Not everyone likes a cheater. If you don't then this one is for you.
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I can't remember when I first had my suspicions. My wife, Freya, and I had been married for about five years. We met just after we had finished university. We were both at her friend's birthday party, and her friend's boyfriend was a good friend of mine. I am pretty sure I was invited so they could match us both up as I was introduced to Freya almost as soon as I arrived and before I knew it, we were alone.
I knew nobody at the party but Freya and I hit it off immediately and talked most of the night. When got me was her smile and the way her eyes sparkled when she did. The warmth and friendliness of it was intoxicating and I never got tired of seeing it. As we dated, I began to notice that her eyes only sparkled for me. We exchanged numbers and arranged to meet for coffee the next day which turned into the whole day. A year later we moved in together and two years after that we were married.
I think her behaviour began to change when she got a new job about two years after we got married. She was unhappy in her job and she felt her career wasn't progressing. I, of course, encouraged her. I could see her eyes sparkled less and her job was getting her down.
"How was your first day?" I asked her when she got home when she had started her new job. The sparkle returned to her eyes when she smiled. She didn't answer. She just took me upstairs and we made love.
After she settled into her new job, Freya became very career driven. She got a couple of promotions in quick successions and soon she was earning more than me. When I mentioned that my supervisor was leaving, Freya asked me if I was going to go for it.
"Come on, Charlie. You could easily lead your team," she encouraged me. My lack of enthusiasm annoyed her.
The problem was while Freya had become career driven, I was very much a work-to-live kind of guy and any leadership role held no interest for me, and I had an intense dislike of office politics. Don't get me wrong I earnt very good money, plenty to fund my lifestyle, and have some left over. I was content to stay in my system administration role especially as I was always able to earn enough to travel, we went away several times a year, exploring different countries. I loved adventures and I loved having them with Freya. Freya loved them too and loved having them with me as well, or so I thought.
Things started to get awkward when Freya started to have calls from work, and attended conference calls while we were away. Then she took her work laptop on our trips and insisted that we stayed in a hotel with wifi.
"I need to take this call," she would say. "This is a very important meeting," or "You go on ahead, I need to get this done. We can meet for lunch."
We began to argue about her work. I was happy she was enjoying her job but it was eating into our time together and worst of all when she looked at me, her eyes stopped sparkling.
At this stage, I didn't think she was having an affair at least if she was, it was with her work. With her latest promotion, she often had to work late, conference calls with the American office, and business trips away. I know what you are thinking but her job did require her to do these things. My biggest worry was if she was going to be offered a job in New York. I knew she would take it and that would have the end of our marriage.
Yes, we were drifting apart but I still loved her, despite her long hours at work, business trips, and having little time for me.
I said I wasn't sure when I had my first suspicions but as I speak, now I do. My company got taken over and I knew I was going to be made redundant. I didn't mind so much despite the financial uncertainty. Freya was earning enough for the both of us to live on, and I was going to get a pretty good redundancy package so I could still contribute at home while I looked for a new job. It just meant my travelling would have to stop for a while after I lose my job.
However, because of my length of service, I was asked to help transfer all the servers to the new company. This meant I needed to be away from home for the odd week. About this time Freya began talking about a colleague who had been seconded to her office from her New York office. She couldn't stop singing his praises as she excitedly talked about how funny he was, how popular with the ladies and all the cliches that came with it.
"He is so ambitious," she told me driving the dagger into me.
Yes, you know where this is going but this story is about how Freya's life crumbled by cheating on me not how she cheated. You only need to know this for context.
Well, when I returned from my trips away, she would insist that I call before I left for home, and when I got home the bedsheets were always in the washing machine. I know, I know, the red flags were building up but although I was getting worried, there wasn't enough for me to suspect an affair just yet.
However, our intimacy which had dwindled now became nonexistent. Freya would only give me the briefest of kisses. While she used to talk about this American colleague all the time, she now stopped. She jealously guarded her phone and wanted to know when I was next going to be away.
I was now positive she was cheating on me.
Two things now. Never cheat on someone who works in tech and cheaters when they think they are getting away with it, get lazy.
I love travelling and I love tech. I never wanted promotions because it would have taken me away from technical work and I am a hoarder of tech. I often bought old tech from my company. Webcams, modems, memory sticks. I had boxes full of it. So, it was no big deal for me to create a bit of DIY spyware. Wireless webcams dotted around my house in the lounge, front door, and bedroom. All connected to an old laptop which I converted into a web server. Some freeware downloaded from the internet and I had my own spy recording system. That's what I called it and it helped me setup my own business later, but truth be told it was really a homemade CCTV system but it was still freakingly awesome
Being away from home meant I could set all this up and Freya working late meant I could install it. I was actually quite proud of what I did, it had sound and everything.
Once everything was in place, I caught her in the act. I'll be honest with you, I thought the batteries in the webcams what run out before I got the evidence but Freya must have been desperate for sex because they were at it as soon as he walked through the door.
