Episode 2
The Wife’s Madness?
◇ Words I Never Expected
“Yes, yes, I get it. So? What exactly did my wife say to the female employees?”
Sekine’s eyes glittered, as if she had been waiting for me to ask.
“Look—Tanaka-san, the girl who just joined this year. Even though your wife was right there, she went on and on about how much she admired you, telling your wife how envious she was.”
‘I’m so jealous you have such a wonderful husband. I’m so jealous, really…’
And then Mana’s reply—so reckless it silenced the room.
‘Fine, take him. If you can seduce my husband, I’ll give him to you. If it’s now, I won’t even demand alimony, even if it’s an affair. If you think you’re the one, then go ahead—by all means.’
The young female employees stared at Higuchi Mana in shock. Only one of them, the veteran Makiko Sekine, frowned in disapproval.
When I heard Makiko Sekine recount this exchange, I was dumbfounded. My wife’s words made it sound as if she were ready to cast me aside at any moment.
But in our daily life together, there hadn’t been a single hint of such feelings. If anything, her love seemed steady, unchanged. The contradiction left me completely bewildered.
I couldn’t imagine what had provoked her. In the end, I told myself it must have been annoyance—she must have felt that the new girl’s envy was grating, and in retaliation said something outrageous.
With time, even this unsettling story faded from my mind.
We had been a married couple for twelve years, both with high incomes, and admired by others as “a pair of lovebirds.”
He was a kind husband, thoughtful toward my family.
A husband I respected.
A stoic man—one who had never even watched an adult video.
I trusted him. I loved him.
And yet…
Until then, I had never once looked at his smartphone.
One morning, he forgot his phone at home. I had a late start for work that day. Out of idle curiosity, I picked it up—only to discover a version of him I had never known.
In his LINE chats, there were two or three women he messaged frequently. Vulgar wordplay, lewd jokes, endless laughter—it was obvious he was having the time of his life.
I felt dizzy. I told myself: stop reading, stop now. Don’t learn what you were never meant to see. But I couldn’t stop.
That day, I called in sick. I locked myself in and devoured the contents of his phone.
He hadn’t deleted anything. From that little screen, I could see a side of him that was completely foreign to me.
Some of the women… they even seemed to be meeting him.
They were all much younger than us.
I had always believed my husband was different—that he wasn’t like “other men” who only want someone younger. How laughable. What basis did I ever have for that belief?
The shock muddled my thoughts. My hands trembled violently, my chest pounded, my stomach turned.
And then—
She had sent him a photo of her naked lower body. In reply… my husband sent her a clear photo of his bulge in his boxer shorts.
My fury boiled over.
If he had been standing in front of me right then, I would have screamed, cried, demanded answers—how he could betray me like this, deceive me like this. I might even have lashed out in rage.
The reality before me was enough to drive me mad.
