She explained that she had long known about her husband’s infidelities and chosen to look the other way. She kept telling herself it was something all powerful men did and that she would accept it as long as it never affected their family name. But the double standard of unfaithful men who expected their wives to be loyal had slowly started to fester within her. Time and time again she thought of confronting him but never found the strength or the courage. She went on to tell her son that she had only been unfaithful to Steven’s father with this one person, and the humiliation of being caught by her own son shamed her to no end. She was confessing to her husband as a way to start the conversation. If he wanted the freedom to keep lovers outside their marriage, then he had to grant her the same rights, or it was time to part ways.

Steven felt empathy for his mother, and though he would normally be loath to discuss his own sex life with the woman who gave birth to him, he decided perhaps his recent experience with Lolly might be helpful. “If it wasn’t for Anna convincing Lolly to forgive me, and Lolly finding it in her heart to do so, I could have grown up to be like Dad. Things between me and Loll are the best they’ve ever been. We’re really happy now.”

“I’m happy for you, Steven,” she replied. “See? Even a young girl like Lolly respects herself enough to not put up with bad behavior. I have to put my foot down with a husband who says he loves me.”

Steven reassured his mother that it was obvious how much his father loved her, and he was sure everything would work out. It was easy for him to say, but not as easy for him to believe. Steven wished his mother would just confront her husband about his betrayals, without telling him of her own. Steven’s father’s pride was fierce, and his Korean heritage was deeply ingrained. In Korean culture, men were held in much higher regard than women and the standards of behavior were quite different. Steven suggested they should go away for the long weekend, especially as he and Anna would be in California.