Cheating On You

VIIII

"Aaaaah! There he is!" She squealed repeatedly while driving, and I just covered my face because my cheeks were bright red.

"Would you be quiet already," I said with a smile.

"Acting all shy now, but you're actually excited," she teased.

"Okay fine, hurry up and drive! Step on it! Hahaha!" We were happy the whole trip. Singing, eating the local treats we'd bought, and chatting away.

I just realized that there's really nothing like being with women. Sure, you love your partner and you're happy with them, but when you're with a girl friend who's on the same wavelength as you? The one who gets your sense of humor too? It's the best, especially when you're stressed out.

I guess because we were having so much fun, we got back to Pampanga in no time. She dropped me off straight at Kenji's house. I thanked her before she left and gave her instructions for the shop tomorrow. I felt happy but also a bit nervous as I faced the house.

'I really hope we can sort this out now.'

"Love?" I opened the door and looked for him hesitantly.

"Here." I missed his voice. He was in Nala's catio cleaning up. He came over to help me with my things.

"Did you go on a shopping spree in Baguio? Why did you buy so much?" He carried all my purchases straight to the kitchen since most of them were food items.

I followed him and hugged him from behind. "Most of these are vegetables so we can stock up the house. I also got some preserves, and I bought you meat too." I rested my head against his back.

He slowly turned to face me and hugged me back. "Thank you for the gifts."

I held him tight. "Are you okay?"

I heard him sigh and nod gently. I looked into his eyes and stroked his cheek. "Can we talk about it now?"

He shook his head slightly, and my heart sank. "It's still breaking me," he said as tears started rolling down his face. "But I can't blame you for this. From the start, I had plenty of chances to stop the wedding. It might have been wrong, but I wish I'd done it anyway. I just never thought things would end up like this. But you're married, you have a husband now. So I'm no longer your priority. You're not mine anymore. I'm just sharing you with someone else."

I couldn't hold back my tears either. "What are you saying? You know you're the only one I love."

"I know, Adda, I know. And that's enough for me. Just don't leave me, and I'll be okay."

We talked a lot. It hurt so much to hear him say he's willing to share me with someone else, that he understands because this is just how things are now. I'll admit I'm angry at Kenji too. So many questions are running through my head, and I can't help but blame him.

'Why didn't he ask me to leave Elijah?'

'Why didn't he get mad and run away with me?'

'Why does he prefer being stuck in this situation instead of fighting for me?'

I wanted to ask him so badly, but who am I to do that? After all, I've been lying to him. We were in the kitchen eating when my phone rang.

"It's Elijah," I told Kenji. He just nodded, so I answered. "Hello?"

"Where are you?" I put it on speaker.

"Why?"

"I know you're not in Baguio anymore." I frowned.

"I just stopped somewhere on the way back. And how did you know I left Baguio already?" Kenji and I exchanged looks.

"Not important. Don't stay out too late. Bye." He hung up on me.

I turned to Kenji with a frown. "Yesterday he suddenly texted asking why I was in Baguio even though I never told him where I was going."

"Maybe someone who knows him saw you there?"

"But how did he know I left just now? I'm getting goosebumps. Do you think he put a tracker on me?"

He held out his hand. "Give me your phone. Let me check." I hesitated to hand it over, ever since I got married, I changed my wallpaper and removed our photos. But after a moment, I gave it to him anyway so he wouldn't start overthinking.

I went back to eating while he looked through my phone. After a while, he showed me something.

"There's a tracker on your phone."

"What?!" I snatched the phone back to see for myself.

"He installed a hidden app to track you. Tell me, what kind of person do you think he is based on what you've seen so far?" he asked seriously.

"He scares me, love. He has a short temper. When he doesn't get what he wants, he just explodes. At work, he's so kind and takes good care of his employees. But when it's just us, he's so strict and possessive. That's also why I couldn't tell him about us. I was afraid of what he might do." I stared blankly at my phone. "This is too much. I feel like I'm suffocating."

He came over and hugged me from behind. "Set boundaries with him. Do it slowly so he doesn't get shocked and angry." He kissed the top of my head.

I just sighed. "Why don't we just run away?"

He just laughed and went back to eating, so I smiled too.

'I wasn't joking.'

After we finished eating, I helped him clean up before deciding to leave. I played with Nala for a bit before saying goodbye. Once I got in my car, I felt even more nervous. How was I going to talk to him? How would I tell him? This would be our first conversation since our fight the other day, and now this happens again. But I have every right to be angry, don't I? Every right to complain. This is an invasion of privacy.

When I got home, no one was there yet. It was already 9 PM, but he wasn't back, probably busy with work. I took a shower and changed clothes. Then I sent him a text.

[To: Elijah

Come home right away. We need to talk.]

I checked his office to see if he might be there, but he wasn't. I sat down in the living room and had some coffee while thinking about how to confront him.