Why You Should Never Cheat on Your Wife
I cheated on Daisy, my wife of 12 years.
I know I am a bad person. I am a cheater and a liar. I don't deserve my family. I hate myself.
The woman I slept with was named Angela. She hired me as her realtor. I thought it was a little odd that a single woman was looking for a four bedroom home, but she had a lot of extra income. I showed her a good number of houses. All were in nice neighborhoods.
But for some reason she was more interested in flirting than the actual properties.
This struck me as very weird. I have never been much to look at. I weigh about 300 pounds on a good day. My hair is receding and I've had acne since I was a kid. Even my wife has a hard time looking me in the face. But Angela was into me. She made physical contact, complimented my clothing, and even hinted at looking for someone to be with.
It was hard to resist her. She had an easy smile and legs for days. She always wore these tiny skirts that grazed her ass. I never came on to her though. I swear. Sure, I flirted back, but that's how you sell houses. You put on the charm. She ate it up like candy. I won't lie and say I wasn't attracted to her. Of course I was. But I had no intention of doing anything about it.
But then I showed her the Kellerson property. It was a gorgeous home near a park. The Kellerson's had moved out a few weeks prior, so we were the only ones there. It was evening. The stars were out and she wore a skimpy red dress. She was giggling as we walked from room to room. Her hand was on my arm. Finally, she pulled a small bottle of wine from her purse. "I think this is the one," she said in a singsong tone.
We drank together in celebration. Before I knew it, her lips were on mine. I think I tried to tell her I was married, but she didn't care. And honestly, neither did I. Her body felt so good. I hadn't slept with Daisy in almost a year. I knew it was wrong, but I gave in. I felt intoxicated. Memories of my wife drifted away.
I woke up on the floor of the house. Angela was gone. My body was sore and had little love marks. The sex must have been rougher than I remembered. I felt embarrassed. I told Daisy that I had car troubles and my phone died, which is why I didn't call. She bought it. To be honest, it felt like she didn't really care what I did anymore. We hadn't been on good terms in a while.
The guilt gnawed at me. Every time I looked at my wife and kids, I relived my mistake. I never called Angela to set up another showing and she never called me. I thought maybe I could just suffer quietly and not tell anyone. Daisy would have no idea. We could go on with our lives.
But two weeks later, I got sick. Violently sick. It felt like the worst flu I'd ever had. At first, I thought it was the guilt manifesting, but once I had spent the entire day in the bathroom I knew it was more than that. I made an appointment with my doctor. She ran through a list of options of what it could be. Then she asked the question:
"Have you had any new partners or unprotected sex recently?"
My heart stopped. This was our family doctor. Daisy had actually introduced me to her. I ventured, "Why would you ask that?"
"Symptoms like this can be associated with Acute Retroviral Syndrome."
"Is that like an STD?"
She frowned. "It's not, but it's the first symptoms of HIV."
Sweat poured out of me. Panic set in. I hastily explained that, of course, I didn't have any partners outside my marriage. The doctor gave me some antibiotics. Before I could leave, she grabbed my arm. "There's an anonymous HIV clinic downstairs. You get your results in twenty minutes." She let go and turned her back on me.
That's where I found out. In the shitty little HIV clinic. I was surrounded by drug users and homeless people. The man who did the test was just a kid. He assured me that most tests come back negative. And even if it was positive, it may be false.
For everyone else, they gave them their results in the waiting room. Negative. Negative. But for me, they asked me to come into a back room. I started crying. I knew right then. This mistake was so much bigger than I had ever dreamed.
It wasn't a false positive. The confirmatory test told me a few weeks later. I was HIV positive. 100%.
At this point, I had to come clean to Daisy. It wasn't just cheating anymore - it could put my wife and kids in danger. Even though my entire life felt like it was falling apart, I had to stop being a coward. Truthfully, I'd been a coward my entire life.
I dropped my kids off at my mom's for the night. I got home to find Daisy sitting on the couch, reading. She looked almost angelic in the lamplight.
I cleared my throat. "Babe, we need to talk."
"Oh?" She didn't even look up from her book.
"I... there's something I have to tell you." Instead of listening, she grabbed her phone and started messing with it. I sighed in frustration. "Daisy, this is serious."
Slowly, she put the phone down. Her eyes bore into me. "Fine. Tell me."
Daisy used to be a sweet woman. But over the years, she has grown more and more bitter. She loves our kids dearly, but none of that love extends to me. I am just a stranger in the house. Even her appearance has changed drastically. She didn't bother to shave her legs anymore. The things she used to do for me were forgotten. We fought a lot about how she pushed me away. But then, one day, we stopped fighting and just stopped talking all together.
But that wasn't the point of tonight.
I pulled a chair across from her. I couldn't stop myself from crying. She looked at me without an ounce of sympathy. I wiped my face and tried to speak. "About a month ago... I made a mistake. Daisy, I am so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. I am so sorry."
She stared unblinking. "What did you do?"
"I..." The words were stuck in my throat. The way she showed no emotion made it even harder. "I slept with another woman."
She was unphased. Here I was, in tears, being as vulnerable as possible, and she was a robot. Her voice came out clear and emotionless, "And?"
I gasped. "What do you mean 'and'? Fuck, I just told you I cheated on you!"
I could have sworn she smiled for a second. She said, "Isn't there something else you need to say?"
This wasn't my wife. This was some unfeeling monster that enjoyed watching my pain. "Well, yes. There is something else. Maybe even something worse. I am so sorry."
"Say it," she whispered.
I twisted my hands. "What is going on, Daisy?"
She stood angrily. "Say it!" Her voice echoed across the room. I felt a sense of relief. At least she was showing some emotion now.
"I am-"
The doorbell rang. A wide smile spread across her face. I got up to get it but she beat me there. Excitedly, she opened the door and embraced the visitor. It was Angela. I stumbled backward. "What the hell is she doing here?"
"Not excited to see me?" Angela taunted.
"Did you... did you know about this?" My throat was hoarse. Shivers racked my body.
Daisy leaned her head against Angela's shoulder. "You've always been a stupid man." Her hand found Angela's and they intertwined. "So goddamn stupid."
"I don't understand..."
"Of course not." She spit in my direction. "I've been married to you for 12 fucking years. I had to pretend to like your huge stinking body on top of mine. What woman wants a fat husband who smells like fart and beer?" She walked toward me. "I thought I had to marry you. My parents said my desires were wrong. That I could never love who I truly wanted. But then I found Kara."
"Who is Kara?"
"You really think I gave you my real name?" Angela stepped forward. "My name's not really Angela. And I never was interested in you. How could you even think someone like me would want a slob like you?"
I was breathing heavily. "But you slept with me!"
She laughed cruelly. "Of course, I didn't. I drugged you and you made up what you wanted."
"But you gave me HIV!"
"That one is true." She stroked Daisy's hair.
Daisy cooed in a way I had never heard before. "To be honest, I just wanted to kill you. But Kara convinced me it would be too messy, and the cops always expect the spouse. A divorce would give you partial custody of the kids, and I didn't want that. I had to find a way to completely cut you out of our lives."
Kara lifted Daisy's chin and kissed her. I thought I might pass out. She looked at me. "I injected you with enough HIV-tainted blood to give it to you twice. It's the good stuff too - med resistant." Her laugh was like barbed wire.
Daisy joined her. "Who do you think the judge is going to give the kids to? The poor wife who was cheated on, or the slut husband with HIV? I think everyone would agree they'll be safer with me."
"But I'll tell them what you did!" My voice was so pathetically small.
"No one will believe you." Her face contorted in twisted joy. "Just admit it. There is nothing you can do. And now you'll die alone and sick."
I fell to my knees. "What did I do to deserve this?"
Daisy and Kara loomed over me. Daisy flicked my forehead with her fingernails. "You're the one who decided to cheat."