1 post tagged “guilt”

Previously on "The Reluctant Adulterer":  our intrepid hero, having for months nursed a sexualized crush on Astrid, the fiancée of one of his best friends, allowed himself to be seduced by another young woman, Devi.

I said I didn't feel guilty about Devi.  For the first thing, we haven't actually had intercourse, at least not yet.  For the second thing, if my wife wanted me to not sleep with other women, she would sleep with me herself.

So life was good, wife, kids, pretty mistress, no guilt -- for about 30 seconds.  Then I happened to run into Astrid.

Shouldn't I be relieved vis-a-vis Astrid?  After all, even wanting to lay your friend's girlfriend, let alone trying, is pretty low.  Now that I am seeing Devi, one might expect that my obsession with Astrid would recede -- and it has, a little -- and that I would feel good about that too.

But no, when I saw Astrid, I felt an intense pang of guilt.  I almost said it out loud: I've been unfaithful.  I'm making out with another woman when I'm supposed to have a creepy fixation on you.

Is everyone this much of a moron or is it just me?