Cleo had just opened her mouth when the man beat her to it and said, “I’m sorry, is there something I can help you with, miss?”
Cleo immediately gaped. “Wait, you can speak Indonesian?”
The light-brown-haired man with gray irises smiled warmly at Cleo before giving her a brief answer. “Yes.”
Cleo said without thinking, “He must be mixed.”
But she quickly covered her mouth with both hands, realizing she had been rude.
“I-I’m sorry.”
Maxi only smiled faintly and shook his head.
“It’s all right. So, what can I help you with, miss?” Maxi repeated.
“Um, well... I wanted to thank you for lending me the money to pay for my pizza earlier. So, how can I pay you back?” Cleo asked.
The man shook his head. “You don’t have to. Just consider it my treat.”
Cleo naturally found that strange. Who treated someone they didn’t even know?
“But I feel bad. How about this—you haven’t gone inside yet, right? If not, I’ll go in with you, and then I’ll pay you back once I find my tour guide,” Cleo offered.
Maxi couldn’t exactly say that he had already gone inside and was now planning to visit somewhere else. But when he saw how helpless Cleo looked, he couldn’t bring himself to refuse her.
“I haven’t gone in yet. Come on, let’s go inside!” Maxi invited.
Cleo nodded happily, and the two of them walked side by side back into the garden.
“Where’s your tour group?” Maxi asked.
“They should be here.”
Cleo glanced at her watch and realized that she was already fifteen minutes late for the appointed time. There was no sign that her tour group was still there.
Cold sweat began trickling down her temples before she even realized it.
“Wait a second, okay?” Cleo said before taking her phone out of her bag.
She was utterly shocked when she saw around twelve missed calls from her tour guide. Feeling foolish for forgetting to turn off silent mode, Cleo immediately called the number. Unfortunately, even after trying several times, no one answered.
Her body went limp. She sat down. She had already lost her wallet, and now her bus had left her behind all alone.
What was she supposed to do now? How could she be this unlucky?
Wasn’t she supposed to be vacationing abroad, spending all her savings on having fun and forgetting the problems that had made it hard for her to breathe back in Indonesia?
“Is something wrong, miss?” Maxi asked.
Cleo nodded. “My bus seems to have gone somewhere else, and my tour guide isn’t answering my calls.”
Maxi sighed softly. “Where were they supposed to go after this?”
Cleo suddenly bit her lower lip. She felt incredibly stupid for leaving the sheet of paper her tour guide had handed out that morning on the bus.
Oh, Cleo. You’re really so careless!
“According to the old itinerary, they were supposed to go to Basilica San Zeno Maggiore. But our tour guide changed it this morning because there was some kind of problem. And damn it, I can’t remember because I only glanced at it.”
Cleo wanted to curse herself for being so careless and thoughtless that day.
“In that case, you have no choice but to wait for your tour guide to call you back,” Maxi said.
He tilted his head slightly as he watched Cleo’s expression.
Meanwhile, Cleo could only bite her lower lip anxiously.