Every week, my husband and I used to meet up with a group of married men and women to eat, drink, chat, and spend a few hours together.
Everyone enjoyed the food and the good company. However, people started making rude and improper jokes and the atmosphere became loud and raucous.
I was not happy with how our meetings developed. Men and women were getting closer and laughing loudly together. It seemed to me that the jokes and hilarity were often beyond the bounds of propriety.
Other men’s wives laughed and flirted with the husbands of other women. The jokes usually involved sex and intimate matters. No one felt shy. It became a normal atmosphere that everyone appeared to be enjoying.
Admittedly, I participated freely in the merrymaking. However, I felt guilty. I realized how terrible and ugly the atmosphere had become.
Then one day, the phone rang. It was one of the men from this group. I apologized that my husband was not at home. He answered that he already knew and that he wanted to speak to me.
Out of the blue, he announced that he wished to have an intimate relationship with me. I felt angry and insulted. I told him off and promptly insulted him.
He laughed and told me to drop my pretense. He added that I should first check my husband’s behavior.
I was shocked by his words and refused to believe him. I suspected that he was jealous and trying his best to destroy our marriage.
After a few days, I heard the devastating news. I learned that my husband was having an affair and cheating on me.
I was so enraged that I confronted my husband. I felt desperately angry and told him that I was having an affair, too. It was with the friend who had called to speak to me on the phone.
My husband was dumbstruck and reduced to tears.
He soon learned that it was not true and finally acknowledged that his unethical behavior was destroying our marriage.
I experienced huge pain and was heartbroken in the knowledge that my husband was seeing another woman. He did leave her eventually and returned to his wife and children.
However, I can never forget what he did and will never respect him in the same way again. His actions wounded me and left a gaping hole in my heart that may never heal.
Sometimes, I feel rage and regret that we ever held such meetings in our homes. I wish we had not lowered the atmosphere to that extent. It had started as a friendly, respectful gathering that became a nightmare for me, one that came dangerously close to destroying our marriage.