Wife With Brown Hair
Stories similar to this that you might like too.
“I’m going to the bathroom,” I announced. “You’re on duty.” That was a lie, but it would buy me some time in which to think of an appropriate response to what she’d just said. It seemed that my wife had come out with something even more outrageous than usual today.
She often went off at tangents and made comments about things not related to our current conversation—but this one took the cake! And if her eyes were any indication, then she wasn’t kidding either…
My mind raced as I tried desperately to figure out how best to respond without letting slip too much information. My wife’s brown hair always looked so soft when she ran her fingers through it; now though, there was nothing gentle or loving about its appearance.
The strands stood up straight like bristles from a brush, making them look stiffer than ever before. Her face also appeared unusually pale under those dark eyebrows, giving her expressionless features an eerie quality. As for her lips: they were thin and dry-looking, almost reptilian in nature.
They didn’t resemble anything human at all. In fact, their color reminded me of dried blood rather than lipstick. When I saw these changes taking place right before my very eyes, I felt myself go cold inside. But still, I couldn’t let on that something was wrong. If I did, then we wouldn’t be able to continue having normal conversations anymore. So instead, I merely nodded noncommittally while keeping mum.
After waiting a few seconds for a reply, I turned around to see that my wife was already back by my side again. She must have been watching me carefully during the whole exchange because she immediately asked me another question. “What are you thinking?”
Her voice sounded completely different from mine—more high-pitched, yet somehow deeper at the same time. Was this the result of her transformation? Or perhaps it was simply due to her being tired after such a long day…? Whatever the reason might be, hearing her speak in this manner gave me goosebumps all over.
What should I do next?! How could I possibly answer her questions honestly? No matter how hard I thought about it, however, no suitable words came into view.
“Um…” I started hesitantly, trying to find a way out of my predicament. “Why don’t we talk about something else instead? Like maybe your work tomorrow?”
She stared at me blankly for several moments before finally responding. “…Work…tomorrow?”
It was only then that I realized I hadn’t told her where I was heading tonight. After all, I knew full well that she hated it whenever I spent time away from home doing business stuff, especially since she never got any enjoyment out of it herself. Besides, I wanted to keep this visit secret until I actually arrived at the destination.
From past experience, I’d learned that it was far easier to get people excited once they found themselves unable to guess exactly where I was headed. This particular technique proved particularly effective with women who tended to be overly protective of their husbands.
By telling them he was going somewhere special, I managed to make them feel less anxious about him leaving the house. Of course, this tactic worked equally well on men too. However, I doubted I would need to use it here considering how little interest my wife showed in my job. Still, better safe than sorry. Better to play along than risk losing everything.
“…Yes, I’ll be working late tomorrow night.” Then I added casually, “But don’t worry about it!”
The woman standing beside me suddenly perked up. “Oh really?!” she exclaimed delightedly, clapping her hands together enthusiastically. “So will you bring me back some souvenirs?”
This caught me totally by surprise. Did she want me to take her shopping? Why would she ask me that? I mean, I certainly loved buying gifts for my wife, but why would I bother bringing her back items from a foreign country? Even if I brought her back a present, what good would it do us?
We weren’t planning on staying in Japan forever, after all. Plus, I doubt anyone sells souvenir goods in this part of town anyway. There aren’t many tourists visiting this area, so most shops probably sell local products and produce rather than imported ones.
Still, I decided to humor her and replied, “Sure thing. Anything, in particular, you’d like?”
To my shock, my wife smiled brightly and responded eagerly, “How about a nice pair of earrings? Something simple and elegant, like the kind worn by Japanese geishas.”
Geisha? Huh? Wait…what is she talking about? Geishas wear kimonos, not earrings. Are they supposed to be the same thing? Well, whatever…that doesn’t matter right now. All that matters is finding a way to avoid answering her question directly.
I quickly changed the subject and said, “Well, I’m sure you can pick one out easily enough. Just head down to Shinjuku Station first thing tomorrow morning. You know which street I mean, right?”
That seemed to satisfy my wife, who went quiet for a moment before saying softly, “Thank you, dear,” as she reached forward to gently touch my cheek. It was just like old times! Only this time, I wasn’t looking at someone who resembled my wife. Instead, I was gazing upon an entirely new person: A beautiful young girl wearing a traditional Japanese dress.
Her hair was tied neatly behind her neck, while her face was adorned with delicate makeup. The outfit she wore also looked very similar to those worn by geishas, complete with a silk obi wrapped tightly around her waist. And although she didn’t seem to possess any magical powers or supernatural abilities, there was still something undeniably enchanting about this mysterious stranger.
As soon as our eyes met, the woman’s smile widened even further, revealing perfectly white teeth. She took another step closer to me, causing me to instinctively move backward. In fact, I had to practically run away to escape this strange woman.
But despite running off in the opposite direction, I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was chasing after me. As I ran through the streets of Tokyo, I kept glancing over my shoulder to see whether she was following me. To my relief, though, I saw nothing more than an empty road ahead. For some reason, I felt much safer knowing that she wouldn’t catch up with me anytime soon.
Eventually, I made it to my apartment building without incident. Once inside, I locked myself into my room and immediately turned on the lights. My heart raced uncontrollably within my chest as I frantically searched for a weapon to defend against this unknown threat.
Although I knew I should have been grateful that no harm came to me during my encounter with this strange woman, my mind remained fixated on the terrifying image of her smiling face. What did she want with me? Wasn’t I married already?! Didn’t I spend enough years living under the same roof as her? How could I possibly entertain such thoughts when I hadn’t seen her in nearly ten months!?
In retrospect, perhaps I shouldn’t have let my guard down quite so easily. After all, this was a city filled with countless strangers. Most of these individuals were harmless folks trying to live everyday lives, yet every single one of them possessed the potential to cause me trouble; either because they were violent criminals or simply mentally unstable.
That being said, however, I’ve always considered myself to be pretty lucky overall. Despite having lived here for almost two decades, I never once encountered anything worse than petty theft. Sure, there might have been a few people who tried to mug me, but thankfully none of their attempts ever succeeded. So far, everything has worked out well for me, but maybe things are finally starting to change…?
After taking several deep breaths to calm myself down, I headed straight to bed. However, sleep proved difficult to come by. Thoughts of the mysterious woman kept swirling around in my head, preventing me from drifting off to dreamland. Eventually, I gave up on sleeping altogether and instead sat upright in front of the TV screen until dawn broke across the horizon. When I finally woke up again later that afternoon, I found a note sitting atop my pillow.
“Dear Husband,
You must forgive me for keeping secrets from you. I thought it best to keep your feelings in check, given how sensitive you tend to get whenever we’re apart. Please understand that I only wanted what was best for both of us. Now then, allow me to explain the situation in greater detail…”
The letter continued on for many pages, explaining why she had chosen to leave me. Apparently, my wife was originally born to a wealthy family back home in China, where she grew up surrounded by servants and maids.
Unfortunately, her parents passed away early on, leaving her alone to fend for herself. With nowhere else left to go, she ended up moving to Japan in hopes of making a better life for herself. Since arriving here, she managed to find work as a waitress at a local restaurant near Shinjuku station.
Thanks to her hard-working nature, she was able to save enough money to open her own business. Even now, she still works tirelessly day in and day out, striving to make ends meet. All of this is true… except for the part about her being Chinese. According to my wife, she was actually Korean.
It seems that my wife’s mother had fallen ill shortly after giving birth to her daughter. This resulted in a number of complications throughout her pregnancy, including hemorrhaging and multiple miscarriages. The doctors warned her not to try conceiving any more children due to the high risk involved, which led her to give up on having any more kids.
Still, she wasn’t willing to accept defeat just yet. Instead, she decided to take matters into her own hands and undergo artificial insemination treatments using donor sperm from Korea. It seemed like an ideal solution since Koreans were known for their strong genetic material.
Moreover, those seeking treatment would need to travel overseas anyway, so it didn’t really matter if they went to Seoul or Busan. And thus, my wife became pregnant with a child whose DNA originated from South Korea. From that point onwards, she raised her newborn son as a proud Korean woman.
However, something happened along the way. While visiting her hometown one summer, my wife learned that her biological father had also died young. Her grandmother told her that he’d suffered from a rare disease called “Korean Syndrome,” which caused his internal organs to deteriorate rapidly.
He collapsed while working at the factory, and quickly succumbed to death before anyone could do anything about it. In other words, my wife inherited her genes from someone who was genetically predisposed toward certain illnesses.
As a result, she developed some serious health problems of her own, forcing her to move to Tokyo in search of medical care. She hoped that modern medicine could help cure whatever issues plagued her, but unfortunately nothing changed. At least, not right away.
Over time, however, my wife slowly began to recover thanks to the medication prescribed to her. By the end of our marriage, she was feeling much healthier than ever before. But despite this improvement, her symptoms persisted. They remained dormant most days but occasionally flared up during times of stress.
These flare-ups often made her feel fatigued and nauseous, causing her to lose appetite. On top of that, she started experiencing frequent headaches, dizziness, and even bouts of insomnia. Needless to say, these side effects greatly affected her ability to maintain a proper lifestyle.
Given how important good nutrition was when raising a child, she knew that she couldn’t afford to waste another second living such a sedentary existence. That said, she never imagined that things might have been different all along. Had she done her research properly, perhaps she wouldn’t be suffering today. Perhaps she could’ve saved herself a lot of heartaches.
That brings us to the present day. After learning the truth behind her heritage, my wife came clean with everything she’d hidden from me over the years. She apologized profusely, hoping that I would forgive her. Of course, I did. My wife has always loved me unconditionally. For that reason, there’s no doubt in my mind that she’ll continue doing so until the very last moment. No matter what happens next, I know that she won’t abandon me. Not anymore.
I’m sure you can imagine how difficult it was for me to come to terms with this revelation. To think that my entire life was based on a lie! What kind of person am I? How could I possibly raise a child knowing that its genetics are flawed?!
But regardless of whether or not these thoughts crossed my mind (and trust me, they definitely did), I chose to stay positive. If my wife truly wanted to tell the world the truth, then I needed to support her decision wholeheartedly. Besides, we both agreed that it was best to keep this news between ourselves for now.
We figured that revealing the truth too soon could cause unnecessary friction within the community. Plus, it gave us plenty of time to prepare for the inevitable fallout.
As far as I’m concerned, the only thing that mattered was keeping my family safe. So long as my wife and child were healthy, that was all I cared about. Everything else—the social stigma, the shame associated with being born defective, the fear of losing friends and relatives… none of that mattered. All that mattered was protecting them. Because without their well-being, there is simply no meaning to life whatsoever.
So yeah, that’s basically where we’re at right now. Things aren’t exactly easy by any means, but I don’t regret choosing to remain optimistic. Sure, there will probably be many obstacles ahead of us, but I refuse to let pessimism get the better of me. Even if things turn out badly, I want to believe that my wife and kid will still find happiness together. That’s why I intend to spend every waking minute making sure that they live happy lives.
And speaking of my wife and child, here are two pictures of each of them taken recently. Enjoy!
***
“Hello everyone. Thank you for tuning in.”
The speaker appeared on screen, followed shortly after by a montage of images depicting various scenes from around town. This included shots of people walking down streets, shopping malls bustling with activity, and busy train stations packed full of commuters. The video ended just as the camera panned across a large billboard displaying an advertisement for a new movie coming to theaters later that week.
It wasn’t uncommon for local TV channels to air advertisements like this. However, this particular commercial featured a woman whose face looked eerily familiar. It took a few seconds for me to realize who it actually was: my wife. And judging by the fact that she was standing alongside several children, it seemed likely that this ad was meant to promote some sort of product geared toward families.
This realization hit me hard. In order to avoid suspicion, I had asked my wife to wear something other than her usual attire whenever she went outside. As a result, I hadn’t seen her since the night before yesterday. Yet somehow, she managed to sneak into town while wearing clothes that concealed her identity. Why would she do that? Wasn’t hiding her true self supposed to be her priority above all else? At first glance, it certainly didn’t seem that way.
Well, whatever the case may be, I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she really does care more about our daughter’s future than anything else. Still, I couldn’t help feeling disappointed upon realizing that she’d gone against my wishes once again. Her actions weren’t entirely unexpected, though. Ever since we got married, she’s consistently put her own needs ahead of mine. But given how much she loves me, I guess that shouldn’t come as a surprise.
In retrospect, I should’ve expected this situation sooner rather than later. There was nothing I could’ve done to prevent it, however. Just because I knew the truth doesn’t mean that anyone else did. Who knows how many people might have been fooled by my wife’s act? I suppose that makes sense; after all, most folks tend to assume that someone who looks good must also feel great inside. Unfortunately, appearances can often be deceiving.
Regardless, I need to make one thing clear. Despite everything that happened, I love my wife dearly. Nothing will ever change that. Whether or not she chooses to reveal herself publicly remains to be seen. For now, all I can say is that I’ll continue doing what I always do: supporting her unconditionally. After all, that’s what husbands are for.
The End