My name is Akane (32). I live with my husband Takumi (33) and our third-grade son in my husband’s family home. My husband’s parents passed away before we got married, and until a few years ago his younger sister, Maki (26), lived with us as well. Now Maki lives about a ten-minute walk away, but on weekdays she comes over almost every day and eats lunch with us. We get along well, but there’s one thing that bothers me. Maki helps herself to things from our fridge and pantry and takes them home without asking. My husband says I should just let her indulge a little… but it really gets to me when she takes things without saying a word.
I told her, “We’re having a takoyaki party, so please don’t take those ingredients.” She asked if she could take some salad, and I said that was fine. But then I realized the cheese was gone too. I’m honestly thinking, “Just buy your own cheese!”—but this isn’t the time for that. I have to get cheese ready before my mom friends arrive. The fact that she took things from our house without permission and then said, “I can’t right now,” just didn’t matter to me at all. I ended up snapping at her pretty harshly.