Short story translation to English
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EnglishVoice Age
Middle Aged (35-54)Accents
North American (General)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
My name is Sarah. I'm a 37 year old, stay at home mom. I've been married to my husband John for eight years. We had difficulty having Children and it took us four years of fertility treatment. But our dream finally has come true. And to our surprise, we're expecting twins. I was so overjoyed that I cried in front of my doctor. When I told my husband about my pregnancy with twins, he was over the moon. Of course, my parents were delighted too. My in-laws on the other hand, were utterly surprised. Well, isn't this something? Not only Bob, but you too, John. I wonder if we have the genes for twins running in our family? My mother-in-law said yes, indeed. My husband's younger brother, Bob also has twins. Unlike us, Bob and his wife had Children. Right after getting married, their twin boys are currently four years old and at their mischievous stage, I'm quite anxious about raising twins. So it's reassuring to have someone nearby who I can consult about parenting as the expected delivery date draws near. I struggle more with my huge belly being pregnant with a twin is anything but relaxing. It's a blessing to know that my twins have grown this much without any major issues. These twins are doing their parents a favor even before they're born. I ponder already feeling like a proud mom as I somehow manage to get the housework done. What's this? This doesn't taste right. Despite my efforts to keep up with the housework, my husband keeps complaining. I'm sorry, I couldn't taste it because I'm feeling sick. What's that about? Your morning sickness should be over by now. You should be in your stable period. Stop making excuses. There's no stable period with a twin pregnancy. Don't make excuses. You're a stay at home mom at least get your cooking right? And what's with this mess? My husband is always angry and complaining. He doesn't help with anything. He won't even take out the trash besides my husband who shows no sympathy. There's another one that stresses me out. What's with this mess just because you're pregnant doesn't mean you can slack off. I'm sorry. I've been feeling sick since morning. Seriously. Can you even give birth like that? You know, you won't be done after just popping babies. Your job as mom starts only after that. Yes, I'm aware now go fix lunch. My mother-in-law who visits every day is my biggest source of stress. My in-laws house is about a 10 minute bike ride away. My mother-in-law shows up every day around noon, nags at me. Then has me prepare lunch for her and then she continues to nag and be mean to me until she leaves a truly baffling behavior. I guess it's ok to leave my father-in-law on his own. I'm at my wits end with my mother-in-law's daily assaults. I finally brought it up with my husband. Listen, my due date is approaching and I'm thinking of going back to my parents' home. Huh? Aren't you supposed to be going to be hospitalized before your due date? Just stay here until then I'm scheduled for ac section. So I'll be admitted to the hospital a little before my due date. Yes. But we don't know when labor will start, do we? Besides honestly, it's tough having your mom over every day. What's that supposed to mean? I told my husband about the daily onslaught from my mother-in-law. He knew she was coming over every day, but he probably didn't know she stays for so long. He looked a bit surprised. Well, I understand. It might seem a bit selfish but isn't it because she feels comfortable with you? Huh? She feels like being around you. She treats you like her own daughter, doesn't she? So be a little nicer to her. Well, I could stand her before my belly got big, but now it's impossible. Don't you feel anything looking at this belly as I pointed to my enlarged belly? My husband just shrugged his shoulders. Well, I guess it is big and it might make moving around difficult do you realize how hard it is to walk with this belly? And yet your mom keeps coming over and nagging me every day. She doesn't help at all. In fact, she just bosses me around. It might lead to irreparable consequences. Are you ok with your baby being affected? Well, I certainly don't think I want that. Then please talk to your mother. If you continue to ignore me, I'll fight for myself. As I talked, my emotions ran high and words slipped out unexpectedly. Seeing my surprise, my husband's eyes widened. What's that? Are you talking about divorce if things remain as they are? Yes, I'm really at my limit if I continue to be troubled by my mother-in-law and if my husband continues to side with my mother-in-law, he probably realized I was serious about it and let out a deep sigh. I understand. Really? Really? Can't you believe me? It's not like that. But to be honest, I'm skeptical there are signs that my husband values his mother more than me. Then let's do this. Prepare the divorce papers. Wait, huh? If you think you can't trust me and it's not going to work, you can file them whenever you want. How about that? Can you believe me now? Yes. Seeing my husband's determination, I felt relieved after that, my husband actually prepared the divorce papers and seemed to have warned his mother in the end. I didn't return to my parents' place. But after that day there were no more onslaughts from my mother in law until I was hospitalized. Then I had ac section and safely gave birth to twins for a while. After that, I stayed at my parents' home somehow managing the whirlwind of first time parenthood. However, as a new mom, I was struggling to raise my twins. Then one day my husband came to visit me at my parents' place. Can you come back home soon? Huh? It hasn't even been a month yet. It's already been a month. Aren't you just having too much fun while leaving the house? Fun? I've had no such time being a mother of twins is tough. I'm enduring my painfully slow recovery from childbirth because of my advanced age and yet I'm still taking care of our kids. So what if you're old? There are plenty of people who don't return to their parents after giving birth, stop being such a baby, just come back home already after saying those harsh words behind my husband left. Didn't he come to see our kids without even properly looking at his Children or holding them? My husband left just like that while calming down my crying twins, I too became sad and shed tears not wanting to strain our marriage. I returned home, shaking off my parents who tried to hold me back. You finally came back. Do you even understand what it means to be a wife? The moment I opened the door, these were the words that came out of my mother-in-law's mouth. She was waiting for me standing there like a guardian statue. Exhausted. I found it hard to even respond. So I silently walked past my mother-in-law. Hey, don't ignore me ignoring these words as well. I entered the room and was left speechless. I can't call this place my home. Looking at the disastrous state of the house, I unwittingly muttered these words. The kitchen was piled with dishes, no space for cooking. The floor was covered with discarded clothes, garbage from empty lunch boxes and more. And to think I had just been away for about a month. Um mother-in-law, did you come here while I was away? I was here the whole time. I was worried about my son struggling alone. So you were here all the time and we still have this mess worried about your son and yet you let our room turn into a mess. Anyone would fall sick in an environment like this. And it's unsanitary for my babies. She's raised kids before. Does she not even care about basic hygiene? First, I will put my twins to sleep in the bedroom where their crib is set up. Then I started to clean up. I guess this will do for now, just when I finally finished cleaning up, when I don't even have a moment to catch a breath with my crying babies. By the time I finished cleaning the sun was already starting to set. You're finally done. You're so slow. My mother-in-law said while she sat on a chair and sipped her tea. It took everything and made not to splash her tea over her head. As my face strained while feeling my babies, my mother-in-law sat down her tea cup with a clink and looked at me saying, oh, by the way, starting this weekend, Bob's twins will be coming over. You don't mind looking after them, do you? Excuse me? I was so shocked that I had to take a long pause before responding. I mean, I didn't understand what she just said. Could you please repeat that? I said, Bob, my youngest son, the twins from his family are going to be staying with us on weekends from now on. What do you mean by that? We're doing this to give Bob and his wife a break? You're having an easy time with your own twins who just sleep all day. So it's only fair that you can do this for them, right? I don't understand what she means. I'm just dumbfounded. Um I'm not having an easy time at all. In fact, I'm so busy. I barely have time to sleep with the situation at home. Now, things are only going to be more rough. What on earth is my mother-in-law saying? What's so hard about being a stay at home mom? I'm giving you a job to do, be grateful and accept it. I can't, you just can't, because you're inefficient with housework. Don't make your incompetence an excuse. It's been decided this is a done deal with that. She left just like my husband. She states her peace and leaves without hearing me out. But now isn't the time for me to be impressed with how similar my husband is to his mother. Like mother, like son all panicked. I called my husband who should still be at work. What's up? I'm busy right now. Listen, your mom just said the most outrageous thing. She wants us to look after Bob's twins on the weekends. Oh, that you knew about this? I, I couldn't believe my husband knew about this. Why didn't you say no? Won't Bob's family having a tough time. They can't even eat out because the twins are so rowdy and they don't get any rest or time to enjoy themselves. Don't you feel bad for them? Yeah. That must be rough. But why does it mean we have to take care of them? Your mom and dad can take care of them instead. Mom and dad are too old for that. You want to put all that burden on them? You're so coldhearted. What about me? I'm already overwhelmed with taking care of our own twins. Babies are easy. They just sleep, eat sleep again. It's not that hard. Oh. And don't slack off on housework. I won't allow any excuses. Keep that in mind if you refuse. We're getting a divorce. What aren't you going to help me? No way. You want your hardworking husband to work? Even on his day off. You're a devil. There's no point in talking to them. Both. My husband and my mother in law are the absolute worst. It feels like I'm talking to a wall. I ended the call in silence. Even with all the crap that I've been enduring to my surprise. I'm still cool headed. I decided to call elsewhere. A few minutes later, having ended the call, I found myself gazing at my sleeping twins, the adorable faces of the twins gave me the courage. My husband and mother in law were solely fixated on their own interest over these cute little twins. There's not a shred of consideration for me whether they're around or not, my workload won't change. So with both my husband and mother-in-law, I've decided to completely sever ties with them that night. My phone rang, looking at the phone screen. It was from my husband. Hello? I just got home. Why aren't you here? Where are you? I'm at my parents' house. What? You came back from the hospital? Why are you still at your parents' house? I went back home once and cleaned up. It's clean now, isn't it? So why are you at your parents' house now? Because I'm fed up with you with that. I ended the call and then turned off my phone. I thought he might call my parents house. But perhaps it was awkward for him if my parents picked up. So no one came. Instead the next morning my husband showed up. Hey, Sarah, you're here, aren't you? What the **** are you thinking? To my surprise? My mother-in-law was with him. The lovely mother son duo had made their appearance. Can you have not cause a scene this early in the morning? As I responded to a displeased face? My husband yelled, what the **** do you think you're doing? Hurry up and come back home. Yes. Come back and take care of the house. What am I supposed to eat? My mother-in-law chimed in. They both teamed up and exclaimed energetically. I thought, why don't you guys go eat some grass in the yard? But it wasn't the right time to strike back. I gave a cold stare at the two who were pressing me and clearly stated my home is here. I'm not going back to the house where you guys stay. What are you saying you're getting a divorce? Yes. Matter of fact, I submitted the divorce papers last night. You said it yourself. I can turn in the papers whenever I want. If things don't work out for me, you said the same thing yesterday. That's just a figure of speech. It's just to show my determination who would even take that literally, I did. My husband seemed to be at a loss for words, Sarah, you're just mentally unstable from giving birth. Aren't you get another marriage certificate and come back if you do what you're supposed to do, I'll forgive you. My mother in law took over trying to convince me go back, take care of you and look after your other son's twins on the weekends. Is that what you want? I asked confirming what my mother-in-law wanted out of me. Of course, I declined. What did you say? First of all, does Bob know that I'm taking care of his kids? Huh? Bob didn't know that I was taking care of them. Did he upon hearing this? My mother-in-law's face turned pale in an instant. Indeed to my disbelief. My mother-in-law decided on her own to make me take care of Bob's twins. In fact, I had called Bob after I talked with my husband last night. When I explained the situation, Bob was very surprised you're already taking care of your own twins, aren't you? I wouldn't dream of burdening you with our kids too. Sure our twins can be a handful, but we love them to pieces. If we left them with you on our days off, we wouldn't get to play with them. In other words, my mother in law had taken it upon herself to assume that Bob and his wife who had casually mentioned that raising twins is hard, needed help. And so she decided to take in the twins on her own and then she tried to delegate the responsibility to me. I could never understand her. The divorce proceedings are done. Can you please leave? Now? There's no way I can accept this. My husband insists stubbornly. Can you stop already? All of a sudden I hear someone yell from behind and when I turn around, my father was standing there, dad, he was flustered. You've been saying some pretty selfish things. Have you ever helped out around the house? Do you even look after the twins at all? My husband was searching for words in response to my father's questions. I'm tired from work. Oh, yet I hear that you take breaks all the time without doing any significant work. Even when everyone else is working overtime, you always leave, work on time and yet I hear that you're always coming home late. Are you having an affair? No, no, I, I was just hanging out. Really? Now you push all the housework and childcare onto my daughter and then go have fun. You have it easy, don't you? Uh Well, that's in reality, my husband was employed at the company. My father runs while it's a small scale business. It has a fair number of employees. And among them, my husband has been loafing around acting high and mighty because he's the ceo's son in law. This fact came to light when my father conducted an internal investigation, I had believed he was working hard late into the night. So I can't believe this. I will ask you to quit the company due to your problematic behavior. There's no reason to keep someone who's not a family member any longer since you've divorced my daughter. What? No way. Get out of here. I'll give you a formal notice tomorrow. Make sure to quickly pack your things at the office early in the morning. Yeah. My husband turned pale hearing my father declare his termination. No, my ex-husband, my father turned his back on my ex husband and I was about to enter our home. My ex husband did something completely unexpected. My ex-husband forcefully pushed me to the side and tried to barge into our home. Hey, what are you doing? My ex-husband was attempted to shove my father away, move hand over my kids. If they're with you, you'll come back. Right? My ex-husband was just yelling nonsense. Don't be absurd using your own Children as a hostage. Shut up. It's because you won't come back. My ex husband was desperately trying to force his way into our home. I clung onto him trying to prevent his intrusion. My ex mother in law was frantically trying to pull me off him. My father rushed to block the front door from inside. It was utter chaos. If I let him take my Children, only the absolute worst could be waiting for us all. I screamed at the top of my lungs. Stop. Just then I thought I heard the siren of a police car approaching, followed by a sharp break noise in front of our house officer over here mom, the person who squeezed past my father and rushed out was my mother. She hurried towards the officer who had just gotten out of the police car appearing to explain the situation and then what the ****, I'm her husband, I'm her family. What is wrong with entering my mother in law's home? I'm this boy's mother. Why are you cops here? All right. All right. We'll hear your story at our office. My ex husband and ex mother in law were vigorously resisting the police's questioning and it seems they were eventually taken away. My mother who had been watching our exchange from inside the house had sent something was off and called the police. Thank you mom. I called because I thought something was wrong but to think they would try to take away the twins. They're unbelievable to try and change my feelings by taking our kids as hostage. They're awful after explaining the situation to the officer. We exchanged weary smiles later on my ex-husband and ex mother-in-law got released, but they got a restraining order from me. After discussions through a lawyer, I was able to successfully receive a lump sum payment for alimony and child support. My ex husband who had been fired from my father's company and lost all his money. Ended up living a hard life in a rundown apartment, working part time. How do I know this? Because my ex-husband sent me numerous texts repeatedly whining about his situation. I was wrong. I love you and the kids. Why was I so selfish? I've changed. Can't we start over or if you could just do the cleaning and laundry, I'll forgive you. I'll come back. I'll be waiting and so on. Even though he's saying I was wrong. Why does he end his text with? I will forgive you. It doesn't make sense. Of course, I ignored him. I got fed up and finally blocked him. I heard from my ex brother in law, Bob, that my ex mother in law had moved into my ex husband's shabby apartment. Surprisingly, my ex mother in law had apparently been asked for a divorce from my ex father in law quite some time ago, which explains why she came over to our place. So often my ex mother in law who used to pick on everything I did turned out to be a hopeless housewife who couldn't do any chores. I heard my ex and his mother are constantly fighting as neither one of them can do basic chores. My mother and brother have caused you trouble. I am so sorry, Bob apologized to me over the phone sounding sorry Bob must have inherited all my ex-father, in-law's senses, raising twins can be tough. Please don't hesitate to consult me or my wife. His supportive words made me very happy after hanging up the phone, the cries of the twins echoed throughout the house. All right. All right. I'm coming. As I peacefully watched my adorable twins grow. I feel nothing but happiness.