Was it worth it?

Was it worth it?…”

He told himself it would be the last time he’d done it. He tried to justify his supposedly last lustful act as he reached for her blouse. He had a strong yearning for her for the longest time; they both had a yearning for each other. He tried to resist her; he thought of his young son and wife and what they meant to him. But it wasn’t enough to stop the strong sinful desire growing inside of him. He could no longer resist temptation anymore.

He gratified his longing for his mistress one night after a late night meeting in his office. It was easy for his wife to believe he was staying out working late, she had been used to it many times in the past. Only this time, she never would have thought he was actually screwing his young assistant he had hired some time ago. She was 21, attractive, very intelligent, and vulnerable.

The lustful night ended with gratification and guilt. The young woman quickly dressed and went to her car without so much as a goodbye. The cheating husband cleaned up his office, dressed himself, and went home to his wonderful, beautiful wife.

He thought he had finally killed his desire for his assistant with one night of passion. But what started out as a desire turned out to be an obsession. She was like a drug to him. Each time he cheated, he kept telling himself it was the last time. “Just this last time,” he’d tell himself as they were making love in his office, a hotel, his car, or wherever he could go to succumb his addiction. But each time, he knew he was only lying to himself. Each act ended with a stronger desire and horrible guilt.

This last time, he had his assistant in his office. He was careful not to make his cheating obvious to his wife and was so far successful in hiding his lustful addiction.

She came towards him as she began to unbutton her silk blouse. He began to open his mouth to speak. “Lonnie, I-I can’t do this anymore. I-I,” She cut him with a long, wet kiss. And so it began as it had many time before; the making out, the undressing of clothes and then the animal hunger of lovemaking. This time, however, would be different. Karma had finally caught up with the selfish cheating lovers. They were so deep into each other that at first, they didn’t hear the door swing open. The husband was suddenly startled by the sound of shattering glass. He looked up and saw the shadowy figure of another young woman in the doorway of his office. A light reflected on her face and revealed a shocked look followed by tears. She stood their, paralyzed by astonishment and grief.

“Babe?…” Was all the husband could say. She ran out of the building, and her husband ran after her. He left his startled mistress behind in his office.

“Baby, wait…” His wife jumped in her car, and the man tried to stop her.

“Baby, please let’s talk..” he tried to open the car door, but it was locked. The wife cursed him out, her face flooded with tears.

“Get of my car! Go away!” She screamed. She put the keys in the ignition and started the engine.

“Baby-”

“What?”

“Just let me explain-”

“Explain what? How can you explain screwing your assistant when you should be at home with your family. What are you going to say, it was an accident?”

“Baby-”

“Baby, what? All this time I thought you were working, and you were cheating on me? I may be hurt now, but I am a strong woman. I’ll get over this-”

“We’ll get over this together.”

“No we won’t. Its over between us. I hope that slut in there you’ve been screwing behind my back was worth it.” With that, the wife drove off.

The man walked back to his office with a heavy heart. All of a sudden, the addiction he had turned into regret and sorrow. His mistress had already left. He sat at his desk, trying to think of how he could win back his wife. He even questioned himself about his past acts. Was it worth it? He was married 7 years, which was the longest time he had ever been committed to anything or anyone in his life. He really loved his wife; so why cheat? He couldn’t come up with a logical answer.

The man hadn’t even realized that he was crying heavily. He stood up and walked over to the doorway. He stepped on the broken glass on the floor. The glass seemed to have been once a champaign flute. Next to the broken glass was a scattered bundle of red roses. Underneath the roses the man saw a card. He pulled the card out from underneath the roses.

He opened the card, and read the note inside:
To my beloved, faithful husband.
I love you very much always and forever
Happy Anniversary.

The man went back to his desk with the card close to his chest. He sat back down in his chair. He put his head down on his desk, heaving and crying heavily. He spent the rest of the night in his office alone…

Author’s Questions:

*How would you finish this story? Do you have any suggestion for the story? Does it all make sense, or would you change anything in the story (grammar, story itself?)

*Should the wife forgive him for cheating? What would you do?

*Do you think the man felt bad for what he did?

*How did the husband get away with his addiction for awhile without his wife knowing? Do you think the ending of this prompt made any sense? If you could rewrite the ending, how would you have done it?

*Do you think a man or a woman needs a reason to cheat? ( what I mean by this is relationship or marriage not going well,  problems in the home, anything that can make a person think about cheating, or can it be just a moment of weakness not motivated by anything negative?)

*Should a cheating person be given another chance in a relationship? What is your reason? What do you think God would do at this point?

*What kind of people cheat and why?

-Christine Nelson