The Blue Dress

The day after the event, Mia was sorting through her photos when she stopped at one.

She was smiling in the blue dress Logan had picked out for her.

She liked the dress.

But the longer she looked at the photo, the more her hair stood out to her—tied back in the same way she always wore it.

Mia had never paid much attention to her hair. As long as it fell past her shoulders, it was easy to tie up, and wherever she happened to be, she could always walk into a nearby salon and have the ends trimmed.

This time, though, she wanted to change it.

The next day at lunch, the moment she saw Logan, Mia held a hand just below her chin.

“Should I cut my hair?”

Logan looked up from his work screen a beat too late.

“I think it'd look good.”

Mia narrowed her eyes.

“You don't care, do you?”

“I do.”

“You're still looking at your screen.”

“I just have to send this. Give me a second.”

Mia didn't wait.

She opened ARCA's virtual salon.

The space around them transformed into a bright salon, and once she sat down in front of the mirror, a menu appeared, letting her change her hairstyle however she wanted.

She grew it down to her waist, then cut it to her chin. She changed the black to light brown and tried long waves.

Within seconds, a completely different person was staring back at her.

At some point, Logan had followed her over and taken a seat on the sofa beside the mirror.

His laptop was still open.

Mia switched to a chin-length bob.

“This one?”

“Looks good.”

Then she tried a length that fell to her collarbones.

“This one?”

“That one too.”

Long waves.

“This?”

“Looks good.”

Mia closed the mirror.

“Forget it. I'm leaving.”

Only then did Logan look up.

“Why?”

“You say everything looks good.”

“That's not true.”

“You gave me the same answer every time.”

Mia started to get up.

“The second one was the best.”

She stopped.

“What was the second one?”

“The one that came down to about your collarbones. The ends curled out a little.”

Mia switched back to it.

“This one?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

Only then did Logan close his laptop.

“With the first one, you kept touching your neck.”

Mia lowered her hand before she even realized it had been there.

“And with the long hair, you kept pushing it behind your shoulders.”

“You noticed that?”

“You only stopped fidgeting with the second one.”

Logan looked at her reflection in the mirror.

“You looked the most comfortable like that.”

She had thought he was only paying attention to work.

But he had seen everything.

Mia studied herself in the mirror again. The ends of her black hair moved lightly above her collarbones. It wasn't a dramatic change, but somehow her face looked a little brighter.

“I thought you were just working.”

“I was working.”

“Are you bragging?”

“I answered a message too.”

Mia laughed.

“You still saw everything.”

This time, Logan didn't bother denying it.

Mia saved the hairstyle and sent it to a salon near her lodging. An appointment was booked for two the next afternoon.

—

The next afternoon, while Mia was sitting in the salon chair, a message from Logan arrived.

Hope the haircut goes well.

Mia looked at herself in the mirror as she replied.

If it turns out terrible, you're responsible.

His answer came almost immediately.

I'm not the one cutting it.

The person who picked it is responsible.

When did that rule happen?

Mia smiled and typed back.

Just now.

About an hour later, Mia stepped out of the salon and ran her fingers over the freshly cut ends of her hair several times.

It looked better than she had expected.

A little unfamiliar, but she liked it.

And strangely, the first thing she wanted to do was show Logan.

Mia entered ARCA right away.

As soon as she connected, the virtual salon from the day before appeared around her.

But Logan was already there, sitting on the same sofa with his laptop open in front of him.

Mia stopped.

“What are you doing here?”

“Waiting.”

“The whole time?”

“You said it would take about an hour.”

Logan checked the time.

“I cleared an hour and a half in case you ran late.”

Mia didn't answer right away.

An hour and a half.

It wasn't time he had simply happened to have free.

He had made it free so he could wait for her.

Logan closed his laptop.

This time, instead of looking at the screen, he looked properly at her.

“It suits you.”

Mia touched the ends of her hair for no reason.

“It ended up a little shorter than I expected. And the bangs are different.”

“I noticed.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

His gaze lingered for a moment.

“It still suits you.”

Then, after a short pause, he added it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“It looks like you.”

Mia turned toward the mirror.

It wasn't anything particularly special to say.

And yet, strangely, she liked it.

Just then, a flicker of blue slipped past the edge of the mirror.

A tiny butterfly.

The light felt somehow familiar.

It circled slowly in front of the mirror, then hovered for a moment near the freshly cut ends of Mia's hair.

“That.”

Mia pointed.

Logan turned his head too.

“It's here again.”

“Was it always part of this place?”

“Maybe.”

The blue butterfly drifted lightly between them before slowly disappearing toward the window.

Mia watched it for a moment, then turned back to the mirror.

And she found herself thinking about what Logan had just said.

It looks like you.

This time, she liked the person in the mirror a little more.

—

Mia bought lunch that day.

When she said it was because he had waited for her, Logan opened the menu as if he had been waiting to hear exactly that and asked if he could order something expensive.

Mia told him that she might not know his address, but she could still see the prices.

After that, lunch was mostly the same as usual.

They talked about nothing in particular, ate their food, and every now and then, Logan smiled whenever Mia absently touched the ends of her hair.

She asked why once or twice.

After a while, she stopped asking.

They still didn't know where the other person lived.

Mia still didn't know what city Logan's real life was in, or how closely the face in front of her resembled his actual one.

And yet, today, the first person she had wanted to show her new haircut to was him.

She had wanted to know what he thought.

Things like that hadn't mattered before.

She couldn't say when that had changed.

But when Logan smiled again,

Mia didn't ask why this time.