I’m Ren, and I’m currently a senior in college. I live on my own near campus. My parents were always incredibly close, but three years ago, my dad died in an accident. Now my mom lives alone back home. To make things worse, we just found out she’s sick and doesn’t have much time left. Seeing how much she’s changed broke my heart, and I couldn’t help but cry. But I knew being weak wouldn’t help anyone. I told her I wanted to do whatever I could for her, and that’s when she started opening up—telling me she had been married to another man before she met my dad.
Mom spoke softly about her other child, a girl named Ran. She told me everything—even why the divorce happened. It sounds like Mom and Dad just had bad timing at first. But in the end, they took charge of their own happiness and made it work, so isn’t that what matters? I mean, Mom was truly happy with Dad; they were such a great couple that “affair” doesn’t even feel like the right word. I truly believe her first marriage was the mistake, and what she had with Dad was the real deal.