I (Emi) started my married life with my husband, Ryo, by moving in with his family. For years, my mother-in-law had been bullied by the grandmother-in-law. Despite telling me she “wanted to have a good relationship with me,” she started treating me with the exact same cruelty she endured. Talk about a double standard. Then, my sister-in-law Momoka’s fiancé and his parents came over for a formal introduction. My mother-in-law’s claims were so ridiculously hypocritical that I couldn’t stop laughing.
Ever since that day Ryo suggested we stop living with his parents, we’d been moving under the radar to get ready for the big move. Living there was only supposed to be temporary anyway, so we didn’t have that much stuff. We figured we could just move whatever was left bit by bit. I grabbed the bags I’d already packed and walked out of the house with Ryo. My mother-in-law just stood there in a daze, but it seemed like she finally realized what she’d done. In a way, she’s a victim of the grandmother-in-law too. But as long as she’s the one passing down the cycle of bullying, nothing is ever going to change. If she wants things to be different, she’s the one who has to change first. In that sense, I hope our leaving gives her a reason to really think about her future.