I’m Hiroko, and after raising my son Tatsuya and my daughter Nami, I now live with just my husband. When Tatsuya was in his second year of work, he introduced us to Chisato—a single mother eleven years his senior—and her son, Haruki. He bowed and pleaded for our blessing to marry her. But back then, I couldn’t accept it; I felt like he was just taking on a life of hardship. Fifteen years have passed since then. Nami (35) is married and raising her own kids, while Tatsuya (39) has remained single all this time.
Fifteen years. Tatsuya never breathed a word about what happened with Chisato after that. There was never any talk of a new girlfriend or marriage—not even a hint of a woman in his life. Because we had fought so hard against his marriage to Chisato, I felt like I didn’t have the right to ask.
But as it turns out, Tatsuya had stayed with Chisato the entire time, even after we turned them down. “It feels like you completely changed the course of my brother’s life.” Hearing Nami say those words made the blood drain from my face.