Chapter Text
Mine Kuramae could count on one hand the most important moments of her life that made her who she was today:
The first memories she could think of were all the good moments she had gotten to spend with her aunt – her mother’s sister. A hairdresser by trade, she had been the first person to style Mine’s hair in twin tails. It had been a magical moment in Mine’s life where for the first time she had felt like she was a princess from a far away, happy land.
Whenever her aunt visited, Mine felt happiness beyond imagination. They would spend time going for walks to the nearest park so that they could both sit on swings and talk for hours about random subjects, or they would stay home and play board games or even made games that they had invented together…
Those were all good times, indeed, for whenever her aunt would leave, the bad moments would begin.
Not that Mine ever blamed her family for all the bad times: her father had passed on when she was still a baby while her older brother had ran away from home after a dispute with their mother who was trying her best to take care of her children while working three jobs, a stress that no one should ever go through no matter what their financial situation.
Things were hard at home, but it was nothing compared to the bullying Mine had to suffer through all during her school years.
All because of her hairstyle.
“Only babies have their hair up in twin tails.”
“You’re so ugly with your hair up like that!”
“You look like a boy with a fake wig!”
“Why is your hair always up like that? You look so stupid!”
It was still a mystery as to why the other kids would taunt her with insults, but that never stopped Mine from keeping her hairstyle the way she wanted it. All that mattered in the end was that her role model in life had told her she looked amazing with that hairstyle.
As time went by and high school came to an end Mine still had never gotten the chance to know what a real friendship was – much less having a relationship with anyone – and so she had decided to pack her bags and leave her small hometown to start her own adventure. By then her mother had found a new husband and had started a new life with a new family and so it had not mattered to anyone where Mine would end up. As for her aunt…
Losing the only close person in her life had been the hardest moment of her life, but it was also a chance for her to leave the small community without any regrets and so, a few months later, she found herself looking for a place to stay and a small job to pay her rent until the day she would be able to finally realize her dream…
The greatest moment of her life though, without a doubt, had to be when she met him.
It had been just a few days after her arrival in the city. She had been able to afford a small room with her savings from small jobs she had done as a teenager back home, but knew all too well that she could not live in that small room forever and so she had quickly began her search for a job. As long as she would be able to pay her bills and get some food any job was good for her: after all it was only for a short amount of time until she could settle in and find something better. She was ready to wait tables, to clean, help with the elderly… anything! But alas, her job search was going nowhere and after a few days, anxiety began to rise inside of her that made her doubt her choices and decisions so far.
She was on her way back to her room one rainy afternoon after another job rejection when she was stopped in the middle of the streets, and like a Hollywood rom-com from the 90s her life was suddenly changed.
“My!!” The man in front her spoke with such amazement it almost made her back up a few steps. “What beauty!”
Mine looked closely at the figure in front of her and couldn’t help but to try to catch her breath. It was as if a hurricane had just appeared before her eyes and she couldn’t quite comprehend what was happening…
He was beauty reincarnate. The tall man had the prettiest of golden eyes – a color uncommon for human eyes, she thought – and his long, silvery hair that was braided down over his shoulder and his purple faux-fur coat gave him a foreign royalty look.
Was he for real or from a fairy tale?
They both stood underneath their own umbrellas for a moment, both in awe at what they were looking at though Mine couldn’t understand why he was looking at her the way she was looking at him.
“Euh… I’m sorry?” was all Mine could think to reply. She was not sure if he understood her through the rain but seeing him come closer to her, she understood that it did not matter.
He took her free hand in his, and offered a quick inspection. “Your hands are quite delicate, ma chère. You must take good care of them for them to be this soft and gentle.”
Creeper alert!
Mine wanted to move her hand away from the beautiful stranger, but somehow her being mesmerized in the moment made her unable to react physically to anything. She could feel her heart beating loudly in her chest, her breathing still out of sync.
He seemed like a creeper, sure, but she was okay with his presence next to her for some reason.
Just what was the aura around this man all about?!
His eyes moved up to her face, his hand never letting go of hers. Mine could feel the softness of his thumb rubbing against her skin, making her feel all sorts of goosebumps all over her body. The moment his eyes met hers she understood that there was no way she could ever back away from this man ever again…
And she was okay with it.
But why?
“Your hair…”
Mine felt a thud inside of her soul. The memories of the bullying coming back to her in a whipping-like sensation and for the first time in her life those words hurt her and scared her. She began to tremble under the touch of his hand and she wanted to run away, be somewhere no one would ever be able to laugh at her for still wearing the hairstyle people had always made fun of her for.
After all these years, it would be the words of a total stranger that would make her hate herself for the first time.
“You look like a princess from a fairy tale dream.”
Wait --- “What did you just…”
He was the one to let go of her hand first, but only to snap his fingers. “Yes! I know!”
Mine was dumbstruck, still unable to move. While her mind was still trying to process what was happening at the moment, he took out a flip phone from his beautiful purple jacket, pressed only one button before sending the call and waited for his call to be answered.
“What is it now?” Mine could hear a rather tired voice from the other end of the phone.
The man suddenly began to dance around like a kid on Christmas morning awaiting his parents to open his presents.
“Tori you’ll never guess who I’ve found!” he sang as he was jumping all over the place, making it hard for Mine to understand what the other person said in reply.
“That’s right! I found her: I just found my muse, and from now on she will be working at my shop!”