Chapter 56
“Do you happen to have any talent for sawing, cutting with scissors, or painting with brushes?”
“…Excuse me?”
“If you don’t mind not sightseeing, would you like to go to Naples with me tomorrow?”
“I’ll go!”
At his quick immediate answer, as if he had been preparing for it, the acquaintance burst into laughter.
“You’re not even asking where we’re going? What if I drag you somewhere strange?”
Except for when talking about resembling his younger sibling, his eyes, which had been hovering around the acquaintance’s face the entire time, slowly focused on the acquaintance’s eyes. It was a heavy gaze, like leaning his body with his full weight, like entrusting part of himself to the other person.
The acquaintance wasn’t naive enough not to recognize the meaning of such a look, nor was he young enough.
Just as he was about to look away pretending not to notice, his lips moved.
“You know.”
“……”
“That no matter where you suggest going, I won’t refuse.”
The bustling excitement of the early summer night around them became distant.
The next moment, his eyes smoothly slid down to the acquaintance’s chest area. His fingers stroking the curves of the empty bottle were long, straight, and clean.
Even knowing that prolonged silence would be awkward behavior, the acquaintance couldn’t easily show a reaction. It wasn’t because the feelings he was sending were burdensome or uncomfortable. Rather, he was perplexed that he didn’t feel such rejection, and just managing that was overwhelming enough.
His eyes, which had been looking down at the cold pizza on the table, glanced at the acquaintance again.
“Even if I’m alone, all I do is walk along the beach… and get bothered by local ahjussis at cafes.”
“Ah, that’s right. The ahjussis here are quite curious and bold.”
At his additional comment, the acquaintance quickly smiled and agreed. He was grateful that he had created an escape route. Feeling like his throat was parched, he emptied almost half of the white wine he had poured in one go.
Perhaps because there was news of rain the next day, the land breeze blowing toward the sea clung to their skin more heavily than in the early evening. However, it was different from unpleasant stickiness. The wind that had swept down from the orange groves on the hills was full of summer’s fragrance.
The acquaintance stroked his arm exposed below his short sleeves and pointed to his empty glass.
“Shall we order another bottle of wine?”
By the time they parted after midnight, he had become able to maintain eye contact with the acquaintance for more than 5 seconds.
■
One of the world’s three most beautiful ports. The birthplace of pizza. The city of the mafia.
Probably for most outsiders, Naples would have that kind of image. But Naples was also a city with a deep history of performance culture.
The San Carlo Theatre, which French novelist Stendhal praised saying “no theater in all of Europe can compare to this theater,” had a history of about 300 years alone. Besides that, dozens of performance venues and even more theater companies were actively operating throughout the city. Naples was a city that loved performing arts to the extent that an international theater festival was held every June.
The connection between the theater company ‘Passione¹⁾’ led by Anna, a playwright and director, and the acquaintance began when the acquaintance was in high school. ‘Passione’ was the theater company connected to the after-school program run by the international school he attended.
Anna and other members hoped that the acquaintance would join the company directly after graduation and pursue the path of an actor, but the acquaintance’s decision was different. He decided to remain as a quasi-member who provided small assistance to the theater company’s operations. Neither an outsider nor an insider… as a person on the periphery with ambiguous affiliation.
The first performance of a new work was a week away, but the stage backdrop was still incomplete, so they were short-handed. In that situation, he couldn’t cancel his promise with the theater company, and it wasn’t comfortable to see his dejected face either.
He had impulsively suggested accompanying him, and he turned out to be more useful than expected.
The only problem was that the members showed tremendous interest in him, which ended up holding them back.
“We can’t work an outsider this much and then send him back without even treating him to a meal. What would he think of Italian people?”
“Right, that’s not proper!”
When the acquaintance said he probably couldn’t attend the after-work gathering, the members reacted strongly.
After the chaotic regular practice where one side conducted a dress rehearsal²⁾ with an incomplete backdrop while the other side finished the stage equipment, they had been arguing on the street for over 10 minutes about whether to attend the gathering.
“What’s with this talk about propriety? You just want to drink. What if we drink? Then how are we supposed to get back to Paeli?”
“When we drank before, we slept over at Matteo’s or Anna’s house. Why can’t we do that today?”
“Anna is living with someone now, and Matteo’s house is honestly too… small. How can three people sleep there?”
“You were about to say dirty, weren’t you? I’ll never let you sleep over again!”
The young man called Matteo stepped forward indignantly, and someone pulled his shoulder saying wasn’t it true that his house was really messy.
“There are plenty of cheap and clean hotels nearby. We’ve slept in places like that many times.”
“I’m fine with it, but this person…”
He, who had just been standing next to the acquaintance listening to the conversation, shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m fine too. For just one night, I can sleep anywhere…”
“……”
Why are you doing this too?
Another fact he learned that day. He could speak Italian to some extent. While not very fluent, he wasn’t at a beginner level either. Since he could have conversations to some degree, the members’ curiosity about the outsider had increased even more.
“Or, if you’re worried about going to work tomorrow… I’ll drive without drinking. Hyung, you can drink comfortably.”
“That… probably won’t go as planned.”
The acquaintance sighed. Then he scratched his cheek with his index finger and rolled his eyes.
Even if they were of one mind, it would be difficult to get out of this predicament. Since he showed signs of wanting to stay, he couldn’t keep refusing using him as an excuse. Perhaps for him as a traveler, it could become a special memory.
Tapping the stone wall with the tip of the umbrella he had brought down from the car trunk, the acquaintance declared to the members like a warning.
“We’re just going to eat and leave. I have to go to work tomorrow too.”
But of course, there was no way he, who was like the sacrifice, no, the protagonist of the day, could escape without drinking. The members would have made up their minds from the moment they suggested the gathering.
The culture of pressing alcohol wasn’t exclusive to Korea. Italians, who were spirited and loved socializing, always offered wine in overflowing abundance.
The ‘Passione’ group, who had arranged seating by connecting three or four tables lengthwise at a bar they frequented, immediately bombarded him with questions as soon as they sat down.
The acquaintance, who occasionally served as an interpreter between him and the members, stood up to follow Anna who was going out to smoke.
“Where are you going?”
“……”
He, who had probably already emptied at least one bottle of wine, grabbed the acquaintance’s wrist and looked up. Looking down at his eyes moistened with alcohol, the acquaintance quietly pulled out his caught wrist.
“I’ll be back after talking with Anna for a moment.”
As he left his seat as if avoiding him, he felt the gaze following from behind but didn’t look back.
Was it because there was no need to keep facing each other? Or was it because of the alcohol?
Sitting side by side today, he had felt throughout the drinking session that his behavior had become bolder than yesterday. But he hadn’t expected him to touch his body.
Even though it was everyday physical contact that could happen between anyone, his insides felt noisy as if he had been surprise-kissed. When he hurriedly escaped outside, and the cool outside air touched his skin, he felt that he too was heated up from the wine’s intoxication.
Despite the forecast of rain, the sky that had been dry all day was finally sprinkling light rain. The acquaintance got a cigarette from Anna, who was smoking under the eaves.
Handing a lighter to the acquaintance who was putting the cigarette in his mouth, Anna gestured toward the inside of the window with her chin.
“Thanks to him, the backdrop should be finished by the weekend. That friend really helped a lot.”
The acquaintance neither particularly answered nor looked toward where Anna was pointing as he lit his cigarette.
“You said he’s a traveler? What a pity. Doesn’t he have any thoughts of settling down here? If a guy like that helped with stage production and acted here too, we’d gather quite an audience.”
“You know plenty of strong and handsome guys.”
“The problem is that among those guys, none want to do theater company life.”
“Noona, try persuading him. Tell him to quit his Ivy League university and do theater here with us.”
“Ivy League? Wow, the world is so unfair.”
Anna shook her head while casting her gaze toward his back as he was still being bothered by the members. Then she soon hit the acquaintance’s arm with a mischievous smile.
“Wouldn’t your pretty boy tactics work either?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Wasn’t he an innocent traveler who fell for you and followed you here?”
The acquaintance exhaled smoke toward the night street glistening with moisture and laughed weakly.
The members knew the acquaintance’s sexual identity. It wasn’t that he had made a grand declaration. It was just that when such topics came up, he had naturally revealed it. While there were people who felt uncomfortable about it, since ‘Passione’s’ overall atmosphere was open, no one openly attacked the acquaintance.
“Look at that. Even now he’s looking only at you with his neck craning. He’s appealing with his whole body asking you to look at him – isn’t it cute?”
Anna hit the acquaintance once more while pointing inside the store. The acquaintance only looked at the grocery store diagonally across the street that kept its lights on late.
“He’s someone who’ll leave soon. What if he’s cute, what if he’s sexy?”
“Ooh… I never said sexy. Did you think he was sexy?”
He was inwardly startled but confident he wouldn’t be caught. The acquaintance casually retorted while taking a short, sharp drag of his cigarette.
“Anyone with eyes would think so, wouldn’t they?”
“If he didn’t follow you, would there be a possibility for me too? Should I suggest sleeping at our house tonight?”
Anna wasn’t someone who would be unfaithful to her partner. Right now she was just teasing the acquaintance, having noticed his wavering heart.
“Noona, you’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, it’s fun.”
When he returned to the bar with Anna, the topic had changed in the meantime. The members were divided into those defending and those criticizing the attitude of an actor who had missed today’s regular practice, engaging in the characteristically passionate Italian debate.
Someone asked for his opinion too, but for him as an outsider, it was just an uncomfortable question. The acquaintance sat down and cleverly redirected the question toward Anna. Anna, who noticed the acquaintance’s intention, briefly glared this way with a laugh.
“……”
The moment the acquaintance reached out to drink water instead of wine, the large body next to him leaned this way. And his forehead settled with a thud on the edge of the acquaintance’s shoulder.
“Where did you go? I came here because of hyung…”
The acquaintance looked around the table and said in a harsh voice.
“How much did you all make him drink?”
Shaking his head and rubbing his forehead against the shoulder, he muttered.
“That’s not it. I’m not drunk.”
Not drunk, my ass. Yeah, a kid who couldn’t even make eye contact is now grabbing wrists and leaning on shoulders, so he really doesn’t seem drunk at all. If he’s doing this while not drunk, that’s even scarier, you know?
¹⁾ Passione: Passion, fervor, longing.
²⁾ Dress rehearsal: The final stage of stage practice conducted with the same conditions as the actual performance, including costumes, makeup, sound, lighting, stage equipment, and props.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
