I (Chisato, 50) divorced my ex-husband and was raising my son, Haruki, on my own. I eventually met Tatsuya, who is 11 years younger than me, and we considered getting married, but his parents were dead set against it. Back then, I was overwhelmed by the pressure of carrying Haruki’s future all by myself, and I felt such a sense of relief knowing Tatsuya was willing to share that burden. His parents probably saw right through me—they knew I was looking for a marriage based on dependency. Tatsuya still wanted to go through with it anyway, but…?
His parents’ words have been stuck in my head ever since. If we had rushed into marriage back then, I probably would have just failed all over again. Having us constantly leaning on him would have eventually become too much for Tatsuya to handle. A marriage like that was never going to work out. I realized that, deep down, my desire for him to support us was stronger than my desire to actually make him happy. Before looking toward a future with Tatsuya, I knew I had to learn to stand on my own two feet first.