The dilemma of love

It had been 24 years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. The sun was shining meekly and the slow breeze of evening felt fresh and the sky looked clear. She stood at the doorway for quite some time observing her surroundings. Samantha was visiting her house after 24 years. Her grandmother died last month. She could not visit back then as she had certain personal issues.

Samantha, she is a successful entrepreneur and lives in another city quite far. She is a quiet and shy lady.

She was never quite attached to the house nor to the members residing in it. She only had a slight attachment with her grandmother but she lost that attachment too. She stood in front of the main entrance and rang the doorbell. Her memories of childhood came rushing back in front of her eyes while standing at the doorway. She remembered that how much she felt biased at her own house.

She has a younger brother, Joey, who used to adore her a lot but Samantha never liked her brother as she always felt that her parents loved him more. Joey was good at mostly everything, whether academics or sports or any other curricular activities whereas Samantha was a very average student. Joey always managed to garner the attention of his parents and used to get the best things.

Her thoughts vanished as she saw her parents open the door with a smile on their face. They welcomed her with a warm big hug. She entered the house; the house maintained the same grandeur she thought in her mind. It looked very cleaned, there were no trace of dust. She noticed the sofa set has been changed and the carpet too. “It’s so good to see you after so long” her mother said with a smile on her face. “I know you have been keeping very busy with your work but thanks for visiting. You grandmother kept on repeating your name before she died.” And then she burst into tears. “oh! She must be very tired from the journey, let her rest for some time, we will talk at dinner.” said her father.

Samantha’s father took the luggage and went to Samantha’s room to keep them. Samantha followed her father quietly. Samantha noticed that her room has been transformed quite much. There is new furniture, new paintings. Nothing old has been kept in that room. She kept her thoughts aside and went to the washroom to freshen up. She changed quickly into her sleepwear. She was passing through her brother’s room and decided to enter. His room was neatly decorated as it was used to be, nothing has been changed. She really got furious but was good at hiding her emotion. All these years she did not come home, she just had telephonic conversations and nothing else and once she arrived, she never expected to see the changes.

At the dining table, she sat at the same chair where she used to sit in her childhood. Her parents kept on talking about that how their son is busy and could not make it. Samantha was somewhat glad that Joey was not at home. Her parents kept on talking about their son’s achievements. Samantha eventually got very agitated and then she finally spoke. “I think he should have been here instead of me then you both would have been happy” said Samantha with a loud voice. Her parents got startled by the sudden burst.

“What made you think that? We are very happy that you are here with us,” said her mother nervously. Everything, everything reminds me of the biased behavior you have made towards me since childhood shouted Samantha. “We never differentiated between you two and why would we? You both are our kids,” said Samantha’s father consoling her. “If that is the case then why only the things in my room has been changed and not his, why you both are still keep talking about him even if I am sitting in front of you. You did not even bother to ask me how I am managing from all these years on my own. Did you? No, you did not, because you both only care about your son and not about your daughter” said Samantha panting.

Her mother gazed at her with teary eyes and said,” the furniture of your room became very old thus we had to replace it with new ones. We thought you would like the new ones and all your stuffs since childhood, we haven’t thrown anything out of house, we packed it and kept it in the attic. We thought that you would like the decoration of your room when you visit us but you never thought visiting us in the last 24 years. You went to another city for work, found a life partner but you never thought of sharing any of your happiness with us. Even you cut the telephonic conversations short every time. You never even bothered to ask us that how is our life going on and still you think that were biased to you? We were not biased nor selfish. Your own assumptions made you think so.”

Samantha kept her eyes fixed towards the ground listening to what her mother said. Her father was still sitting on the chair shifting his gazes. There was silence in the whole room for quite some time.

“I think I need some sleep; I have had enough discussions for the day,” said Samantha without any emotion. She did not even finish her dinner and got up to leave. She went towards her room but somewhere her mind was wandering to go to the attic.

She sheepishly went out of the room when she thought everyone was asleep. She found a torch light in the drawer of her room and took it. She went to the attic and switched on the light. The light was dim but enough to lit up the attic. She found there were many big brown boxes with her name on it. She sat down on the wooden floor and opened the first box and found her things from her childhood. The coloring books, the colorful hairbands, few crafts that she made and her favorite pink teddy bear she had when she was 8. She opened another box and found her old clothes.

“Mom was right she never threw anything out of house” she thought in her mind. A little guilt and a little happiness filled her heart. A little drop of tear came out from her left eye and fell on her hand. She could not stop her tears falling from her eyes. She ran downstairs with the pink teddy still in her hands. She sneaked in her parents’ room. They were asleep. She turned to go back to her room when suddenly the light of the room lit up. She turned back and saw her parents sitting up on the bed holding each other hands. Her mother said in a heavy voice “I am sorry Sam if you ever felt biased but we always loved you very much and we will.’ Her father nodded and both of them went up to hug her. Finally, the warm hug made her feel comfortable. She finally felt and accepted the true love and that was all that mattered.