When Mona's husband ran away with her money and left her and their kids without a roof over their heads, she had to learn how to bake to survive. As told to Azlinda Said.

During the 10 years that my husband, Jeff (not his real name) and I were together, I was a stay-at-home mother to our two children.

I'm not highly educated and was dependent on Jeff, who loved being my 'hero'. I had little savings of my own, but I was contented. We weren't rich, but neither were we poor.

Jeff worked in sales. Three years ago, he told me that he'd invested in a business overseas. Should it take off, he would be making more money than before. But he would need to travel more often, starting that weekend, to supervise the business.

I didn't question him - I was happy and excited about our future.

Long-distance love

Jeff's regular trips overseas went on for about two years. For the first few months, he only spent weekends there, coming home to the family on Sunday nights. But later, he started spending weekdays overseas too, sometimes almost the entire week. 

He said the project was taking shape and he needed to be on site. 

'Once my business takes off, I will buy us a bigger house and hire a maid to help  you with the household chores,' he promised.

I didn't suspect a thing. Jeff never ignored me or the kids when he was home, no matter how tired he was.

Our sex life wasn't affected either - we would get intimate each time he came home. I felt like our marriage was at its strongest.

Empty promises

Early last year, Jeff told me that he was quitting his sales job to concentrate on the business full-time. He also suggested selling our four-room HDB flat, to upgrade to a bigger one.

I had my reservations at first, but Jeff brushed my worries aside.

We found a buyer for our flat two months later, but had difficulty finding the ideal new home. I became worried because we had to vacate our flat in a month, but had yet to find a new place to live. Jeff promised to continue searching.

In the meantime, he asked that I transfer my share of the proceeds from the sale of our flat - a few hundred thousand - to his bank account so that he could immediately pay the downpayment fee on our new place.

I knew nothing about housing transactions, so I did as he asked. After all, we were a married couple - so my money was also his money, I thought.