Anne thought she had a "forever love" with Kyle.
But when she discovers Kyle having an intimate moment with another woman on the day of their 4th wedding anniversary, her world shatters.
This is a story about betrayal and picking up the pieces of a...
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When I knew about the plan of me having a coach, I was already dubious about how useful it would be. Life Coaching sounded to me like a bunch of psychobabble bullshit, and a fancy way of emptying your wallet. The silver lining in my case, I wasn't paying shit.
This service was provided and highly encouraged by my company. My boss, Caleb Drake, insisted about giving it a chance, "Someone like you Kyle, with your professional commitment and ethical guidelines is going to benefit tremendously. I promise this tool will enhance your career vision and help you land your professional and personal goals way more efficiently."
He had a point, though. People being happy with their lives made better employees. I was a living proof about this statement, so even without trusting the system, I trusted the outcome. Besides, there was no way out of this, at least not if I wanted to continue building my career here, so I ended up accepting.
Enter Jenna Borrow. She looked serious, but she had this ambitious vibe that made her presence known and her no-bullshit life approach confirmed it. It was her first time working for an important company and her letters of recommendations praised her as detail-oriented, accomplished, committed, and professional. She also had a firm hand-shake and that was always good.
"I know you are one of the company's rising stars and I can see you feel you don't need what you think is my bullshit. But you are mistaken. I know you are one of the most promising executives and in your way to become even better. I can triple whatever your concept of better involves. You are my first high-profile client, yes, but I am also the best there fucking is in my field. So, give me the benefit of the doubt. Take a chance on me and I promise you won't regret it."
It is not very often that I find myself impressed with people. Especially not on the professional field, since I can read pretty much every fucking intention they may have, but this time, I was impressed.
She seemed a bit young for a life Coach and definitely, didn't strike me as a confrontational person, but here she was, full of self-confidence and it made her stand out. My boss agreed with me, "she sure looks young for knowing much things about life, but she has presence."
Jenna wasn't unattractive, but her appearance was irrelevant. For a working relationship, looks didn't matter. What I needed from her were her skills and her professional knowledge. After all, she needed to prove that her work could be useful.
Our first meeting was in person because both parties were required for signing the contracts and the NDA, but the coaching was to be online, which made it seem even more lame than before. This is gonna suck. But my skepticism didn't last long.
She proved to be the best there was, despite me being his first big client. She was also a damn working machine; focused, practical, productive, and also knew her craft. We met twice a week during around 4 o'clock. I was usually at home during this time since I liked eating with Annie.
"A SMART goal-setting chart is our first step. We called it that because it's specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. It will put us in the correct direction." So we focused on that first. Jenna took the Professional Development Plan my superiors had for me, but she didn't just follow their orders. She asked me what was I aiming for and I shared my work goals, but also what I was wanted for my personal aspect. Naturally, I told her about Anne.
She put my thoughts and feelings above the company's and became a person I trusted, and whose opinion I listened to. It was a damn hard thing to achieve, since I was always second-guessing people's intentions but in a matter of months Jenna was an advisor and I also thought of her as a friend.
My wife met her and we even had couple sessions, which were something Jenna suggested and not part of the company's plan. She even helped Annie with a productivity plan for her new PR firm, which she was just launching, and her advices proved to be flawless. Anne was happy and it meant the world to me, because she was the most important thing in my life.
The coaching was meant to be exclusively professional, but a couple of months ago, Jenna said "an Holistic Life Coach needs to address every aspect of your life in order to help you become the best version of yourself." And you sure as fuck gave her access.
That wasn't all of it. I knew, even if I tried to play it down, that it was not ok. She started sharing personal things and I became invested. I listened to her, I share things too and the strictly professional session changed into something more.
"For fucks sake" I muttered to myself. Why didn't humans have the power to prevent themselves from blowing up their lives? How come I could see right now with so much clarity my fuck-up but not before thinking it was harmless to jerk off during a guided visualization just because I was imagining every single thing Jenna narrated with the face of my wife?
That is the most stupid thought anyone ever had. It didn't matter if it happened twice, the physical part at least, because I was sharing feelings and letting her occupy a part of my thoughts. Even if I didn't want to recognize it, I was with her, sharing things with her, allowing her access.
Just thinking about it made my fucking sick. I couldn't believe I was that stupid. I literally invited catastrophe into our lives. I could see it clearly now. How much I was the one to blame for what happened. I deserved the amount of pain I was experiencing, but Annie sure as fuck didn't.
