Fiction
The One-Sided Marriage
Or, what happens when your husband gives you the silent treatment
My husband, Yasushi, hasn’t spoken to me in a whole year. Not a nod or even a grunt. All I get are silent stares, stiff postures, and a clamped mouth.
I tried everything to squeeze words out of him.
Like begging.
“Please.” I hugged Yasushi’s leather shoe. “Just say one word — just one. About today’s baseball match. About your paperwork in the office. Anything.”
Failing that, I tried seduction.
“How about you take the day off tomorrow?” On the bed, wearing my fishnet stockings, I stroked Yasushi’s boxers. “So I can ‘work’ on you the whole night?” I giggled.
When none of that yielded any results, I relied on threats.
“Look, if you don’t say something, I’ll go to my parents’ house and stay there forever.”
From the kitchen table, Yasushi stared at me with his large glassy eyes and a frozen thick-lipped frown.
“And I’ll take your PlayStation 4 with me!”
More watching and scowling.
“And those dirty magazines I found under the sofa.”
