Office Affair

He did what?

Kayla cursed as she stormed into the apartment: how dare he!? How dare he?!!!? After all I've done for him...She threw her purse on the seat in the hallway and marched straight to the refrigerator, without taking off her stilettos. She took an ice-cream bowl, dug into it and put three spoonfuls into the blender. Then she went to the liquor cabinet and took a bottle of brandy. She poured it generously over ice-cream and blended it together. Fury was seeping through her the whole time.

Dominic kept whispering the name of that...that...whoever the hell she was, and like that wasn't enough, she found out that she was his employee. How very creative, Dominic, she muttered through gritted teeth. She poured the shake into a large glass and sat in front of her password-protected laptop. She logged on to her favorite chat account and wrote: THE SUN IS SHINING. IN OTHER NEWS, MY HUSBAND IS A CHEATING BASTARD.

It didn't take long before her friend Tony replied.

"What happened?"

"What you've read. Apparently I'm not good enough for him any more."

"Are you sure?"

"What's there to be unsure of?! He's bedding his employee."

"What a jerk."

"Yes. This must have been going on for a while, because I've heard him whispering her name in his sleep. Tony, why are men such idiots?"

"Not all of them are. Some smaller number of them - of course. But as a whole..."

"So I guess I was the lucky winner." She wrote, sarcasm screaming from every word on the screen.

"But you'll always have me. I'll always treat you with respect."

"If only my husband would do the same."

"Why do you have a problem with saying his name?"

"Because....because, that's all."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I'll wait and see. Maybe he'll get over it."

"I can arrange to get him out of your way, if you want to."

"No. I don't hate him. I just don't love him."

"So why won't you leave him?"

"Because it's his apartment and I'm used to this luxury."

"That doesn't seem like a valid reason to be with someone."

"Well, that's the best that I've got."

Tony paused and she read through the conversation again. For some reason she didn't like the way it was going. She'd never intended to answer so many personal questions; she just needed support from a friend. She was just about to write another reply when she saw his message.

"Are you sure there's nothing else you can do?"

She paused, not sure she should write out the words. She wanted to say that she and Dominic were the perfect couple, in all ways. In the eyes of their family and friends, their marriage could withstand everything. Everyone believed they were an inseparable team which they, of course, weren't, for as long as she could remember. Still, that was the image she insisted on giving to the public, and Dominic just followed along with almost no contribution more than necessary to keep up the appearance. She was all right with that, until now. After a long consideration, she typed the answer and pressed ENTER.

"Well, not exactly. We've been together for so long that I really can't imagine being alone or with someone else."

"If you change your mind you know you can always come to me."