It was the day I dreaded the most every year - Chinese new year eve. It always ended badly with siblings shouting at each other, fighting, and more fighting... Well you basically get it - my family is chaotic. I have four older siblings and a very annoying brother who always makes me play with him, and whines or shouts until I agree. I reluctantly woke up and dressed slowly, hoping I wouldn’t have to face the chaos of my family right outside of my door. I wore a simple red dress and prepared my beautiful cheongsam that was white, red and a dash of gold. I folded it neatly and placed it on my bed. I was sure my brother would come in later and ruin the cheongsam so I made sure I locked my door when I went out. I carefully placed the key in the pocket of my dress.
“Hey Cece!” I turned, and my brother threw a large stuffed hippo at me, which I caught before it hit me. “Awwww” my brother groaned, and ran away.
The smell of dumplings and other delicious dishes filled the kitchen air. My oldest sister, Emily, was helping my mom make spring rolls. “Mmmm” I said, Emily sneaked a spring roll into my hand and winked. I smiled. Emily was the only sibling who was nice to me and understands me, while my other siblings seem to always try to annoy me. I happily ate the spring roll and bumped into my second oldest sister, Mandy.
“Watch it!” She shouted, and carried on texting, whom I’m guessing was her boyfriend who I call Silly Sam - not in front of Mandy of course. Silly Sam isn’t really great at school - he never gets any higher than a D-, I have no idea why Mandy is into him. I shrugged and went to the living room.
“Hey, honey” dad said as he was flipping through the New York Times. “Hey dad”, I said and plopped down on the couch next to him. I was about to grab my book on the coffee table when my oldest brother Lee came and handed me a drink. “What’s this?” I asked. He smiled sweetly, “A drink for the best little sister in the world”. I blinked. This has to be a trick. Lee has never said more than two words to me.
I sighed, “What’s in the cup?” I asked, rolling my eyes. He blinked, “It's just chocolate milk”, I checked and to my surprise it was chocolate milk and not water with dirt in it. “Thanks” I said, and he shrugged and walked away. Then the next weird thing happened - Mandy was carrying freshly baked pineapple tarts and handed it to me. “Here, I know how much you like these tarts so I baked it for you”. My eyes widened. Mandy being nice to me was really a Chinese New Year miracle. Mandy hasn’t been nice to me since we were little. Now that I think about it, so was Lee. He used to play with me every time he came back from school; I remember always waiting at home with my toys surrounding me until he came home. Then, one day, on his first day of middle school, I was waiting for him, and when he came home, he ignored me completely and just walked on. I smiled, and Mandy smiled too and brought out her special make-up box. The next thing I knew, we were giving each other makeovers. It was the best moment of my life.
It was finally time for the reunion dinner. I wore my cheongsam and made sure my hair was neat. I went to the dining room and sat next to Emily, and for once, everything was perfect.
Comments