Audible Review of 'My Husband's Girlfriend' | Rewriting Price Tags on an Afternoon at a Quiet General Store

▼ The book I listened to this time
Audible version of 'My Husband's Girlfriend'

The afternoon at my quiet general store was peaceful again today.

The bell at the entrance didn't ring, and Puku was curled up on the chair by the window. He looked like he was sleeping, but whenever he heard the sound of a bicycle passing outside, only his ears would twitch slightly.

I was playing Audible next to the cash register.

I was listening to Miu Kakiya's 'My Husband's Girlfriend'.

A wife who suspects her husband of cheating goes to meet the other woman. From there, the perspectives they had been seeing things from unexpectedly begin to swap.

Just hearing the synopsis, it sounds like a somewhat lively story.

However, as I continued listening, there were parts that were a bit too painful to just laugh off. Perhaps there are things we don't see precisely because we are so close to them.

As I was listening to such a scene, a small price tag I had placed next to the register fell to the floor.

When I crouched down to pick it up, the shelf near the entrance looked different than usual.

A white vase on a white shelf

The price tag was attached to a small white vase.

A white vase on a white shelf.

I had placed it there because I liked it, but when I crouched down to look, the outline of the vase melted into the shelf. Since I see it every day, I know the vase is there. But for someone entering the shop for the first time, it must be hard to tell.

Next to it, I had placed a folded piece of thin, unbleached fabric.

It was fabric I had stocked thinking it could be draped over a basket or used to cover a shelf. However, it was folded so neatly that it just looked like a square piece of cloth.

I stood up and looked at the shelf again from behind the register.

The vase I thought matched the morning light, the fabric that should look soft when used in daily life, and the glass that catches the light beautifully when filled with water—perhaps I am the only one who sees them that way.

It wasn't that the products were bad; the way they were displayed was just a bit too quiet.

Next to Puku's chair

Puku was still on the chair by the window.

"Could you lend me that spot for a moment?"

When I spoke to him, he opened only one eye.

He didn't seem inclined to lend it to me.

I gave up and sat on the round stool next to him. Looking at the shop from a slightly lower vantage point than usual, the back shelf was darker than I had thought, and the price tags on the tray near the entrance were hard to read due to the angle of the light.

Puku watches the shop from this height every day.

Perhaps he is just staying in a warm spot.

Even so, the store as seen from next to Puku's chair looked a little different from the store I see from behind the register. The store as seen from the entrance must surely look different, too.

In 'Otto no Kanojo,' people whose positions have changed begin to notice things they hadn't seen before. That feeling overlapped slightly in front of the shelf.

In front of the shelf, I was feeling a little sulky.

I had thought Puku liked this chair.

But perhaps, in truth, it wasn't the chair itself, but rather that she likes a place where she can see outside through the window. I don't know why customers stop in front of the shelf and then leave—whether it's the price, the utility, or simply that they didn't have the time.

When days go by without anyone picking up the items, I start to think maybe the products are bad, or I want to blame it on the customers' whims.

But on the shelf, the white vase remained quietly white.

Rewriting the price tags

I stopped the Audible and rearranged the shelf near the entrance a little.

I moved the white vase onto a small wooden stand. Just by placing it there, its shape became a little easier to see.

I draped the folded cloth lightly over a basket. Rather than arranging it neatly, it felt closer to how it would be used.

I also rewrote the price tags.

It's a cloth to drape slightly over shelves and baskets.

At first, I tried to write something a bit more elegant. But I stopped. If I used flowery language, my own feelings would just become too overwhelming again.

Today, I stopped once the cloth looked like a cloth.

The shopkeeper today

As I finished my work, Puku climbed down from the chair.

He walked past the vase, sniffed the cloth draped over the basket, and then came over to the side of the register as if nothing had happened.

I don't know if I passed or failed.

Cats don't give critiques on store improvements.

In the evening, the bell at the entrance rang.

The customer who entered paused for a moment in front of the vase. They didn't go as far as picking it up, but they brought their face close to it and looked over the shelf.

I let out a small, quiet breath from behind the register.

After the customer left, Puku climbed onto the round stool I had been sitting on just a moment ago. From there, he stared intently around the shop, and after a while, he blinked slowly.

His face looked a little bit like a shopkeeper's, so I watched him in silence until the ink on the price tags dried.

My thoughts after listening to 'My Husband's Girlfriend' on Audible

Miu Kakiya's 'My Husband's Girlfriend' is a story where the perspectives of a wife who suspects her husband of cheating and the woman he is involved with shift in unexpected ways.

After finishing it, it was the kind of book that made me want to look at my usual shelves from a slightly lower angle. While it would be great to read carefully in a physical book, this story also fit well with the time spent listening while minding the shop or doing chores.

The work page is here. If you are already an Audible member, you can listen directly from the work page.

▼ Listen to the Audible version of 'My Husband's Girlfriend'

← Previous Table of Contents Next →

▼ 'Cafune' Audible Review

▼ 'Monthly Income' Audible Review

▼ Audible Review of 'Tsubaki Bunguten'

▼ Audible Review of 'Itsumo Kanji ga Ii Hito wa Konna Fu ni Hanashiteiru'

▼ Audible Review of 'Koroshiya no Eigyojutsu'

▼ Audible Review of 'Otto no Kanojo'

▼ Audible Review of 'Fukushu wa Gohoteki ni'

▶ The Variety Store Owner and Puku's Wardrobe

I write about choosing my clothes every morning on a separate account.

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#MiuKakiya #Novel #Reading #LifeWithCats #VarietyStore