The Shape of Happiness: A Family Crumbling Due to the Mother's Infidelity, a Wounded Middle School Daughter, and a Struggling Father Finding a New Form of Happiness. - Episode 14

“Atsushi, you are the heir to this supermarket. Don’t forget that.”

I’ve never felt the love of my parents.

When I was young, I don’t remember being loved by my parents. I don’t have memories of eating meals together. I don’t remember going out to play anywhere. The only memories I have are of being at daycare. My grandparents raised me instead of my parents. That’s about it.

My grandparents ran a small shop, a kind of general store, and my father and mother turned it into a supermarket. They bought more land, built a bigger building, and expanded to meet the growing number of products and customers. It must have taken a lot of effort and hardship to get to this point. My father and mother were proud of the situation now. They forgot that they had sacrificed me to get there.

The son of a supermarket.

When I started elementary school, my classmates began teasing me about it. “Your family uses our shop too.” One day, they teased me too much, so I told them, “I won’t sell anything to your family!” But they just laughed, and I was so frustrated that I cried and told my father.

I was beaten by my father and mother. They scolded me, saying, “What are you saying to a customer?” They dragged me, bloodied and bruised, to the other child’s house and made me apologize while bowing deeply. I remember the other child’s parents being concerned about me.

On the way home, my father and mother walked ahead of me, talking to each other.

“I hope this will create the image that we prioritize our customers.”

“Yes, we need to take advantage of this situation.”

They didn’t look at me or say anything to me until we got home.

“Atsushi, are you okay? Does your face hurt?”

Ryoko, my childhood friend who lived nearby, was the only one who cared about me. She had short black hair and was a bit boyish. She was the only one who worried about me. After my grandparents died when I was in elementary school, I didn’t have anyone on my side anymore. I became mentally exhausted, and Ryoko was the one who always kept an eye on me. When I was sad and crying, Ryoko hugged me. She taught me the warmth that I never felt from my parents.

“Atsushi, are you dating that ugly girl?”

In middle school, a male friend said this. I should have said, “Ryoko isn’t ugly!” but I didn’t feel that strongly. In reality, Ryoko wasn’t exactly cute. Her eyes, nose, and mouth were small, and her face was flat with shallow features. She was also a simple, plain girl from the countryside with no fashion sense, quiet, and serious. So, I just answered, “Of course not,” and laughed with my friends.

From that day, I started distancing myself from Ryoko. I think she noticed it, because she didn’t say anything to me and stopped coming near me.

I studied because my parents told me to, and I went to a good high school as they wished. I couldn’t join any school clubs because I had to help at the store, so I just went to high school and worked at the store every day. I vaguely thought that I would go to university as my parents wanted and then work at the family store. I thought that was fine. So, I kept studying hard for university entrance exams.

In my second year of high school, a large shopping mall opened in the area. One of the core facilities was a major supermarket chain. My parents started to panic.

“I won’t let you go to university. Help at the store.”

Just before my university entrance exams, my parents suddenly said this. They were worried because the competition with the major supermarket was getting intense, and they needed more help.

I remembered that I was just a convenient tool for my parents.

Since my parents wouldn’t pay for my university, I considered using a scholarship. But the whole purpose of going to university had become to advance academically, and in the end, if I was just going to work at the family store, I didn’t see the point in going into debt. So, I gave up on going to university.

Almost ten years have passed since then. The competition with the major supermarket continues, but with the support of suppliers, we’ve somehow kept the store running.

I became the manager of “Super Matsunaga,” but in reality, I was just a figurehead, a punching bag. Every day, my father, the president, and my mother, the executive director, would give me orders and scold me, calling it guidance. I was fed up.

“Marry Ryoko,” they ordered.

I understood why. Ryoko’s father was an executive at a local bank. They probably wanted to secure a solid loan source. It was an arranged marriage in this day and age. I thought Ryoko’s feelings should be important, but they said Ryoko had agreed.

I called Ryoko and met her for the first time in ten years. She hadn’t become any more beautiful, her short black hair was the same, and she still had a plain, uncultured look. But still…

“Atsushi-kun… I want to be your wife…”

Ryoko said this, her eyes full of tears and her face bright red, and I couldn’t control my heart beating fast.

Ryoko might have been waiting for me all this time. Maybe I was mistaken, but Ryoko had always wanted me as a person. Maybe she would bring color to my empty life. I wanted Ryoko to have my child. I wanted to create a happy family with Ryoko. For the first time in my life, I started to think about the “shape of happiness.”

But…