Carbon Copy

“Are you sure your nose doesn’t hurt anymore?”

“It didn’t even hurt back then!”

“Liar.”

Ravel is worriedly sitting on a bed in Fantasia’s room, wondering why she had asked him to come.

“Come here, show me that nose.”

“I told you it’s nothing~.” Fantasia’s voice carries a hint of irritation but she complies and approaches him.

“Hmmm…” he carefully examines the nose with his index finger and surprises her with a quick smooch on it, “Done. All healed up.”

“What was that, weirdo?” the look on her face tries to tell him: ‘I am so done’.

“My special move: Healing Kiss!”

“That sounds like a lame Pokinom attack.”

Fantasia returns to her previous chore and is back to searching through her wardrobe, pulling out and throwing away random pieces of clothes that haven’t been worn for ages.

After a short while, Ravel impatiently finally asks her what she’s doing.

“Found it!!!”

She shouts all of a sudden, causing Ravel to jolt upright on the bed, his eyes widening in bewilderment.

Fantasia turns around and reveals a silk scarf of blue color.

“My mother gave this to me when I started attending elementary school, saying that one day I might want to wear it for a special occasion.”

“And what is that special occasion?”

“The Beauty Contest, silly!”

“Is it that important to you?”

“No, I just never had an excuse to wear this so it is time, hahah.”

Fantasia playfully wraps the scarf around Ravel’s neck.

“Hmm. There is another kitty who needs to wear something cute as well.”

“S-stop it!” his face turns red in mere milliseconds.

Fantasia laughs as she carefully takes it off him.

“The final round of the competition is the real ‘beauty’ part, right? So I wanted you to help me choose my clothes for that…”

Wow. Fantasia feels very girly right now. It’s almost unreal how she changed during that short time we spent together. I wonder what kind of a dress she is going to show me. I am watching this flower bloom in real time…

Fantasia opens the door on the closet and reveals multiple variations of her plumber uniform on hangers.

“Which one should I take??”

“Is this what you’re planning to wear?!”

She completely shattered the image his hopeless mind has started to form. Taking the two hangers with the suits hung on them, Fantasia moves her eyes from one uniform to another, considering what would be the best fit.

Ravel sighs and stands up from the bed, walking toward her from behind.

“You’re not going to wear any of this,” he can feel a vein popping on his forehead, “Give them to me.”

“No!” She hides one of the hangers with her body but Ravel manages to grab the other one.

As she turns around to face him and, probably, fight him, the hanger’s hook gets stuck to her t-shirt, lifting it up by force of Ravel’s pushing. With her arms raised above her head in defense of her uniforms, her t-shirt smoothly flies off.

Both of them freeze as Ravel’s eyes get stuck at her exposed breasts.

After a few seconds, their brains processed what had just happened. Their faces turn red, and panic ensues while yelling at each other.

“Why are you not wearing any bra?!”

“I never wear a bra at home!!”

“But you were expecting a guest!”

“But I never imagined the guest would undress me like this!”

Fantasia realizes she is still facing him and his gaze never averted from her chest. Another wave of heat flushes her face as she finally turns around to retrieve the t-shirt.

“I’m home~, sweetie!”

Huh?

The door to her bedroom swings open and her father witnesses the situation. Fantasia’s upper body naked, Ravel staring at her from behind. In that moment, both of them move their heads toward her father.

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!”

Father screams angrily and points his finger at Ravel. Fantasia quickly gets her t-shirt back on and tries to calm her dad.

“Dad! It’s not as it appears!”

“F-Father, it’s me, Ravel!” his voice is shaking. If anybody stabbed him with a knife now, no blood would pour out.

“Who are you calling Father, you punk?! And what are you doing with my daughter here?!”

“I’m dead.” Ravel gulps and softly mutters for himself in a high pitched voice.

***

“Ahahaha, I’m sorry, boy! I guess my brain turned off at that second, hahahah!”

All of them are sitting in a living room on the couch, Fantasia and Ravel being visibly nervous.

“I-it’s fine, sir, I understand no father would ever want to see his daughter with a boy in her room like that.”

“What do you mean, sir? I told you to call me Father! We’re buddies, right?”

Well, you had a different opinion just a few minutes ago.

“As a man, I can understand how agitated you must have been at the sight of a naked woman body for the first time, ahahah. Good thing you are so adorably innocent, just like my daughter.”

Yeah, he would kill me again if he knew about my past.

“So anyway, Fantasia needs a dress for that competition, huh?”

“Yes! But all she has are those work suits and casual clothes!”

“But I really wanna wear one of those…” Fantasia’s disappointment in her voice is apparent.

“Hmmm… wait here.”

Father stands up and leaves the living room without a word.

“So… did you like them?”

“What do you mea- HOLY SHIT, stop it, Fantasia!”

Fantasia giggles, finding Ravel's blushing reaction adorable. After a while, her father returns, holding a light blue formal dress.

“Fantasia. Try this…”

He says in a composed manner.

“Don’t tell me that’s…”

“Yes. It belonged to your mother. I bought it for her when she was having a graduation ceremony. I’m not sure if it will fit, but…”

Fantasia is at a loss of words. The dress is very plain and simple but when she takes it into her hands, it somehow gave off this magical vibe.

“I’ll go try it now.”

She heads for her bedroom and Ravel stands up to go with her.

“And where are YOU going???”

“Heek!”

Ravel’s body instinctively moved on its own before realizing what he’s done.

“I-I just wanted to go to the toilets!”

“Sit down, a sad backstory is incoming.”

Ravel obediently sits back down like a trained dog.

“Fantasia’s mom died when she was in her 6th grade at elementary school.”

“Yeah, I heard that…”

“She was a strong and intelligent woman. A prosecutor. In the courtroom, she was fearless. Everybody respected her and her name made the blood boil for all the criminals living in Bratislava. Many swore revenge to her but she was never afraid. In the end, it was not her enemies who ended her. It was an illness. Fantasia went to the hospital daily for two straight years. It was around the time when bullying started to occur at school. But her mother taught her that it’s not Fantasia’s fault for getting picked on. It was the fault of the aggressors, nothing more, nothing less. But she also told her there was always something behind people’s actions. Just like criminals had their motives, so did the children around Fantasia have their own reasons for behaving like they had been.”

Ravel sits in silence, unable to find words.

“Her mother said that Fantasia needs to look beyond what is on the surface. And that she should always strive to find the hidden story. And so she did. After her mother’s death, Fantasia never complained about anything. And she kept smiling even at those who were trying to hurt her.”

“Ta-dah!!!”

Fantasia out of nowhere jumps in front of them, wearing the blue dress. Ravel and her father look at her, then look at each other and they burst into loud, ugly crying.

“Waaaaaaaahh!!!”

Neither of them can hold the tears in.

“W-w-w-w-what’s going on?! Am I that repulsive?!”

Fantasia is confused to no end. It wasn’t because of Fantasia’s dress. The manly men simply cried the manly tears after experiencing such a story. When they calmed down a little, Ravel was first to break the ruckus.

“That dress looks insanely beautiful on you, Fantasia…” Ravel sniffs in between the words.

“Yeah, as if I could believe you jerks after THAT!” Slightly pissed off, the proud princess walks away to get changed.

“You know… her mother was also a woman of unconventional and unique beaty, just like Fantasia.”

The father’s teary eyes wandered around the living room, searching for a framed photograph atop the shelf on the wall, depicting a young Swan family.

“Do you see our daughter, my love? She truly is your carbon copy.”

CHAPTER 14: END