Julia if she wants to be your muse?!" Elisabeth yelled to express her dissatisfaction.
The masked Julia shook her head quickly and replied, "It"s okay... it doesn"t matter."
Eric raised his chin at Elisabeth triumphantly, causing her to stomp her feet in anger.
Soon, thanks to Eric dressing her up, Julia was covered from head to toe. A white wide-brimmed hat, decorated with purple feathers, sat on her head; underneath it was a purple cloak embroidered with gorgeous golden patterns; a lavender silk scarf was wrapped around her neck; and her hands, covered with black long-sleeved gloves, held a purple silk folding fan.
"How is it?" Eric asked after he pulled Julia to the dressing room’s mirror.
"Very... very beautiful." Julia nodded as she looked at herself in the mirror through the mask.
Elizabeth also came over. Although she was enraptured by Julia’s look, she still asked, "Why is it purple?"
"Purple represents mystery. Don"t you think it matches the style of the mask?"
"I still think white would look more beautiful," Elizabeth pointed to a white cloak hanging on a shelf.
Eric smiled and said, "Then we will make up another white set later." After that, Eric instructed Julia to take off the mask and cloak, and asked the shop owner to help pack it. He spent another hour coming up with several other sets of different styles.
Elisabeth took off a hat, handed it to Eric and asked, "Why are you buying so much?"
Eric replied, "They’re gifts. Since I came to Venice I naturally have to take back some gifts."
Elisabeth teasingly asked with a smile at the corner of her mouth, "It"s for a woman, right?"
Eric smiled casually. Seeing his reaction, Elisabeth cursed with contempt, "What an a.s.shole."
Julia, who was in between the two and had been modeling for the last hour, heard Eric and Elisbeth’s words and her cheerful eyes quickly turned gloomy.
After making five sets, Eric stepped forward to check out.
After asking which currency Eric would pay in, the shopkeeper calculated. Then, he raised his head and said with a smile, "A total of $2200, but for you $2000 is enough."
Eric, who had already taken out his wallet, looked at the shopkeeper suspiciously who quickly explained, "I really like what you said about masks when you had walked into the store, so would like to give you a discount."
Eric smiled and replied, "That’s very nice of you,"
***
Walking out of the store while carrying a few bags, Eric put one bag in Julia’s hands and pa.s.sed another to Elisabeth.
"I’m not your servant," Elisabeth quickly stuffed her hands inside the pockets of her jeans and raised her chin at Eric with an arrogant look in her eyes.
"Don"t you like this white set? It"s for you. If you don’t want it, I’ll give it to Julia."
"Hmph, I won’t do it for free," Elisabeth quickly grabbed the bag.
Eric took the lead and walked towards the water bus stop with the remaining three bags. Meanwhile, Elisabeth, who followed closely behind, approached Julia and asked, "Julia, what is yours like?"
Although Eric did not say anything, Julia already knew that Eric had gifted her the clothes in the bag she was holding. She opened it and took a look, then held it tightly in her arms and replied, "It"s the purple set I put on at the beginning."
Elisabeth frowned in dissatisfaction and said, "Why are you holding it so tightly? I won"t steal it from you."
Ignoring Elisabeth"s ridicule, Julia hastened her pace and ran towards Eric. Elisabeth also had to catch up.
"Eric, will you come out to hang out tomorrow?" Sitting in the boat, Elisabeth asked actively.
Julia also raised her head and looked at Eric expectantly.
Eric shook his head and replied, "I"m afraid I won"t have time because of the opening ceremony tomorrow."
"So when will you take the time to tell me about your movie?"
"I"ll be so busy all day..." Eric began making excuses and suddenly Elisabeth pinched his arm.
After she pinched him, Eric and Julia were slightly stunned and looked at Eric"s arm together. Eric was only wearing a black sleeveless T-shirt, so a faint pinch mark was left on the arm. This was not the crux of the matter; the crux was that... such an action filled with a bit of intimacy and bitterness was usually only done between couples.
But Elizabeth was obviously oblivious to this. Seeing the expressions of the two people, she furiously said, "What"s wrong?! He deserves to get pinched! All he knows is how to make money all day long. What a vulgar guy!" After her rant, she turned her head aside angrily, as if she didn"t plan to pay any more attention to Eric.
Even Julia, who was a little jealous in her heart, saw Eric"s slightly embarra.s.sed expression and dropped her head with a mischievous smile on her face.
***
"Oh, my legs are so sore!"
After returning to the Lido Island Hotel, Elisabeth put down the bag that Eric had given her, pounced on the couch, turned her head and said to Julia who came in afterwards, "Julia, please ma.s.sage my legs. I’ll also manage your legs, otherwise your calves will definitely hurt tomorrow."
"Okay," Julia sat down on the other side of the couch and lifted Elizabeth"s calves to her thighs and began ma.s.saging them gently.
Elizabeth hummed comfortably before muttering, "No, I figured out a way to let that guy spare some time for me, so I don"t want to deal with the thesis carelessly."
Julia continued to ma.s.sage Elisabeth"s legs. After thinking for a while, she said, "Liz, you have been fighting with Eric all day, but have you ever thought of a possibility?"
"Hmm?" Elisabeth hummed in question without looking up at her.
Julia laughed and said, "If you watch movies or TV shows, you will find that there is often a type of couple with a love-and-hate relationship."
Elisabeth suddenly looked up and jumped off of the couch. She got up, stepped on the couch and began waving her arms wildly, yelling, "Impossible! Impossible!"