A year ago when I was still single, I told a close friend that I wished for a man who could sometimes "discipline" me in life. Now, I am paying the price. Being married for only a few weeks, my husband has started pressing his "discipline button" to let me know what a marriage means.

Last week, a male friend who had just returned from abroad, invited me to dinner, and gave me a hongbao (red envelope), since he was not at my wedding. We hadn't seen each other in a long time and had been talking for more than two hours, when my phone rang.

"It's almost 11 pm and you are still out. You are married!" my husband reminded me on the other end, his voice seasoned with discontent.

A little awkward, I apologized to my friend and returned home as fast as I could.

I felt half wronged and half guilty, and spoke to a female colleague about it. She comforted me somewhat saying that her husband even set a curfew for her after they got married. Very recently, he banned her from going to a bar like her single friends usually do, "because you are married."

Ironically, what we are suffering now, was exactly what I envied when I was single. While at a party until late, some friends used to get caring phone calls from their husbands or boyfriends asking them to return home. Some friends would complain that the calls were annoying and depriving them of their freedom. At the time, I was just sitting there, completely undisturbed. Freedom tasted so dull that I wished I was also being repeatedly called by a caring significant other. 

My colleague also thinks that discipline in marriage is not a bad thing, although she admitted that not all relationships welcome discipline.

A friend of mine and her boyfriend have their own relationship rules. They only meet at weekends, while during the week, phone calls are the only means of contact. "We play in our separate circles and neither  'controls' the other," she said.

I respect their choice, but marriage is marriage. After all, it was the original intention of our ancestors that marriage be created for constraint.

I think there should be some differences for people in and outside the wall of marriage - with more discipline in the latter. So, I embrace my choice to be confined a little, and don't regret my wish.

This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times.