A: I was surprised to hear that you’re leaving the company.
B: Oh, I’m sorry I haven’t told you.
A: Can I ask you why?
B: That’s a long story. You know my boss, right? He is the main reason, and…
In this situation, what should you say ‘that’s a long story’ in Japanese?
Casual
B：話せば長くなるんだけどね。私の上司知ってるよね？一番の原因は彼で…
Note: This is not a word-for-word translation.
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A word-for-word translation
B：それは長い話です。私の上司は知ってますよね？彼が一番の原因で…
It’s grammatically correct and natural, but we don’t say that in this situation.
話せば長くなるんだけど is the common Japanese phrase and we sometimes leave out 話せば.
If you’re not willing to tell them the reason in a similar situation, you can say まあいろいろあってね.
It’s a convenient expression and most decent people would understand your feelings and stop asking.
