An affair (A real story) 

       Who would want to have an extramarital affair? I think no one. When we got married, we made a vow, “I, (name), take you, (name), to be my wife/husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health.” Then what is an underlying reason in life to cause you to have an extramarital affair? It is hard to tell something in detail because everyone has reasons we don’t know. Then whose fault is it? I can’t tell. How can we judge them?

       Speaking frankly, I heard a lot of people who have extramarital affairs didn’t have good happy endings.  I used to be confused about if it no longer was beautiful story or not once this Mr. Right they thought became a part family member in the reality. I didn’t have any precise answers until I knew a woman whose story told me every situation could be very beautiful. Let me tell you the beautiful story about this woman.

        A woman who divorced from her husband for several years met a man whose job was a painter. The painter got married with two children, one daughter and one son, but his wife had a mental illness. He didn’t send her to the mental institution but being taken care by his daughter at home. The man’s life was like an extinct volcano, so he was not tempted to go home, where had no warmth after getting off work and he didn’t also know how to educate their children. All he did was to make money and make sure three of them had food to eat. Not until 11 o’clock did he go home every day. As being a father, he thought it was enough.

       After meeting the divorced woman, his life came to life. They accompanied and helped each other out for over 20 years. The woman helped his children and his wife if they needed. The man took the woman to the clinic if she was sick. Although they didn’t get married, they were really like a sweet couple. They had the same hobbies like singing at the karaoke and watching movies at the cinema. Were they happy? Yes, they were because they were content with their lives. One time they had a conversation and he said, “I am sorry that I am selfish. I couldn’t give you commitment and I cannot let you go. If you left me, I would die.” The man uttered with tears in his eyes. “We had been together for over 20 years and no man wants to have an old woman, so let’s not talk about it anymore. Everything would be the same until we passed away.” The woman answered it humorously.

        As years went by, they were growing old and their health conditions were not as strong as they were before. No one knows who would die first, so the woman advised him to get National Pension plan for his retirement, which is for those who don’t have jobs or the employers don’t pay for their contribution. With his daughter long-term care for her mom, she never had any job experiences. His son had not a stable job also. Therefore, the woman was thinking that he could not rely on his children and she also worried that after he was retired, he had no money for living. However, the problem was the money he earned every month wasn’t always enough for everything, so he was unable to get National Pension plan. It is mandatory, he owed the government a lot of money. One day, the woman decided to pay off for him in order to let the man have a pension in the future. After paying off, the man started receiving the money from the government. The man could still work, so it was the woman who was receiving the money, it was like the man returned the money back to the woman. When the money received from the government was equal to the money the woman paid off, then the man would start to receive the pension. The woman always thought of how she could help the man, not like some women always thought of how to they could get money from men.

       I know this woman. I have learned a lot from her story and thanked for letting me know this is such a beautiful story.