Origami Girl

Chapter 5: The Magic Mountain

Origami Girl

5- The Magic Mountain

"The days began to fly now, and yet each one of them was stretched by renewed expectations and swollen with silent, private experiences. Yes, time is a puzzling thing, there is something about it that is hard to explain."

-Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain

I took out the two sets of outfits from my wardrobe, still on their hangers, and placed them onto my bed. One was a polka-dotted collared long sleeved cotton blouse, slightly baggy, accompanied with black tights. The other was a baby blue short-sleeved dress that reached until the thighs, and I also planned to wear a pair of tights with them, just that I couldn't get to an agreement which pair of tights it would go well with. I took a step back and sighed.

I sauntered over to my bathroom, and decided to put on my makeup before I made up my mind on which outfit to don. For that afternoon, I decided to just go with a simple look, so the amount of powder I dabbed on my face was minimal. I brushed on a near-skin-tone beige eye shadow onto my eyelids, and applied a little mascara to complement it. I hesitated before applying some blush, but in the end decided that it would overdo the look.

That day I decided to leave my hair as it was, just letting it hang loosely past my shoulders. Examining my image in the mirror, I suddenly had an idea. With the side of my right palm I delicately swept my fringe away, revealing my forehead. I naturally had an almost-centre parting, just shifted to the right a little. Most of the time I would sweep my fringe down, but for some reason I felt like not doing so that day. Looking at myself in the mirror, I noticed how different I looked. I giggled to myself, and was about to pull down my fringe, but something in me told me not to, so I left my forehead bare and exposed.

In the end, I decided to go with the baby blue dress. For the tights, I chose one with a white and green striped pattern. Returning the blouse into the wardrobe, I picked out a white leather handbag for myself to match the frills and accents on my dress.

Twirling in front of the full-length mirror, I giggled at my prance. I felt good that afternoon, that was for sure. Ka-chan and I were to meet for tea first. She invited me to meet her at the Old English Consulate building at five, where she mentioned was near to a western-style patisserie that she really liked, and she wanted to bring me there, to have some tea and chat, before meeting the rest at the ropeway station. Only when I was at the doorway did I remember that I had forgotten something.

I quickly rushed back into the bathroom, tossing my handbag onto my bed as I ran past. Pulling out the drawers underneath the counter one by one, I frantically searched.

Then, I found it. The fragrance set Ka-chan bought for me, was all along, right in front of my eyes. The three bottles, arranged neatly in a triad, had been sitting on the counter, just beside the sink. Sighing at my carelessness, I grabbed the smallest bottle. Rose, I think. Pouring a slight dab of the fragrance onto my right index finger, I rubbed the scent onto both my wrists, and underneath my jaw. Then, seeing that there was still some liquid left on my finger, I smeared them all off on the nape of my neck.

The entire bathroom filled with the aroma, and the scent of rose wafted into the air. It was a really pleasant smell, I really liked it. Although I guess I might have put a little too much but it wasn't overwhelming, so it was fine. After all, it wasn't that much of an overbearing scent.

Picking my bag up where I left it, I went downstairs. Scanning the shoe rack beside the front door, I had some trouble deciding on what to select, before settling on a pair of white high-cut sneakers, decorated with floral prints.