The Summer Anthology ✔

Story #4- Unfaithful

Written by user AKindMind628

As a young girl, I had heard many tales in my household about infidelity, as it turned out to be the saving grace of my parent's previously strained and failing marriage. As we gathered around the fireplace, many a wintry night, they had eagerly and emphatically educated me with stories of their dramatic and epic love, and one particular expression had been imprinted time and time again in my mind, a now overly familiar statement which I thought of daily in my current life of adulthood.

Chastity will eventually be broken, but the strength of a reciprocated love is everlasting.

Those simple words hadn't meant much to me at the time. I, like any other naive and love-seeking teen, had merely waved away my parent's exaggerated romantic tale, and the blurred expression of many different meanings hadn't entered my mind and dreams for many years.

Three days ago was when the expression started to have an impact.

I sighed deeply as I glanced at the traffic that ensured a lengthy ride back to the eastern section of the borough. It wasn't easy, living in New York City. The hordes of people who were eager to get to their children and spouses were all as impatient as I was, for getting home and having a good night's sleep. I envied them greatly, the other travelers who donned winter coats and jackets that humbly shielded them from the wintry chill of the northeastern fall. I wasn't jealous of their attire, more of the fact that they hadn't a care in the world, confirmed by their enigmatic, ignorant smiles which didn't display a hint of dissatisfaction or brooding. Their euphoria only added to my restlessness, and the yearning to return to my husband.

Uncertainty was madness.

I could attest to this, after the grueling day I'd had. The disheartening news that had been delivered to me earlier, only affirmed the fact that the expression, 'No news is good news' was completely false.

The hell of unknown, the sadistic purgatory of grey blurred lines that strayed between truth and lies embraced me wholeheartedly, causing my mind to develop a certain despondency that could only be cured when I finally questioned him.

It was lucid insanity.

I caught a glimpse of myself in the rear view mirror that sat at the front of the metro bus. My pale skin looked white as a cotton sheet. My eyes, a darkened emerald shade, looked shady and broken, only displaying my failed attempt at concealing my current sentiment. My long hair, which normally appeared feathery and soft, the color of a dark raven, was a now a frizzed haze around me, due to the windchill of the outdoors. My lips were rough due to my anxious habit of biting, now an unsightly, ugly specimen to behold. I looked like only a shadow of the oblivious, content woman I'd been, a mere twelve hours before.

I averted my eyes from my frazzled image and stared gloomily at the bleak skies that promised a miserable evening with repetitive fits of loud, crackling thunder. I fought back a secretive smile at the fact that the outdoors had unintentionally discerned my dismay, for it was perfectly reflected in the clouds that sauntered across the sky in smooth, fast paced strokes. Soon, though, the slight joy evaporated, and I was again filled with an aching sense of woe.

I bit my lip to calm myself down. Getting worked up before I even saw him would solve nothing.

The him, who I was referring to was my husband, Nate Adams. With his boyish looks and inimitable charm, he was the unusual and fetching young heartthrob amongst the otherwise cruel and heartless kings of corporate world, making both him an immensely desirable man, and me a very lucky woman to have been the one he chose to marry. We had known each other most of our lives, since we'd grown up in the same neighborhood, one of the quieter and less complicated suburbs of the New York State. We'd gone through middle and high school as the best of friends, and attended same university, before our feelings overwhelmed us and we'd confessed our love for one another in a secret, undeniably romantic setting. Soon after, while we were still in school, we eloped, and emerged into the business world as the perfect fairy tale couple.