Husband Encounters Wife's Adultery

“What are you doing, where am I supposed to go in the middle of the night?” She blurted out. “I really don’t care, why don’t you go back to your lover?” I snapped back at her.

I closed the lid of her suitcase packed with her stuff and threw it towards the main door. She frowned, made a disgusted face at me and then stormed out of the house collecting her suitcase. I was worn out from all the errands I had to run that day and headed to the minibar I had established in my 3-bedroom house in Brecksville, a suburb in Greater Cleveland. I poured myself half a glass of Buffalo Trace, avoiding any ice. As I took a sip, I reflected on the events of the fateful day that had just occurred. I laughed at the eerie nature of the coincidence. It was by pure chance that I had caught her affair.

(My name is Michael Brooks. My wife Claire and I have been married for 4 years and have been together for about 7 years. We both are 29 and don’t have any kids yet. We haven’t really thought about it. I think our life was great. We are happy and content. We are both working professionals. Claire does most of the house chores, though, I try my best to lend a hand every now and then. She gets a Friday night out every other week. I love that hard-working woman.)

I was out on a lunch meeting with a potential client at the Hilton hotel downtown. It was a slow day. The hotel wasn’t crowded. I was glad that the meeting went so well. I was approaching my car at the parking lot when I saw my wife holding hands with a man who I never recalled to be ever a part of our mutual circle of friends. They were approaching the hotel entrance gate. To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. I was bewildered and rather curious at the site. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that my wife is having an affair with this strange man she is holding hands with.

The immediate curiosity in my head stopped me from confronting them and I quickly hid behind a nearby Volkswagen Tiguan when they passed by me. I stood behind the convertible for a few seconds and tried to pinch my arm to make sure it wasn’t a dream. The bitter realization broke my trance to an adrenaline rush and I quickly followed them back to the hotel.

As I entered the lobby, I saw they were headed towards the elevator. Before I could reach the elevator door, it had already taken off. I read the floor number on the screen and quickly strode upstairs. I reached the third floor; the hall was deserted and I couldn’t locate my wife and her supposed lover anywhere. I was in two minds whether to go back to the front desk and enquire or to go and knock each room on the third level. I decided against both as none of them were really going to be helpful. So, I took out my phone and rang my wife’s number. The call went to voicemail. I felt helpless and agitated. Then, I saw a waiter carrying a bottle of champagne on a table cart. I noticed that a 302-number tag was hanging on the side. I had no base or evidence to link this champagne to my wife’s room but at that moment I really did not have any other leads and decided to follow the waiter. As he knocked the door number 302, the same stranger I saw with my wife earlier, emerged out of the room and the waiter went in. I quickly followed on my heels and waited outside the hall. The waiter was inside for about 5 minutes and then he came out. I waited at the hall until the waiter left and then glued my ear to the door of room 302. I was hoping to hear some conversation but all I could hear was loud hip-hop music. I had no way to get inside without knocking and confronting them. I didn’t want to do that.

Running out of options, I decided bursting inside the room is the only choice I have. I knocked on the door with a loud thud. A stranger’s voice blurted out angrily, “What the fuck do you want? I said we don’t want to be disturbed”.

I said nothing and continued to knock on the door. The stranger cursed angrily and then opened the door. His face was directly at my eyesight. He was about the same height as I, shirtless and had almost visible abs. The angry expression on his face suddenly turned to that of horror. He must have recognized me, albeit, I didn’t recall seeing him ever in my life.

He stepped back and whispered in a low voice, “Claire, your husband is here.” My wife of 4 years ran towards us and froze at the sight when her eyes met mine. She had a fleece bathrobe on her body. The fasteners seemed to be closed seconds ago in a hurried manner. Shocked at seeing me she said “Mike, what are you doing here, you are supposed to be at your office”.

I avoided her stupid question. “Who is this man? Why have you checked in with him in the middle of the day.” I bombarded my own questions at her.

“Honey, it’s not what it looks like,” She replied. “This is Brian. He is one of the product managers for the Cleveland division and I was meeting him for a potential product development project.” She replied.

“In a locked hotel room? With champagne and bath robes?” I asked. The stranger found it appropriate to turn off the hip-hop music at this point. He took his suit and left the room.

“Let’s get back to the house and talk this through, okay?” She said. I took a deep breath, not wanting to create a scene at the sight, I complied and left the room. The stranger named Brian was nowhere in sight. I headed towards the parking lot and then back to my car.

Ten minutes after the encounter, I found myself inside my car. Five minutes later, Claire joined me and I drove us home. As I pulled up on our driveway, I applied the brakes rather harshly. If none of us would have had the seat belt on, the sudden stoppage might have been dangerous. I stormed out of the car and into the house. I loosened my tie and sat on the sofa. Claire followed and I noticed she had now changed to her business casual attire. I was too distracted to notice her clothes in the car.

“So, care to explain?” I blurted angrily.

“Mike, please don’t be angry. I still love you. Please forget this and let me make it right.” She replied.

“Claire, you better be honest with me. I want each and every single detail. The only way you can make this right is by being completely honest with me.” I said.

“Mike, you will hate me and judge me. You will want to divorce me if I tell you anything.” She said. I said nothing and stared at her with a cynical expression on my face.

“I am sorry Mike; I do owe you an explanation. I will tell you everything.” She finally decided to blow out. She sat opposite me on the sofa and began her story.

“I met Brian about 6 months ago. He was visiting our Cleveland office for a product inspection. He is about the same height as you but have blonde hair and blue eyes. I don’t know why but I felt an immediate attraction to him. I might have given a hint of my sudden interest because all of a sudden, he asked me for lunch the next day. I had my doubts but thought it was only lunch. So, I gave in and joined him. Our lunches became a regular thing until one day he asked me out. He said he only has one more day here in Cleveland before he returns to the corporate office in Boston. He said he wants to spend his last day with me. I apologized for not keeping him in light about my full details and explained that I am married. He said he knew it by the ring on my finger and that he feels a connection between us. Our time together will be worth it. I was intrigued and delighted by the attention I was getting and agreed to join him the next day. It was Saturday, March 10th. We both had an off day.”

I have been spending most of my weekends at my football club and could recall that was where I was on March 10th as well.

“You had recently joined the Football Club and were so immersed in it; you didn’t really notice that I wasn’t home all day long that day.” She said.

“Brian picked me up in the morning after I made you breakfast. I had brunch with him. We then headed to the movies. We were at the cinema hall when all of a sudden, he leaned towards me and kissed me on my lips. I froze and couldn’t make anything of it. He brought his arm across me and kissed me again. I gave in and kissed him back. After the movie, we headed to the Hinckley lake for a quiet, peaceful time. Dusk was breaking in and the lake looked beautiful with the sun rays reflecting on its surface. We took a long walk together and we told each other about our life. I told him about you and showed our pictures. He did the same. It turned out that he is married too. I asked him about why he kissed me before at the movies. Brian said that he loves his wife, his family but he is not content with his life. He is not at peace and the time he spends with me completes his life. He said If I liked our kiss, nodded and then we kissed again with the sun setting on the horizon. We kissed for a longtime. He took me by hands and we entered a nearby cottage. It turned out he had already booked the cottage for the evening. He said he has a return flight at 7 in the morning and he would like to spend the remaining time with me. I was hesitant. He sensed my hesitation and said he would understand if I say ‘no’. I took out my phone and I called you right away. I don’t know what was going in my mind. I immediately weaved a deceitful lie and told you about how I my sister, Debra has met with a small accident and I am going to spend the night with her.”

I now remembered the phone call. It was the evening of my first day at football club. I asked her if she would like me to visit Deborah and her and she said it wasn’t needed as Deborah’s husband Jason is already with them.

“Brian smiled and we both hugged each other. I rolled my hands all over his back. We kissed ferociously. I took off his shirt and started kissing his chest and pecs. I noticed he had a hard on. I cupped his boner through his pants and he unclipped the hook of my bra. He kissed my nipples softly and gently moved down to my clitoris. He rubbed it from the panty I had and then took it off slightly. I was ecstatic at that moment. I closed my eyes and fell on the bed with my back on it. We made love thrice that evening and can’t remember how many times I had cum. It was so amazing that when Brian left in the morning, I felt sad and disheartened. We promised to see each other every other week since then. So, he flies here every other week and during a workday. I meet him at Hilton during my lunch break and we often have a quickie before spending the evening with him. I had called it a half day today at work to spend the rest of the day with Brian when you caught me with him in the room.”

I was aggravated, disgusted and angry at her story. I just couldn’t fathom her outlook. She was missing attention in her middle ages, a guy comes up and she sleeps with him. It was flabbergasting. In a rage, I headed outside the house. I need to take a long walk. As I approached the pavement, instead of walking, I started sprinting. I felt a burning sensation in my stomach and I ran as hard as I could. I wanted all the hatred and rage to burn out. I kept running until my chest burnt out and my heart couldn’t take any more pumps. I walked into a 24 by 7. I took a sip of bottled water and thought about my next course of action. Should I divorce her? should we go to therapy? There were so many questions.

As my anger wore out, rational thinking took my mind. People who think that women are some special creatures who can never lie, cheat or deceive are hypocrites -- they don’t recognize the fact that women are as human as men, with the same human strengths and failing, so what if she drifted away, she still loves me and is still my wife.

The day has turned to dusk by the time I returned home. I saw my wife was preparing us dinner. She had changed into a cami dress and greeted me sweetly. I took a shower and came to the dinner table. As we were eating dinner, she rose out of her seat and sat on my lap. She started to kiss my face slowly and said, “Honey, you are the only one I love and Brian was a mistake. Let’s forget this ever happened.” I kissed her back. I nuzzled on her neck. It was sweet to feel the warm embrace of my wife after the long run. As I was nuzzling her neck, I came across a red mark on her skin. The mark was dark and at a place where her neck and shoulder met. It was no doubt a hickey. The hickey reverberated my initial emotions of anger and I busted out into our room. I opened our closet, removed her clothing and stuff, packed her suitcase and threw out her stuff.

“What are you doing? where am I supposed to go in the middle of the night?” She blurted out. “I really don’t care, why don’t you go back to your lover?” I snapped back at her.

My memory returned to the present. I had finished the entire bottle and was on my last peg. I wondered where my wife would have gone and if she would ever come back. I felt guilty for throwing her out. The Bourbon hit hard on my nerves and I quickly drifted to sleep.

To be continued....