Mixed up stories

Chapter 6-Belle: Matchmaking!

Chapter 6-Belle's POV:

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I obediently followed the matchmaker into the quaint, quiet room. "你好{ni hao}, hello Belle. Today you will be tested. We will find a match for you. If you fail, which is highly unlikely considering it has never happened before, you will NEVER find a man to love you." I gulped in terror, if I messed this up, I would bring shame to Mulan's family! I didn't care if I didn't know her, I didn't want to embarrass someone. "Grandma" had assured me that Mulan probably would've messed up so it would be okay but still, I didn't want to mess up, period.

I nodded, showing I was ready. Come at me, Monsieur. I knew that from living in France. Although...shouldn't it be mademoiselle in this case? oops. "I'm ready for the tasks and questions, miss."I told her. She looked at me up and down and rolled her eyes. How rude!

"Okay. Show me your calligraphy." She ordered pointedly. I nodded my head very slightly. My calligraphy? I guess I could do that. "火, write it down!" she instructed. I gulped, I didn't know these words...{btw that word is fire in Chinese.} I thought back to when I visited China and thought of how Adam ordered a hot dish to show me how manly he was and ended up being red-faced. I gasped and wrote it down. The matchmaker's face became puzzled but she put her strict face on again and continued telling me to write fairly easy words I somehow remembered. Then she instructed harder words that I didn't know and I just kind of wrote down scribbles. Great, Belle. You'll really bring pride once EVERYONE KNOWS YOU CAN'T WRITE A COUPLE CHINESE SYMBOLS. I inner shook my head in utter disgust at myself. Then I had to practice the Art of 茶, tea. Luckily, I knew how to pour it. Just not the traditional Chinese way... but at least I wouldn't embarrass myself entirely, right?

Then, everything went downhill.

Suddenly, the matchmaker had an ink moustache, tea was all over the floor and all the furniture was stained. The woman screeched so loud that I'm sure the entire country of China could hear it. I wondered if my beastie-bear could hear it in France. I looked down in embarrassment. She yowled at me. "YOU WILL NEVER FIND SOMEONE TO LOVE YOU! EVER! YOU... ARE A DISGRACE TO YOUR FAMILY!" She slammed the door shut in my face as I lifted a finger to respond.

A tear slid from my right eye and slowly wiggled [a/n can I just say, that is the best description ever.] down my cheek before dribbling down my chin onto the hot pebble-y ground. I lifted my arms, covered in fancy pink silk and sighed as more tears came. I wept as I walked back home, not even bothering to look at my "family" as I passed them. I was a disappointment to the Fa family and I didn't want to be here anymore. But grandma had already explained that I had to complete the "story" of Mulan. I didn't know what that meant but she said I had to do many things that Mulan did. I ran back home, my brown curls flying in the breeze. I accidentally dropped my umbrella at the arch that was the entrance to the home.

 I walked along the path, humming to a song I wasn't familiar with but somehow knew. I saw my parents look at eachother, was that disappointment in their eyes? Or just sadness? I could not tell. I started to sing, the words coming naturally, flowing. "Look at me, I will never pass for a perfect bride or a perfect daughter... Can it be? I'm not meant to play this part. Now I see, if I were truly to be myself, I would break my family's heart... Who is that girl I see? Staring straight...back at me. Why is my reflection someone I don't know..? Somehow, I cannot hide... Who I am, though I've tried. When will my reflection show...who I am inside? When will my reflection show who I am inside..?" I was now in the pagoda structure that Grandma told me was for prayer to all our past ancestors. I looked at one of the reflective stones. I looked at myself, all covered in Chinese makeup. This was not me. I wiped it off with the sleeve of the long, silky Chinese dress. I looked at myself once more before going outside again and sitting on the bench beneath the Cherry Blossom tree.