When I started Suspecting my Wife of Cheating, I Somehow Ended up Living in the Middle of Nowhere - Episode 13

“The new dad is hardly ever home.”
“Mom’s always alone at home—it’s like she’s all by herself.”

What the hell? I thought both of my daughters left home with their mom’s new partner. Then again, it hasn’t even been six months since the divorce. Legally, she can’t remarry yet. Still, since they’re living together, it’s practically a common-law marriage.

If it’s basically a newlywed situation, you’d think they’d be all over each other. I mean, she dumped me, divorced me, and left the house for that cheating guy. She must’ve really liked him. And he must’ve liked her too—he even covered the damages and paid compensation on her behalf.

And yet… he’s never home? That makes no sense.

The whole divorce with my ex turned into a mess. I wish we’d had a clear, drama-free conclusion, but real life doesn’t wrap up like a TV show. I jumped the gun and confronted her about the cheating without properly consulting my lawyer. She got defensive, grabbed the kids, and left. The divorce papers were signed, so it’s official. The compensation money hit my account before I even made a demand. I was planning to ask for more, but the emotional toll of the divorce hit me harder than I expected.

My lawyer said we could file for additional compensation, but honestly, even if I got more money, it felt meaningless. Sure, money’s nice, but it wasn’t going to fix the hole in my heart.

What really crushed me was losing my daughters. So when I got a call from them—an SOS—they said they ran away from the new guy’s house. That was priority number one for me. Most people like to plan ahead, but me? Right now, I’m just taking things one step at a time, dealing with what’s right in front of me.

My little car was now headed toward my house in Itoyori Village. I hadn’t asked my ex for permission, so technically, you could call this kidnapping. But hey, any dad would commit a minor crime or two for his daughters, right? …Okay, maybe not, but still.

“And lately, he’s been hitting Mom.”
“Huh!?”

I don’t care much about my ex anymore, but hearing that she’s being hit doesn’t sit right with me.

“And when we’re getting into the bath or using the sink, he creeps around…”
“Yeah! So gross!”

Trying to sneak a peek at a high schooler and a middle schooler? What the hell? That’s some pervy crap! Not just my ex—now even my daughters are in danger!?

My bl00d boiled. That sealed it—I was taking them back to my place.

“The other day, he snuck into my room while I was sleeping! I locked the door, but I think he picked it.”

Interior locks are usually pretty easy to open for safety reasons—like in bathrooms or toilets. A coin’s enough to unlock them. My daughters knew that, which made it even scarier for them.

“Were you okay!?”
“We changed the locks to something stronger. That creep won’t be able to open them now.”

Impressive work…

“He never does chores, but he insists on doing laundry—probably just to dig through our underwear…”

Okay, that’s just straight-up OUT. Is that the kind of guy my ex thought was better than me!? I felt like I was losing my mind.

“We can’t take it anymore!! We’re not living with him!!”

The two of them shouted in perfect harmony.

“Alright. I’ll let your mom—Kiyomi—know, just in case. If you disappear without telling her, she might report it to the police, and that would only make things worse.”
“Okay, got it.”

I had a rough idea of what was going on. But we had nowhere to live! All I had was that run-down old house in the countryside (and the second floor had even caught fire once).

What would my daughters say when they saw it? The lease on our old house was already up, so we had to move out by next week…

“This is the place…”

I showed my daughters the house.

“Whoa—!!”

Okay, what kind of “whoa” is that!?

“It’s super run-down! Dad, you’re so rock and roll!”

Ouch. That’s not a compliment, kid.

“Your house is like a haunted mansion!”

Nice try with the vague Ghibli reference, kiddo. Not everyone’s gonna catch that.

“If I live here for five years, I get to own it. I can renovate it freely in the meantime.”
“No way!”

Why are their eyes sparkling!?

“The wallpaper downstairs is peeling—”
“Ooh, tell me more!”

They’re leaning in? What’s going on!?

“The second floor was scorched in a fire, so we’ll need to renovate.”
“Even better!!”

They’re even more excited!?

“It’s old, so we’ll need to redo the insulation. There’s no one nearby. And there aren’t many contractors in the village, so we’ll have to get help from outside.”
“This just keeps getting better!!!”

What the hell!? My daughters are almost climbing on top of me with excitement.

“What about materials?”
“The village chief said we can use leftover wood. We’ll have to go to a hardware store for the rest.”
“And money?”
“I still have some left from the divorce settlement…”

That’s when they both shouted:

“We’re living here!!”

Wait, really!?

For some reason, they both loved the beat-up house. So we decided to move in. First, we needed to buy two futons from the hardware store.

Actually, before that, I had to return the weed whacker to the village chief—and let him know my daughters would be living here too.

“So yeah, my daughters want to live here too. Is that okay?”

The village chief and his wife looked stunned.

“In that dump!? Those pretty young girls!?”
“Yeah, there’s a lot going on… I’d really appreciate it if you’d allow it.”

The wife gave my daughters a once-over and smiled knowingly.

The chief, on the other hand, looked worried but supportive.

“Well, it’s your house now, so I guess it’s fine.”
“Right. Sorry we don’t have anything nicer, but if a better house opens up…”

He was interrupted by my older daughter.

“It’s more than enough! Thank you so much!”

And that’s when I had an idea.

“By the way… I kind of need to find work too. Would you happen to know of anything around here?”
“Can’t be helped. You can start by clearing the weeds behind our house. Call me when you’re free.”

The chief’s wife gave me a job. I’ll take care of that while I work on fixing up the house.

Update on My Mother

I got a call from the hospital. Apparently, my father caused a huge scene over how “pitiful” the hospital food was. He demanded a meal plan and a nutrition breakdown. Worse, he brought a voice recorder and started threatening the nurses with lawsuits.

He’s lost it. Do people really go senile like this with age?

I called the hospital to apologize and asked them to ban him from visiting my mom going forward. I’m the one who signed the hospital contract, so they don’t owe him anything. I already have the care plan, so I had them put a full block on him—no visits allowed.

The staff were relieved. They circulated his name and photo to all the doctors, nurses, and receptionists to make sure he wouldn’t be allowed in.

They’ll tell him: “You need the son’s permission to visit.”
And if he asks questions? “We’ve already reported everything to your son. We can’t disclose anything else.”

He’s beyond help… My head’s going to explode with everything I have going on.

Lament of Kiyomi Zenpuku (Didn’t Bother Changing Back to Her Maiden Name)

A big house with a sprawling yard. Five cars. More than the number of people living here. A pool in the garden—it’s like a Hollywood celebrity’s home.

That’s my current house. But inside… it’s empty.

A housekeeper comes every other day and finishes cleaning in two hours. Total pro. Nothing left for me to do. She even folds the toilet paper into neat triangles.

I cook, but I’m the only one eating. At first, it was fun to make meals, but now he never comes home. He says it’s for work, but I bet he’s out at nightclubs.

My daughters are still mad that I tricked them into coming here. They hardly talk to me and stay shut in their rooms.

Somewhere along the way… my family fell apart.
When did it happen?
When did I lose my family?

I’m so lonely…