The Former Mrs. Tan

A Deep Embarrassing Secret

BILLY AND I WERE LOCKED in each other's arms and naked under the blanket we were sharing. He kept on kissing my forehead as I kept on stroking my fingers on his chest. We lay there silently, enjoying each other's warmth and company.

"A penny for your thoughts?" I heard him ask.

"I was just thinking, what if somebody knew? What if Herbert knew?"

"No one knew you came here. I'm sure you didn't even know until just a few hours ago."

"I'm just afraid, Billy," I said. "I don't want to get into another embarrassing situation once again.

For the first time, I've told someone my most embarrassing moment that happened many years ago during my first job after graduating college.

I told Billy how I started out as a receiving clerk for a trading company. It was a small starting up company back then with two manager's office and two clerical desks. 

After a year, the company has expanded and hired a new manager to head the procurement side of the business. The owner of the company promoted me to be the secretary of that new manager.

The manager was Jake Garcia and he was ten years my senior. He looked young and respectable. I admitted I had an immediate crush on him but I tried not to show it. 

During one of our breaks, we were having coffee together when he told me that he liked me in a different sort of way. He started courting me secretly.

So as not to raise suspicion from other people around us, and as the company grew to more than twenty employees, Jake and I decided to have it as a clandestine affair. 

It was so thrilling to expect an intimate time with him after office hours without people knowing. We had devised a plan on how and where should we meet.

One day, a woman came to the office looking for Jake. She was dark and looked older. She was holding a brown document envelope. As his secretary, I stood up and introduced myself. I told her that Jake was in a middle of a call with a client.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" I asked. "By the way, may I know your name so I could tell him."

"I'm Carol Garcia, Jake's wife."

I was speechless when I heard her reply. I calmly pressed the intercom button and waited for Jake to answer it on the other end. He knew that I wouldn't disturb him during calls but he sounded concerned.

"What's the matter? Is there anything wrong?" he asked over the phone.

"Mrs. Carol Garcia is here, Sir."

He, too, was speechless at first. I heard him drew a deep breath and said, "Okay, let her in."

I stood up and led his wife to Jake's office. As soon as she entered the room, I immediately closed the door. I looked at the other employees; they seem not to know anything yet.

Fifteen minutes later, we heard shouting inside Jake's office. All employees went back to work but couldn't help but look at the locked door, wondering what was going on. 

The office is not sound-proof enough so some details were heard. His wife confronted him about his other woman which Jake vehemently denied. Then the door opened and his wife confronted me.

"You're his secretary, right?" she asked.

I nodded. I couldn't help but notice what she was holding. 

"Now, tell me," she said as she slapped down on top of my table a photograph, the one I was looking at. "Is this you?"

I couldn't believe what I saw on my table: an 8" x 10" colored photograph of Jake and me kissing inside his car.

"Answer me!" she shouted.

I was speechless and turned to Jake, who was also speechless standing at his door. I looked around and everyone was staring at me.

His wife took my silence as a yes and pulled my hair, slapped my face and pushed me towards Jake. Jake put his arms around me so I wouldn't fall.

"You'd better go to hell, both of you!" she shouted, then immediately left, crying.

"That's what I'm afraid of," I said to Billy still clinging to him on bed. "I'm afraid to see Herbert go mad once he finds out about us. I haven't seen him mad and I don't want to see that day."

"Why not file a divorce and say that you don't love him anymore?" Billy asked.

"Divorce is not an option," I answered. "What would my parents and sisters say? The twins are so young. It's unthinkable."

"So would you like to end this relationship?"

"No, Billy. I need this. I want you. I can't imagine myself without you."

"Then what are you planning to do?"

"This has to be a top secret. No one should ever know.