It was nearly midnight. Jhon had gone to bed after a quick dinner, a sandwich he’d thrown together with utter indifference, just to avoid sleeping on an empty stomach. He had been under the covers for a few minutes, finally achieving the daily feat of letting go of work stress and drifting off, when his wife, Mary, climbed into bed after putting the kids to sleep following their late-night homework session.
He pretended to be asleep, but Mary knew the rhythm of his breathing too well. She slid her body close to his, slipped her hand down inside his boxers, wrapped her fingers around him, and began to stroke him. Juan let out a sigh, more resigned than aroused, and pictured Glory, the new hire at the office: a young woman in her mid-twenties with an athletic build and a gorgeous smile. He imagined that the hand touching him and the body rubbing against his, belonged to her rather than his wife, finally getting the erection Mary wanted.
Mary, once the most sought-after girl in high school, had long since devoted herself entirely to being a mother, then a daughter and sister, and lastly a wife. Raised in a conservative family, as soon as their first child was born, she informed Jhon that she was quitting her job. Since they were a middle-class couple needing two incomes to live comfortably without financial strain, Juan was forced to take on a second job to make up for the income Mary used to bring home.
It didn't take long for the family dynamics to shift dramatically. Mary focused all her energy on their son, neglecting herself, Jhon, and their marriage. This only worsened a couple of years later with the arrival of their second child, a baby girl.
Jhon, raised in a middle-class home where family always came first, eventually resigned himself to living with the mother of his children rather than a wife. She was an absent presence most of the time, surfacing only to demand he fulfill his duties as a father and provider, and, on very rare occasions, as a husband, like tonight.
At first, Jhon refused to satisfy her. He hadn't been attracted to her in years, and since she had effectively removed sex from the marriage, he had done the same. For years, his sex life had been reduced to casual encounters with call girls whenever he could afford them, and masturbating alone in the bathroom.
However, worn down by Mary’s outbursts, reproaching him as "less of a man" for rejecting her, and the cold shoulder that followed, he eventually gave in just to keep the peace. For Mary, it was humiliating that her own husband would turn her down during those rare moments when she gave in to what she called her "carnal weaknesses," especially when men were supposedly always eager for sex.
On one occasion, Jhon brought up the idea of a divorce, arguing that things between them hadn't worked for a long time. But Mary’s response was a swift and definitive no, followed by: "I've devoted my whole life to you and these kids! Don't you dare pull this on me now. And so help me God, if I ever catch you cheating, I’ll take the kids and leave you with nothing!"
To everyone else, Mary was the perfect wife, always taking care of her children and her husband, whom she actually viewed almost like another child. The only difference was that he could satisfy her during her sporadic moments of "carnal weakness." It wasn't that she didn't love Juan, she did, deeply, but having been raised in a household where sex was viewed as dirty and sinful, she simply didn't know how to enjoy a healthy sex life free of guilt.
That night, Mary had watched the season finale of her favorite soap opera while the kids finished their homework, vicariously catching some of the passion from the screen. She was feeling restless, which translated into one of those moments where she needed her husband's attention. Jhon, keeping his mind firmly on Glory, handled his wife’s sudden urges, feeling a slight sting of guilt, more toward Glory than Mary.
The next morning, life went on as usual. Mary woke the children up and got them ready for school, while Jhon dropped them off before heading to work. Glory was at the reception desk, greeting everyone as they walked in. Everyone responded warmly, except Jhon, who merely offered a timid smile without making eye contact.
Glory, unaccustomed to being ignored and somewhat puzzled by his behavior, stopped by his cubicle later that day. During her visit, Jhon’s awkwardness—disguised as shyness—endeared him to her, making her feel surprisingly comfortable and safe around him. For Jhon, Glory’s warmth and helpfulness were like a breath of fresh air, accustomed as he was to the blunt, demanding tone of his wife and kids.
That afternoon, they happened to sit together at lunch in the break room, chatting effortlessly as if they had known each other for years. And as if fate were determined to draw them closer, they bumped into each other again at the end of the day while clocking out.
Meanwhile, back home, Mary carried on with her usual routine as the exemplary homemaker, beloved daughter, cherished sister, and respected woman in the eyes of everyone who knew her, completely unaware that her latest moment of weakness was about to trigger a seismic shift in her life, one being written that very day as the opening chapter of a whole new story: the story of Jhon and Glory.
©bonzopoe, 2026.
Note 1: All images in this post were generated using Gemini.
Note 2: I originally wrote this story in Spanish a few years ago. I have changed some data to adapt it to the English language.
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