I have a not-so-secret obsession with bunnies. My first and only pet was a white bunny that I inherited from my English teacher before he moved to Thailand. I was about 10 or 11. My mum used to jump at any chance for me to improve my English. Because she saw how weirdly obsessed I was with this language from such a young age. A friend of hers had kids around my age and found this American teacher that was happy to provide private tutoring for us. So my mum got me to join them, and those couple of years were honestly my best years of learning English.

My teacher had a bunny pet because he had two young kids with him in Viet Nam. He had it for a few years, so when his family decided to move to Thailand, he wanted to find someone to look after the bunny. I jumped at the opportunity. I told him yes and that my parents were okay with it. Even though I knew they would have never said yes if I had asked. I was a pretty convincing kid. So my teacher never suspected anything and was relieved that he found a new home for his bunny. Meanwhile, my parents had zero ideas about this bunny or the fact that it was going to be living in our flat. Always asking for forgiveness, rather than permission, or so they say.

It was a hot summer afternoon in Hanoi. I was waiting nervously, with a bunny in a cage, for my dad to pick me up after my English class. When he got here, he was puzzled. Here I was with a cage and a bunny in it with the look on my face as if I told him about it and he somehow forgot. At first, he didn't let me take the bunny. But since I was a pretty convincing kid, I pleaded and made up so many good reasons that we should have this bunny. In the end, my dad gave in. Him being him, he pre-warned me that he would help me take this bunny home, but ultimately mum would decide whether this bunny could stay. Yass, I was halfway there.

On the ride home, I sat behind my dad with the cage strapped on the back of his scooter. It was the most joyous ride home in my entire life up to that point, even under the 40 degrees heat of a summer afternoon in Hanoi. Every time someone stared at us because of how hideous we must have looked with the bunny cage strapped behind a scooter, I felt so proud. I was so proud of my new bunny pet.

As expected, my mum didn't agree to it at first. Dad joined me in pleading for the life of this bunny. That took me by surprise and I loved him a little more at that moment. Eventually, my mum gave in too. And I got to keep the bunny! My first ever pet.

It was the most perfect pet for me. We never knew its sex. It was a fully grown rabbit at that point. I loved its fluffy white fur, long soft ears that perked up whenever it saw food, pinky-red eyes, and the cutest little mouth that always turned pink when we gave it watermelon.

It was a super smart and cheeky bunny. It figured out how to slide the cage's door open and went exploring the neighbourhood. I only found out when my neighbour knocked on my door to say my bunny was hopping around and poking in at people's houses. I often let my bunny hop freely outside when I was around. One time, my bunny wanted to go into my neighbour's flat but he didn't let it because he was afraid that it might make a mess. My bunny was quite upset about it because the next day when I let it out again, it went straight back to my neighbour's house and pooped right in front of his door. As if to say that they should've let it in yesterday and nothing like this would have happened. Then it left and hopped around playfully again.

I wish I had a camera back then. I'm gutted that I have no photo of my bunny. But maybe because there was no other way to capture my bunny and all the little ways it brought joy to me, I took plenty of mental snaps so I still remember those days so vividly now. My bunny lived for about three years and was my bestest friend for those three years. One day I got home from school and found my bunny had passed, I felt grief for the first time. I lost my bestest friend. Someone I could confide absolutely everything in. Someone I could care for and loved so much. Slowly over time, I came out of the sadness. The loss started to feel smaller. It gave me this funny little obsession with everything bunny; from Miffy to funny chat stickers, and now to hand-drawn bunnies on my nails. I guess because each time I see bunnies, I am reminded of my first and only bunny pet that used to bring so much happiness into my life, my once bestest friend.