A Brother’s Love

“A Brother’s Love” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Sugganiya Nayidu, SMK Sultan Badlishah, Malaysia.

A Brother’s Love

Once upon a time, in a small village, there lived an old man with his daughter, Seraphina or commonly known as Sera, and his son Jasper. The old man had taken all the responsibilities to take care of his children since his dear wife passed away six years ago. Sera was just 5 years old when her mother passed away. Her mother died after she gave birth to her second child, Jasper. Ever since, the old man struggled to raise both his kids. On the other hand, since her mother passed away, Sera preferred to stay alone and rarely communicated with her father. She also hated her brother, Jasper, because she thought he was the reason for the death of her mother.

From Sera’s point of view, she felt that Jasper had ruined her family. The more she missed her mother, the more she hated her brother. Sera always showed her brother hatred and jealousy. She was jealous of Jasper because she thinks their father loves Jasper more than her. There were times she wished her annoying brother to vanish from her life. But, Jasper was the opposite of her. He was a very cheerful and a friendly boy. And more surprisingly, her sister was the person that he cared and loved for the most. But he was curious about why his sister hates him. He tried a lot of time to win his sister’s heart but his efforts ended up making her hate him more.

Sera feels satisfied whenever she sees Jasper suffering and getting punishments for the mistakes that he didn’t do. She still remembers a moment where she broke her father’s favourite flower pot. Their father was very furious when he found out. He asked Sera who broke the pot. Sera immediately said, “It’s not me, papa. I think Jasper is the one who did it.”. Jasper was very scared that he could barely speak anything. Their father scolded him and gave him punishment. Sera still remember how she pretended like she felt sorry for him but in her heart, she was laughing at him. “That serves you right my dear brother. Hahaha! You are such a fool,” she said to herself.

One day, when Sera was talking with her friends, they invited her for a movie. Sera’s friend, Jasmine told her “Hey Sera, would you like to come with us to theatre? There is a newly released movie named ‘Beauty and the Beast.I heard the story was fantastic”. Sera felt very exciting about watching the movie. But, she knew that her father is not going to allow her. At night, Sera was trying to figure out a way to watch the movie. She thought too much about it that she was unaware of time passing and didn’t realise the time she fell asleep.

The next day, she woke up at the crack of dawn. She did all her house chores as fast as she could. Sera waited eagerly for her father to go to work. Once he had left, sje stole RM10 from her father’s drawer. At first, she hesitated to steal the money. She was afraid that her father will find it out. But then, she said to herself “Hey, Sera, come on. This is not stealing, you are just borrowing. After all, it’s your father’s money and he’s not going to find out”. At last, she braced up herself to steal the money from her father’s drawer. Unluckily, just when she was about to leave, she was caught red-handed by her brother. She became nervous.

Jasper sensed something unusual about his sister. When he saw his sister holding the money, she quickly hid her hand. Jasper questioned his sister “Sister, are you alright? Why do you look so pale and what are you holding in your hand?” Sera was too nervous. “Did he find out? Oh god! Please!” she muttered to herself. She tried to be cool, calm and said, “You don’t have to act like you care about me. Just mind your own business Jasper,” Then, she left the house. But, Jasper knew that something was very fishy about his sister.

Later in that evening, Sera came home. She saw her father sitting in the hall. She was horrified. She mustered her courage and walked to her room. Just then, “Where were you from, Sera?” asked her father. Sera replied with a shaky voice that she went to her friend’s house. She sighed in relieve when her father nodded his head. Then, she went to her room. But, she was still afraid that her father will figure out about the missing money.

The next morning, as she expected, her father had discovered the missing money. “Who stole the money?” he questioned both Sera and Jasper. Sera was too afraid to talk. Neither of them said a word. Father became furious. “I’m not talking to the wall. Admit it. Who took the money from my drawer?” Both of them were petrified. “So, none of you is going to admit it? It seems I got no choice but to punish both of you,” said father. Just then, Jasper stepped forward. Sera was so horrified that Jasper would tell the truth to father. But to her surprise, Jasper took the blame. Father was startled and so did Sera. “Jasper took the blame and also the punishment for me!” mourned Sera. Father became enraged. He removed his belt and whipped Jasper. He shouted at him “Who taught you to steal?” Jasper cried out loud.

Tears rolled down Sera’s cheek. For the first time in her life, she felt so miserable seeing her brother getting punishment. Sera hated herself for not having enough courage to admit her own fault. She couldn’t bear to see Jasper crying. She went to her room and cried for hours. Then, Jasper entered her room with a smiling face and whispered to her “Don’t worry sister. Our father is not going to figure out that you are the one who stole the money. So please don’t cry,” Sera burst into tears. She felt dreadful for all the bad things she had done to him.

“You knew that I am the one who took the money? Why did you take the blame then?” questioned Sera. Jasper gave her a pleasant smile and simply said “Because, I love you sister,” “Oh my dear brother, how cruel I have been all this while! I have been malicious to you all your life and yet you look after me so well,” cried Sera. She hugged Jasper and apologised to him. She had realised her brother’s true love. Since that day, she promised to herself that she will always love him and take a good care of her brother.