Fii’s invitation.
Several days later. Fii was staying until dinner time today. We were having a meal with Noah in the dining room, and Noah finished his meal first and excused himself earlier, so when I tried to follow after him, Fii called out to me.
“Wait a moment. Yuri, I have something I’d like to talk to you about.”
“What is it? What do you want to talk about?”
I’ve been avoiding him since then. For some reason, I can’t calm down and start feeling fidgety in front of him. I didn’t want to be conscious of it, so I have been apologizing with the pretext of feeling unwell when he wanted to speak.
“Ah, sorry.”
“You didn’t do anything that you need to apologize for, Fii.”
I wasn’t intending to make him apologize. It was difficult for me to not take on a friendly attitude at a time like this.
“Rather than that, what did you want to talk about?”
“Oh. Yeah…”
Despite stopping me, Fii wasn’t able to speak right away. He was thinking about something, maybe it was about my husband?
“Is it about Anton?”
“… No, that’s not it.”
It was unusual for him to be so indecisive. He seemed to be worried and hesitating whether to speak or not. I was cheated on by my husband and the person I trusted. I won’t be surprised by anything at this point, but I was curious about Fii’s attitude.
“Yuri, you seem to be interested in a certain art exhibition, no?”
“Oh. You mean the Roma exhibition?”
There is currently an exhibition of a famous painter’s art in the capital. Paintings made by an artist named Roma are being exhibited in a museum. His paintings were made of vivid blue colors created from a very valuable mineral.
His paintings using Lapis Lazuli, also known as the Blue of the Sky, were so impressive they drew everyone’s eyes on them, these stones are very rare, so the paintings are extremely valuable. Zail’s wife Nancy was talking about them excitedly the last time she came for a visit.
Nancy seems to have gone with Zail to see them. I also wanted to see them once, but underages are not allowed to enter the exhibition. I couldn’t bring Noah along, so I was wondering what should I do.
“I have two tickets for that very exhibition. Would you like to go together with me?”
“Eh? Are you sure?”
Hearing that Fii had two tickets for the exhibition, my feelings got stimulated. But, is he fine going with me? Fii has a feminine-looking face and I think he’s a very attractive man.
“Don’t you have anyone else to invite?”
“Anyone else to invite? I don’t. Who are you talking about?”
“Who knows? A young girl?”
When I asked whether he has a younger girl around that has received his goodwill? He in turn asked back “Why?”
“Who other than you am I supposed to take along?”
“I believe you should be popular among girls, though?”
“There’s no point being popular to anyone besides you.”
I was curious about his smooth declaration, but? Well?
“Are you not going to the exhibition with me then?”
“I’m going. I want to go.”
When I replied to Fii’s dispirited-looking face, “Really?” he asked as his face brightened. He seemed like a child for a moment there.
“I will pick you up in the morning when you are ready then.”
“Sure, I will be waiting for you.”
“I’m looking forward to it. Then, see you tomorrow.”
Looking at Fii who left the dining room happily, I also felt like I returned to my childhood.