OUR LOVE | SHORT STORY

CHAPTER 1: OUR LIFE [1]

Roy was born into a well-educated rich family. His father was a doctor, his mother was a teacher, and most of his family members were well educated but at the same time orthodox. They never embraced or accepted any kind of change-it should be the way it was and will remain as it was. His family consisted of his parents, Mr. And Mrs. Jung, his elder brother, Ahnu, his uncle and aunt, and his two cousins, Sam (elder) and Veronica (younger). His aunt was a university professor and his uncle was an architect. Sam, after his M.Arch, joined his father in his architectural business while Veronica was married off to a rich and decent family.

His elder brother was studying medicine when an accident happened in which he died. Ever since that day, his family became more cynical and all of the responsibility was on his shoulder. He had been controlled by his parents since childhood, or possibly since the day he remembers or began understanding things. His elder brother was always first in everything, whether it was studies, sports, music, dance, or any other activity. And this created pressure on Roy. Sam and Roy were in the same class, but Sam was almost always ahead of Roy in their studies. This was something Roy's father disliked, and he was always scolded and sometimes even beaten by his father for this. While his elder brother was first in every aspect and his cousin was at the top of his class, he was just an above-average student, but when it came to co-curricular activities, especially sports and music, no one could ever beat him. But his parents only saw him as being behind Sam in school, while his uncle and aunt never saw Roy as their son's rival. They were always happy with whatever Sam did. Whether Sam was first, second, or even last, unless and until he was happy, they were never bothered. The same goes for Veronica as well.

Gradually, he started to understand that his parents were only concerned about his grades and their reputation, nothing else, not even his happiness. So, after he reached high school, he stopped playing sports, singing, dancing, and most importantly, he stopped smiling just like his elder brother. As a child, he always used to wonder why Ahanu never smiled in front of their parents, in school, or anywhere else but only for him. But as soon as he reached high school, he understood the reason. At the start of his sophomore year, they got the news that his brother had gotten into an accident and died. This was it. After that, his life became almost hell: the only person who used to understand him left him alone. His parents put constant pressure on him to get into medical school. For the whole two years, all he did was study. Even though he was sick, even though he almost passed out, he needed to study. After hard work for two years, he got admission into a well-known medical college. He thought after getting into college, his life would be a bit easier, but life had other plans for him. The first two years were hard for him because he was never mentally or physically prepared to deal with dead bodies, blood, and all that stuff. He almost always passed out while seeing those scenarios, due to which his grades dropped. And again, his parents had to interfere, and he was almost beaten to death by his dad for the same reason.

He was hard on himself and even had suicidal thoughts, was in depression, and never really had any friends. He never had friends for two reasons: (1) because of his shy nature and (2) because he never had time to make friends, especially after high school, when he was only studying, eating, and sleeping. But before high school as well, he never had friends. It was because he was never allowed to go to friends' parties or birthday parties and was dropped off and picked up by his parents for school every day. He hardly had one or two friends with whom he lost contact in his high school years. And the ones who were with him and stated themselves as his friend were only there for their advantage. 

Now coming back to his medical college. From the third year onward, he trained himself and overcame all his difficulties. He wanted to become a pediatrician, but his parents forced him to become a neurosurgeon. After that, he lost all hope in life and did whatever life demanded of him. And soon after he got a stable job, his parents forcefully married him off to a girl he never knew, never wanted to live with, and never liked. Then they had a baby, who is 5 years old right now.

His marriage is pretty messed up. They live in a separate house without his parents. He, his wife (Lia), and their adorable son Jay He never really liked his wife. He even wanted a divorce from her, but his parents refused. When Lia got word of the divorce, she told them she was pregnant. But Roy remembered clearly that he had never crossed that line with her. They even slept in different rooms at that time. But Lia told them that one day when he was very drunk, he was out of control and had already crossed the line. She never told him about that night before, simply because she thought it was a mere mistake made by him when he was drunk. They also argued that she was lying about her pregnancy, but the reports said otherwise. So, he accepted that he may have crossed the line, but still was never very sure. But when he saw a small boy that was almost as big as his palm, he got melted and decided to pretend to be a happy family for his boy. So, they now used to sleep in one room but in different beds. They never touched each other, and most importantly, Roy never came home so drunk that he may have crossed the line again. He got to know that his wife was having an affair with a boy, but he never spoke anything about it because he knew he was also one of the reasons for her affair. Since Lia is a human, she would also have some needs and desires that he was not able to fulfill, so he kept quiet about that part.

Right now, he works for Sunshine College and Hospital as a neurosurgeon. He was often described as cold and emotionless by his co-workers, juniors, and seniors, as well as his patients. But no one knew anything about his past or present except that he is married and has a five-year-old son named Jay. Here as well, he never had friends except 'Tom', whom he used to say his name was. Tom knew a bit about his past and present, but not that much. Others either found him to be scary or unapproachable, but when it came to how he was as a doctor, everyone praised him a lot, even his seniors.