I was born into a well to do family. My father was running multiple businesses, and my mother took care of the family while also helping my father with his work. I have a younger sister. From a very early age, my parents pampered my sister more compared to me. She studied in a convent school, while I was sent to a government school. I thought she received special treatment because she was much younger than me, and honestly, I loved her so much that it didn’t bother me much.
I studied until the 12th grade and then stopped my education. My father told me to start earning a living at a very early stage. When I wanted to join our family business, he refused, saying, “Earn your name, and that is real pride.” So, I teamed up with my friends and started a small hotel business. It took a year to improve, but soon, I began earning a good sum from it.
At 28 years old, I got married. It was an arranged marriage. My wife was from Mysore and from a middle-class family, but I fell in love with her the minute I saw her and happily married her. She was a homemaker, and I was completely fine with that. Within a year, she got pregnant, but the pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. This hit us hard, but we believed we would have a child and that God would bless us. After five years, we were blessed with a baby girl.
By then, my sister had completed her undergraduate studies and wanted to get a job. To my surprise, my father asked her to join our family business, and she happily agreed. Since she was his favorite, I wasn’t too surprised, but deep inside, I did feel bad. Still, I wished her well and continued focusing on my hotel business.
My father used to visit us often, and one day, he told me he urgently needed money. I gave him almost 20 lakhs. It impacted my working capital, but I thought I had to support my father. He said it was a loan and that he would repay me in installments. He even paid me some interest-a small percentage. I had plans to purchase land, but I decided it could wait.
Over the years, he kept borrowing-sometimes 2 lakhs, sometimes 5 lakhs, and so on. In fact, I even sold my wife’s land to lend him money. A few years later, my sister got married, and she and her husband moved in with my parents. Together, they took care of my father’s business, purchased many properties, and saved a good amount of money. She had three children, and they all lived happily.
Meanwhile, my father continued borrowing money from me, which caused some discomfort in my family, as I was unable to save anything for myself and my wife. My wife started worrying about our daughter’s future. Later, through a relative, I came to know that my father had transferred all his property to my sister and her husband through a gift deed. All the money in his bank account had also been transferred to them.
I was warned to be careful because they were using me and cutting me off from everything. I visited my parents’ home and confronted them about it. They denied transferring any property, but I noticed that things were no longer the same. My wife and I were no longer given priority in anything. The family bond weakened as time passed.
The thought that my father did everything to secure my sister’s future but not mine as his son started to disturb me. In fact, I had lent him a lot of money and sacrificed my savings plans multiple times. Was it all worth it? I wasn’t sure. I sold my property for them, struggled with my business, and yet, today, I am a stranger in that house. My daughter does not receive the same love that my sister’s children get.
One day, I finally decided to ask my parents about it, and their response broke me. My father said he could give me 15 lakhs-that was my share of the ancestral property. I explained everything I had given up for them over the years, and he simply said, “Look, you just lent us money, and we returned it with interest. It was a business deal.” That was when I realized my parents were one-sided and only cared about my sister and her family.
To be honest, they even love my sister’s in-laws more than me. Many times, my sister has shown jealousy toward my business, and in the end, all I have received as my share of the property is 15 lakhs. I invited my parents and sister’s family to my daughter’s wedding, and they behaved like distant relatives. A year after her marriage, my daughter’s husband passed away in an accident, leaving her a single mother with a two-year-old son.
This is our situation now. I have saved nothing for my daughter except one house-which is also my wife’s property. I have become a total stranger to my own parents, and they have even stopped visiting us. During one phone call, my father called me “ungrateful” and “selfish” for asking for my share in the property, saying they had done what was just and fair.
I feel like I lost everything by trusting too much. Maybe I should have been selfish and saved something for my daughter. I feel terrible every time I think about everything that has happened.
What is your opinion? Are my parents and sister right in any way?
Question: Do you think this is fair?
Option 1: No, your parents and sister cheated you.
Option 2: Yes, you did your responsibility as a son.
Option 3: You should have been smart. You’re a fool.