Chapter 3 : Lingering Thoughts

The next morning, you watched her dress up in preparation for work, and like always, she looked extremely beautiful doing it.

This had always been your favorite part of the morning, even back when you first married her. You loved watching this goddess of a woman enhance her beauty with her jewelry, her makeup and her flattering outfits. It was always a treat to ogle at her beauty, wondering what you did to score such a damsel.

The difference was that now, you didn't go up to her as she dressed and groped her plum bottom or her tender breasts, in fear of how she would react. After the passion in your marriage dissipated, you were hesitant with being lewd and touchy with her, so you settled for glancing at her as you pretended to clean your spotless shoes.

'To avoid yesterday's incident from repeating itself tonight,' she spoke in her gentle cock tingling voice. 'I ordered Thai for all of us. I will be working a little late today as well, but I will be able to have dinner with you if you're willing to stay up for a bit.'

There she went again, logically and intelligently coming up with solutions to your problems, she had always been so good at that. She was witty yet rational, a woman with a mind as beautiful as the rest of her, it was one of the major reasons you married her. Her way of thinking and analyzing situations, was almost an aphrodisiac to you.

But in the back of your mind, as you watched her clip on her earrings and finish dressing up, you couldn't help but wonder if it was her mind that tugged your penile heartstrings, or it was the face that God took time to intricately design.

'Did you hear me?'

You blinked a few times, her question pulling you out of your musing. 'Thai food sounds delicious,' you responded with a small smile, 'I can't wait for dinner.'

She smiled back at you before grabbing her bag and walking towards the bedroom door. 'Well it's settled then, I'll see you tonight. Have a good day.'

'You too… '

As you sat there listening to the sound of her red bottoms fade away, you felt confliction creep up on you yet again. You weren't sure what had triggered it a second time, maybe it was the fact that after the wonderful night you had shared, she didn't even bother to kiss you goodbye. Or maybe, you were just overthinking things yet again.

Whatever the case, the feeling of confliction lingered on. Was it really alright to be with a woman you had to push in order to draw some form of emotional response from? Were you perhaps forcing things? Trying to draw water with a reed basket? Had you truly made the right choice when you placed that diamond ring on her finger and promised her a happily ever after?

She was a trophy that was for sure, the kind of woman every man wanted to call his own and leave a trail of yearning hearts. But even trophies got dusty after years of display on a shelf that one felt too wary to clean.

You sighed and stood up, telling yourself you were a little too late to the party to start having second thoughts about your marriage. I mean come on, it had been nineteen years, even if you decided to call it quits now, where would you go? What would you do? At your age, jumping back into the dating pool seemed so tiresome, so you might as well suck it up and roll with what you had.

You waved your children goodbye as you walked passed the kitchen, and nodded at Consuela who was just reporting for work.

As you drove to the office, you found yourself feeling a little excited about getting there. You knew you would find Aya waiting for you near your door with a whole wheat bagel, your favorite, and a bunch of paper work to sign and review.

You were grateful for Aya, when you were at the office she somehow managed to get your mind off your possibly failing marriage, and focus on other things. Maybe it was because she was young, ten years younger to be precise, but she always managed to bring out the child in you.

You wondered if your wife had someone like that at her job, a little girlfriend she would chitchat with and giggle with to get her mind of the unspoken troubles at home. You hoped she did, you wanted her to have someone she could call a breather, like how you had Ayaka.

As you approached the two storey building that was your office, a rather disturbing thought crossed your mind.

What if, indeed, your wife had someone like Ayaka, someone who made her laugh, someone who made her forget all about you all day long, someone who was of the opposite sex…

The thought made your throat run dry for a minute. You were so naive, you honestly thought that there was no chance your wife had some guy throwing his best jokes at her? I mean look at her! If she wasn't your wife, you would be trying to shoot your shot without a doubt, so who's to say there wasn't someone already doing so.

If that was the case, it would explain so much. It would explain why she was so emotionally unavailable for you, because her availability had been shifted to someone else.

It would explain why she had never missed a single day of work, and why she was very comfortable with working overtime… it was because there was someone there making all of that bearable, maybe even enjoyable.

Was that a possibility? Was your dear sweet wife only yours body and mind, but someone else's heart and soul?

You knew that this would be the thought that would disrupt your entire day, the one that would have you walking around the office looking like the price of gas had gone up overnight, or like your favorite soccer team had just lost a qualifying match. Inevitably speaking, your day was pretty much ruined before it even started.

A soft tap at your window pulled you from your reverie. You turned to look at who was knocking and saw Aya smiling and waving, motioning you to roll the window down, to which you obliged.

'I've got a black coffee with your name on it boss, if you spend any more time in your car moping around, it's going to get cold.'

'Of course,' you responded with a smile. 'I'll be right out.'