Chapter 2: The Begonia Hair Clip

“No, I can walk.”

“Alright then.”

Ash turned down Chris’s offer of a princess carry, got out of the car on her own, and headed home with him.

The house was still a bit messy, but the shattered planter, the bloodstains on the floor, and the gunshot marks had been cleaned up. The smell of gunpowder had faded away completely too. The gun had probably been stored away properly.

“What’s the matter? Not coming in, Ash?”

Chris turned on the lights, set down his bag, and looked back at Ash, who was standing frozen in the doorway.

“…Sorry. I…”

“It’s fine, Ash. It’s not your fault.”

“But…”

“Come on, I told you already. We’re good brothers. I’ll never forget what you did for me that day. Otherwise, you might be crying at my grave right now.”

“…No… you’re taller… stronger… you…”

“Hey, come on, come in already.”

Chris reached out and gently pulled Ash inside.

Ash didn’t resist much and stepped in naturally.

“Slippers…”

“I got you a new pair. This one fits you better.”

He pulled a new pair out of the bag. They were white with a little bunny head on the front, looking very girly.

“…”

“I picked them out carefully. The soles are thicker and reinforced. You won’t feel a thing even if you step on a LEGO piece.”

“Oh…”

Ash put them on, although she looked reluctant.

“Here. Your pre-dinner medicine.”

Chris took out the meds, shook two pills into his palm, and handed them to Ash.

“Here, water.”

He walked to the table and poured her a glass.

Only after making sure she’d swallowed it all did he take the cup back and continue.

“I got all your old stuff back. Aunt Mei kept it for you. It’s in her little storage room.”

“Oh.”

“Just put it in your room.”

“…”

“So, I’m going to make dinner now. Anything you feel like eating?”

“Shouldn’t a woman be the one making dinner…”

“You…”

Chris looked at Ash, words caught in his throat.

“What are you looking at me for… I’m not… a woman.”

Ash muttered. She bit down hard on that final word, “woman.”

“…It’s fine. Try my cooking, you’ll see. I started learning years ago… I just didn’t have time to show you these days with everything going on.”

“…”

“You know, the best chefs in the world are mostly men. Try my spaghetti. The Godfather style.”

“Oh… that’s too much trouble… Ordering some fries and burgers would be fine…”

“How’s that going to work? Those things have too much oil. Girls who eat that stuff put on weight easily.”

“I’m not a girl.”

Ash said it again, but there wasn’t much force behind her words.

Chris figured that Ash had probably accepted the reality by now, she just wasn’t ready to admit it out loud to her good brother.

“Fine. I’m going to cook now. You… just go wait in your room. Your video tapes are all still there. Every one of them.”

“Oh…”

Ash nodded and slowly walked back into her room.

She switched on the light and saw the box Chris had mentioned. All of her old belongings were in it.

The box wasn’t even full. That was about everything she had, it seemed.

Murmuring to herself, Ash walked to the desk and fished the feather she’d found that afternoon out of her dress pocket. After a moment of thought, she tucked it into the small notebook she’d brought back.

Then she slowly made her way to her old box, crouched down beside it, and looked at the possessions she’d been parted from for over five years.

Calling them possessions was generous. They were just a few military magazines and posters, some video tapes, a handful of model soldiers, a worn American flag, and other small knickknacks.

As for the kind of things most teenage boys kept stashed away, photos of buxom beauties, porn magazines, Ash didn’t have any of those.

Maybe it was just a personal preference thing. Ash had never been interested in the curvy, well-endowed types. The smoother the curves, the less appealing it was to her.

What she liked were girls. Girls at that age of first love and innocence. A girl like what she was now.

And even a figure with generous front curvature was just another bonus on a girl like that.

‘Ugh. What am I even thinking about.’

Anyway, Ash noticed that everything was clean. Not a speck of dust.

Aunt Mei would never have done that. She’d be lucky if Aunt Mei hadn’t thrown it all out as trash.

So it must have been Chris.

“Chris…”

“If I hadn’t agreed that day… would you have died there? In that hell?”

Ash mumbled softly, picking through her belongings one by one.

At the very bottom of the box, her fingers found a small hair clip shaped like a begonia flower.

The craftsmanship wasn’t especially fine. It was only about the size of her pinky finger.

Ash remembered it clearly.

Chris had given it to her back in middle school.

No, not exactly given it to her. He’d given it to her to give to Jenny.

Jenny… that beautiful girl she’d met on the school bus.

For almost three whole years, she’d had the luck of sitting next to that angelic girl.

Only she wasn’t as bold or confident as Chris. She’d barely spoken a single word to Jenny.

Ha. Thinking about it now, standing guard for Chris was probably the boldest thing she’d ever done.

Anyway… at some point she’d started having feelings for Jenny. But she only ever admired her from afar.

Chris had noticed.

He’d decided to give her a hand.

The day before their last day in elementary school, he’d spent the entire night making that little hair clip.

Yes, Chris was just that versatile. Football or baseball, Boy Scout survival training, or making little gadgets like that, he was good at it all.

“Why didn’t you just buy one?”

“Girls at that age aren’t so materialistic. If you make it yourself, even if she doesn’t necessarily fall for you, she’ll at least have a good impression of you. See this begonia flower on the clip? It matches your surname (Begonia).”

Ash remembered how Chris was only a month older than her, yet he acted like a little grown-up, offering her advice.

Even though she was the one who used to coax him to sleep back then.

But in the end, Ash never gave it to Jenny.

The clip had sat there all this time, until Ash dug it out today.

Looking at the small, delicate clip, bits of the past resurfaced one after another.

Though as for Jenny herself, Ash had long since forgotten her.

“Sigh.”

She let out a soft sigh. All of a sudden, an impulse welled up inside her. She opened the door gently, using all the caution she’d once relied on for night reconnaissance, and poked her head out to survey the area.

After confirming Chris was in the kitchen, Ash slipped quietly out of her room, crept down the hallway, and slid into the bathroom.

She leaned against the bathroom doorway, glancing outside once more. Then she straightened, facing the mirror.

The girl in the mirror radiated a natural, holy air. Her azure eyes, like sapphires, added even more sanctity to that purity.

If only that beautiful girl weren’t herself.

Gazing at her reflection, Ash slowly raised a hand. She opened the hair clip and gently brushed aside the light golden strands with her other hand.

Then, imitating those scenes she’d seen in movies and TV dramas, she clipped it into her hair, just above her right ear.

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