Oh, Brother!

I have one amazing counterpart; my brother, Harry. We share this love-hate relationship, the typical between siblings. One moment he's sweet and another he's mean.

Like for instance, it's sweet of him to save half a can of peach juice for me in the fridge or a half-eaten lemon tart. He just says simply, "There's a surprise for you in the freezer". And sometimes I wonder if the thing had gone bad or something but I find out it hasn't. More, I offer him the thing once again when I'm enjoying it.

Yet there is something seriously wrong with him that he continues to oppose what I support, especially in sports. At the start of some huge fixture, he'd ask, "So what team are you supporting?" and then, "Oh they're going to lose for sure" and I nearly regret telling him.

Every time I get dressed up, he passes nasty comments like, "Is that what you're gonna wear? Oh God, well what can I say." But this time I don't let him get away with it, I do my job too. I tell him on his face that he has a pathetic dress sense. The cologne he has bathed himself in is just awful and where ever we're going he must absolutely keep safe distance from me because I completely disown having any relation with him. Out shopping we often rely on each others approval though. Sounds contrasting but then that's how it is!

When he comes home, he almost always greets me with a silly, "Hi, do I know you?" and a huge poke. Once home he likes to order around, being the "big" brother, while to some extent I like to do little things for him, but by refusing first.

His thoughtful and useful gifts occupy my dresser and every time I look at them, I remember that the condition he has put on me, I'll only get another gift after I have used up the previous ones.

After a pointless argument he tends to ask, with an innocent face, "And will you still love me tomorrow?" and i say, "I'll see" but then he wins me over and I end up saying "Of course". Yet if I try the same tactic and ask him this he says, "Like I did yesterday."

Until recently he lived in a different city and every Sunday Mum and Dad would take a trip to drop him off at the station. I'd always accompany them. I had mixed feelings then, a surge of sadness, a tinge of anger. And then I'd annoy him on the phone telling he has dialled a wrong number or that "my" mother is too busy to talk to him.

But whatever it is or it has been, its something I've always thought of with a smile and looked forward to with pleasure. And I can't wait till he reads this.

He calls me dumb, he calls me crazy but does he know his affection means the world to me...

*Even though we are a decade apart
But joined together in our hearts
Stay the same forever, brother
although sometimes you're such a bother!*

<3 <3 <3