Kiss | Malfoy, D.

二

When I was a little girl celebrating my fifth birthday, I was asked what I wanted as a gift from my grandparents, both sides. Don't get me wrong, I love my grandparents very dearly and I enjoy visiting them in North Jeolla Province, South Korea and Jiangsu, China back and forth. In Korea, I would always be dolled up wearing hanboks by my grandmother and would give me tea and tteok as afternoon delights and sometimes my grandfather would walk me around the province, taking in a lot of greenery around us. Meanwhile, my grandparents from China would teach me how to make dumplings, we would ride a boat around the river and enjoy the festivals. Although, those only happen during the summer. And so on the fifth birthday, I asked for a tiger as a gift. 

I was only talking about a stuffed tiger when I five. I was impressed by the fierceness, bravery and confidence of a tiger, specifically, a tigress. It's characteristics doesn't compare to Philip's rare green peacock and Evan's black mamba. A week after my birthday, I was suprised to see a south china tigress given to me by my grandparents. When she was given to me, she was only a cub and a few months old, having the perfect bluish grey eyes. And when they asked me what would I name her, I said Ningning. I didn't know how to explain why I chose name her that way, all I know is that it sounded cute and precious to me. Up until this date, I still can't explain why I chose to name her that way. 

My mother is a bit strict of a woman. But I know that she loves us very much. I always think that she wants us to grow up with a proper upbringing. From Ivy jiejie to me, she would teach us embroidery, sewing, flexibility training, power stretching, instruments (we can pick from any modern and traditional instruments, whereas I chose the pipa and piano) and dumpling folding. Oftentimes, I would be with my father and he would take me to places I have never been before. I recall that one time, my father took me to see a hearing in Ministry. I was told not to show any emotion during the trial, I don't even recall who was being questioned and who was the one in authority of the questioning. After that, we would get to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor in the afternoon before heading home, my dad would get a strawberry and peanut flavor ice cream while I would usually get my favorite clotted cream. And then, he would make usual stops at the Malfoy Manor. 

The first time I went to the Malfoy Manor, I noticed how everything was dark from the gates to the manor itself, completely opposite of ours. When one of the two doors opened, a woman with two hair colors - black on top and blonde below the black greeted us warmly. 

"Mr. Chu, I was informed by my husband of your arrival today. But I didn't know you would bring a sweetheart with you today." She smiled to us. I instantly Mrs. Malfoy (she insists on calling her Narcissa) because she is so nice to me whenever I paid them a visit along with father. 

"Please come in to the living room. I'll tell Lucius that you've arrived. In the meantime, Draco would be happy to have a friend." Narcissa says before exiting the living room. When I once asked my father on why he would stop by at their home, it was always about meetings. He didn't want to press further on the topic as he would say that I was too young to understand certain things. 

And then Narcissa came back to the living room, a small, blonde boy with his hair gelled back was hiding behind her legs, holding on to her long, flowy skirt. 

"Draco meet Bella. She is your father's friend daughter who came to play with you today." Slowly, he loosened his hold on his mother's skirt. I smiled and extended my hand out to him, but instead, he wrapped his arms around me, enveloping me into a hug. From that moment on, we became friends. I always looked forward to visiting their Manor as Draco and I would play around the garden having these little picnics which would just be the two of us and admiring the albino peacock on the grounds. Sometimes Draco would lend to his books and toys and we would play around his room and Narcissa would show me the baby pictures of Draco, one time, she showed me her wedding photos. My parents were there in the moving frame. 

Whenever the Malfoy's would throw parties, we would always be invited. The adult tables were usually placed a room away from the children's table. And the children's table would consist of me, my older sisters Joan, Alan, Lynn, Draco, Blaise, Theo, Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, Daphne and her younger sister Astoria. My older sisters loves to bully Pansy and she wouldn't pay any attention to me, she'd always want to sit next to Draco. And if Pansy was sitting on one side of Draco, he would always reserve the next seat besides him for me. I can never tell if Draco likes Pansy, but never paid much attention towards them since I made new friends: Theo, Blaise and Daphne. Astoria is like the babiest of the group and would always tag along us. I actually felt sorry for Theo since his mother died, when I told this story to my mother, she became a mother figure to him. Giving him gifts, inviting him to our house and sometimes having a sleep over in my room. Mrs. Zabini is a spectacular woman, growing up, I always admired her and wanted to become like her. But it kind of haunts me how she always has a new husband as the previous one would mysteriously die. Narcissa would always admire us at the children's table. One Christmas, she invited us all over to the Manor and handed each of us a gift. But I noticed how Pansy wasn't always there. 

When Joan was about to leave for her first year in Hogwarts, I felt a wave of sadness hit me. It would be more quieter around the manor castle. Whenever I was home alone, I would play around with Ningning. Over the months, I watched Ninging grow into a big tigress she is now. My father hired a trainer for her and I was impressed at how she would rather obey to me than the trainer. And so the trainer would teach me what to do so that Ningning could follow. 

Christmas and my birthday would be one of my favorite holidays, but nothing beats the Chinese new year. All of my relatives would come over to our manor castle and mother would dress us up in the latest dresses and robes. My grandparents would come over and had each of us a hongbao. Whenever me and my siblings would reveal how much we got, I noticed how all of them received the same amount while I had mine a little more than what they received. So I would lie and say that I received the same amount as them. 

And that's how my life went to be. Until my eleventh birthday arrived, everything changed.