Love Triangle: Three Sides to the Story Read Online Free PDF Page A

feeling that I am living a lie.
    Cheating while in a committed relationship, I have discovered takes a lot of work and planning. It is incredibly stressful having to live in fear of my wife discovering my dirty little secret. But like an addict, I kept going back to Karen for more. And when prompted by her, I’d tell her that I love her.
    But the truth is, I love my wife. I can’t imagine life without her. Karen, on the other hand, was like a bright, new, undiscovered territory that my mind and body would not allow me to leave alone. I just had to have her.
    And when I did get her, I had to reassure her that I loved her in order to keep her. I even had to appease her a bit in her guilty, soul-searching moments by telling her that I was going to leave Marie.
    It was too late in the relationship with Karen when I realised that the novelty of being with her had worn off. She started to get possessive and her demands that I leave my wife became frequent. She wanted me to spend more time with her and started calling me late at night.
    Every female I spoke to was suspect. I was undergoing worse interrogations from my mistress, than from my wife. Karen wanted to meet my family. As if I would ever allow her anywhere near my family.
    Everyone, with the exception of my mother, loved Marie. For whatever the reason, Marie never told me, the two of them were in a cold war. So, I thought it would be safe to bring Karen to my mother’s house. I never anticipated how happy Karen would be at the prospect. She chatted about it until I thought I was going to explode.
    I still found Karen attractive and sweet, but she was acting like a wife, and I already had one. The star-struck days, when I thought with my lower anatomy, were wearing off fast. I found myself looking at Karen and wondering if she was worth the stress.
    She always looked so happy and carefree, enjoying the places I took her to and gushing over the gifts.
    I almost told Marie about the affair. Sometimes I found her looking at me strangely, and I knew that she was on to something. I would give her some explanations that sounded way out, even to me, and she would listen in silence, nodding her head, not saying a word. I wanted to shout at her and tell her that whatever she was thinking is not true.
    My mother was the last person that I expected to add to my guilt. She would call and say, “George, you are a good man but you have become a lousy husband.” She would not come out and say anything, but I knew that she knew, and I didn’t push the subject when she brought it up.
    A church sister of mine, who also worked at the bank, one day said to me, “George, please read Hebrews 13:4.”
    Understandably, I was not in the mood to read the Bible or pray. What was I to say to God? Forgive me for my sins, knowing that tomorrow I would be in Karen’s apartment, ready and eager to slake my lust?
    I read it anyway, and I was sorry I did. The verse kept ringing in my ears: ‘Marriage should be honoured by all and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.’
    To make matters worst, my wife started crying out of the blue—I was swamped from all corners. I told Karen that I had family business to attend to.
    I avoided her at work. I could not face the hurt expression on her face and then go home and experience the bewildered look on my wife’s face.
    I knew that Marie knew the truth from the moment she actually did. She started to withdraw from me. I felt like an integral part of my life was coming to an end, and I could not allow that to happen.
    I had to keep my wife.

CHAPTER SEVEN
     
    That fateful night when Marie confronted me with my indiscretion and I helplessly confessed, I wished that I had never met Karen. I wished that things could just go back to the way they were, but for one full year I was dishonest and I could not just wipe that out.
    Of course, I tried to fire Karen, but she would not listen to reason.
    “Karen, I am