Ambiguous Relationship
From my earliest memories, she lived in the same compound as us.
She was an incredibly elegant woman, not conventionally beautiful, but very skilled at dressing herself, with every word and action carrying a unique charm. When I was young, while other women, including my mother, wore dull-colored clothes, she often wore a red dress that caught everyone’s eyes.
Her husband was in the military and only came home once or twice a year. She and my father were middle school classmates, and our families were close friends.
She called my father “Brother” and my mother “Sister-in-law,” and she was accustomed to letting my father handle family matters. I remember there was a position in her unit that she could apply for, and even though her husband had expressed his opinion, she waited until my father returned to listen to his advice before making a decision.
Actually, she and my father were never alone together. But even when they were in a group, I could feel that there was something special between them, a very tacit understanding. I always felt that my father looked at her with great tenderness, and she always seemed particularly relaxed, even somewhat carefree, in front of my father.
When I was 14, she got divorced and quickly found a job in the provincial capital. I breathed a sigh of relief. During that time, my father seemed a bit low-spirited. After coming home, he would habitually look towards the house she used to live in, stayed up late at night, and spent extra long periods sitting on the steps in the yard to cool off, blaming it on the stuffy summer.
In my mother’s mind, she was just a pitiable little sister. Every time she came back, my mother would happily cook a table full of dishes, and when she left, she would send her away with a bunch of things.
I often felt frustrated with my mother. How could she be so foolish, willingly inviting trouble into our home? Sometimes, I even felt like she was as dense as a block of wood, oblivious to the ambiguity between my father and that woman. I really wanted to shake her hard, wake her up, and make her see the reality she was blind to, instead of indulging in her own little world.
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
