I had been turned into a dress rack.
Hana raced ahead of me through the aisles of mall clothes, pointing out only the most glittery and brightly colored dresses. Then she would grab each of them in her size and drape them over my arms, and then run back to the racks and racks of clothing. I had at least a dozen dresses in my arms already, and Hana still continued to find more.
"Alright, Hana, that's enough," I finally said after the sixteenth dress she gave me. "We need you to try them on now."
"But what about this one, Daddy?" she asked, fingering a silky turquoise dress.
"You've already got enough, sweetheart," I said with a small chuckle. "Come on. Let's go try these on."
Hana whined for only a short moment before obediently following me through the mall, her tiny hand grabbing my long white trench coat so she wouldn't fall behind. We reached the fitting rooms, and I hung the dresses on the racks in one of the stalls before taking my place on a chair outside of the room. Several mothers were there as well, and they kept staring at me with this look of wonder. I ignored them and kept my eyes on the door that hid my daughter.
She tried on dress after dress, from sparkling pink to ruffled blue. She didn't need my help with any of them until she put on a layered white dress that zipped up in the back. Her little head popped out of the stall, and I looked up at her.
"Done?" I questioned.
She shook her head, coming out with a hand holding the dress to her not-yet-developed chest.
"Can you help zip this one?" she asked quietly.
I smiled and beckoned her over, and she stood with her back to me so I could zip her up. After I finished, she grinned widely and gave me a twirl, then posed for me.
"What do you think, Daddy?" she asked, playing with one of the layers of ruffles.
I smiled more and stood, stroking her hair as she beamed up at me.
"I think this is the one."
"Daddy?"
I shook myself out of the short memory from years ago, then looked up at Hana's twenty-three-year-old face. She walked out from behind the curtain, holding her dress to her chest with a small blush on her cheeks.
"Could you zip me up?" she asked quietly.
I smiled softly and stood, turning her around and zipping up the back of the long gown. She turned to me and beamed, then moved in front of the full body mirror and took in her appearance. Layers of silvery white silk covered her body, showing off every curve. A small, blood red gemstone was sewn into the dress in the middle of her chest. She faced the mirror full on and placed the final accessory on her head: a silver tiara with a long white veil extending down over her hair and halfway down her back.
She turned to look at me again with an enormous smile, looking as happy as she would be on her actual wedding day, a week from now.
"What do you think, Daddy?" she questioned, smoothing the silk over her legs.
As much as I wanted to cry, I didn't. I took her hands in my own and placed a kiss on her cheek, a grin making its way to my lips.
"I think... this is the one."