I’m Mariko, a remote-working corporate employee in my 40s. I live with my husband, Takayoshi, also in his 40s, and our daughter, Sari, an eighth-grader. Both of our parents live nearby, but since my mother-in-law, Sanae (in her 70s), and I haven’t gotten along since day one of our marriage, my husband has always taken our daughter to his parents’ house by himself since she was little. Now that she’s hitting her rebellious phase, her attitude has gone downhill, and she’s been taking it out on me. To make matters worse, even though my husband, my daughter, and my mother-in-law all know damn well I’m terrified of dogs, they insisted on getting one anyway, and my husband just brought a dog home without my consent.
My husband suddenly walked through the door holding a dog, and since I can’t stand dogs, I froze in sheer terror. When I begged him to take it back since he brought it home without my permission, my husband and my rebellious daughter teamed up and attacked me, calling me “abusive” and “annoying.” To top it off, while they both eagerly took care of the dog at first, they eventually started ignoring it, just as I predicted. In the end, cleaning up the dog’s messes was dumped on me. No matter what I say, neither my husband nor my daughter will lift a finger to fix the situation. Having reached my absolute limit, I packed my bags and escaped to my parents’ house.