I’m Aine. I was bullied in middle school, and the hurt stuck with me for years. Hiroki understood and promised he’d never say anything cruel. I felt I could rely on him and said yes to his proposal. More than a decade later, we’re a family of four with our son Yuu (8th grade) and daughter Niina (7th grade). But Hiroki has changed. Lately, any time I slip up, he takes a jab at me—“That’s why you got bullied.”
That day Hiroki blew up because the beer wasn’t cold and tossed out his usual line: “That’s why you got bullied.” As always, I froze and couldn’t answer back. But this time, Yuu didn’t stay quiet.
He stood his ground: “Saying the bullied kid is also at fault—that’s bullying.” Hearing that from our middle-schooler, Hiroki finally had no comeback.
I guess seeing his dad go after his mom had been weighing on him for a while. His unexpected support left me stunned.