I have now been living in my girlfriend’s house with her mum and her brother for nearly two months. My lifestyle has changed a lot. I now definitely don’t have any time to hang out with my friends down by the city pillar in Paknam anymore. I spend most of my time either at work or my girlfriend’s house looking after my daughter.

My girlfriend and I moved around a lot after the baby was born until finally we decided to live at her mum’s house. I was a bit nervous and scared with the idea at first because I didn’t think I would be comfortable living with my future mother-in-law. But I didn’t say anything to Tai at all because I didn’t want to upset her.

After we moved in, the first few weeks turned out the way I thought. I felt really uncomfortable and really unhappy. I mostly stayed in our bedroom, only coming out to take a bath and to go to work. But I had no choice really; I had to live with it for the sake of Tai and my daughter. They felt comfortable and happy here, so I figured that it would be OK for me to be miserable.

It wasn’t because my mother-in-law is a bad adult or anything like that, but it’s just because of her face and how she acts. For me, she seems to be moody and unhappy all of the time but really she isn’t. Tai told me that it’s her mum’s normal face. She always acts and looks like that because she has to run a company from home and look after most of the things by herself. She is also a single parent. Too many things to do basically. I quite understand about it even though I still felt really uncomfortable.

Tai had tried to fix this problem but it wasn’t an easy one especially about her mum face! Tai told me to come out of the bedroom more often. It isn’t easy when you are in someone else’s house, especially when you sort of ruined that someone’s daughter’s life. I tried my best to do everything Tai said. I even tried to stay alone with her mum and help her look after Grace.

When it came to the fourth week, I started to feel like I was more at home. I started to do other things such as cooking and playing around with Tai’s younger brother. It turns out that Au and I get along very well. The three of us often go out on my bike to rent some VCD movies to watch on the computer together. I also found out that Tai’s mum is not around much because she has to go out a lot for her business. She makes children’s clothes for export. I also figured out that she would definitely like me if I help with chores and other things around the house.

This week was the first time I saw a smile on my mother-in-law’s face. It’s all because Tai and Au helped me clean the house and do the chores. I know how she feels after working hard all day and coming back to see a mess around the house. I wouldn’t want that to happen to me for sure.

Let me tell you that really it isn’t so bad. My future mother-in-law is quite kind and generous. I started to realise that since I came out from the bedroom and helped with things around the house! Plus Tai and Au are really helpful with everything. I can now say that I really feel that I am part of their family and that Tai’s mum is really starting to like me a lot now after all the hard work I have done to please her! I definitely have to keep it up, right? I wish it was like this with my own parents. Maybe it is time that I started to mend some bridges with them.

This story was originally published in the Bangkok Post.