Pinocchio

Chapter 19 : Art Exhibition

The sun shines upon the coffee table through a slightly opened curtain. Someone's laughter wakes Gustavo up from his tiring dream. He immediately sits down, he growls. He stands up and stretches out his body. Under normal circumstances, Gustavo would definitely enjoy this beautiful morning to carve something before finally have some breakfast.

Then he realizes that he didn't see through all rooms last night. He looks at the clock. 8 am. He looks around and he sees a small kitchen near him between two doors. He opens the one in the left to find a single bed in a light blue room. He walks back and opens the other door. It's the bathroom with a small shower at the end of the bathroom and a faucet with a mirror with no frame. He walks to the faucet, sighs, and washes his face.

Feeling fresher, he suddenly realizes that he couldn't take shower because he has no towels and no clothes. He opens the mirror that covers the box behind it. Someone left a half bottle of cologne there. Gustavo takes it and puts it on him. It's a cologne for women with poppy flower scent. Well, it's better than going around with bad smell.

He brushes his unruly hair with his fingers. He walks to the living room. He takes his wallet, cellphone, and roomkey and put them all in his jeans pockets before he goes outside.

He walks to the first floor, only to find a woman in a overrated red dress talking to some men in formal suits. Her honey-blonde hair falls gloriously behind her back and her thick make up works hard on hiding her obvious wrinkles. A long cigarette in her hand looks like a magnificent wand with blue smoke at the end of it. He realizes that it's Madame Azalea, who finds a little bit intimidating. He decides not to take such a big deal of it and passes her by.

"Good morning, Mister Leonardo."

"Good morning, Madame Azalea." He nods.

"Ck ck ck." She shakes her head. "Are you wearing the same outfit?"

He shrugs, and he nods.

"Oh. Poor boy." She moves her cigarette. "Excuse me, gentlemen."

The men nod and Madame Azalea makes a gesture with her hand, asking Gustavo to come with her. She walks to her room - the only room in the first floor - and Gustavo follows her behind as if she's a duck mother and Gustavo is a lost duckling. When Madame Azalea opens her room, a strong scent of sandalwood. Turns out, the scent comes from a little ceramic pot with a bubbling liquid on the small bowl on top of a candle that's molded so that it looks like a rose. Madame Azalea puts the aroma therapy at the corner of the room with a few stick insence aroma therapy and colourful flower petals so it looks a little bit artistic.

"Let the door open." She says as she goes inside her bedroom. Gustavo sits down on the couch and within a minute, Madame Azalea has returned with a few clothes in her hand; a black shirt with a leather jacket and a pair of dark blue jeans.

"These belong to my cousin and I think they should fit in you." She smiles.

"What do you mean?" He frowns.

"Well," she sighs as she takes a sip of her smoke. "I'm actually really good at interpreting things. First, you only bring one suitcase, but you have a lot of money. Two, you don't have clothes. So it's pretty obvious that you came here totally unprepared."

"So?" He arches his brows.

"So, I'm lending you these clothes until you have clothes of your own."

"Do you know where I can buy new clothes?"

"Well, there a lot of clothing stores near here. Some of them are expensive, though. You just have to look carefully."

"Ah, I see. Do you know anything about Pleasure Land?"