Paul, a clerk.
Ethan immediately pinned my attention. Was he the same person I had heard? His appearance didn't match the reasons the law sent him here, in the Home for moral rehabilitation. Although his actual years were over forty, he looked like a boy who had never grown up. The uniform clothing was wrinkling on his small slim body. The round head had a beardless face, flushed, puffy cheeks, and short spiky black hair. Only his slightly narrowed eyes disturbed the innocent appearance. They were blank and shining like two pieces of painted plastic. How could he seduce married women with any of these contradictory features?
Nevertheless, his guilt was apparent -- four cases of adultery with four different women, including three proven outdoor sexual acts -- this hunger for female bodies, added to the juvenile look of an adult man, was quite frightening. "He is treacherous. We should be more cautious than usual with him," this thought popped into my mind while Ethan was going away from the point where I was standing. The next moment, he looked over his shoulder at me before turning his head back ahead, leaning it almost to the line of his shoulders. Fear struck my heart. Ethan couldn't hear my thought, but I'm convinced he sensed it somehow. I looked for an instant up in silent gratitude for my administrative position. It kept me away from these people in comparison with my friend Mark. A sudden relief hit my mind. Ethan raised his head and straightened his hunched back in a stunning coincidence.
Mark, a pacifier.
The current group was twenty men. Thirteen of them were in the yellow clothes of infidelity. They should have a lighter rehabilitation schedule, and five of them even had a privilege of a private room, thanks to their complete remorse and full confession. They headed to the right wing of the Home. The rest of the men were in the red color of adultery. They should live in the dorm on the left side of the building. While Jason, one of the Tutors, was telling the welcome speech in the educational hall, Thomas, a pacifier from my shift, poked me with a finger and whispered, "The little one is the man I told you." I looked at Ethan for the first time in person. His innocent look didn't deny one crucial fact. He was the only one of the men in the current group who did not admit his guilt throughout the days of the trial, including the one of sentencing. Such a damaged soul couldn't rely on my compassion. As I was looking at him, he suddenly became sad and bowed his head -- exactly what I expected him to be. He should be ashamed for spoiling women's dignity. It was out of his mind to admire and respect a woman as I do my wife. For the past few days, my vehicle has needed repair. She has been using her car to drop me at my workplace before going to hers -- a show of undoubtful concern and mutual respect.
An unexpected cheerfulness twisted into my soul, turning Jason's words into meaningless mumbling. It was a long-forgotten feeling from my past when my wife and I were a newlywed couple. I needed to be with her for a talk, a walk, a kiss, a hug, or anything else instead of staying in the hall and doing my duty. It was a strong but weird desire. Neither the place nor the time was right for this type of desire. The positive energy vibrated in me right to the end of my shift. It vanished when I went out of the hall, leaving the adulterers in the care of my colleagues, and a startling emptiness replaced it. The change almost made me cry.
When I left the facility's front door, my heart almost stopped. Neither my wife nor her car was in the parking lot. The woman standing in front of the stairs was Jennifer, Thomas` wife. She smiled at me as I looked at her. The despair in my soul forced my body to act as if it was free. I rushed toward her without any thought in my empty head. My arms wrapped Jennifer's body, pressed it tightly to me, and my lips kissed another man's wife on the mouth. It was a long love kiss I rarely gave, even to my wife. A warm relief replaced my emotional discomfort. I released Jennifer from my clutch and said to her, "Thank you. I needed it." She said nothing, just made a couple of steps back.
I looked around, suddenly ashamed. My colleagues were standing like statues behind me in various levels of shock and confusion. But not Thomas was the person who made my heart stop. It was my wife. She stood about twenty meters on my right side, holding the opened driver's door and watching me with wide-opened eyes.