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How I Caught My Wife’s 2-Year Affair and Saved My Kids | Wistaloom
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Jun 2, 2025
#redditrelationship #aita #redditstories How I Caught My Wife’s 2-Year Affair and Saved My Kids | Wistaloom In this raw and emotional story, I share the heartbreaking journey of discovering my wife’s secret 2-year affair with our close family friend and her boss. After 16 years of marriage and raising two amazing kids, everything came crashing down. This isn’t just a story of betrayal — it’s about the struggle to heal, rebuild trust, and find hope again. Join me, David, as I take you through the highs and lows of love, betrayal, and moving forward for the sake of my children and myself. If you’ve experienced something similar or want to hear honest stories about real life, please like, subscribe, and share your thoughts below. Tags: #InfidelityStory #MarriageBetrayal #HealingAfterAffair #DivorceJourney #RealLifeStories #FamilyDrama #RelationshipAdvice #MovingOn #TrustAndHealing #parentingafterdivorce People Also Search For: Infidelity story, Marriage betrayal,Healing after affair, Divorce story, Real life stories, Family drama, Emotional journey, Rebuilding trust, Relationship advice, Parenting after divorce, Cheating spouse, Forgiveness and healing THANKS FOR WATCHING :)
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0:00
hey everyone welcome to
0:02
Wistaloom i'm about to share a story
0:04
that's close to my heart a raw emotional
0:07
journey through love betrayal and the
0:09
courage it takes to rebuild after
0:11
everything falls
0:12
apart this is a long one so grab a snack
0:16
get comfortable and let's walk through
0:18
this together if this hits home for you
0:21
please hit that like button and
0:22
subscribe to Wistaloom for more real
0:24
life stories that dig deep into the
0:26
human
0:27
experience let's dive in my name is
0:30
David i'm 43 years old and my wife Emily
0:33
is 40 we'd been married for 16 years
0:36
raising our two beautiful kids sophie
0:39
our 14-year-old daughter with a passion
0:41
for art and Ethan our 9-year-old son
0:44
who's always tinkering with his Lego
0:46
creations we tied the knot young barely
0:49
out of our 20s fueled by love but not
0:52
much else in the way of wisdom those
0:55
early years were a roller coaster full
0:58
of passion yes but also plenty of
1:01
arguments missteps and lessons learned
1:03
the hard way we didn't always know what
1:06
we were doing but we thought our love
1:08
was enough to carry us through any storm
1:10
and for a while it was i've been an
1:13
engineer for 7 years a job I love for
1:15
its problem solving and
1:17
stability emily meanwhile climbed the
1:20
ranks to become a manager at a major
1:22
advertising firm 3 years ago
1:25
between our salaries we built a
1:27
comfortable life a cozy house in the
1:29
suburbs annual family vacations to the
1:31
beach and a packed calendar of soccer
1:34
games school plays and weekend
1:36
barbecues we were the family that
1:38
friends envied always making time for
1:41
Sophie and Ethan creating memories we
1:43
thought would last a
1:45
lifetime i'd cheer at Sophie's art shows
1:48
framing her sketches to hang in our
1:49
living room
1:51
ethan and I would spend hours building
1:53
Lego castles laughing as they inevitably
1:56
collapsed emily was the glue always
2:00
planning family game nights or
2:01
spontaneous picnics on the surface we
2:04
had it all but life has a way of
2:06
sneaking up on you about 2 years ago I
2:09
noticed a shift in Emily she'd always
2:12
been the life of the party vibrant quick
2:14
with a smile but she started pulling
2:16
away conversations that used to flow
2:19
easily became strained she'd snap at me
2:22
over small things like forgetting to
2:24
pick up groceries or leaving dishes in
2:26
the sink i'd ask about her day hoping to
2:30
reconnect but she'd give one-word
2:32
answers or brush me off
2:34
entirely at first I chocked it up to
2:36
work stress her job was demanding with
2:39
long hours and tight deadlines but then
2:41
the comparison started emily began
2:43
mentioning her boss Michael in ways that
2:46
felt off
2:47
michael handles pressure so well she'd
2:50
say or "Michael planned this amazing
2:52
date for Laura last weekend why don't
2:54
you ever do that?" Laura was Michael's
2:57
wife and we were close with their family
3:00
we'd have them over for barbecues take
3:02
our kids to the zoo together even spend
3:04
holidays swapping stories over
3:07
wine michael was charismatic successful
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the kind of guy who seemed to have it
3:12
all together i didn't think much of it
3:15
at first but Emily's comments cut deeper
3:18
each time i started to feel like I was
3:21
falling short like I wasn't measuring up
3:23
to some unspoken standard i tried to fix
3:26
things i'd ask Emily what she wanted how
3:29
we could bring the spark back her
3:31
answers were frustratingly vague "you
3:34
should just know," she'd say "or I
3:37
shouldn't have to tell
3:38
you." I felt like I was failing a test I
3:41
didn't understand
3:43
desperate to make her happy I dove into
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research i bought books on relationships
3:49
read articles about keeping the romance
3:51
alive and planned date nights a candle
3:55
lit dinner at her favorite restaurant a
3:57
sunset walk in the park even a weekend
3:59
getaway to a cabin in the mountains but
4:02
no matter what I did Emily seemed
4:05
distant like her heart wasn't in it i'd
4:08
catch her staring at her phone smiling
4:10
in a way she hadn't smiled at me in
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months it was like I was pouring my
4:14
energy into a void what I didn't know
4:17
what I couldn't have imagined was that
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Emily was already finding that spark
4:21
somewhere else we were close with
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Michael and Laura so close that I
4:25
thought of Michael as a friend when
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things got tough with Emily I turned to
4:29
him for advice i'd sit across from him
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at a barbecue beer in hand and spill my
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worries she's pulling away man i don't
4:37
know what to do I'd say he'd nod offer
4:40
some generic advice about communication
4:42
and change the subject i trusted him
4:45
never suspecting he was part of the
4:47
problem then came the night that changed
4:50
everything it was late the kids were
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asleep and Emily was curled up on the
4:54
couch giggling at her phone i leaned
4:58
over just curious and she yanked it away
5:00
like I'd caught her stealing "can you
5:03
give me some space?" She snapped her
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voice sharp enough to make me
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flinch my stomach dropped i'd never seen
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her so
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defensive i asked if she was hiding
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something trying to keep my tone light
5:16
but she laughed it off calling me
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paranoid "you're overreacting David,"
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she said but her eyes wouldn't meet mine
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"i wanted to believe her i wanted to
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trust the woman I'd built my life with
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but the doubt took root and it wouldn't
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let go i'm not proud of what I did next
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but I had to know when Emily was in the
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shower I checked her phone most of the
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texts were deleted but I found enough
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fragments of flirty messages references
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to meeting up and a few vague mentions
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of last night they were with Michael my
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heart pounded as the pieces fell into
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place my wife was having an affair with
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her boss the man I'd confided in the man
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we'd invited into our home it wasn't a
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one night stand or a fleeting mistake it
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had been going on for 2
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years two years of lies while I was
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begging her to tell me what was wrong
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the betrayal was like a knife to the
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chest i sat there staring at her phone
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my hands shaking i thought about Sophie
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and Ethan asleep upstairs oblivious to
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the fact that their world was about to
6:20
crack open i thought about our wedding
6:23
day the vows we'd made the promises we'd
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kept through tough times how could she
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do this how could she throw away 16
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years for someone like Michael i was
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angry heartbroken and terrified not just
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for me but for our kids they deserved a
6:40
stable family not this chaos despite the
6:43
pain part of me still loved her i didn't
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want to give up on us not yet instead of
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confronting her right away I tried to
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stay rational i bought a book called How
6:54
to Help Your Spouse Heal from an Affair
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hoping it would guide me Through the
6:58
Mess i read it cover to cover
7:01
highlighting passages about forgiveness
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and rebuilding
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trust i wanted to believe we could fix
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this that we could be stronger for it i
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planned to talk to her on a Saturday to
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lay everything out and see if we could
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salvage our marriage but when the day
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came Emily claimed a work emergency and
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left for the weekend she was vague about
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where she was going and when I pressed
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her she got defensive she came home late
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Sunday avoiding my questions her
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indifference cutting deeper than any
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argument i couldn't take it anymore i
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reached out to Laura Michael's wife not
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knowing what to expect i told her about
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the texts my suspicions everything her
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voice trembled on the phone she'd
7:45
noticed Michael acting distant too
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staying late at work being secretive
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with his phone she hadn't suspected an
7:52
affair but now the pieces were falling
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into place for her too we decided to
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work together to gather evidence and
8:00
confirm the truth it wasn't hard to find
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michael's arrogance made him careless he
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hadn't deleted most of his texts and we
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found hotel receipts email exchanges
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even photos they'd sent each other we
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were careful not to look at the images
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not wanting to scar ourselves further
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the affair had been going on for 2 years
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in hotels at work even during family
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outings when we thought we were all just
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friends the betrayal was overwhelming a
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punch to the gut that left us reeling
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laura and I could have gone for revenge
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spread the word humiliated them but we
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chose a different path
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we both hired lawyers and drew up
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divorce papers determined to move on
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with dignity we played our roles acting
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like we didn't know while Emily and
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Michael continued their affair oblivious
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to our
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plan we found out they'd booked a hotel
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for a weekend getaway and that's when we
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decided to
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act i went to the hotel with a sheriff
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waiting in the lobby like something out
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of a movie
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when Emily came down in a bathrobe
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confused and flustered the sheriff
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served her the divorce papers the shock
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on her face was something I'll carry
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with me forever not because it felt good
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but because it was the moment everything
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became real i didn't gloat i just looked
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at her and said "I know about you and
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Michael i'm done." She tried to grab my
9:27
arm begging for an explanation but I
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walked away laura served Michael at home
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and we caught them completely off guard
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just as they'd blindsided us the
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aftermath was chaos emily and Michael
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fought the divorces claiming it was just
9:41
an affair and they never meant to leave
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us emily called it a clean affair as if
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that made it better and said plenty of
9:49
couples survive worse and come out
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stronger i wasn't buying it 2 years
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wasn't a mistake it was a choice a
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deliberate betrayal
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sophie and Ethan knew something was
10:00
wrong and we explained it in an age
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appropriate way saying we were
10:04
separating because of adult
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decisions we spared them the details but
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they're smart kids they picked up on the
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tension they supported me but it broke
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their hearts to see our family fracture
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that guilt weighed on me heavier than
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the betrayal itself emily threw herself
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into fixing things she started therapy
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read the book I'd bought and begged for
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another chance
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she said she was remorseful that she'd
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do anything to save our marriage she'd
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cry apologize and promise to change but
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every time I heard the same thing she
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was sorry she got caught i told her as
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much and she accused me of being bitter
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of dwelling on
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negativity later she apologized for that
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too but it didn't change how I felt i
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couldn't respect her anymore and without
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respect love wasn't enough to hold us
10:57
together people around me friends family
11:00
even my mom thought I was moving too
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fast people make mistakes they'd say
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she's trying so hard David give her a
11:07
chance but I wasn't her fall back plan i
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deserved better than someone who only
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valued me after I walked
11:14
away living in the same house made it
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harder emily was suddenly affectionate
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initiating closeness in ways she hadn't
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in years she'd touch my arm smile at me
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try to spark something i saw it as
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manipulation a desperate attempt to keep
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me from
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leaving she hated that I was still in
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touch with Laura paranoid I'd have a
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revenge
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affair i told her she had no right to
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dictate who I talked to not after what
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she'd done
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laura and I were just friends supporting
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each other through the same pain or so I
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thought at the time i agreed to a few
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therapy sessions with Emily not to
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reconcile but to understand her and
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ensure she was stable for Sophie and
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Ethan in one session she opened up about
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her
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insecurities she admitted the affair was
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about ego michael made her feel
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beautiful desired something she felt I
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wasn't doing enough of she said it was a
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fantasy one she deeply regretted and
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that she'd carry the guilt
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forever she was jealous of Laura who she
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saw as younger more attractive and
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successful that's why she was so
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paranoid about me talking to her for the
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first time she didn't make excuses and I
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saw a glimpse of the woman I'd fallen in
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love with but it wasn't enough 2 years
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of betrayal was a slap in the face and I
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couldn't unsee it the therapist
12:38
suggested my unwillingness to forgive
12:40
was a communication issue which
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irritated me i told them to focus on
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Emily not me on the drive home she asked
12:48
if I felt emasculated by her affair i
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admitted I did it's hard not to when
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your wife chooses another
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man then she shocked me suggesting a
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trial separation where I could regain my
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confidence by seeing other people while
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she stayed faithful i thought it was
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absurd how would that fix anything she
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insisted it wasn't about affairs but
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about giving me space to
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heal i rejected it unable to trust her
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intentions her calmness her patience it
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felt like a new Emily but I couldn't
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shake the feeling it was too little too
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late as the divorce neared we decided to
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spend the holidays together for Sophie
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and Ethan it was our last Christmas as a
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family and I did it for them
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emily was generous in the divorce
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splitting everything 50/50 but giving me
13:39
slightly
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more i wasn't sure if it was genuine or
13:43
a tactic but I appreciated it she kept
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trying to reconnect initiating closeness
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in ways she never had before she said it
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wasn't about reconciliation just wanting
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me to feel
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desired i missed that intimacy we'd had
13:58
a good connection once but I resisted it
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felt like a trap and I wasn't going to
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let her pull me back in around this time
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my relationship with Laura started to
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shift we'd been confiding in each other
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leaning on each other through the pain
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of betrayal after the divorce was
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finalized we went to dinner just to talk
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and support each other but the mood
14:19
changed things got flirty and before I
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knew it we were caught up in a
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passionate moment it wasn't planned but
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it was incredible for the first time in
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years I felt alive desired like I
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mattered laura was different giving
14:37
enthusiastic everything Emily hadn't
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been in a long time it wasn't about
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revenge it was about rediscovering
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myself we agreed it was a one-time thing
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but feelings lingered and we started
14:50
seeing each other more the divorce hit
14:52
me harder than I expected for days I
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grieved like I'd lost a loved one i
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raged cried and questioned everything
15:00
had I made the right choice was I
15:02
hurting Sophie and Ethan more by leaving
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emily moved into an apartment a
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downgrade that depressed her but she
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kept up with therapy and studying
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infidelity she still wanted to reconcile
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but I couldn't risk it i wanted to be a
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good co-parent so we talked keeping
15:19
things civil for the kids sophie
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especially struggled she was angry at
15:25
her mom rebellious even cursing at her
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during arguments i stepped in enforcing
15:31
respect but it worried me i wondered if
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my decision to divorce was causing her
15:36
more pain than staying would have laura
15:38
and I started dating keeping it private
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to protect our kids sophie was cautious
15:43
but warming up to Laura while Ethan
15:45
adored her from the start laura's
15:48
daughters Mia and Ava liked me and Ava
15:51
even started calling me stepdad at
15:53
school events which caught me off guard
15:55
but warmed my heart we were careful
15:58
involving the kids only as much as they
16:00
were ready for therapy helped them
16:03
adjust and we made sure they knew they
16:05
were our
16:06
priority laura and I were happy
16:09
genuinely happy not a fairy tale but
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something real i hadn't known what a
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healthy relationship felt like until her
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she showed me I deserved more than I'd
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settled for with Emily emily meanwhile
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was struggling she was working hard to
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rebuild with Sophie but she kept hinting
16:25
at wanting me back she'd hit the gym was
16:28
in therapy and seemed healthier but I'd
16:30
moved on she didn't like Laura skeptical
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of her intentions but Laura was polite
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keeping the peace for everyone's sake
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michael was a mess dating a
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materialistic woman his kids despised
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still begging Laura to take him back i
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didn't care about him my focus was my
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kids and my future with Laura sophie's
16:52
relationship with Emily was strained she
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felt betrayed blaming her mom for
16:56
breaking our family she'd reject Emily's
16:59
affection act out and push boundaries i
17:02
tried to mediate teaching her to respect
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her mom while validating her feelings it
17:07
was a delicate balance emily asked for
17:10
my help and while I could have thrown
17:12
her infidelity in her face I chose not
17:15
to i wanted Sophie to have a
17:17
relationship with her mom even if I
17:19
couldn't forgive her
17:21
myself we were all in therapy individual
17:24
for Emily family sessions for the kids
17:26
and sometimes me too to navigate the
17:28
fallout as time went on Laura and I grew
17:31
closer our relationship was the
17:33
strongest I'd ever had after everything
17:36
with Emily I didn't know what a healthy
17:38
partnership looked like until Laura she
17:40
was consistent supportive and showed me
17:43
every day how much I meant to her we
17:46
kept things at the girlfriend level i'm
17:48
still wary of marriage after seeing how
17:50
it can fall
17:51
apart we were discreet involving the
17:54
kids
17:55
gradually sophie started to open up to
17:57
Laura especially after they bonded over
18:00
art ethan and Laura's daughters formed a
18:03
little crew playfully teasing Ethan for
18:05
being the youngest seeing them laugh
18:07
together made me believe we could build
18:09
something new emily's behavior became
18:11
more erratic she'd swing between remorse
18:14
and desperation trying to win me back
18:16
with grand gestures or subtle hints at a
18:20
Fourth of July party she tried to get
18:22
close and I had to shut it down she was
18:25
healthier physically and mentally but I
18:28
wasn't interested
18:30
she was jealous of Laura who she saw as
18:32
a threat but Laura handled it with grace
18:35
never stooping to Emily's
18:37
level michael on the other hand was
18:39
spiraling his new girlfriend was a
18:42
disaster and his kids wanted nothing to
18:44
do with her he'd show up to see them
18:47
avoiding me like the coward he was i
18:50
didn't pity him he made his choices
18:52
looking back I've learned lessons that
18:54
reshaped me respect yourself always
18:58
don't tolerate disrespect even from the
19:00
person you love most communicate openly
19:04
don't let things fester until they
19:06
explode a relationship should lift you
19:08
up not tear you down if your partner
19:11
isn't meeting your needs don't settle
19:13
for less than you deserve and if you're
19:16
betrayed healing is your
19:19
responsibility it took me a long time to
19:21
accept that but it's true i wasn't
19:24
perfect i raged i doubted myself i
19:27
struggled to let go but I'm proud of how
19:30
I handled this i listened to advice
19:32
leaned on my community and came out
19:35
stronger today Laura and I are thriving
19:38
we're not rushing into anything but
19:40
we're happy genuinely happy the kids are
19:43
adjusting forming bonds that make my
19:45
heart full sophie's forgiving Emily
19:48
slowly through therapy and time ethan's
19:51
his usual sunny self building Lego
19:54
towers with Laura's daughters emily's
19:56
working on herself and I hope she finds
19:58
peace but that's her journey now i'm
20:01
focused on my future on building a life
20:04
where I'm valued and respected i still
20:07
get triggered sometimes infidelity
20:09
leaves scars but I'm healing thanks to
20:11
Laura my kids and the support I found
20:14
along the way so that's my story it's
20:17
not a neat happy ending but it's real
20:19
betrayal hurts but it doesn't define you
20:22
you can rebuild find love again and come
20:24
out
20:25
stronger if you've been through
20:27
something similar drop your story in the
20:29
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20:34
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into the messy beautiful truth of life
20:39
thanks for listening take care of
20:41
yourself you deserve it
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