I’m feeling very low at the moment and have nobody in ‘real life’ that I feel able to confide in, for obvious reasons given the nature of what I’m about to disclose. Sorry for the long post, I need to get it all off my chest.
I’ve been married for 5 years and we have young children. Up until a year ago, it was a very happy marriage and I can say hand on heart that I had never so much as flirted with another man. Our life together has always been cosy, safe and content. Nothing was missing.
Then another man (a parent at the school our children attend) started showing an interest in me. I was surprised at first, being only a few months post partum and not feeling particularly attractive. I also had no interest in him and quite honestly he gave me the ‘ick’ as I knew that he too was married with young children, yet was flirting with me and very obviously trying to test the waters. I thought to myself what a scumbag he was and even told my husband about it!
This went on for a couple of months. Gradually (and looking back, inexplicably) I found myself warming to him. He was so charming, funny and we got on so well. I started looking forward to seeing him around school and receiving messages from him. One thing led to another and we started meeting up for drinks, coffees before it eventually turned physical and we slept together.
Shortly after it turned physical, his behaviour changed and he started withdrawing from me. Not messaging as much, less warm. Then he would suddenly get back in touch and be as warm and flirtatious as ever, like nothing had happened. By this time I was completely hooked on him. The uncertainty and confusion seemed to make me want him more than I ever had before, which makes no sense as it also made me horribly miserable.
This cycle of warmth and distance went on for a number of months, without anything physical happening. Then one day I confronted him about how he was making me feel and it seemed to really take him by surprise. He became emotional and said he had withdrawn because he felt scared and guilty about what we had done. Said he had real feelings for me. We kissed, and more, and it felt so much deeper this time.
Then he withdrew again - physically - but this time he kept communicating with me and said the guilt of the physical affair was too much for him. He said he didn’t want to lose our emotional connection as he had realised he loved me. This triggered yet more confusion and hurt on my side. I felt rejected and couldn’t understand why he was okay with the ‘emotional’ affair if he was suddenly so concerned with the immorality of it all.
He continues to message me, calls me babe and gorgeous, tells me he’s thinking of me, wants to see me, all that stuff but without the sex.
Meanwhile my husband has no idea about any of this and I am wracked with guilt along with the realisation that if I confess, I will implode his life and our children’s lives. I recognise that I am utterly selfish and have behaved appallingly. Yet somehow, I continue to be completely obsessed with and plagued by thoughts of this man. Every time he contacts me, my heart leaps and it’s like a ‘quick fix’ despite knowing that within a few hours I will feel shit again. I feel like I am head over heels in love with him but a part of me can also see how absurd and foolish this is.
I don’t know what to do, as I don’t want to destroy his family or mine, but my husband deserves to know what a piece of shit he married, and I feel like I will never be happy again, to the point that suicide feels like the only way out at the moment.