Marriage Money and Betrayal in Thailand

I am retired and found I had a lot of time on my hands. I am well off not super rich but very comfortable. My wife passed away 9 years prior to my retirement. Upon retirement I decided to travel globally. I did travel quite a bit. Somehow Thailand never even hit my radar until a friend of mine suggested I check it out. I’m from the United States. I did little or no research and decided to travel to Thailand and meet with my friend a fellow American in Bangkok. I was flying blind having no idea what to expect. Believe it or not I had not heard much of anything about Thailand at that point. I made plans and booked the trip all within a week or so. I briefly skimmed over a Lonely Planet tour book of Thailand on the long flight.

My friend met me at Bangkok Airport and we immediately took a taxi to Pattaya. I saw nothing of Bangkok at first. My friend had a condo in Pattaya near Second Road he traveled to Thailand quite frequently staying for long periods of time. His condo was a small studio type place so I checked into a local hotel. This was pre pandemic 2014. The next day my friend hired a car and we traveled back to Bangkok along with his Thai girlfriend to see the sites. I had a wonderful time seeing the Grand Palace going on a river cruise and taking thrilling rides in Bangkok’s crazy tuk tuks through congested Bangkok streets. I loved it.

Day three we returned to Pattaya. My friend and his girlfriend took me to a massage parlor along Second Road. I had a Thai style massage the one where they stretch your muscles. It felt wonderful. I was stunned at how inexpensive it was in fact how inexpensive everything was compared to the United States. The next day I was alone as my friend and his girlfriend had to go to the Thai registry office. I spent a lot of time at the pool and later decided to go for another massage. The same massage parlor was directly across the street from my hotel. I requested the same massage lady. Her name was Chantana. She was very nice and friendly and we hit it off. I asked her if she could join me for a coffee. She had to work but agreed to meet me later for a meal.

That is how it started. Chantana would work during the day and we would meet late in the afternoon. Against my friend’s advice I spent the remainder of my vacation hanging out with Chantana. She and I had a great time. Finally it was time for me to return home. I left Thailand said my goodbyes to her. She never asked me for any money during this first stay. I would buy her clothes and small gifts while out shopping. She was very sweet with a kind disposition. We kept in touch through Skype.

I returned to Thailand the next month having nothing holding me to America since my wife passed away. Dating was not good in the States. I found American women my age bitter and very high maintenance. I returned to Pattaya and decided to stay longer this time. Previously I had met some Western expats mostly at the pool and a local gym I used. They were from all over the UK America Europe and Australia. They took it upon themselves to break me in and show me the ropes. I wanted to spend more time with Chantana without her working. They suggested that I offer her a monthly stipend but not exceeding 20000 Baht ($600). She agreed and we stayed together. I was able to use my friend’s condo as he had returned to America. Chantana and I traveled to Chiang Rai and Hua Hin during my 3 month stay.

She was a wonderful companion and it filled a void I had after my wife passed away. There were certainly as you call it aerobics which was very good but I really thrived on the companionship aspect of the relationship. I missed that.

A Marriage Warning Ignored

Fast forward I was quite smitten with Chantana and I fell in love with her. I had to return to America to sort out some family affairs. I asked Chantana to marry me and she accepted. We planned to marry as soon as I returned from America. Both my friend in America and my newfound expat friends tried to warn me against it. They related some of the horror stories that happened in relationships with Thai women who work in bars go go clubs and massage shops. I was too love blind to see it. They told me not to get legally married under Thai law but rather to get married in a traditional Thai Buddhist wedding. I’m glad I heeded their advice.

I cleared my affairs in America and returned with the intent of obtaining a long term retirement visa. A little more background here I was 62 years old and Chantana was 45. I thought that wasn’t a wide age gap. Upon returning to Thailand we arranged to travel to Chantana’s village in Isaan and that is when the trouble began.

I met the family and we had a traditional Thai Buddhist wedding. It was very nice with the whole village attending. Originally I had thought I would like to live there it was a peaceful and simple life I liked that but the family became a problem. They were very greedy and selfish. I soon realized that they regarded me as a cash cow or as you say a walking ATM. Chantana had a young son 12 years old. This boy was the most obnoxious spoiled kid I’ve ever met. Her mother and sister took care of him while Chantana worked in Pattaya. The family used many variations of the ‘sick water buffalo’ scam. I decided that living there was not going to work and decided to return to Pattaya with my new wife. The trouble focused on the sin sod (as they call it) or the dowry (as we call it).

I was told that I must give 1 million Baht but it was for show and would be returned after the ceremony. After the wedding I decided to open an account at Bangkok Bank under both of our names and deposit that 1 million Baht (approximately $30000). I did this to show Chantana I was committed to our relationship. It was a symbolic act on my part.

Upon moving back to Pattaya we rented a larger condo in the Jomtien area. Apparently Chantana was still getting pressure from her greedy family. I decided that I would more than double her monthly allowance from 20000 Baht to 45000 Baht (approximately $1300). I understood from my various expat friends that this was a lot of money for a Thai woman from Isaan. To me it wasn’t. My reasoning was I would make this the ceiling and she would have to live within it. I even had a British woman who spoke fluent Thai explain the conditions of this increase to her. Although Chantana spoke fair English I wanted to be sure she fully understood. I simply did not want to be annoyed or bothered with the family’s constant demands for money. I felt that 45000 Baht was sufficient for Chantana to navigate her family’s demands.

Shortly after that she started secretly removing sums of money from that joint account. 45000 Baht per month was not enough to satisfy her greedy family. She was withdrawing money and not telling me about it. I find dishonesty in a relationship unacceptable. After all I provided everything Chantana needed all she needed to do was ask. This situation made me very angry and hurt. I decided to remove myself from this marriage and relationship based on the dishonesty of Chantana and her family problems. I gave her a small sum of money and returned home.

Greed and Family Pressure

In retrospect I feel sort of bad and even a bit guilty about how things turned out. I exposed her and her family to money and finances that overwhelmed them triggering their greed. I exposed Chantana and her poor Isaan family to temptation. I should have taken complete control of the family’s finances and had the family come directly to me for money requests which I could approve or deny. I was just lazy and did not want the bother of dealing with the family and this put pressure on Chantana to provide. I think that in many of these Thai Western relationships the sudden infusion of wealth and money to these poor Isaan Thai women and their families brings out the worst in them. I’m back in the USA now and involved in a happy relationship. I will visit Thailand again as overall it was a good experience.

Story Two The Easter Egg Disaster and Airport Sickness

My name is Bernie and I just wanted to share a couple of humorous stories though they were not at the time for me relating to my first and latest trips to Thailand. Just warning viewers that they might not want to listen to the latter story whilst eating their dinners.

1990 having finished uni in the north of England I made the choice to immigrate to Australia. Over the next 18 months I duly saved to place myself in a position to do some traveling en route. My intention was to fly to Bangkok visit Chiang Mai to do some trekking and spend the next 3 months traveling overland to Bali. I’d never been to Thailand before and with excitement I packed my backpack and flew to Bangkok in 1992 at the age of 28. Arriving at the old Don Mueang Airport on a tight budget I looked for the cheapest transportation into Bangkok. I booked a minibus and when asked which hotel I said ‘I don’t have one just drop me off at Khao San Road’ which I knew to be the backpackers’ area. Anyway I jumped on the minibus which was rammed full of people.

We proceeded around Bangkok dropping everyone off at their hotels while I looked on. Unfortunately I was the last stop and nearly 2 hours later after a 12 hour flight I was extremely tired. Arriving at Khao San Road I just needed some sleep. I jumped out of the minibus and went to get my backpack. There was my nice blue backpack at the back of the van well it was blue but it wasn’t mine.

I was in a state of despair by this stage but given that I had all my important documents on me in a money belt I thought ‘I’ll just wear the clothes inside this backpack for the next 3 months.’ I opened it up to see that it was full of girls’ clothes. I said to the driver ‘Look you’re going to have to retrace our steps and go to the hotels and see if we can find this girl.’ Back in the van we go and had no luck at the first hotel but when we pulled up at the second hotel the girl was sitting outside with my backpack and nearly started crying with joy when she saw me. I was so happy too.

So back to Khao San Road we go and after maybe 5 hours after arriving at the airport and feeling somewhat sorry for myself I finally checked into an absolute dive of a backpackers’ hotel just a hard bed and four concrete walls with a shower in the corner. And note at this point before I left the UK my sister gave me a wrapped present and told me to wait until I got to Asia to open it. My sister worked as a secretary for Cadbury and yes I’m sure you can guess what the present was. Chocolate. An Easter egg in fact. You can imagine after being in the back of a hot minibus for 3 hours what had happened to it. Opening my bag there was chocolate everywhere all over my clothes all over my Lonely Planet travel books etc. Everything. I was not happy.

Cursing my sister for giving me such a stupid present I proceeded to throw chocolate all over the walls of this cesspit of a room. Anyway I thought ‘Leave it until tomorrow to sort it out as I need to sleep.’

Patpong After the Disaster

After a few hours’ sleep I got a tuk tuk to Patpong which was by then coming to the end of its glory days I guess but was still exciting compared to how it is now. I went into a normal beer bar and ordered a beer. A girl sitting at the bar said hello and put her hand on my leg. After a few minutes she asked me if I wanted to go to a hotel room. Without hesitation I said yes. I was very naive and rushed into it but after what had happened I just needed some fun. The following morning a Swedish girl saw me eating breakfast at the hotel and must have sensed I was feeling a bit lost and overwhelmed. She suggested I fly to Koh Samui which I did a few hours later and then proceeded on my travels through southern Thailand Sumatra Java and onto Bali.

The trip worked out great in the end. After that first crazy day I never made it to Chiang Mai on that trip.

Moving 28 years to March 2020 with several trips to Thailand in between I took a small business trip to Vietnam and included a side trip to Thailand. After arriving in Bangkok I caught a flight to Koh Samui for a few days. I stayed at Lamai Beach where I had been in 1992. Although the beaches are still beautiful for me Samui has lost its charm that I fell in love with all those years ago and become more of a tourist mecca. I left Lamai very early around 500 AM I think as I had an early flight to Bangkok en route to Ho Chi Minh City. After checking in I had a little time on my hands and went into the business lounge which I had access to through my credit card and this is when my day started to go wrong.

They had some open sandwiches which I thought given it was a business lounge must be safe. So I ate a couple. How wrong I was.

On the flight to Bangkok I started to feel somewhat ill. Upon arrival at the terminal I got my bags and realized I needed to lie down and I had plenty of time before my next flight to Vietnam although this was flying out of Don Mueang Airport. I found a bench and lay down for about an hour before venturing to get a taxi to the airport. In the taxi I was feeling really rough at this point. I was encouraging the driver to hurry up or I was going to throw up in the back of his taxi. I managed to make it to the airport with the contents of my stomach still in place. This was at the time when COVID was really starting to become a worldwide concern.

Inside the terminal there was a long queue for Air Asia. I joined the queue feeling pretty awful at this point. One of the Air Asia staff came along asking if anyone was flying to Vietnam. I said yes and she directed me to a different queue as I had to fill in an online declaration for the Vietnam immigration. I explained that I had done this the night before but she said I needed to do it again as things were changing by the hour. Anyway I went through that process again and then queued up to check my bags in. As I was checking in I realized I couldn’t hold on anymore. There was a bin behind the lady checking me in which was full of paper and baggage tags etc. To the shock of the check in lady I leapt over the baggage scales and ran behind her and grabbed her bin.

Sick at the Airport

I was violently sick into this bin. She asked me if I was okay to which I explained no. She said to go to the toilets clean up and return when I was ready.

The terminal was packed. I walked across the concourse to the toilet with the bucket. On the way I heaved up at least three times into this bucket. People were looking at me stunned and running to get out of my way. Who knows what they were thinking given that we were in the early stages of COVID and people weren’t really aware of the symptoms. Pretty embarrassing stuff but when you are in that state you don’t really care. When I got to the toilets I looked in the mirror and I was as white as a sheet soaked from head to foot in a sweat and shaking uncontrollably. I emptied the contents of the now full bin into the toilet had a wash and cleaned myself up before returning to the checking counter.

I thought ‘There is no way she’ll let me check into the flight after that.’ But typical Thai fashion she was so nice about it asking me if I was okay and checked me in.

Heading through security there was a temperature check which I thought I had no chance of getting through but amazingly I did. Again I had access to the business lounge so went in there but I was in no fit state to take advantage of the buffet. I couldn’t even swallow a mouthful of water. As the flight grew nearer I thought I’d better go to the toilet and put my fingers down my throat as I was fearing being sick on the aircraft. I watched the toilets waiting for an opportunity when no one was in there. I went in and there were two empty cubicles. I went into one and tried to make myself sick nothing happened except for the awful pain of dry reaching in my stomach. I was leaning over the toilet when someone came in and went into the next cubicle.

Timing to perfection at that point my stomach decided to unload its contents again. God knows what the guy in the next cubicle thought as I was making lots of loud painful retching noises. I went out to the washbasin to wash my face but couldn’t stop myself again throwing up this time into the basin. Luckily the man stayed in the cubicle during this time probably in fear. I ran out of the toilets as quickly as possible and straight out of the business lounge in fear that the guy from the toilets would make eye contact with me.

My flight to Vietnam was awful as you can imagine sweating and shaking but thankfully I didn’t throw up again. When I finally got to my hotel in Ho Chi Minh City it was about 900 PM and I just collapsed onto the bed. Probably the longest day of my life. And 2 days later I was 100% fit again.

Story Three The Long Road Love Lies and a Poolside Betrayal

Back in the early 1980s when I was about 23 years old my friend and colleague asked me what I was planning for my Christmas break. I told him I had no plans and would just do the normal holiday thing of going home for Christmas catching up with family and friends and probably getting drunk every day. He suggested that we should take a holiday overseas together and go to Thailand and the Philippines. I had never been overseas at this stage and had never thought about it much before but I was interested in doing something different and agreed. A few weeks later we got our passports went to a travel agent to book the flights and accommodation.

The travel agent created our itinerary a night in Bangkok transfers to a beach town called Pattaya for a week then back to Bangkok for another night then a flight to the Philippines for a week then back to Australia. Bear in mind that was back in the days when there was no internet or much advice readily available to draw on about many of the pitfalls. Also at that stage I was not overly interested in Asian culture or the women and had heard a few horror stories about guys who had married them so I was cautious but still happy to have an adventure.

Christmas holidays eventually came around along with a New Year. My friend arrived at my home a day before the flight and we headed off to the airport the next day. The flight to Thailand was about 11 hours long but I had no complaints as the aircraft was virtually empty and the drinks were complimentary. After a few hours my friend went to sleep so I went to the rear of the aircraft to look out of the window and stretch my legs. A hostess joined me and gave me some drinks. She explained that the aircraft was virtually empty as they were picking up a lot of passengers on the return leg. Eventually the aircraft touched down and I staggered off with my friend into a wall of heat humidity and aircraft fumes at the taxiway gates of the old Don Mueang Airport. Eventually we were in a minibus heading into our hotel.

Checked in and found a nightclub in the hotel itself which was packed. The next morning with a horrible hangover we went outside exploring. Later that day we went back on a bus and headed for the beach town of Pattaya.

A few hours later we arrived at the Montien Hotel I’m not sure what it is called nowadays but it was a very nice luxury hotel on Beach Road with gardens tennis courts and a huge pool. Not long after checking in we were off to explore Beach Road. Firstly I looked at the beach itself and though it was tropical I was somewhat disappointed. There was virtually no surf and the sand was not as soft as it is in Australia. I recall also that the beach mostly had large shady trees rather than the palm trees seen there these days.

Next we walked down Beach Road. It was a long walk on a narrow uneven footpath. The afternoon was very hot and we thought it’s time for an ice cold beer. One of the beachfront bars had a few attractive women waving to us to come inside so we complied. The bar owner was an attractive 30 something lady and seemed to take an interest in me. I was more interested in one of her other girls who was absolutely beautiful and she was about my age. For the purpose of this story I will call the bar owner Lee and the stunning girl Som. After a couple more beers we headed further down Beach Road. In those days there wasn’t much activity on the side streets of Beach Road but Beach Road itself was just madness with more bars beer complexes massage parlors and lots of pretty women.

A Night Out With Kim

The colors the noise the excitement were awesome. We found a bar complex that did Thai boxing and watched some of that. We also found a nice bar with music videos and decided to have a few beers there. At one bar I met a cute girl called Kim. Kim came back with me to my hotel for drinks. On the way we passed the first bar where we had met Lee and Som. Som spotted me and started pointing at me with a look of disappointment. The next morning I took Kim for breakfast gave her about 400 or 500 Baht for her taxi and as a tip and said goodbye.

The next day we did the same bar crawl again and dropped into Lee’s bar. I noticed that Som was nowhere to be seen and I asked Lee as to her whereabouts. Lee said it was Som’s day off and that I should not be interested in her as she was ‘a little crazy.’ I thought Lee was possibly trying her luck with me anyway. I wanted to move on but my friend wanted to stay at Lee’s. I decided to explore by myself and headed back down to the bar where I had met Kim. Kim was there but she couldn’t go with me tonight as her sister was visiting but she still wanted me to pay for her bar fine. I thought ‘Yeah sure I’m a mug’ and said see you later. I then found another beer complex and a nice little English bar called Dave’s Great Britain Bar.

As I grabbed a beer and was chatting with Dave who was a really nice guy I felt a dig in my back. It was Som standing there with a beer in her hands and a big Thai smile on her face. It really was her day off and she wasn’t with another guy as I had thought. Som joined me and we started a drinking session together. Her English wasn’t great but we could still manage a conversation. Dave knew Som she used to work at the bar. His Thai wife had brought Som from Isaan nearly a year ago. I asked Dave why Som had stopped working at his bar. Dave told me that Som got a much better offer from Lee which he couldn’t match. I tried finding out more about Som from Dave. Dave gave her a pretty good report card.

After that Som and I became an item and I spent the remaining time in Pattaya with her. She didn’t go back to Lee’s bar while I was there and I did not pay any more bar fines and she never asked for anything. When I left Pattaya she wanted to go to Bangkok with me. I reluctantly said no but promised I would come back to see her again. I gave her about 1800 Baht as she needed help with some bills. I then left Pattaya. A couple of weeks later my friend and I were back in Australia. I couldn’t get Som out of my mind. A few weeks later a letter turned up from Som so we started writing to each other. I went back to see her in Pattaya again; it was great.

I noticed she was a little flirty with other guys when we were around and she had a very short fuse losing her temper if I said the wrong thing. I put this down to the ‘craziness’ of Pattaya and thought we should get away. We went to her province where I met her family. That was a real experience rural Thai life wooden houses on stilts in a palm tree forest environment. There was a big town about 15 minutes away by car from her village and we went there to break up the monotony of village life. In those days many of the locals would just stop and stare at you with kids yelling ‘Farang!’ The town had a large US Air Force presence many years during the Vietnam War but that had long since passed and foreigners had become a rarity.

I suspect though these days foreigners are back and plentiful.

Warnings on the Flight to Isaan

On one trip back to Thailand I thought I would surprise Som and arrive a couple of days earlier. On the flight from Bangkok to Isaan I met an elderly American man who used to be a correspondent during the Vietnam War and was now living in Thailand. He was the first to warn me about Thai women and how many already have children and some are even still married to Thai men even though they are dating foreigners but he did make a point of stating that these girls normally work in bars and massage parlors. This raised my suspicions again and I was even more keen to arrive at the village unannounced. I arrived and found Som in her garden. She went to have a shower and while I was waiting in her room I noticed a pile of letters sitting in one of her open cabinet drawers.

I pulled them out and noticed they were all mine except for a couple. I quickly started reading the others that were not mine to find out that she had been in contact with other men at the same time as me. The letters were all lovey dovey from foreign men saying how much they enjoyed their time with her and they were looking forward to coming back to see her again. When she came out of the shower I confronted her with this. She looked in horror at me snatched the letters from me and started tearing them up. At this stage I wasn’t totally surprised but now I knew I had competition for her.

Over the next few days I sought reassurance from her that she was not married she had no children she understood that I was not rich and I didn’t live in a big house and she would remain loyal and honest to me from now on. She agreed with this and we both agreed to get married. The marriage in the village came and went and for the rest of the holiday we were racing around getting her passport applying for a marriage visa doing all the health background and criminal checks and translations. Finally all the paperwork was in order and submitted and I returned to Australia. Shortly after that all the paperwork was approved and I organized a flight for Som to travel to Australia. All going to plan. When she arrived in Australia she had the smallest bag not even a cabin suitcase.

My holidays were all but spent so I only had a couple of days to show her around Sydney before I needed to go back to work. Som was a very hot looking girl and wherever we went I would often notice other men taking a second look at her as we passed. Sometimes I would also catch her exchanging glances with them.

Soon she told me that she was pregnant which was a hell of a shock as I also planned to do many things as a couple before we started having a family. I also crunched the numbers and the due date for the birth did not coincide with my last trip with her. We continued building up our home and her English was improving dramatically. For entertainment we would often go to a club for dinner and drinks. I noticed she had a particular interest in gaming machines and after trying a few she was a natural and very lucky. These machines would become her addiction in the coming years. The birth date came and my family moved near to my house to provide assistance and support if required during the night of the birth of my first child.

I got a telephone call from her much older sister who was in the USA she had married an American and Som had managed to make contact with her again since arriving here in Australia. My mother answered the call and passed the phone to me. Her sister asked ‘Where is Som?’ I told her she was in the hospital with our newly born baby boy. The sister then angrily said ‘Who was that who answered the phone?’ I told her what was happening. She sort of accepted it and said ‘Wow another boy for Som. That makes three now.’ I was stunned. How many things had she also lied to me about? Anyway with that little nugget under my belt I did not let it depress me on such a happy occasion.

A Painful Diagnosis

A couple of years pass without too many dramas. Som still had a hot and cold personality which was like flicking a light switch. She loved going out with her newfound Thai friends drinking and eating like all the Thais do. One day we got a message that her father had passed away. I didn’t have much money but I gave to Som to go back to Thailand with. When she returned she soon fell pregnant with my daughter. I received a message from her doctor during one of the regular pregnancy checkups. I was told that I had to be tested for sexual diseases more to the point syphilis because Som already had it. My son who was 2 years old already and I both got tested and proved negative. When confronted with the facts Som in typical Thai fashion was in denial then anger then blame.

Eventually she conceded that she must have caught it from a toilet seat back in Thailand. I realized this was complete nonsense but what could I do? My daughter was born and although I had doubts about being her biological father I would be a good father to her. I’ve never had my daughter DNA tested to this date because it would only cause problems. Secondly she has many of my Western characteristics both in personality and physical features so if she was someone else’s child then they must have been very similar to me. Although this gave me some peace of mind it did not resolve the ‘toilet seat’ issue.

Fast forward about 12 to 13 years and both our children are at school. Som has found work at a nearby factory and I have a new job. For our nights out Som often went with her work friends where she would have a couple of beers with me at a local pub then move on to the club so she could play the gaming machines. I didn’t like those gaming machines so I would give some money and stay at the pub with my old friends for a few more beers. Later when I felt I had had enough I would go via the club to see how Som was doing. It was not unusual to see her playing the machine and a guy trying to chat her up. I honestly think that she enjoyed the attention the flattery and the free drinks.

When I walked up she would always greet me with a smile and introduce me to her newfound friends and strangers. I would secretly smile at the stranger’s obvious disappointment. Mostly she would follow me home or stay for a few more drinks and come home a little while later.

One time Som organized a barbecue for her work friends at her place on a Saturday evening. Her friends were a few Thais Filipinos and mostly other Aussie riffraff. I got to invite one of my old football friends from the pub so I was not left by myself to try and engage in conversations with her friends that I didn’t know so well. Some got on really well with my friend so all was good. The party was not supposed to start until about 600 PM but the football was on the TV at about 400 PM so my friend and I settled in for a few beers to watch the game. As the night progressed about 20 people turned up and it was going well. The football was a double header two games so I was continuing to drink throughout the barbecue.

At around 1030 PM I was smashed and could barely walk. I decided to call it a night and said goodbye to everyone. Some helped me to bed upstairs where I crashed out.

Poolside Betrayal

I woke up very groggy and thirsty and went to the bathroom to get some water. It appeared like the party had finished as I couldn’t hear any noise in the backyard. When getting back into bed I noticed Som was not there and it was nearly 200 AM. I then threw some clothes on and went downstairs. The balcony lights were still on but nobody was around. It was still quite warm and as I walked out of the rear door towards the pool I noticed movement on the poolside sofa. I could see two naked people with their faces stuck together. It was my friend with Som underneath him. I yelled at them ‘What the f*** do you think you are doing?’ The irony of that question didn’t hit me until later because it was exactly what they were doing.

I threw their discarded clothes at them and ordered my friend out of the property. He was trying to say sorry and giving lame excuses like ‘I’m really drunk etc.’ but I would have none of this. Som ran into the house crying and I locked the bedroom door. I didn’t get any sleep after that and felt terrible the next day.

When Som eventually arose I asked her for a divorce. She said no way and pleaded for forgiveness. I then moved out of the house for a few months ensuring that the kids were looked after they did not need to know. Eventually after constant pleading from her I returned back home and things are back to normal again. If it wasn’t for the children I would have definitely left her a long time ago. I don’t know how many boyfriends Som has had in her life even after we were married and frankly I don’t care anymore. Life is too short.