A lady had been faithful to her marriage and respectful of the vows she made to stick with her husband in all conditions. Their six year union had been blessed with two children. Along the way, whenever she would join her husband and his friends in the absence of their wives it would disgust her seeing them seated with other women or openly flirting with waitresses. She began to wonder if her husband too behaved that way when alone with them. She brushed that aside and time went by. One night her husband got late, very very late. When she called him on phone at 10pm he said he was winding up, and he continued winding up till 12am when she called again before she retired. He got home at 3am. This was weird, it had not happened before. In the morning the two of them were not talking and never had a chance to discuss the previous night. It so happened that the guy had another long night, things were not adding up and indeed when she pushed him in a corner he confessed to having an affair. It had gone on for long just that these two times he got carried away and let his guard down. All hell broke loose. How could he betray her like that? Since she met him she had never looked at another man twice. She was young and still attracted stares and calls, she had been seduced a few times but hey she was the kind that holds onto ‘in sickness and in health’ and her mother being traditional, told her once married you stay there. She could not tell her mum about this neither was she telling her divorced sister because this one would ask her to walk out. She opened up to a friend who consoled her and told her that was a battle she had to win, as they talked and amidst sobs she said she would revenge by cheating on him too. The friend told her not to try because once she tastes that ‘outside fruit’ there would be no turning back. The day her husband confessed to having had several extra marital affairs he also made a promise to reform. Together they called three of his lovers and she personally warned them off her man. In most cases when somebody cheats there will be round two. The husband got reckless a second time and this time there was no need to consult a friend, she gave in to the strong desire for revenge! As a couple when they next sat down they decided to live together though separately, they were to make sure the children never find out what was going on. Meantime for the sake of ‘peace’ they took a decision to open their marriage to other interested parties. It has been seven months now and when asked how things are going, much as she feels bad to have to put up a façade, she is content with the arrangement. Did it have to come to that? Could that have been avoided? For how long will this go on? We watch the space. Follow Jackie on Twitter @JackieLumbasi