Her Secret Affair

Chapter 10

Five months ago...

A month later, as she was picking up her purse to go grab something to eat, she heard a message come through on her phone.

F: I had told myself to leave you alone. Yet here I am. Are you free for lunch? I'm downstairs.

B: Where are you?

F: I'm parked across the street. Does that mean you will have lunch with me?

Tap tap tap. She peered at him through his window.

"I'm just coming to say hello. I don't want people gossiping about me, wondering what I'm doing with you."

"How did I know you will worry about that?" he said smiling, holding up two Chinese takeaway boxes. "Get in the car. I promise to behave."

She got in the car and he drove off to a park overlooking the city. They ate and talked, with a few flirtatious glances in between. He dropped her off at work once they were done.

B: Thanks for lunch.
F: Now stop being scared of me. I told you I can behave.

B: Lol. Yes, sir.

F: I enjoyed spending time with you.

B: So do I. It was nice seeing you again.

F: Is it ok if I don't wait another month to see you?

And for the next 4 weeks, Frankie came by and picked her up for lunch twice a week. They spent their time talking and laughing. For the days that they didn't see each other, they texted.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked her one day, as he leaned towards her in the car. Seeing her lips parting in anticipation, he placed his lips on hers, teasing her softly with his tongue. Her body reacting within a heartbeat. She found her fingers laced in his hair, pulling him closer to her. She felt his fingers moving inside her and slowly arched her back to push them in deeper. As she came around him, he slowly pulled his fingers out and licked them.

"We better go, because if I don't drop you back at work now, you're not going to make it there at all."

She was struggling to concentrate on her report when she heard a text come through on her phone. His address.

F: Can you come over after work? I need to finish what I started.
B: Frankie, what will I tell Joseph.

F: A work thing?

B: I have to leave by half six.

F: Ok.

B: Can you cook dinner tonight, I have some things to finish at the office.

J: What time will you be home? I was going to go out with James and them for a drink.

B: Don't worry then. I'll grab something for Nicky and I on my way home. I should be home by half 7.

For the next four months, this was her life. Her days at work were filled with him. They took whatever moments they could find, whatever excuses she could come up with. And soon enough, Frankie was all she could think about, he consumed her. Her heart ached for him when she wasn't with him. And just like ten years ago, she refused to see the love he had for her, and the feelings she had developed for him. Thinking that this was only some temporary madness.

**********

Looking at him now, standing inside her house, she felt confused. A moment ago, she was sure of her decision to end things. Now, the way he looked at her made her fill her mind with memories of him and her heart started beating widely within her chest. "Would you like something to drink?"

"We bought some beers at the shop, you've already started on dinner?"

"Yes, I was just about to go give Nicky his bath," she told Joseph. Her perfect excuse to get out of the room.

"Frankie, you haven't met Nicholas. Nicky, this is Mr. Sims. He went to school with your mummy and I."

Frankie crouched down to be at eye level with Nicholas, smiling "Hi Nicholas, just call me Frankie. Mr. Sims makes me sound old, don't you think?"

"If I call you Mr. Frankie, does that mean I am your friend?" the sweet boy mindful that he still needed to be respectful.

"Of course buddy."

"I like you. I'm just called Nicky. I would like to be called Spidey but Mummy says it's too late to change my name." Nicholas beamed, happy to have made a new friend. Frankie's laughed reverberated in her ears.

Brianna stood there motionless watching the exchange happening in front of her, "What the hell is happening," she thought.

"Nicky, come, let's leave Daddy and Frankie for a little bit and go take a bath."

"But muuuuummmmmm, I just made a friend."

"Yes, and he will still be here when you finish. Now off we go."

Brianna took her son's hand and walked to the bathroom, praying for the night to end. "Why did he have to come here? Why is he in her home?" It took all her energy to focus on her son in front of her. His non-stop chatter about his day at preschool filling up the silence.

As they went back to the living room, she saw Frankie stretched out on the sofa in front of her, with Joseph in the kitchen packing up the groceries. "Let me finish that up, l'll join you guys after." Joseph took his beer and went to sit with Frankie. "So, Brie tells me you were at the conference she went to. Are you also in human resources nowadays?"

"Nah, I run a company that provides computer software to other businesses."

"Then how come you were at a human resource development conference?"

"I was invited to give a small talk on employee empowerment. Something my company focuses on to increase productivity. Kind of like to provide a first-hand account on its implementation in my business."

She tried hard not to listen to them, but she worried that Frankie would say something, even by accident. Soon the conversation went to their uni days, where everybody else was.

"You know, I didn't see you around much after that first year of university. Did a girl trap you in her room?" she heard Joseph ask, laughing.

"Something like that," Joseph laughed softly. "I had a number of projects I needed to hand in during those two years. It took up a lot of my time."

Brie's head shot up, from what she remembered, he spent a lot of his time with her. She was a mess after Joseph, and Frankie was always there whenever she needed him. How did he manage to even complete all his projects?

She took out Nicholas' plate so he could have his dinner and hopefully go to bed early. "Nicky, come have your dinner."

"But Mr. Frankie was just about to show me a trick for my paper planes."

"What about you go have your dinner, and then I show you the trick?"

"Let's all have dinner. That way Nicky won't feel like he is missing anything," laughed Joseph.

They sat around the kitchen island, Nicholas in his highchair, and talked while they ate. From the outside, Brianna looked composed. She participated in the conversation, giving a yes here and another comment there. But her insides were in turmoil. Her stomach unsettled and she could barely eat. She saw Frankie eyeing her often, Joseph too busy talking to see.

She heard her phone vibrate next to her hand.