Unknown - And the Affair Begun

This is my first attempt at writing. This is all I have done in this story. I thought I would see how you would react before developing my next chapter. That's why I named this unknown. Even I don't know where this is going. But for sure, this will neither be an RAAC nor a BTB. Also, this is a complete fiction, and all the individuals in this story are over 18 years.

Let me know what you think..............

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Every interaction we have has a story written. This story is a single string of that stream of life stories tangled with many other stories.

It was a gloomy Wednesday in October when the world was moving from bright summer to chilly winter. It may be a coincidence to have overcast conditions, yet somehow, it fits the mood perfectly. The weather and background seem to fit perfectly with the moods of David & Andrea Scholefield, sitting in their living room, one with a pint of beer and the other a glass of wine. I hope you will be able to figure out who is having what.

David Scholefield is a happily married father of two kids at his prime age of fifty-five. You may not consider them super successful, but they have lived a happy and typical life of a well-to-do middle-class family. Almost at the retirement age with three children, two married and well-established, he was looking forward to a comfortable retirement. Nothing extravagant, maybe a trip to Asia with Andrea, his wife of twenty-five years, and settle back. Andrea, who is one year younger than David, is not the breadwinner of the family. Yet, she was the homemaker, an equally important role in the Scholefield family. She should get the credit for all the values their two sons have, and she did all that while working as an HR Executive at a local branch of a national bank chain. She could have gone further in her career, but she compromised that for the family. Did it shatter her dreams? I don't know. If you ask her, she will say she has no regrets and loved every minute of her life. The same goes for David, he can't find a single reason to regret his life up now, it seems.

Then it begs the question, why are they here in this mood? Let me tell you about now. They have just sent her youngest daughter to college. With adequate funding for college, she is well off to a good future. But it brought a profound sadness to David and Andrea. They are closing one happy section of their life and have just arrived at the junction to start the next chapter of their life.

"Do you want more wine?" David asked. "I'm about to get another beer."

"Sure, why not? But don't drink too much, baby. It's not good for your health anymore".

David took the glass from her hand and left to get more wine and maybe a beer.

"Aren't we a boring old couple?" suddenly Andrea shouted from the couch she was seated in. "Talking about health and good deeds like a typical old couple?" It was more of a statement than an answer.

"What do you mean? are we supposed to do something different?" David was intrigued.

"I mean, if you look at the past, we did what a typical couple does. Got married, worked hard, and raised kids. Do you follow my logic? If we did what a typical couple did in the past, I fear we will do what a typical couple does in the future."

Her voice faded during the last part of that sentence, and she started looking outside their French windows, lost in her thoughts. Her right index finger circles the top of her wine glass. Then she spoke slowly, like talking to herself. Almost whispering.

"Unless we do something different"

David heard the words. He looked at Andrea, trying to figure out what she meant by that. But he was stunned at what he saw. He saw the faintest lines of a smile in Andreas' face. Her eyes sparkled from knowing something so fulfilling and satisfying. For a moment, she was lost in the surroundings, like her thoughts had nothing to do with the current moment and, for that matter, David. David started feeling a familiar heaviness in his heart. A feeling he forgot being there for so long. Feeling the sadness of the moment, uncertainty of the future, and brightness of the eyes of Andrea thinking of something she considers private to her made David snap. You can't separate the cause of all the above from the effect of alcohol, he was never a heavy drinker. Still, he snapped. Not in a destructive way, but in a way that Andrea realizes something is not right. She only heard the last part.............

".............. that, get a divorce first"

Word divorce slapped her face hard to bring her back to reality.

"What do you say, baby? I didn't hear you."

David realized he had gone too far. He wondered whether he could change the subject.

"It's nothing, let's talk about something else, or I might go wash the car." He was about to get up. He cursed himself for the outburst and his inability to give a reliable cover story to get him out of the mess, and it was too late.

"David, don't try to avoid the topic now. You make me worry. What made you talk about divorce?"

David took a deep breath. Does he want this war to start now? He put his mind to the top gear to search for a way out. Andrea saw the internal struggle her loving husband was going through. After twenty-five years of marriage, she feels she can read him well. She slowly got up from her seat, went and sat next to David. Hugged him the same loving way she used to hug him. She felt his arm wrapping her up, giving her the warmth he always gave. She thought she could feel the beat of his heart, which she so dearly craved.

"Don't hold back my love; tell me what's in your mind. I want you to be happy, and I will do everything to make sure of it. But you need to share your feelings, baby."

David felt the unconditional love his wife has for him. He felt some of the uneasiness being washed away from the loving reassurance he got. He pulled her closer and kissed her head, feeling the familiar smell of her hair. She looked up with that smile he loved from the first time he saw it, she touched his chin from the back of her hand and waited for him to answer. David knew there was no going back.

"When you talked about doing something different, I saw the smile you had. I know you are thinking about certain things in our past. So, I wondered............"

"Hmmm............, how would I say this? I wondered whether you wanted to have an affair again or an open marriage or something like that."

Andrea was surprised and then got angry. Open marriage? Is he going mad? But then it dawned on her. "Affair again?". Does he know? How? So many questions popped into her head. She suddenly felt a cold in the back of her spine. Both were motionless for a moment; Andrea listened to the beating of his heart and David slowly fondled her hair.

"How and how much you know?" she asked carefully.

She felt like walking on thin ice. David slowly got up, went to the study, and brought a small package. He threw the package on the coffee table.

"I never wanted to bring this up. But now, I don't think I can go back in time and change this conversation. So, let me put my cards on the table. This is what I know", and then he went to bed.

The memory of those ten months was mostly faded in Andrea's mind. Other than in rare occasions where she remembered those uninhibited times, it did not affect her life these days. But when she opened the package, she was transported back to those ten months. Right on top was a transcript of a phone conversation she had with Alex. Probably the last conversation she had with him immediately after breaking the affair.

"Hi, Andrea here. How can I help you?" Andrea answered the call, touching her wireless earphone she normally uses at work. If she looked at who was calling, it would have been different.

"Hey, this is Alex. Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Alex, what do you want?" She can't cut the phone because this can be official too. Alex is a colleague working in the same bank.

"I just want to meet you for a chat, Andrea. I think we rushed to break this up. I know you enjoyed it as much as me", he sounds like pleading.

But Andrea knew that the meeting was not going to happen. Yeah, she enjoyed the time they had together, but it can't go on.

"No Alex, it's of no point. You will then try to woo me into going to your room with romantic meals and wine. The reality is, I used to fall for that. But I've grown up. I've moved on."

"If you can handle the temptation, there is no harm in meeting, isn't it?" Alex sounded like challenging Andrea.

"I don't want the risk; I know I'm vulnerable. But I don't want to test. We are history. I can't deny I enjoyed our time together. But now its appeal is gone away."

"We can keep it a secret, and you know that. So why stop?" Alex asked.

"Because I understand it's not the right thing to do. If I'm unhappy with David, the right way to go about it is to have a chat with him. I failed to do that. Anyway, I learned my lesson. I will not do this again, ever. Unless I asked for a divorce first from David."

"But I think you are making a mistake," Alex insisted.

"Alex, please understand and respect my wishes. I don't want this topic to be brought out again. Let's move on with our lives."

"What if I can't forget our times?"

Andrea knew she must be firm. This can become a disaster.

"Alex, if you do this again, I will complain that you are harassing me. I will ask for protection, and you know what trouble it can bring to you."

She knew the process didn't work like that. She might risk exposure, too. Her only hope was that Alex would see how serious she was and give up. At the end, it might be the signal Alex was waiting for.

She wondered whether their breakup had anything to do with Alex asking for a transfer to the West Coast a few months later. She wanted to believe that the breakup was the reason. It gave her a bit of a comfort to think that the affair was not purely a "Wam-bam Tank you, ma'am" affair for Alex.

She wondered why he had this specific conversation on the top of the file. How can this be significant? She felt a tear building up in her eyes and slowly seeping through. She cried for the pain this caused to her loving husband. She glanced through the PI report in a dream state. It went back one and a half months from the last call and another two months past the end of the affair. It outlined where they have met and how long they have spent. Then there were pictures. Not just going in and out of hotels and motels, but two of them in various public places like restaurants and movies. All it did was bring back memories of that brief period of life out of life. She searched the entire box to see whether there were any intimate pictures or hidden cam records. She felt releaved when she saw nothing of such nature. They did some erotic stuff.. They strangely felt that they didn't need to maintain an image. Understanding this led to some experimenting. She brushed the thought aside for a moment. She can examine those instances later. Now, she wanted to understand what David knew. She vaguely remembered the PI report said that the house was bugged. Glad they didn't meet there. At that time, it didn't even come to her mind. The affair was something outside of her normal life. So, no point in bringing him into hers and David's place.

She put all the documents aside, poured another glass of wine, and stretched her legs. She wanted to go through the entire ordeal from the beginning. Not to basking in the glory of fun but to understand it deep. So, even if there is a remote chance of moving forward together, she can wholeheartedly try.

It is impossible for someone to regret doing something one hundred percent. Every action we take, every decision we make, and every situation we go through have both positive and negative effects on our lives. While they create fond memories, they trigger painful feelings, too. In the end, both the positive and negative memories stay in our life.

It's the same for Andrea. She has lots of fond memories from that ten-month affair. At that moment, those memories outweighed the painful memories. She stopped the affair the moment the negatives outweighed the positives, and after twenty years, it seems like the negatives outweigh the positives.

She first met Alex during a recruitment drive their bank conducted to recruit more employees from underprivileged communities in the State as a CSR project. They were visiting a few remote parts of the State to conduct career guidance workshops and recruit interns. Andrea represented the HR Department, while Alex represented Marketing. Andrea loves culture and heritage. She used many of these company-sponsored trips to visit cultural monuments, of course during the break times and after hours. As a mom of two young boys and a wife of a promising executive, she cherished those two- or three-day overnight trips to relax and calm herself down. She was aiming to visit one of the traditional villages in the state where they reenact "good old days" during one of those trips. She finished work on that day and went to see the evening show. She was engrossed with the life of the seventeenth century, where people were not polluted by the spoils of modern technology. She was replacing herself among the actors performing the traditional dances around a campfire when she suddenly heard her name.

"Andrea, it's nice to see you here."

"Hi Alex, I didn't know you had a soft spot for culture."

That is how the affair began. No, it's not that they danced to the tunes of folk songs; he carried her to a nearby cottage while soft folk music played in the background and made sweet love. It's the spark of realizing there is another human being among the rough corporate world who enjoys the same. They sat next to each other and watched the entire show. They discussed the history of the clan and how these traditions had evolved. They shared the dinner together with the guests in the village tavern, drinking beer from old kegs. They talked about what places they could visit in their next location, and they discussed visiting them together. They had a wonderful time.

Back at the office and home, life went on as normal. She didn't even spend a minute thinking or wondering about Alex. He was just a friend whom she visited an old village, nothing special.

But the next trip changed her life. They visited the museum as they agreed and once again had a wonderful night. While they were admiring the souvenirs, Alex found a Flyer for a beautiful beach nearby where they could see the most amazing sunset. He proposed to go the next evening to see the sunset. Andrea was doubtful, not because she suspected anything. In her mind, they were like-minded friends enjoying little things in life. But because it was a bit far away.

"If I found a safe way to travel, would you consider coming?"

"Of course. I'm intrigued by the claims of that flyer anyway," Andrea replied.

"It's a deal."

The next day, Alex hired a self-driving jeep. It looked comfortable, reliable, and adventurous. So, Andrea agreed. After they had completed the interviews, they changed, met in the lobby, and drove to the location.

It was truly an amazing place. White sand beach with calm waters and a cliff at one corner of the beach. The flyer had a picture of a lady stretching her hand to hold the sun as a lamp, and they saw how such an amazing illusion could be done.

"Andrea, let's recreate that picture," Alex proposed.

They spend almost half an hour working on the angles. But they managed to take one of the most amazing pictures of Andrea to date. She is standing on the edge, stretching her hand to hold the sun. Her hair dancing to the gentle breeze.

She saw the photo framed and displayed on their photo wall, among their wedding pic, golden jubilee pic and children. For her, it stands there as a memory of that happy moment. A moment she felt so fondly embraced with the beauty of nature and herself as a person.

"I know he took that photo", David whispered, bringing her back to the present moment. She had no idea when David came out of the room and since when he was watching her. Andrea didn't reply, she was engulfed in an overwarming sadness. A tear slowly seeped through. She felt sad because she felt how painful it must have been for David to see it day in and day out, but also because this moment took away the happiness that the picture brought over the years. She was kind of lost, not knowing how she could convince David that the reason for that photo being there had nothing to do with Alex. It was a representation of her womanhood. She is conquering the wilderness through her feminism. It's not as straight as I cheated, and I'm sorry. It's much more complicated.

She was glad that David went back to his room after grabbing another beer. She needed some time alone to think. Proving what it means to her can come back later; she felt she needs to go down the memory lane, see what David knows, though how painful it would be. So, she wiped the tiers and closed her eyes. Her memory drifted to that fateful day again.

It was getting dark. The entire sky was painted in blood orange. It was a surreal moment. They started walking across the beach to their vehicle. She can't remember at what moment or what precise incident made them hold hands, but they were. When they reached the Jeep, it was almost dark. They turned back to have one last look at the beach.

"It's gorgeous"

"I know; it's an amazing beach," Andrea replied.

"It's not the beach?"

"Then?" Andrea wondered.

"Your smile and your sparkling eyes. They look gorgeous when the sunlight falls on them," Alex replied. Still holding her hand.

Andrea looked at Alex. He looked so handsome and strong. Masculine to the core. She lost a thought for a moment. She was brought back to reality with the sensation of a warm lip on her lips. Touching ever so lovingly. She didn't move closer and hasn't moved away either. She let herself surrender to the sensation of Alex's softness kissing ever so softly. Alex let go of her hand and hugged her slowly from the hips. She wrapped her arms around his neck like a grapevine and let him slowly kiss her. Then she kissed him back. What happened next and in what sequence is a fuzzy memory for her. She only remembered that they made love on the beach. They didn't fuck like animals in heat. They felt it would be an insult to the nature around them. They didn't care about orgasms. They didn't care about foreplay. It was an attempt to be a part of nature with the most natural and ancient connection we have with nature. They made slow yet satisfying love.

And the affair has begun................