My name’s Chie. For ten years now, I haven’t cooked a single meal for my husband, Taro. Our fourth-grader, Daiki, just accepts it as a fact of life—”Mom and Dad don’t eat together.” My friend Tomoyo finally caught on and asked what was up. I’ve never told a soul outside the family about this, but deep down, I’ve been dying to let it out. So, I took a deep breath and finally started to open up to her.
My husband apologized over and over, sounding so desperate, but I just couldn’t move past it. To be honest, I wanted a divorce right then and there. But… every time I touched my stomach, my confidence would just crumble. Even now, looking back on those days is painful. Tomoyo sat there, listening to my story with a look of quiet intensity on her face.