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My wife's voice echoed through the house, so silent it was as if all sound had vanished. "Hello, it's me…" she said.
Perhaps feeling self-conscious about my presence, or perhaps unable to bear the guilt, she continued talking with her head down. "I'd like to see you now, but… where are you?… No, that's not it. My husband… might be reported to the police."
Perhaps thinking that mentioning the word "police" would encourage the men to listen, my wife used the word herself. "Um, please. If this continues…" she said, then picked up the phone from her ear and pressed a button. It seemed the men had hung up on her unilaterally.
"What did they say?" I asked my wife.
I felt saddened by her tone, which was different from how she had spoken to me earlier, as if she were a superior. But now, I had to settle things with the men first.
"They said they had no business meeting me, so they weren't going to meet…" she replied.
Without thinking, I picked up the TV remote that was lying at my feet and threw it to the floor with all my might. The remote shattered, batteries scattering everywhere. "I said I was going to talk to the men! What do you want?! Are you kidding me after all that?" I shouted.
My wife looked at me, shaken and upset by my outburst. "I'm sorry! But… I don't know what to do… Anything I say will only be an excuse. I have no choice but to apologize. I'll disappear from your sight… please…" she said.
Seeing my wife's agitated and panicked state, the detective spoke up. "Please calm down for a moment. You need to stay calm now. I know it's a situation where confusion is inevitable, but you have to stay calm."
I know. I knew that. But I was hurt and insulted beyond measure, and all I could do was let my rage take hold and lash out. A single thread of tension in my heart threatened to snap. I didn't know how to control my emotions. Tears began to flow from my eyes. What did I do…?
The only sounds echoing in the room were my wife's sobs and my own. Perhaps she was tired, but she gradually calmed down, and the room returned to silence. The room was the same as usual, but the atmosphere was completely different. I don't know how much time passed, but I simply let time pass.
"What do you want? What do you want to do from now on?" I asked, my small voice the only thing breaking the calm and quiet room.
After a while, my wife spoke. "I no longer have any will or rights. I will obey you in everything. Get a divorce and find someone better."
I wondered how things had turned out this way. Until just a short time ago, we were living a normal life. Now I realized how happy that normal life was. Because I was transferred away from home, because I didn't pay her enough attention, because I didn't earn enough… I couldn't help but wonder what I could have done to prevent this from happening. I had hoped that my wife, who had been taken advantage of by men, would apologize and cling to me. But hearing the word "divorce" from her mouth made me realize that we could never go back to our previous lives. Rather than feeling anger toward anyone, I couldn't help but feel powerless.
"Are you happy with your relationships with those men?" I asked, my voice steady.
My wife answered, losing confidence. "That's not what I meant! It was… it was painful to do what those people told me to do. I couldn't bear the guilt I felt towards you and our children, and I wanted to quit, I wanted to run away."
Guilt…
"But I didn't run away," I said.
It's not that I didn't realize how much these words would hurt my wife. But they just came out of my mouth.
Silence spread throughout the room. My wife and I both looked down, staring at the floor.
After a while, I heard my wife's voice. "I'm… sorry that someone like me became your wife. I loved you and didn't want to hurt you, but… I've… ruined your life so much…"
Tears welled up in my eyes again as I heard my wife's voice. I remembered our happy, ordinary life together, when we started dating and got married. My wife had worked so hard for me and our family until then. But then something big happened, making it seem like all that was a lie.
"Do you want to quit?" I asked her. "Do you want to end this relationship?"
She answered, still looking down. "Of course I want to stop… I don't want it to turn out like this. But I can't do anything about it on my own… I've told them many times that I want to end this relationship, but I can't help it either…"
I looked into my wife's eyes. My wife, the mother of our children, was in a situation she couldn't change on her own. It would be hard to believe if she lived a normal life. But now, after being shown the DVD and meeting the men, it was happening in front of my eyes.
"Let's go to your company now. The men may not be there, but that doesn't mean they're not involved. We'll find a way to meet the men somehow," I said.
My wife nodded obediently. "But I think it'll be difficult because the company is only staffed with normal employees," she said.
Then her phone rang. She looked at the screen, then at me. "The men?" I asked. She nodded.
I held out my hand for her to hand me the phone. She gave it to me. My wife, who had been a strong mother since our child was born, looked like the weak woman she was when we first started dating.
I pressed the answer button and spoke. "Where are you now?"
The men knew my wife was with me. They answered calmly, as if they had expected this. "Are you her husband? I apologize for earlier. I thought being there would only cause confusion."
His calm tone and choice of words suggested he was the long-haired man. "We have something to talk to you two about," I said.
"Husband, we called to talk to you too. If possible, would it be okay for you to come to the location I'm about to tell you?" he replied.
"Where?" I asked.
"Would room 1105 at the Fukuoka Clay Hotel be okay? We'll be waiting there," he said.
Did they want to talk in a hotel room? It would be easier to talk in a public place.
"I'm on my way," I answered.
A calm man. A man who toyed with someone else's wife and yet spoke to me, her husband, without any hesitation. He would be easier to talk to than a violent man. All I had to do now was settle things with these men. I thought about what was most important right now—for my children, for my wife, and for myself. I couldn't understand what these men were thinking as they were doing this. But there was only one thing I had to do now: make them leave my wife alone.
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