I’m Mariko, in my 40s, living with my husband, Takayoshi (also in my 40s), and our daughter, Sally, who’s in 8th grade. Both my parents and my in-laws live nearby. Sally is in the middle of a rebellious phase, and her attitude and language have become increasingly disrespectful. To make matters worse, my husband and daughter—knowing full well that I’m not a dog person—went ahead and got a dog anyway. I couldn’t stand the sight of the mess or the unbearable stench, so I moved in with my parents, Hiroshi and Rie (both in their 70s). After discovering that my mother-in-law, Sanae (in her 70s), was abusing the dog and that my husband was doing nothing to stop it, I decided to divorce him. Later, I realized that my husband was hoping to remarry his affair partner, and I confronted them both.
I reached out to Emi, a mom friend I hadn’t seen in a while, and opened up to her about my husband’s affair and our pending divorce. She gave me the full scoop on the woman he’s seeing. I now realize my mother-in-law was pushing for me to divorce him so he could marry this woman, solely for her family’s fortune. It all clicked: the way she forced that dog on us knowing how much I hated it, her refusal to stop the divorce, and even turning my own daughter against me—it was all just to pave the way for this remarriage. I’m furious at how I’ve been treated, but strangely, it all makes sense now.