CHAPTER TWO

In March of 2020 I got stuck in lockdown in South Africa while visiting my family and I stayed until the end of May. I explained more in detail in chapter one so for anyone new to my story, you are welcome to read from the beginning here.

Before lockdown, my brother and I never really had a close relationship. By nature he is shy and relatively quiet plus he has typical teenage boy interests; like PlayStation games, phone games and cricket. We had nothing in common to connect us like my sister and I have. This has always bothered me because I often worried that he may have had the perception that I love Megan more, or that I had no interest in being part of his life. This was one of the main reasons I brought my family over to Korea last year and during their trip I learned a lot more about his personality and how very funny he is, but we didn’t kindle a connection yet.

Living with him for the first time again since he was a very young boy finally brought us much closer together. For the first part of lockdown he was mostly living with his dad as there was someone to play games with all day long but he would come home for a night or two and we would have delicious dinners, watch Netflix and have many laughs! I also introduced my siblings to UNO and it got very competitive. The poor boy lost about 80% of the time and would curl up into a little ball and complain, leaving my sister and I in fits of laughter. However he’d jump up every time and set on his quest to win once more, providing us with countless hours of entertainment.

He also without fail, would somehow end up with the most dishes to wash. No matter what time of day it was, when it was his turn, there would be a mountain for him to get through. No wonder he ran off to his dad every weekend, ha!

When Xander was not home, I found myself missing him. He had become part of “normal life” for me. I missed his sense of humor, his practical jokes, all the funny things he would get up to in avoidance of washing the dishes and his kind energy that he brings to the family. I still find myself missing him and I love that I sincerely do now. All these photos of him and the string of videos of him being funny bring a big smile to my face and even make me giggle out loud.

On my last night in South Africa, Xander lay in my room while I was packing and we chatted and joked for a few hours. The bed was full of things but he found a little spot and lay there as if he was soaking up his last hours with me. This is now one of my fondest memories of him… I told him that the best thing about lockdown is that I finally feel close to him and with a shy smile he looked up from his phone and said “me too”.

My little brother has grown into an incredibly loyal, thoughtful, kind and humble young boy. Everyone who meets him falls for this lovable human and I’m so proud to be his sister. I can’t wait until I can see him again!