However, it always skipped my mother's mind that whenever Mateo needed to buy a new outfit or a pair of properly fitting shoes, the money to buy them came after my aunt begged her for it and yet, when it came to me, she would always say, "I don't have any money."
My aunt never had a job. Whenever she ran out of money, she would go straight to my mother. Not only that, she sent Mateo to live in our house, then she taught him how to take my things and how to ask for pocket money.
As a child, I had no concept of money. Plus, my mother would always whisper to my father and me about how hard life was for my aunt and her family. Over time, I began to believe it too. We were family, after all. We lived under the same roof. So, helping them out wasn’t a big deal … right?
It all changed when she deceived me. She told me the bank was pressuring us over the mortgage and that we were drowning in debt. She begged me to hand over my savings to help the family through an emergency crisis.
When I finally gave her everything that I had, then she turned her body and gave all the money to my aunt. She did it so my cousin, Mateo, had the money to study abroad.
At that time, something clicked in my mind and I felt wronged. I almost fell to my knees and pleaded with my mother to explain.
She just sighed and said, "Mateo wants to go abroad. You should let him."
She continued, "Your grandfather’s last wish was for me to take care of my little sister. Have some understanding, will you?” “
“You know for yourself that your aunt has a tough life. Besides, Mateo is always more capable than you. He’s going to be more successful man too! What are you so jealous of?" she then added.
Even though I had wept and begged to them, even at a point I had refused to eat, but all I got was mockery.
That bank account had held every scholarship I had earned since high school. They held every cent I made from part-time jobs since I was a high school student. That was my capital for studying abroad and it held a total of thirty-seven thousand and five hundred dollars.
"What are you doing standing and daydreaming there like that? Your brother and his fiancée are too starving!"
She stood in the kitchen doorway as she impatiently urged me, "Whatever’s ready, bring it out! Your brother and his fiancée have a weak body. They have to eat first! They can’t go hungry!"
She looked so worried for their wellbeing.
I made sixteen dishes to be served on the table. However, by the time I set the last dish on the table, the only things left were just some scraps. There were some garlic, chili peppers and a bit of vegetable broth left. So, I had picked through the remains to search for something edible. However, there was nothing left anymore.
Forget it I thought.
It had always been like this. Then and now.
After the meal was over, my mom held Mateo's girlfriend's hand and kept praising how pretty and elegant she was and how well the two of them matched. "Oh my, Mateo, you have such a good eye! Your girlfriend is so elegant and beautiful! The two of you are a perfect match! You're truly a golden couple. Good! Good! You've done better than your cousin."
Mateo's fiancé blushed and said bashfully, "Auntie, stop it! You’re making me shy. It’s all thanks to Mateo's talent. He shined at the seminar and that’s how we met! If he were not so outstanding back then, I never would’ve had the chance to date such an amazing man."
Mateo who was sitting beside her, squeezed her hand. His face was full with a smile. "I’m the lucky one, really. Sometimes I feel like I don’t deserve my little princess.”
They were sitting on the sofa. Usually, he would sit slouching on the sofa, but at that moment, he sat up straighter than I’d ever seen him before, back straight, full of pride.
Tia, who sat across the room, let out a giggle while her eyes glued to her phone. I turned to look at her.
I had been a top student all my life. I had been accepted to Albertine University and planned to build my future in Albertine City. However, in the end, I married Tia, the daughter of a local landlord who made a living collecting rent.
That year, I should never have married her.
After my dreams of studying abroad were crushed, I did not give up because I shifted my focus to the civil service exams. However, when the background checks came out, someone deliberately reported me.
Gossip spread like wildfire among the neighbors and then my mother forced me to kneel at my grandfather’s grave. "Swear to me," she had said, "that you’ll never take the exams again whether it is for postgraduate entrance examination or the civil service examination. Never do anything that embarrasses me again."
I secretly rented a place and tried studying for graduate school entrance exams. However, when she found out, she burned all my study materials and she nearly set fire to the entire apartment.
My girlfriend of four years broke up with me right after meeting my family. Before my aunt arranged an "ideal marriage" for me, she convinced my mother by saying, "I had someone read his fortune. Your son is destined for a life of hard labor. My son is destined for greatness. He should just marry and farm like a good, honest man. That’s his fate."
