Teenager's Rebellion

I was inspired by Huai Bin's post on being a brat and instantly thought I should spill a little secret that not many people are aware of.

A lot of relatives and adult friends have always been under the impression that Ciana's the forever obedient daughter who listens to every word without fail but please, please take a seat and allow me to explain myself with the truth.

Sure, I was obedient to my parents. More obedient than obedient. I even followed in whatever direction they told me to go. Like the Chinese sentence, if they told me to go east, I won't dare to go west.

That was the case until I hit puberty.

It was hell for my parents, not so much for me.

I would scream and argue with my parents over the pettiest things as loud as I could and even threatened Papa Carrie - my own father - that I no longer wanted to be associated with him because I was fed up of living in a family like this. He threatened back that fine, go ahead and live up to your word. And I said, you wait and see. I will do it! But it was all said in a fit of anger. I however can't remember what triggered my words.

There was even that one time when I wondered if I was really the biological daughter or if my biological parents were somewhere else because their behaviors didn't resemble loving parents.

Things have improved now, really. Even though the temper that had flared into life is still there, we'd usually throw our tempers on the table and uncover the reason(s) behind our displeasure. Whenever adult friends or acquaintances compliment that Mama Carrie has done a good job in raising this brat, we'll both roll our eyes and she'll say that don't be fool, (I) can be a lioness at home.

Which is somewhat true.

I know there are times when my parents have wished that they had a gentle, well-mannered daughter instead of a brat for a daughter. We're still however a close-knit family.