I’m Nozomi. I married Touma two years ago and I’m currently six months pregnant. Even before we got hitched, I was always on guard around my in-laws. Looking back, I might have overcompensated by constantly asserting, “You’re not going to push me around.” As for my mother-in-law, it turns out she had basically considered ties cut the moment we got married. I scrambled to explain myself, but she just said, “Just as you don’t care to have a relationship with us, we don’t want one with you either,” and hung up. Afterwards, when I told my own mother what happened…?
That whole incident completely severed my connection with my in-laws. Part of me wanted to apologize, but I was afraid she’d think I was just crawling back for the money, and I had no idea what to say to earn her forgiveness. In the end, I overthought everything and never reached out.
Now that I’ve become a mother and raised a child of my own, I can finally understand how my mother-in-law felt back then. If I were in her shoes, I would’ve been furious and probably opposed the marriage altogether. What I said was just that rude and offensive.
What I needed back then wasn’t defensive hostility to protect myself—it was genuine empathy for others. I deeply regret how immature my words were.
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