“Stop biting your nails.” He scolded. 

“Go away.” She said, annoyed. Ruhi was stressed about her exam tomorrow. Her older brother Rhythm, was not. “Ruhi, you will do well. You have read those books forward and backwards and inside out already. Take a break.” He said picking up her book and flipping through the pages.

“Go. Away.” She said snatching the book back from him.

“Ruhi?” She ignores him. Rhythm was five years older than Ruhi. For a brother sister, they were pretty tight. That was before he had moved to another city to attend college. 

“You stop calling me. I expected better from you.” He said.

Ruhi turned towards him with such a force that she almost not over the table lamp in her stead.

“That's what anyone ever wants from me! Expected better of you! You are just like them!” “Mom and dad?” “Who else?” He saw her eyes well up. 

“It's always Ruhi this, Ruhi that, Ruhi we expected better of you. What am I, some mutant that I can grow ten arms and fifteen heads? I keep.. trying,” her voice broke and she started crying. “I study, I do the chores, I do everything but I am never enough.” It was Dejavu for him. “No, not her,” he thought.

“Ruhi, listen to me.” He made her look at him. “Sometimes grown ups don't get that they are dealing with a child. They become blinded by competition. If they can't win on their own, they want their kids to win for them. They forget that we, you, are a child, and that you would rather burn out than be a disappointment to them. Ruhi listen to me very carefully. If you ever feel that mom and dad are being unreasonable, just tell them. I learn this the hard way, the wrong way, but I will never let you come close to what I did. I will talk to them, but remember, you don't have to do everything they ask. If you can't, then you can't! You have to be mediocre at something to excel in another. You can't do everything!” He felt fear wash over him. How could they do this to her, after what he almost did to himself?

“Ruhi, I am here for you. Is this why you stop calling me?” She nodded.

He handed her a handkerchief, and stormed out the door. His parents were getting a piece of his mind tonight.