Chapter 33

Ruby

When I texted John, he told me he had the perfect place for us to hang out; The Galleria Borghese. I was grateful he brought me here.

As an artist, I was very excited to see the modern and classical arts of the Romans

The Galleria Borghese is a Modern museum. Outside, the white gallery building was integrated with Gardens.

"You like?" John asked me

I nodded excitedly

"It's beautiful"

"Give me your hand" he requested

My hand? Why?

"What?"

"Just give it to me"

I extended my right hand to him and he laced his fingers through mine. Shock of electricity shot into my veins straight to my fast beating heart.

"I've wanted to do that for a long time" he said

The gallery's interior was even more beautiful than the outside. I gasped when I saw the beautiful paintings aligned on the wall, all from my favourite artists. Works from great art legends such as Dosso Dosso, Caravaggio, Rapheal, Jacopo Bassano, Titian and many more covered all over the place.

It was like I was in art heaven. Rainer would have killed to be here in a place like this. I went by the paintings one by one, John following closely behind me

I stopped by an unfamiliar one, underneath said " boy with a basket of fruits"

"I've never seen this before" I said

"It's by Caravaggio"

"Is it?"

"Yes. The model was his friend actually"

The painting was practically a picture of a boy holding a fruit basket. What was the point of the picture? What was the idea behind it?

Flashback

When we were 14, our parents took us to an art gallery. Rainer and I admired a beautiful picture on the wall. It was a picture of a beautiful Lady sitting alone in a room.

“I love the shade of blue on the curtains" Rainer said “what could it mean?"

“What else? The curtains were made blue duh"

"No. The colour blue can be used to symbolise depression. The artist or the lady in the picture is probably lonely or depressed or even both"

I face palmed myself

"You don't have to overthink everything. The curtains might just be blue for no reason"

Rainer shook his head

"Then, in that case it isn't art. In art, everything has a reason"

End of flashback

“What do you think Caraviggio was trying to depict?" I turned to John

“I think he was demonstrating his ability to describe something in detail. Look at the boy's skin to the detailed expression of the fruits"

That is true. Now, I partly understood. I saw the picture in a completely different light. Nothing really is as it seems

"It's a real work of art" I said

"Just like you"

I turned to another painting in an attempt to hide my blush..

Yes. I was that affected by his words.

I saw a picture named ' Saint John the Baptist' by Paulo Veronese

" Hey look" I pointed to the picture "It's you"

John laughed- music to my ears

"You flatter me"

"Come on. Let's explore"

We headed deeper into the gallery. We met an army of fancy dress to women in dinner gowns add men in suits. It must be a private party. John and I look stupid in our casual attires but I couldn't care less. Time time to rebel

" Oh no" John said as if reading my intentions " you aren't thinking of....."

I grinned evily and nodded

"We can't" he said

"Come on, live a little"

"What if we get caught?"

"What if we don't?"

After a long pause he reluctantly nodded

"Fine"

I squealed. This is gonna be fun

We slipped in side of the room without much attention. The clamour of how loud voices and the cringe contemporary music made the room noisy

"It's like a celebration in here" John shouted

"I know right"

John collected two glasses filled with wine from a walking waiter and handed one to me

"A toast to your ordination" I said

No need to sugar coat it. He's really going to become a priest and there is nothing I can do about it. He only has 6 more days to go

He sighed as if disappointed that I brought it up

We clinked our glasses and drank the whole wine. We dropped the glasses on a nearby table and disappeared into the crowd. We walked father down till we got to on empty hallway

"That wasn’t so bad" he said

I turned back to see two largely built security guards pointing at us. They started coming our way

"Run" I told him

We intertwined our hands and dived in to the crowd once again, the security hot on our tail. John laughed as we ran. We ran all the way till we got outside the building.

"That was rebellious" John said " It feels good"

I laughed as well

The sound of fireworks made us look up at the sky. Suddenly, the noises from the gallery seemed to disappear

Fireworks crackled in showers of the rainbow and all colours in between. All shades of red, Green, Orange and indigo in form of Sparks decorated with the night sky.

John wrapped his arms around me closing the distance between us before placing his lips on mine

His mouth pressed mine deeply and I returned the gesture with as much passion as I could

This time he tastes like wine

He tastes like everything I've ever dreamed of