Days had passed since I had left whatever it was that I had with Kai and he was still texting me every day. I thought about him often and his behavior wasn't helping me. However, there was someone who was helping me.
Ran.
We had met a couple of times and I enjoyed our time together a lot. He understood me, made me feel safe and helped me take my mind off the whole thing. Today we were going to the museum.
I had also gone back to drawing with the materials Ran had given me. I had stopped doing everything I used to like to do when my mom passed away and it felt like I had been empty ever since, but getting back to working on my creativity was, to say the least, a relief.
After class, I was having a smoke with Mia, one of my classmates, when I noticed her distractedly staring at a fixed point past me. I was about to scold her for not paying attention to what I was saying when I turned around and saw Ran leaning against a Rolls-Royce. Everyone around was looking at him, whispering among themselves. But Ran's eyes were fixed on me.
-Oh my god, who's that and why's he looking at me?
Mia covered her mouth to tell me, scanning the tall guy from head to toe. I failed to stifle a chuckle.
-See you tomorrow.
I smiled at her before approaching Ran. As usual, he kissed my hand before opening the car door.
I could feel everyone's eyes on me. I had never liked to draw attention to myself, especially after everything I had gone through with my mom and how paranoid I had become at school, making it hard for me to come back. I hated it when people took pity on me, but this time it was different. I could feel the curiosity and the envy emanating from everyone and, somehow, it felt good. I liked being seen with Ran.
-Let's go.
He invited me in.
-Wow. Is this your car?
I asked him after sitting in the passenger seat. He nodded in response.
I had never seen Ran driving before. I found myself stealing glances at him during the ride. He looked particularly attractive like this, focused on the road, with the wind coming through the window ruffling his hair. Suddenly, he caught me staring and the corner of his lips began to rise.
-I'm glad you're enjoying the view.
He teased me, now looking back at the road.
-That's not-
-Don't worry, I won't tell anyone.
Ran interrupted me with a playful grin that kept getting bigger. I rolled my eyes and looked out the window for the rest of the ride, trying to hide the small smile that was creeping up on me.
When we finally arrived at the museum, I could feel the same sense of awe in my chest as the other times I had been here. Although it was a familiar place to me because of what I studied, the magnificent architecture of the building, coupled with the views of the area, always managed to leave me mesmerized.
The author of the exhibition was Jón Einarsson, an emerging contemporary artist from Iceland. Although I had heard about him from some of my classmates, it was my first time seeing any of his work. I was excited to finally check him out.
The exhibition consisted of a mixture of sculptures, paintings and works on paper. We walked around slowly, taking in every detail and sharing our thoughts on everything.
I found one of the paintings particularly striking because of its apparent simplicity. Those were always the ones that caught my attention the most. When it came to art, I took joy in being put to the test, being pushed to look deeper. I eventually found myself lost in the painting, enjoying the artist's play on light, colors and composition.
-What do you think about this one?
Ran brought me back to reality.
-You sure you wanna know?
-I wouldn't ask if that wasn't the case.
-Well, I think there's actually a lot going on in this piece. In formal terms, it seems heavily influenced by the Vienna Secession. The use of color reminds me a lot of Klimt's work.
-Hm. To me, it resembles the style of Egon Schiele more. Don't you think that the texture offers some sort of sensuality? It evokes this sense of looking through a peephole that can often be found in Schiele's paintings. See those strokes on the right? I think they're more provocative, more... carnal than Klimt's.
Ran surprised me a lot with his knowledge of art. At first, I thought he had taken me to the museum because he knew I was studying Art History, but he seemed to be enjoying it himself. I normally tended to tone down my enthusiasm when talking about art with other people in fear of coming out as pretentious. It was nice to have someone outside of school that I could share my thoughts with without feeling judged. He also had some interesting takes and, most of all, showed genuine interest in mine.
After our first walk-through, we headed to the museum's description for further context. We were busy reading when Ran's phone started ringing.
-Sorry, I have to get this. I'll be right back.
He excused himself before heading outside. I finished reading and sat down on a bench in the center of the room. After a few minutes, I pulled my phone out of my pocket, planning to scroll through Instagram, but the last few messages I had received from Kai made my stomach turn.
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I wasn't planning on responding to any of his messages, but this time I couldn't hold back.
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What was wrong with Kai? He couldn't get any lower. Wasn't it enough to get another woman pregnant and destroy my whole perception of love? Did he also feel the need to jeopardize my relationships with other people?
It was true that I hadn't asked Ran about his tattoo, but what did that have to do with anything? It was clear that Kai had just sought out any detail about him that stood out and was trying to make a big fuss about it because he was jealous. Well, then his mission had failed. I didn't give a fuck.
