Chapter 8 Chapter VII

The next morning, I went upstairs to the restaurant for breakfast. When I stepped into the gate, I looked around and saw the group of fans from yesterday sitting sparsely in the restaurant, and there was no further dispute.This is a good sign.The ginger-haired Aussie was sitting alone far away from them (also a good sign), the power outage continued, and he had given up on his laptop and was biting a pen and playing sudoku in a local newspaper ; while the old couple were sitting by the window having a quiet meal. Even Xiao S and Emily are there.And Heath, standing at the bar, toasting some slices of toast and pouring cold, sweetened milk into his chocolate cereal.

"Did you see the Avatar brothers? They don't seem to come up for breakfast." I walked by him and couldn't help but speak. "Probably still sleeping." Heath shrugged his shoulders disapprovingly, then tilted his head and looked at me with interest, "Compared to them, I noticed that you are always alone, Odell. Doesn't your husband have the habit of having breakfast?" I froze.I've been paying attention to each other without ever thinking about my own situation - as newlyweds, but never showing up together.If anyone here is suspicious, my situation is ten thousand times worse than those sleeping brothers.

Fortunately, Heath did not pursue it.He just smiled at me, picked up the plate and left. I'm still standing at the bar.It wasn't until a waiter came over to me and asked, "Miss, do you want orange juice or grapefruit juice?" I didn't come back to my senses. "Uh, is there any tomato juice?" "No." "That's whatever you want." "Orange juice? Grapefruit juice?" He still didn't want to give up. "...grapefruit juice." I resigned. The waiter called me "Miss".None of them realized I was married.Yes, even I didn't realize it myself.Because my significant other is never around me, at least not during the day.And at night, he went out again.Sometimes it's hunting, sometimes it's something else—but whatever he does, it's the same for me: I'm alone again.

I sat alone by the window, looking down at the huge bowl of soup in Piazza San Marco, without any appetite.After a while, the grapefruit juice I ordered was served. I took a sip from the glass and it was bitterer than expected. I like tomato juice.Back in London, Sebastian always kept everything organized.He never asked me what I wanted to eat, he always brought out what I wanted from the kitchen like magic.Now he's gone.No clues or evidence were left, as if he never existed.I don't even know when I last saw him.I mean, the real him, not a dream.Or, all about him is a dream.He can do all this easily, can't he?He is the steward of me and D, but the master of the dream.

I suddenly realized that I missed him a little for no reason. Because I've slept soundly every night since I woke up from Dover Beach.I don't dream anymore.I thought this would be a great start, but believe me, it makes sleep itself no fun. "It's all the fault of those two brothers." Emily walked over with half a croissant, and sat down on the chair opposite me unexpectedly, "I had a nightmare last night." "What did you dream about?" I hurriedly picked up the glass of unpalatable grapefruit juice in front of me and swallowed it, letting the bitter juice conceal my frown.I don't want to talk to her.I don't want to talk to anyone.I'm afraid Emily will ask me about D.I'm afraid that anyone will ask me about D.

"Piranhas." Emily took a bite of the bread, and looked at the wet weather outside the window with disgust, "Probably because it's been raining all the time, I dreamed that we were going to explore the Amazon rainforest, and the water was full of piranhas .” "That must be terrible." I looked down and took another sip of the juice. "It's not only scary, it's scary! He said I was struggling all night and slapped him." Emily pointed to the little S not far away, and giggled, "Oh right, you Did you sleep well last night?" I just wanted to speak, but the other party was not waiting for the answer to this question at all.While biting the bread absently, she turned her head and searched around with a gesture that frightened me, "It's strange, I don't seem to see..."

"He doesn't have the habit of eating breakfast." I interrupted her hastily. "How do you know?" Emily turned her head, obviously stunned. "you are right……" "Avatar brothers." "Oh!" I took a sip of the juice, hoping the other party would forgive me for my stupidity just now, "I mean...well, I didn't see them either." "I made an appointment with them for breakfast yesterday, and I plan to ask for advice on traveling in Northern Europe. Because if the weather continues to be bad, we may take a detour to the North Pole before returning to the United States." Emily frowned and said, "It's rare I came out once, and I don’t want to return with such disappointment. These two guys! They said it well yesterday, but now I can’t even see a trace of it. Are all Europeans so dishonest?” She was a little angry.

"Maybe you haven't woken up yet." I couldn't help comforting her, "Maybe it will show up in a while." "They'd better show up quickly." Emily said angrily after swallowing her bread, shaking her clothes and dusting off the crumbs. Until noon, the two brothers still did not show up, but the good omen at breakfast finally came true, and the rain stopped.This heavy rain lasted for two days and two nights, and the sea tide rose, starting from the lowest place of St. Mark's Square, flooding almost half of the streets on the main island of Venice.Then it stopped.The dark clouds that had accumulated for a long time above the head slowly dispersed, and the sun came out.

It was nothing short of a miracle. The whole city celebrates.That group of Italian fans ran out of the hotel and waded knee-deep in the street, drinking and dancing in circles, hugging and kissing everyone who passed by. Everyone is very happy, especially Emily, because her long-awaited "Venice Dream Tour" finally has the opportunity to reopen. In her words, she and Xiao S saved a lot of travel expenses to the North Pole .In fact, I really hope they go to the North Pole, or the South Pole, whatever pole, as far away from me as possible.Admittedly, my irritability escalated again because of D's absence.Like I said, I've always envied the girls around me, Debbie before, Emily now.Even though Debbie was a traditionally upbred Welsh girl and Emily a nervous American girl, they always looked alike to me.

They're all normal girls, they're all loving and being loved. And I am not ordinary.This is not a good thing.Because I'm not sure about the latter either. Although the weather has cleared up, the flood has not receded.I'm not in the mood to go out and watch the scenery, but I don't want to rot alone in the guest room either.When the laughter of Emily and Xiao S came from next door, I looked at the empty ring finger of my left hand and felt unprecedented loneliness.But when I managed to convince myself to say yes to Emily's invitation to go out with them, it was an even bigger mistake.My hopeless loneliness grew.I'm getting sentimental, I'm getting vulnerable, I'm turning into the girl I used to hate the most, sitting on a gondola rented by the four of us in AA, looking at myself in the murky water.

Yes, four people.In addition to Emily and Xiao S, there is Heath.They said they were classmates.But really, they don't look like they're together at all.Emily and Xiao S are of course a real couple, but Heath is not necessarily.Although he speaks (to my ears) authentic American colloquialism, is he really American?Because I don't hate him at all.For some reason, he always gives me a very familiar feeling.But I racked my brains and could not recall where I had seen this man before. Gondolas pass the Bridge of Sighs.The midday sun made me drowsy. "This bridge was built in 1603. It connects the Governor's Palace and the prison at both ends. It is named after the sighs of the condemned prisoners on the bridge." and then suddenly added in a cheerful tone, "Are you two lovers? Don't forget to kiss under the bridge and you will live forever together!" Little S gave me an awkward look, and I turned my head knowingly.Then I heard the sound of them kissing. It suddenly occurred to me that when I was with him before, I had said that I would come to Venice to ride the gondola.At that time, I thought this wish was very far away, but I didn't expect it to come true in just one year.Although the boat was obviously a little too crowded at the moment, it wasn't just me and him as expected. "One side connects to heaven, and the other side leads to hell." Heath interrupted my train of thought. "what?" "Verses of Byron." "I don't like Byron." "Because he's crippled?" Heath laughed. "Because he's an irresponsible playboy." "Byron? The poet who wrote 'Winter has come, can spring be far behind'?" Apparently Emily had finished making out in the name of eternal life, and she suddenly joined our conversation. "It was written by the short-lived Shelley." Heath laughed. I was surprised because Emily didn't blush like I expected.She just said "oh", and then quickly changed the subject. "Oh, look!" she exaggeratedly stood up, pointing to the shore and shouted excitedly, "Those shops are already open! Those masks in the window are so beautiful! Let's stop the boat and have a look!" Since no one objected, Emily's wish became the wish of all of us.The boatman propped up the boat hard, skillfully threw the rope, and tied a knot with half of the wooden pile on the shore. The terrain here is relatively high, and several shops were lucky not to be flooded.They are tourist souvenir shops that can be seen everywhere in Venice. They are usually inconspicuous, but at this time they have become one of the few shops in Venice that are still open. and various stained glass products. Emily was also among them, holding up two gaudy half-face masks, asking for Little S's opinion. "Why don't you go buy a mask too?" Heath asked me, standing next to me in the doorway while Emily picked out a mask. "I don't have the habit of buying souvenirs." I answered him coldly. "What a pity." Heath smiled slightly, "Venice masks are very famous." At the time I thought he meant something else.But this was interrupted immediately by Emily's cry, she asked me to help her choose a mask.By the time I walked into the mask shop, that thought was gone.