I divorced my husband at the age of 30, and walked out of my husband’s house empty-handed. From that day on, my mother-in-law treated me as a traitor, turned away wherever I met, and even cursed in front of my relatives. I have never been back to that house either.

But today, the bank called me again and told me that I was the legal beneficiary of the life insurance of more than ₱7.0 milyon, left by my ex-husband. But the condition for receiving it is… I have to commit to taking care of his biological mother until the end of my life.

I was stunned, shocked by the news of my ex-husband’s death, and surprised why he left such a large amount of money to me. The bank officer also gave me a will paper, which only wrote:

“She’s the only person I trust won’t abandon my mother.”

That evening I brought the contract to her house. When she saw that I was holding a cane, she shouted:
“What are you doing here? I don’t need money, as long as you disappear!

I put an envelope on the table. In it was a stack of handwritten letters that my ex-husband had written to me for the past few years, but had never sent. The yellowed pages tell the story of how he quietly paid off my family’s debt when I was in trouble, how he hid his terminal cancer, and his earnest pleas:

“If one day you are gone, forgive your mother. You are hot-tempered, but you are the only one in your life…”

The ex-mother-in-law trembled and held each letter, tears rolling down her eyes. She turned to look at me, her voice choked up:
“If you don’t criticize… From now on, consider this your home.

I nodded, knowing that I had just received not only ₱7.0 milyon, but also an unfinished love affair.