TC 7

EP7. ◇ Time Is Needed

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We had met in loneliness, and shared both heart and body.
> “She was not someone I could simply let go of.”

I understood that my wife’s request was legitimate.
But even so, I could not believe that her feelings for me would suddenly, immediately, turn back to the way they had once been—devoted, singular, and focused only on me.

> “For that to happen, time would be necessary.”

When she apologized, she said that she had always respected me as a husband.
I thought I could probably trust those words.

But could she, after years of rejecting intimacy, suddenly see me once more as a man, an individual, and fall in love with me again as easily as before?

More likely, I thought,
> “She only meant she would try harder because she didn’t want me to cheat again.”

And for me—already bound in a close relationship with Erika—
> “A bond with my wife, patched together with shallow lies, held no charm at all.”

My wife’s request was not something I could accept with a simple, “Alright then.”

Yet I also knew Erika had a husband and children of her own.
Our relationship could not continue forever.

So I decided, for a while, to put my own needs first.
At the same time, I reassured my wife, telling her I had broken things off.

> “I thought I would slowly, over time, begin to put distance between Erika and myself.”