who am i to you?

6.1

The earliest memory I have with my grandparents is when they were touring me around the family land that is so big we had to ride a golf cart. And their words were all the same.

"This land will be yours in the future. Manage it well."

At that time, I didn't know what that meant. It was only when my father died that I realized what they mean after Mom brought me with her when my father's will was read. I was 12 and wasn't supposed to be there but Mom insisted I listen because I will be the man of the family now that Dad died.

That was the reason why I only spent summers with my grandparents. Dad doesn't want me to be burdened by the thought that I'll be the next head of my family and that I'll be inheriting everything that he inherited from his parents. He wanted me to have a childhood without me worrying about my future.

I had the childhood life they wanted me to experience. I just wish it wasn't lonely. Yeah, Shi was there but I hope they were too, all the time that I need them. Not just times they can be there.

Dad wanted me to feel that I'm born because they wanted me, not because they needed a child. But I can't say that that's what I felt whenever they leave me home alone to attend to their work.

Even though I'm lonely at our house, they never let my grandparents be with me. I'll be with my cousins or nannies but that's it. They need to be present so my grandparents' words would be limited and I won't take it to heart. They're willing to sacrifice me not having anyone there just so I'd be free from the legacy of my family even just for a while.

My grandparents eventually gave up on me when they saw that I'm not as bright as my other cousins and I'm not as active as them. They do still like me because I'm the youngest, the baby of the family. They blamed my Mom for my being born this way. Mom took it to heart so when Dad died, even though he told her not to pressure me, she always reminds me that when I turn 18, I'll start to train to inherit my father's part of the family company.

That was four years ago. I am now 16 and I only have 2 more years left before they take control of my life fully.

Am I sad about it? Not really. I don't know what to do with my life. And I don't know what I want to be. So having the thought that I'll be something someday doesn't scare me at all. I'll just have to live this remaining freedom how I want it.

"Change places. Stand on his right, honey. Hide his casted arm," Nana, my grandma, told Dada, my grandpa.

Dada did what Nana said, switching sides and standing on my right. He placed his arm on my shoulder for a side hug. Nana took pictures of us like that, telling us to smile.

My cousins who are in the living room are just watching me get wrapped up in Nana's photoshoot, laughing, clearly amused. Violet showed me a thumbs up, smiling at me.

"You're growing more day by day, Vasily," Nana said behind her phone camera, looking at the pictures she took.

She likes to be very trendy. Unlike me, my grandma has an Instagram account where she posts pictures. I may not be the password grandkid like Viktor or the wallpaper grandkid like Vlad, but I'm the social media grandkid who shows up the most in my grandma's social media posts.

So now that I am here at their house visiting, of course I had to take pictures with them. They love taking pictures with me. Well, I'm the youngest in the family and I'm practically the baby so this is why. It isn't cute anymore to take pictures with my older cousins.

I hope Vanya trips onto something and lands face first on the ground for teaching Nana how to use social media.

"You gotta be careful next time, ha," Nana reminded me as she looked at the pictures she'd taken. "Having your arm in a cast looks ugly."