After the Party

“I don’t know if I’m ready for this,” Belle worried, biting her lip.

“You’ll be fine,” Clopin insisted, giving her a little push in the direction of Esmeralda, who was standing at the ready with a powder puff in hand. “Go on, Esme, do your stuff.”

Esmeralda beamed at Belle, dabbing at the powder. “In this disguise, there’s no way your own mother would recognise you, let alone Frollo.”

“But I-” Belle was cut off as a blast of powder hit her face before she was even ready for it and she coughed. Clopin laughed and leaned back against the dresser, watching as Esmeralda...

“Come on, little sis.” Jack shook the three jaar old. “It’s time to wake up.”

The girl blinked at him, sleepily. Jack smiled. He was very fond of his little sister; since their parents had died he had become twice as overprotective of her and rarely let her out of his sight. Thankfully she didn’t seem to mind at that age. “Jack!” she uttered, one of the few words she could speak fluently, sounding happy to see him.

Jack picked her up and carried her out of the room, only to bump into the woman he had seen talking to Clopin and Esmeralda the night before. She was new, as far as...

“So, just how did u end up in Frollo’s care?” Clopin asked, presently. “I mean, why did he take u in?”

“He was a friend of my Papa’s,” Belle replied. “He’s alright as a guardian. He’s just so... cold and distant sometimes. And he hates gypsies. I don’t know why.”

Clopin shrugged, wisely. “Some people are just afraid of what they don’t understand.”

“Esme zei that earlier,” Belle sighed. “It’s horrible. Just because u don’t understand something it doesn’t mean it’s wrong. I can’t believe those men rubbed horse dung into Pocahontas’s hair.”...

As Shang and I are lying on the divan, bank in the middle of the living room-library, we hear three knocks from the wooden door. Shang gets up to open the door.

"Shang!" An old-but-young woman hugs my fiance. It's Shang's mother.

"Hello Meiling!" I greet Meiling and she gives me half a smile and half a disgusted look.

"Mother, I am so happy u were able to make it!"

Ever since I had met Shang for the first time at the bibliotheek and we began dating his mother was always there with us. Just to make sure we're not doing anything, erm, dirty. Of course a lady like me wouldn't do such a thing. When Shang...