Pearls of a teenager's life

HIM

As I sat uncomfortably on the seat of my plush car, in my 100,000 dollar wedding gown, I ushered the driver to take me to the Airport as soon as possible. The driver pressed the accelerator and sped away. On the way to the airport I began seeing things in my life from his point of view. I prayed that I did not throw away the one person who showed me the love and affection.

I remember the day he had turned up on my doorstep, completely unannounced. It was a Friday. I did not give him my attention completely as I was busy with closing a business deal with a company. However he did not mind me, and went ahead and made himself comfortable in my flat. The following night he had arranged all my designer cushions like a pillow fort and had ordered pizza and told me to bunk my vegan diet because according to him I looked "thinner than a coriander stick". That night we tucked in and had a movie marathon. I never realized when I dozed off, but the next day morning I found myself between the sheets of my bed and him sleeping on the bean bag in the room. I supposed he carried me inside and tucked me in, just like the old times when mother was not around. That weekend was the best time I had in years. I thought I had forgotten to laugh, but when I was with him, I was all smiles. I never did inform him about me getting engaged or me getting a job promotion. I realized that the one person, who had sacrificed his own education for me, was cut off from my life. A tear trickled down my cheek as I thought about my insensitive nature.

He got onto my nerves on the smallest of matters, like dropping tomato ketchup on my vintage Persian rug, changing the contents of sugar bottle to salt, keeping the house dirty after I came back from work or changing my toothpaste with his shaving cream. It struck me now that after the fun weekend I never gave him my attention or talked to him about things. Little did I realize that he too would feel lonely by having dinner all by him and would like to talk to someone about father's death. I never was really there for him, however silently he was there for me all the time, just like how a mother is always there for her crying child.

He was not my brother by birth; he became a part of my life after father married again. He took care of me when people tried to bully me or if I fell and got hurt. If I were to start crying he would say, "Now you don't want a red nose do you?"

My mind ran back to the time he told me he was dropping out of college. He firmly told me that I would go to school, get good marks and go to a good college as he stayed at home to take care of my father who had recently then been diagnosed with alziehmer's disease. And so I did. He also worked overtime, so that he could pay for my tuition at Brown University. I graduated with majors in Business Studies and a minor in Micro Economics. Over the time my phone calls with him became less emotional and my job became my priority. When the news of my father's death reached me, I cried for 15 minutes in the bathroom only, and then went to my office to finish reading a contract.

Yes, 15 minutes was all it took to mourn over my father's death. I did not go down for the funeral, nor did I follow up on how my brother was doing.

It was during my wedding rehearsal that he took things to heart and fled. Before the dinner started he wanted to make a toast and so in his excitement he took the champagne bottle from the ice bucket opened the bottle with such a force that the cork hit my fiance's chest and the juice fell all over my Gucci dress and his suit. Embarrassed I shouted at him and told him not to attend my wedding. The entire night I could not sleep, so I went to his room to apologize to him. How could I be so mean to my own brother? I knocked his door twice, but he did not answer. Understanding that he might be angry I left without saying anything. It was only in the morning when one of my bridesmaid's told me that my brother was not in his room and he had just left a note, which said-

"Dear Mia,

I'm sorry if I have been a trouble for you over this week. I wish you and Robert a happy married life!

Your brother forever,

Ian."

 

I rushed through the security personnel in my high heels and went towards the waiting area frantically searching for my brother. The security was hot on my heels, and that was when I found him sitting there all by himself with a rubix cube in hand, trying to solve it. I ran towards him,

"Ian, I've been so rude to you, please just forgive me!" I said as few heads turned in my direction.

"What are you doing Mia? Shouldn't you be at the wedding?"

" I realized no one was there to give me away Ian, I'm really sorry for my behavior towards you. Please don't go." Tears were spilling out, and I was pretty sure that security personnel will be there at any moment.

He simply came and wiped the tears from my eyes and said "You don't have to be sorry for anything. It's your wedding day, don't cry. You should be smiling today."

"So, does that mean you will walk me down the aisle and give me away?" I asked him, not able to believe the goodness in his heart.

"Yes", he said softly. I hugged him, and started crying furiously.

"Ssh, there, don't cry. We have to get to a wedding now." He said as he soothed me. With my head resting on his shoulder, we went out, escorted by the security personnel.

When we reached the venue, Robert was sitting on a stool, waiting patiently and having understood my situation, he did not say anything but signed me to get myself cleaned up in the powder room as he went to assist Ian with his suit.

As I walked down the aisle, with my brother at my side, I had a sense of being whole. When he gave me away, he said, "Take care of her Robert. Love her more than I do." I hugged him tightly and as tears were coming out from the corner of my eyes, he turned his face towards me and said, "You don't want to have a red nose on your wedding do you?" I laughed simply as Robert smiled towards Ian politely and the priest began the ceremony.