We discussed the housing issue even before we were married. My parents lived in a girl’s house – it’s cramped. My mother-in-law lived in a three-room apartment by herself. But it was expensive to rent an apartment.
We wanted to ask my mother-in-law to live with us, which we did. She said it was okay. However, we had no idea what we were signing up for. Though the documents said that the apartment belonged to my husband, there was only one owner there: his mother.
Before he died, my husband’s father wrote a deed of gift to his son. His wife did not mind, because she knew that she would defend her rights anyway. Why did he do this? He knew about his terminal illness and wanted to take care of his son, since his wife might remarry.
But my husband didn’t feel he was the master there. I stayed out of their business, because I was thinking about how to buy a shared apartment. For six years I lived with my mother-in-law under the same roof. All that time we had been saving every penny to finally get our own square footage.
My relationship with my husband’s mother was normal. We had no conflicts, fairly divided responsibilities and expenses. Soon we even worked out a schedule of who could use the washing machine and when.
And so finally we had the necessary amount in our hands. We had enough money for a two-bedroom apartment. Just as we were about to look for an apartment, I found out I was pregnant. We had not planned to have children so early, but fate was different. My husband offered to take out a mortgage on a three-bedroom apartment, since the baby needed a room of its own. I agreed.
All our friends and relatives came to the housewarming party, including my mother-in-law. Everyone was happy and congratulated us on the purchase. And then my mother-in-law declared:
– I am glad that you became the owners of three-room apartment, I didn’t drag you along all these years for nothing. Now I am waiting for your gratitude. I hope my son will give up his share of my apartment. If it weren’t for me, you would never have saved for your own place.
I got up and asked my mother-in-law to leave. I was so hurt that I couldn’t even find the words to respond. My husband was dumbfounded to hear that from his own mother. Why did she lie in front of people? We even took turns buying bread, we paid our utilities bill in half, as well as other bills.
We no longer want to keep in touch with this two-faced person. Thank God, the guests did not pay attention to this incident.
