“Octavia, please listen to me,” Frederick pleaded, trying to keep his voice steady. “I’m sorry for not being honest with you earlier. Anthonia, is just a friend and therapist. She’s helped me through some difficult times and I really appreciate her.”
Octavia sighed and shook her head. “How can I believe that when you’ve been so secretive about your meetings and conversations? Do you know how much it hurts me to think that someone else is getting more of your attention than me?”
Frederick looked away, knowing the truth in his wife’s words. He had been so focused on his feelings for Anthonia that he had neglected his wife and their marriage.
“I understand,” he said softly. “But please know that she means nothing more to me than a friend who has helped me through some tough times. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for her support.”
Octavia was quiet for a moment before finally speaking again.
“If what you say is true, then why the secrecy? Why do you still see her when I don’t even know?” she asked quietly.
Frederick thought carefully before responding. “Because our relationship is not something I want anyone else to know or judge me by,” he began slowly. “It isn’t a nice thing to be exposed to be in a state of mental breakdown till the point I needed a therapist. I’m sorry, I just didn’t want it to affect you.”
Octavia closed her eyes, letting the tears fall freely down her cheeks as she tried to process everything her husband had said. After a few moments she opened them again, giving him an understanding look even though she was still hurting inside.
He took this as his cue to move forward and put his arms around her in an embrace of solace and understanding . He kissed the top of her head gently, whispering to her,
“I love you Octavia”.
Frederick and his wife were spending more quality time together now, and he was relieved that his secret didn’t seem to be weighing on their marriage. He was careful to make sure he was more open with his meetings with the seemingly Anthonia, the therapist, he pretended to always be honest with Octavia about what he was doing.
However, their relationship still felt like a game of cat and mouse, as he continued to tie his outings more closely to business meetings and contracts in other states or countries. Whenever Anthonia would fly in to meet him, they would head out for a wild night of illicit affection.
One night, Frederick returned home late from one of these meetings and Octavia greeted him with a frown at the door as he entered the house.
“Where have you been?” She asked. “It’s after midnight.”
He sighed softly before looking up at Octavia earnestly. “I’m sorry I’m late sweetheart,” he said softly. “I had an important meeting that ran late.”
She nodded slowly as she crossed her arms over her chest, still not entirely convinced by his explanation.
“Are you sure it wasn’t anything else?” She asked hesitantly.
He nodded firmly in response, unable to hide the guilt from his face even though he wanted to tell her the truth so badly. “Yes, sincerely,” he tried to reply honestly. “Nothing else.”
***
Octavia’s stomach twisted in agonizing knots when her eyes landed on Frederick’s phone while searching for her misplaced earrings. With trembling hands, she unlocked the phone and read the message on the screen from Anthonia that glinted up at her, “I crave you tonight. I’m aching for you. I cannot wait a second longer.”, her heart sinking deeper with each word. She felt like she’d been stabbed in the gut.
She stared at the message for a moment, trying to process what she was seeing. Her husband had been lying to her all this time. He had been sneaking around, meeting with this woman again behind her back and having an affair.
The tears started to flow down her cheeks, and she felt herself shaking with rage and betrayal. She tried to swallow down the lump in her throat as she glanced up at her husband, who had just walked in the room and was looking at her with a confused expression on his face.
“Why?” Octavia whispered, her voice barely audible as she held up his phone so he could see the message from Anthonia on the screen.
Frederick closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. He opened his mouth to answer but no words came out, so he just looked away in shame instead.
“You were… you are still seeing her,” Octavia said slowly, still not able to believe it was true even though all the evidence was right there in front of her face. “And lying about it.”
Frederick nodded slowly before finally finding his voice again. “I’m so sorry,” he said softly as he reached for her hand. “It’s never been about love or anything like that. It started off as a way for me to cope during my mental breakdown…”
He trailed off as tears filled his eyes and he wiped them away with his sleeve hastily before continuing, “… and then it just became easier not to tell you than explain everything.”
Octavia stared at him, eyes blazing with anger. She wanted to scream and yell at him but instead she bit her lip, determined to keep her temper in check.
“So this is it?” She asked calmly though she was anything but calm inside. “You’re admitting you’ve been having an affair with Anthonia, the therapist?”
Frederick slowly nodded, not meeting her gaze. “Yes,” he said finally after a few moments of tensed silence. “I’m sorry, Octavia”
“It’s too late for sorry,” she spat out bitterly before taking a deep breath and continuing in a softer tone,
“How long has this been going on? Were you seeing her even before I saw the note she wrote to you then?”
“Yes,” he confessed. He sighed resignedly as he continued, “We started seeing each other a year and half now when I went for a business assignment in Beverly Hills then and it just… it became more serious than either of us intended.”
Octavia shook her head in disbelief as tears began to build up in the corner of her eye. She quickly wiped them away before turning back to him with an icy glare.
“You lied to me,” she whispered coldly, the hurt and betrayal evident in her voice. “All these years I thought I could trust you and you were betraying me the whole time.”
Frederick hung his head shamefully, not able to look at her in the eyes or find any words that could make up for his actions. After a few moments of awkward silence he finally managed to stammer out an apology again.
“I’m so sorry, Octavia,” he said softly, desperation lacing his voice. “I never meant for this to happen.”