The next day, I listed some art galleries that I'll visit. I wore a white shirt, topped it with a navy blue button down polo, a pair of pants, and my casual shoes. I grabbed my sling bag before heading outside the apartment.
"Good morning, Yohan. Where are you going?" Luke asked. He's sipping coffee while looking outside his window.
"I'm gonna visit art galleries as usual. Do you have work today?" I asked and locked the door.
"It's my day off, but I have a date later," he grinned. "By the way, do you have a lover?"
I shook my head. "It's not my thing."
He chuckled. "I have a workmate and she asked me if my new neighbor is single... But looks like you're not yet ready to mingle."
I'm not planning to. I awkwardly laughed. "I prefer art galleries than relationships."
"Alright, but if you change your mind I can refer you to a friend. But anyway, enjoy roaming around, mate!" he sipped his coffee and smiled at me.
"Thanks, enjoy your date later, Luke." I subtly waved my hand and walked away.
My first destination's Brent's Art Gallery. I need to talk to Sai, I think it's better to tell her what happened personally.
"Good morning! Welcome to- Oh, Hi! Yohan! Good morning!" I looked up and saw Sai at the second floor, leaning on the railings.
"You're so noisy." I said and walked inside.
"You're so early! There are no other costumers yet, what brings you here? It's not even Friday!" She said while going downstairs.
She sure has a lot of energy. She walked towards me and scanned me while her hands were on her waist. Then her other hand held her chin, she looked like she's thinking of something.
"What?" I said, getting confused bye the way she's acting.
"You look boyfriend material... bummer, you're not into love!" she laughed so hard. What's with people today?
"Look who's talking." I said and sat on the sofa. I just walked to get here, my feet are tired already.
"Hey! Okay fine, I've got nothing." she raised both of her hands in defeat. "Why are you here again? You should've texted me you know?"
"We're not going to the East, let's cancel the trip." I said shortly.
Her eyes widened. "What? Are you serious? For what reason?"
I let out a sigh. "Iseul said she forbids us to go there."
Her mouth formed an 'o'. "Then she must have her reasons that's why she doesn't want you to go. Okay then!" Her mood changed quickly. She understood what I said immediately.
"But, have you ordered tickets already?" I asked.
"Oh it's fine! I can just contact their staff and get refund. No worries!" She shook her hands.
"Okay, that's good to hear."
"Wait, did you talk to her recently? What did she say to you?" she's trying to look into my eyes because I would always tend to avoid one's gaze.
"She said I was stupid."
Sai bursted laughing. "That's so true! Damn, she's so funny, I want to be friends with her too."
I just glared at her. "The eastern part of this island is a dangerous place, according to her. So it's not an option for me to go to. I'll just stick to visiting places here and find suspicious things."
"Oh, so that's why you're dressed up like you're going on a date..."
"Uh, this is my casual outfit, what do you mean?" I frowned.
"Hey! You're so grumpy in the morning. You should smile more you know? Anyway, I need to do something upstairs. I can't go with you today, I have so much to do!"
I stood up and held on my bag's sling. "I'm not even asking you to come with me."
She pouted and crossed her arms like a kid who's not allowed to eat her lollipop. "That's so mean of you! But thank you for the tea, though? What a great morning. Okay, off you go!"
She walked behind me and used the two of her hands to push my back, making me forcefully walk towards the door. I just let her do what she's doing, she's the only one getting tired here.
"Uh, I was literally about to head out too? You didn't have to push me away." I said as I reached the exit.
"I've got something to do! I hope you'll enjoy visiting galleries again! And good luck finding things." she gave me a meaningful look before waving goodbye and heading inside. I shook my head and walked away from their place.
I have four gallerias to visit today, and the first one's not that far from here. Paintings and sculptures are not the only forms of art that are exhibited in this island, there are various forms including this building that I'm about to enter.
Calligraphy is also a visual art which is a decorative handwriting. The skill of creating elegant symbols by hand and skillfully arranging, in such a way that they display authenticity and harmony. 'Stara kaligrafija' exhibits different calligraphies from several places.
"Good morning!" a man in the lobby greeted.
I smiled and approached him. "Good morning, I'm here to visit."
"Alright, you just need to log in here." he opened a log book and handed me a pen. "No need to pay, it's for free!" he said in his jolly voice.
I wrote my name and the time I got here. Yohan Benedict Chavez, 8:30 AM.
"Yohan? What a nice name, I'm glad you visited today." he said while looking at the log book. "My name is Dinko, I look after this place. But I originally live in Croatia."
We shook our hands. "I did some research before going here, and I heard the owner lives in Croatia too."
"That's my good old friend Ivan, but he's out of town finding more calligraphies in other countries. He's kinda obsessed with it," he laughed.
"I see, I'll go ahead." I excused myself and walked towards the entrance.
"Enjoy your visit!" he said.
I went inside and different handwritings that I can't understand welcomed me. There are huge frames with calligraphies placed around the walls, and there's also a table in the middle that shows smaller pieces. I stopped at the first art near me.
The paper used looks old, but the ink doesn't fade at all. I looked at the note beside it. It's not a translation, but a brief explanation of where this piece was from.
'A Chinese Calligraphy from Beijing, China.'
That's it?
I frowned, looking back at the art that I couldn't understand. The handwriting looks beautiful, but it would've been better if I could read it.
I went to the next artwork. The owner of this place seems to be an explorer. Albania, Taiwan, South Korea, and China—those are just some of the places mentioned by the notes that I read. Then I moved to the table in the middle with smaller pieces displayed.
Usually, a black ink is used to create pieces like this. But the one that used red ink caught my attention. I went straight there at the end.
It's in hangul, the symbols looked familiar. I blinked twice upon reading the small note it has beside.
'A calligraphy from Techne Island, written by the infamous Iseul.'