I Love You Back

Dadu was, let’s just say, emotionally reserved. Expressing affection didn’t come easily to him—it wasn’t how he was raised, and it wasn’t how he moved through the world.

But I was... relentless.

At some point in my teens, I decided that he had to end every phone call by saying, “I love you.” I’d say it first—and then wait, stubbornly, until the silence became too loud to ignore.

It didn’t happen overnight. But slowly, he softened. He met me there.

And eventually, for years after, he always ended every call with, “I love you back.”

He couldn’t do that with his children. But with us—his grandchildren—he found a softness he hadn’t known how to show before. A different kind of love he allowed himself to express.

And in doing so, he taught me something I’ve carried ever since: that adults can keep changing too. That age doesn’t set the limits—mindset does. -Chinu

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