I’m Sae, and I live with my husband, Mutsuki, and our elementary school kids. Mutsuki is self-employed and works from a room at home. I work corporate at a major company, where I’ve been steadily building my career. My husband and I have never talked about our incomes in detail. As long as he covers the rent and has fun playing with the kids, that was enough for me. But one day, in the middle of our peaceful routine, my husband let me know that my father-in-law was going into a senior living facility.
It seems like my father-in-law is going into a pretty expensive place. It’s a mystery why they chose that facility when both his parents and his sister are financially stretched to the limit, but maybe it was an emergency and they didn’t have much of a choice.My guess is that Mutsuki offered to cover the shortfall. Honestly, our household can get by on my salary alone, so I told him it was fine to use his own income or savings for his dad’s facility fees. I thought I was being as flexible and accommodating as possible.
But apparently, that wasn’t enough for him. For some reason, he stormed off in a huff. It looks like he’s going to discuss it again at his parents’ house, but I have no idea what else there is to talk about…