Edó had a purple hair tie.
Nothing special. Not particularly pretty. Not even new. Maybe she bought it at a tournament in Slovakia, or maybe someone lent it to her and she simply forgot to give it back. But from that point on, she wore it game after game. It became her “lucky tie.”
If it wasn’t in her hair, she felt unsettled. Not superstitious. Not dramatic. Just a quiet tension that wouldn’t leave her.
“It’s like when your shoelaces don’t feel right,” Mesi once said, trying to understand.
“It’s like I’m not fully put together,” Edó replied.
Mesi nodded — but inside, she was already thinking about something else.
One Sunday morning, before an important championship game, Edó couldn’t find the hair tie.
She turned her room upside down, searched her bag three times, even checked the washing machine filter in case it had gotten stuck there. Nothing.
“This can’t be,” she muttered. “I had it at practice yesterday.”
“Maybe it’s time to trust yourself instead of destiny,” Mesi said casually, studying her nails as if they mattered more than the game.
Edó didn’t suspect a thing. She was just frustrated.
In the first minutes of the game, she was tense. Her first two passes were off target. She even lost the ball once.
But on the third possession… something shifted.
She drove. Pivoted. Pulled up from mid-range.
Then again.
And again.
By the third quarter, she had twelve points.
Her hair was tied back with a simple black band.
DVTK won. It was a big game — full stands, loud crowd, real pressure. Edó was happy. Still, something tugged at her.
On the bus ride home, Mesi leaned closer and whispered:
“I have the hair tie. Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t steal it. I just rescued you from it.”
Edó looked at her for a long moment. Said nothing. Then she smiled.
“Do you know what this means?”
“That you don’t need it anymore?”
“Yes. And from now on, you carry it. I’m passing it to you.”
Mesi laughed.
But a week later, before what was supposed to be an easy game, she couldn’t find the hair tie anywhere either.
Not that she really cared…
But she did look for it.