An Unusual Affair
Vivian knew her husband was cheating on her. It started at the beginning of the week, when he had came home late from work with a gift bag hidden behind his suitcase.
At first, she had mused that he had gone shopping for her after work. That he was hiding it to give to her on their anniversary which was only one week away. Vivian, however, was never good at surprises.
When she snuck a peek inside the bag he had hidden in the back of their shared closet, her face morphed into a shape of horror. Laying delicately in the bottom of the bag as if waiting for some smooth body to pour into it was a lace black lingerie set. Something no respectable woman in her mid-forties like her would wear.
Vivian wasn't sure what to do. She loved her husband dearly, they had been together almost twenty five years after all. Could she ever go out in public again if his betrayal became public? She would have to stay with him, divorce was too scandalous. Would people look down on her for staying? She spent three days mulling over her options. Three days of anxiety, ignoring her husband, and regret. How had they gotten to this point. On the fourth day she decided to confront him.
"Dear husband, do come here," she called to him as soon as he stepped in the door. He just simply looked at her, he knew she knew. He took in the wrinkles on her face that hadn't crowded it twenty five years ago. The flab that she tried to hide from the weight she hadn't lost after giving birth to their sixth child. Her hands were shaking; was it from the years of wear and tear she's gathered from doing house chores or because she was afraid of something? He loved her, but there was no denying that had not aged as gracefully as most women her age.
"I found the bag," was all she said. What was he supposed to answer?
"I.. Uh.. I can't remember what to say," he stuttered out.
"Shouldn't you tell me about her?" she prodded.
"Yes, of course. She's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. Her long black hair falls over her shoulder and congrats her pale skin. Her full red lips know everywhere to kiss. Her ice blue eyes can freeze a man in his tracks. She is fierce like a fire, a fire that I want to enter my veins and consume me whole."
Vivian could no longer hold back her tears. Looking her husband straight in the eyes, she let lose. It was a graceful cry of a fallen woman, it was the cry that racks your body. A cry for the past that she could never return to.
Two days went by. Every day her husband would brag on this woman, the woman he truly loved. She would cry. He hold onto her like he never wanted to let her ago, but she'd just cry.
Finally, their anniversary came. Vivian had ran to the store to buy some last minute foods for supper. She knew he was home when she got back. There were flowers leading up the staircase to their bedroom. It looked like a scene from one of those cheesy pornographies people had been making. She couldn't go in their just yet. She wasn't ready. Sitting in the bathroom, she prepared herself for what was to come. She wouldn't cry, she wouldn't. She fixed her hair and make up. Then she slipped into a lacey black contraption, the same one that had been in that bag.
Her husband couldn't breathe when she walked through the door to their bedroom. He had heard her come home at least thirty minutes ago, and she knew. But she had made he wait. Standing in front of him, she had her long black hair braided over her shoulder, her full lips were painted blood red. He was awestruck. "You are my fire," was all he could mumble out before he reached out and grasped her lips into his.
They fell onto the bed in a passionate embrace, but her husband pulled back. "Vivian darling, why did we have to go through this? Did you think I thought of younger you as a completely different woman- the woman I really love? Because to me, you're one in the same," he said gently. Vivian just laughed, a smile pulling on her lips and a lone tear sliding down her cheek. "We've been together so long, I just thought we should spice it up. All the best magazines suggested role playing," she said quickly then went back to consuming her husband. Her husband that loved only her.