No Longer Begging for My Parents' Love

On my fifth birthday, I discovered I could see floating comments.

My maternal grandparents gave me an exquisite suit. Delighted, I put it on and earned plenty of compliments from my relatives.

"Malcolm, you look absolutely handsome!"

Beaming, I thanked them, then gathered my gifts and trotted over to my parents to share my joy, only to see their expressions darken abruptly.

Right in front of everyone, they began to lecture me.

"Malcolm, you're already so vain at such a young age. If this continues, you'll go astray when you grow up. Now, go and bring out all your clothes."

I was frightened by how angry they looked, so I scurried off and carried out all the suits they had bought me.

The next moment, each of them grabbed a pair of scissors and shredded every piece of clothing into bits.

"From now on, apart from your school uniform, we won't buy you any more clothes. Malcolm, you're in kindergarten now, so you should look the way a student ought to look."

I froze. At five years old, I couldn't understand what on earth they were doing.

My father, Joseph Maxwell, furrowed his brow and snapped sternly, "You're too young to understand how hard it is to earn money. Your mom and I work hard to give money to your grandparents, and yet they saved it up just to buy you a nice suit.

"Do you think you've done right by them? We're only doing this for your own good. If you were even half as sensible as Nathan, we wouldn't have had to discipline you in front of everyone."

Nathan Hansen was my older cousin.

In my young mind, I couldn't grasp why my parents always belittled me, nor why being a student meant I wasn't allowed to wear anything else. All I could do was cry miserably, clutching the shredded scraps of fabric, refusing to let go.

It was at that moment that I saw the floating comments.

"Oh my, Malcolm's crying is making me feel awful too. But his parents aren't exactly wrong."

"When I was little, I didn't understand my parents either. Only when I grew up did I realize how hard it is for them and how deep their love runs. I hope Malcolm grows up quickly and stops feeling so sad."

"Malcolm, stop crying. Otherwise, you might just make your parents even angrier."

The sudden barrage of floating comments confused me, but I stopped crying anyway because of what they said.

Just then, a few more comments appeared.

"Why did Malcolm suddenly stop crying?"