Bzzt
The iPad vibrated in Thu's hands. A text message notification appeared above the Instagram feed she'd been scrolling through. It was from an unknown number.
That's odd
she thought, tapping the icon.
"Your appointment with Yoyo is confirmed, see you tomorrow. 4828 York Street," read the text. Thu felt her spidey-sense tingling.
"OK thanks, see you tomorrow," came a reply. Thu recognized her husband's number attached to the reply. Her husband, who happened to be in the washroom.
Did he forget his phone was synced to the iPad?
She heard the toilet flush before she could scroll through the rest of the messages. A moment later her husband exited the washroom. She closed out of the chat while her husband made his way back to the couch.
"Took you long enough," she teased.
"Don't ask," joked her husband, William, as he flashed a smile, grabbed a seat next to her, and pressed play on the Netflix movie they'd been watching.
Later that night Thu brought the iPad with her to bed. This was not at all unusual, as she had a bad habit of browsing social media before falling asleep.
"Good night," said her husband. He gave her a peck on the cheek before he rolled over to sleep.
Thu positioned the iPad so he wouldn't be able to see. She then opened the text message app and found the conversation from earlier. She quickly scrolled through the messages, and realized the conversation spanned almost a year.
January 5, 2021, 3:50 PM: "Yes, we do insurance massage. You want to book an appointment?"
January 5, 2021, 3:56 PM: "See you tomorrow with Mary."
January 24, 2021, 12:31 PM: "OK we will see you in half an hour with Mary. 4828 York Ave."
Thu skipped ahead.
August 18, 2021, 11:10 AM: "Sorry Mary not work here anymore. You can see Yoyo instead. She does good massage."
Thu felt her spidey-sense growing strong and stronger, but she needed more confirmation before coming to any sort of conclusion.
William's breathing had slowed down as he lay face down beside her. He could always fall asleep so quickly. Thu was envious of that.
Thu reached over and grabbed William's phone. She typed in his pin and opened the messaging app.
The last conversation read: "Be home by 6:30."
It was a conversation with Thu about when she'd be home for dinner. William had deleted the conversation with the apparent massage receptionist that he'd typed out in the bathroom.
It was at that point that Thu decided to Google the address. She punched "4828 York Street" into the iPad's search browser.
The first Google result showed was the contact information for Sunshine Massage Therapy. She saw that it had 2.9 stars. Strange, as her husband was always a stickler for reading reviews. She decided to read some of them.
Bruce M, five stars, wrote: "The best service. Shower and sauna included. I always tip well but there is never any nagging!"
Caroline, one star, wrote: "Stay away!!! This place is gross. Caught my husband going here from the stinky baby oil they use."
Nathaniel, four stars, wrote: "Always left happy when I saw Mary. Haven't been able to find a decent SP since."
Thu's stomach dropped as her realization had been all but confirmed. She turned to look at her husband. While her stomach was in knots, her mind had yet to process things. She felt numb. Numb and confused.
She pulled the blanket off her husband. He was a Ying to her Yang. Thu was Vietnamese and petite. Her husband was a white Canadian. Slim, but tall.
She stared at William. She wondered what the massage ladies saw when they looked at him. He was 35 years old now, just at the cusp of middle age.
Thu and William had been married for over 10 years. For the past few years, she felt like she was looking at the idea of William. An idea which her mind had conjured from shared experiences. That idea looked like something between the man she married, the man who existed now, and this fictional idea of the roles he'd adopted. Now though, she looked at him through a stranger's eyes.
She looked at his shoulders, which were wide and had grown broader with age. She ran her fingers across them feeling their stiffness.
Would the ladies remove the stiffness in them, or simply tease and excite?
Thu decided to use some pressure and work William's shoulder muscles. She imagined that Mary or Yoyo would at least keep a faΓ§ade of a legitimate massage in the beginning, lest their clients were shy.
She traced along his biceps. William was a computer programmer with two kids. He used to go to the gym every other day. That had lapsed since their second child. Yet she still felt a certain bulk to him. She grabbed those muscles. More curious about their strength then she'd been in years. She had been proud of how well-rounder William had been. He'd been a husband, father, provider, and friend all while keeping himself up as an individual.
Virtually flawless
, she'd thought,
until now.
Thu moved her hands down his spine. She felt light goose hair as she reached his hips. She stopped when she reached the elastic of his boxers.
She couldn't imagine he'd wear his boxers while getting a massage.
Who would remove them? Did he come in fully nude, confident in what was going to transpire? Or would he preserve his modesty and build some excitement by allowing these pleasure women to pull them down?
Thu pulled down her husband's boxers while her husband slept. As she removed the last covering of her husband, she stopped once more to admire her husband. Lying vulnerable in the nude like this, splayed out in front of her, Thu could feel a voyeuristic pleasure staring at this handsome man.
She wondered what the women thought when they'd look at her husband. She imagined that most of their clients were either old or overweight.
Would they appreciate and enjoy working on someone like him? Or was he just another body, another product that they got paid to work on.
Thu brushed the back of her hand up William's legs, leaving a trail of goosebumps in her wake. She reached his rear, which his boxers had just covered moments ago. She began to knead it with her thumbs and knuckles. This act spread his cheeks open and gave her a glimpse into the depths.
William had always been too shy to let Thu look at his rosebud. It's not like Thu was particularly interested in seeing it. But the fact that William would so abashedly coverup anytime Thu tried to look made it a forbidden fruit to her.
And yet, as Thu kneaded his cheeks, the treasure her husband had guarded since they were married was repeatedly revealed at her disposal. Thu realized that her husband had submit himself to at least two other women. He let these women manipulate his body, and gaze anywhere they wished. Then he would come home and act like a sheepish pup when she would try to do the same.
Thu felt a flushness overtake her body. She felt her body temperature rise and the blood swell in her head. It wasn't anger or grief. It was a pure unrelenting and unexplainable lust the likes she'd never felt before.
Knowing that those women had free access to her husband changed him in her eyes. She wasn't looking at him as the partner, the roommate, the father that she'd viewed him as yesterday. She viewed him as an object, a plaything. Something which she could touch and look at as she wanted.
She imagined those massage ladies taking advantage of their position over her husband. They would know that they could touch him anywhere in this vulnerable position and he'd allow it, even welcome it.
Thu ran her thumbs down to her husband's perineum, feeling the back of his relaxed balls.
"Mmmm," moaned her husband.
Thu realized that he'd woken up. Yet, he remained relaxed. He was letting the act continue.