Unnamed Memory - Volume 3 - Chapter SS

Extra

“I want to do that, too. Teach me how,” said her husband.

“What?” asked Tinasha, turning around from her seat at her vanity mirror. She picked up the braid in her hair she had just done. “You mean this? Your hair isn’t long enough to braid.”

“I want to braid your hair. It looks fun,” he replied.

Though she shook her head with some exasperation over the king’s spontaneous request, Tinasha gave in almost immediately. She waved him over from where he was sitting on the bed and handed him a white hair ribbon.

“Divide the hair into three parts, then cross an outer part over the inner one. Alternate and repeat that. Then tie it in place with this ribbon,” she instructed.

Oscar stood behind her and clumsily braided a lock of his wife’s hair. As Tinasha watched him do that in the mirror, she asked an obvious question. “Well? Is it fun?”

“It is. It’s just as enjoyable as petting a cat’s fur,” he answered.

After weaving together and undoing Tinasha’s locks three times, he finally made quite a pretty braid. Feeling pleased with the result, he tied the end with the white ribbon as if it were something he regularly did.

The little memory had come to him so suddenly.

“Oscar, is it done?” inquired the girl.

He let go of the white ribbons at the end. “Yup. It looks cute.”

“Really? Let me go look in the mirror,” she chirped, springing to her feet excitedly. She looked like a miniature version of his wife. Tinasha examined her hair in the mirror, picking up the plait. “Is it…cute? I’m not really used to this style. Is this what I wear as an adult?”

“Hmm, who can say? You’re cute as you are, so it hardly matters,” he replied evasively.

“…What’s with that answer? Are you saying I look childish?” Tinasha pouted, her reddened cheeks puffing up at how he’d dodged the question. She was the one who wanted to know about her adult self, but the ways of her heart appeared to be complex.

Wincing as he walked over to her, Oscar placed a hand on her little head. “You are still a child, so you can do whatever you want. There’s no need to act like the adult you.”

Oscar pulled out both of the white ribbons, and Tinasha held on to her hair as it loosened. “Is it really okay to act like a kid?”

“It is. At the very least, you can relax when you’re with me.”

Even if this younger Tinasha had no memory of their life together, Oscar did. That was enough.

He pressed a kiss to the white ribbons…and held the precious things tight in his hand.