The Rialto bridge was one of Venice's most popular tourist spots. Spanning across the width of the Grand Canal, this white stone bridge was the oldest of Venice's many bridges and along the banks of the canal stood a wide array of shops (mostly tourist traps) selling all sorts of trinkets to entice the halpless traveller.

Amongst these many shops was an unspectacular little jewellery shop that looked just about the same as any other, displaying its colourful wares through its tiny shop window. At about three in the afternoon, the door to this shop swung open and a girl wearing a yellow T-shirt and jeans came walking out with a new necklace in the palm of her hand. The necklace was elegantly fashioned out of pure silver, with a simple black pendant about the size of a one euro coin--one that seemed to reflect a rainbow sheen under the Venetian sunshine. 

Just an hour ago, Aera had walked into the shop and asked the old master to create this necklace out of the black teardrop-shaped piece that she had found in the glass bottle. When the old man peered at the object under his magnifying glass, his eyes suddenly lit up with wonder and he erupted in a string of Italian, after which he made her an offer to buy the piece off her for a rather generous sum. 

The truth was that the old master had never seen anything quite like this before either, but his years of experience told him that this was something extremely rare and valuable. 

"No, it's not for sale," she had replied. And so the shop owner had no choice but to reluctantly produce the necklace. After all, it was better to make some money from making a necklace than to make no money at all.

Stepping out into the sunshine, Aera admired her new necklace with pride, conceding that the old master was indeed very skillful to be able to fashion a pendant out of something so delicate. As she strolled down the bank of the canal, she quickly slipped the necklace onto the neck. 

"Looks like the weather's pretty good today. Maybe I should head over to Lido and rent a bicycle to go for a spin," she quipped, heading in the direction of the pier. 

It was a short fifteen minute boat ride from Venice to the nearby island of Lido, but the ferry across only departed once every two hours. When Aera reached the pier, she was just in time to see the Lido ferry chugging away into the distance. 

Glancing at the ferry timetable, she cursed her own bad luck. 

"By the time the next ferry comes it'll already be dark!" she grumbled in disappointment. 

Most of the boats were out of harbour today because the weather was fine and the demand for trips out to sea was at a peak. Looking around, Aera spotted a single white yacht docked by the pier, with its owner bent over on the main deck adjusting some ropes. All of a sudden, an idea struck her and she jogged over to the parked boat.

"Excuse me! Is this boat yours? I just missed the ferry to Lido and was wondering if you could give me a ride across? It's only a fifteen minute journey!" she asked, hoping that the fellow understood her stilted English.

Hearing her voice, the man straightened himself up and turned his head round. 

Although she was dressed differently from what she had been wearing yesterday, Kai still recognised the petite girl with the oval-shaped face and simple ponytail tied behind her head. Arching his eyebrows, he said, "Was it not enough that you made me foot the bill for the coffee that you offered me? Now you want to cheat me out of a free boat ride too?"

Aera looked at him in puzzlement. "What do you mean? What coffee? Have you mistaken me for someone else?" 

Kai looked around the pier, noting that his was the only boat that was still parked here. Scoffing, he said, "So everyone's out at sea and I'm the only boat left. Is that why you're pretending that you don't recognise me? Nice try." 

"I'm not sure who you've mistaken me for, but I don't think there's any reason for us to continue having this conversation," Aera replied, a little offended by his rude tone. What had she done to deserve this? "If you're not willing to give me a ride then that's fine. Goodbye." She was half convinced that this man had a mental problem and that it was a bad idea to have tried to wriggle a ride out of him in the first place.

Seeing her turn to leave, Kai leapt off his boat and landed squarely in front of her. 

"I haven't rejected you yet, why the hurry to leave? Are you afraid that I'll ask you for the five euros that that cup of cappuccino was worth? Also, the croissant you ordered cost another three euros. I ate that too."

"It's alright, I don't think I want to go to Lido anymore," Aera said quickly, feeling a little uneasy around this strange fellow. Sidestepping him, she continued walking down the pier in the direction of the city. 

She recognises me alright, that's why she's trying to escape, Kai thought to himself. At that moment, a mischievous thought crossed his mind, and he ran to catch up with her. Once he came alongside her, he reached out and grabbed her DSLR camera out of her hand, holding it high above his head so that she couldn't reach it. 

"I wasn't done with the conversation. Why the hurry to run away?" he asked, the corners of his lips tilting upwards in a slight smirk. 

Seeing her precious camera in his hand, Aera felt the anger begin to rise inside her. Reaching out her hand, she said, "Give it back to me! If you don't return it I'll call the police and have you arrested!" 

"Oh that's really scary. I'm so scared."

Seeing that he had no intentions of returning the camera to her whatsoever, Aera wondered if she was just wasting her time trying to reason with a mad man, so she decided to try a different tactic. Putting on her best look of nonchalance, she shrugged and said, "If you don't want to return it then fine, it's just a camera anyway. I can always just buy a new one." Perhaps if he thought that she didn't value the camera then he would lose interest in his little game and decide to give it back. 

But Kai wasn't much of a sucker for reverse psychology. 

Holding out the camera over the side of the wooden pier, he shouted, "Since this camera doesn't mean anything to you, then I suppose it's fine if I throw it into the sea?"