Introduction
This will be a summary of a Korean blog post, where a woman pours out concerns of her husband’s emotional infidelity. The link to the original post will be provided in the description below. Additionally, a list of new Korean words learned can be found in the description box. We will refer to the subject or the writer of the post as Miss A.
Story
The quick marriage
Before Miss A met her husband, he had just ended a 10-year relationship with his first love. Miss A mentions that although he never went into detail as to why they broke up, his mother’s opposition played a significant role.
Following the breakup, the husband’s mother grew impatient concerning his marriage and convinced him to accept an arranged marriage with Miss A. Despite the fact that the courting period was brief, Miss A was drawn to his good-nature. Besides, considering the favorable treatment from her future mother-in-law, and most importantly, her age, she agreed to marry him. Sadly she will soon realize that this was a bad idea.
The marriage was stale, lonely and loveless.No dates, no birthdays, no anniversaries, even no hugs.Furthermore they slept in separate rooms. On the bright side, he handled the housework well and stayed away from alcohol. Even the mother-in-law, out of guilt, refrained from overworking the daughter-in-law. Basically, he treated her more like an acquaintance rather than a wife.
Cheating or not?
Unbeknownst to him, Miss A was aware of his late night sessions, where he re-read past letters to his first love and even reminisced over those memories with the items they shared. Thoughts of disposing of the items and letters popped up in her head, but she trusted that his conscience would triumph and thus left them to him.
One faithful day, he learned that his first love was getting married. Miss A, watching her husband fall deep into depression, allowed him to attend the wedding, in hopes that it would bring closure. It worked, apparently.
After returning from the wedding, he apologized to her for the emotional neglect, thanked her for the chance to gain closure and seemingly turned over a new leaf. They went on dates, travelled together, celebrated anniversaries and even fought sometimes. Although they still slept separately, she noticed the letters were gone, she finally felt loved, appreciated and desired. So she thought.
The truth
On one occasion, the husband’s friend and his wife came over,where she learned the truth behind her husband’s new self. The friend’s wife confessed that Miss A’s husband was so broken after that wedding, that he had to receive psychiatric treatment, a truth he kept from her. Moreover, his sudden display of affection was all an attempt to forget his first love. Unfortunately, the more affectionate he was to Miss A, the harder it was for him to let go. Even the letters, which the wife believed to have been disposed of, were in actuality moved to the home of a colleague. The friend’s wife finished her confession by disclosing that Miss A’s husband took her on dates to the spots he had been with his first love.
Divorce, maybe?
As those words left her heartbroken, she became too emotionally weak to face her husband, and hence moved back to her maiden home.
While ignoring her husband’s calls to return home, she is wondering “how should I go from here?”.
I hope you enjoyed this summary.
Have a wonderful day
My notes
As I summarized how I understood the article, there will be areas of improvement and slight exaggeration..
Korean term/phrase | English translation |
선보다 | meet someone for an arranged marriage |
성화 | impatience, irritation |
무뚝뚝하다 | blunt, stiff, brusque |
성실하다 | faithful, sincere |
각방을 쓰다 | sleep in separate bedrooms |
추억이 담긴 | Full of memories. |
서럽다 | sad |
안쓰럽다 | feeling sorry |
손을 잡다 | take by the hand |
서러움 | sorrow; sadness |
울적하다 | melancholy; depressed; gloomy |
비록 | even though, although |
정신과 | psychiatry; department of psychiatry |
털어놓다 | take out; empty |
친정 | the former home of a married woman |
억지로 | reluctantly, forcibly |
Reference
https://m.post.naver.com/viewer/postView.nhn?volumeNo=31320953&memberNo=45160742