Chapter 1

I'm a single mom accompanying my son abroad for his studies. To properly guide him through adolescence, I made a bizarre agreement with another Japanese expat mom. Half a year later, I unexpectedly got pregnant...

Late at night, muffled sounds seeped from the bathroom, hot and shameful.

Through the crack in the door, I saw my son fixated on his phone, watching something that made his pulse race. One hand pressed my bra against his nose, inhaling deeply, while the other moved frantically...

My son had just turned eighteen—prime age for raging hormones. Physical urges were normal.

But this wasn’t the first time I’d caught him. Over the past month, it had only gotten worse.

If he kept this up without restraint, his health would suffer.

That night, after he fell asleep, I secretly checked his phone. Every video he’d watched recently featured violent, criminal, or abusive themes.

This couldn’t go on. His mind would warp if it continued.

I realized the severity of the situation and wanted to talk openly with him, to guide him properly.

But as his mother, broaching this topic was mortifying. He was grown now—what if I hurt his pride?

When I divorced three years ago, it had already shaken him. Since then, I’d devoted myself to accompanying him abroad, managing his daily life.

Being a single mother wasn’t easy. And at my age, denying my own needs would be a lie.

On countless lonely nights, the emptiness gnawed at me, a craving for affection.

Especially this past month. The sounds from his room late at night left me restless, my own body betraying me more than once.

Lately, I’d watched him grow paler, more exhausted. If I didn’t intervene soon, things would spiral.

Just as I agonized over how to start the conversation, I thought of the woman living upstairs.