Finding Out About His Wife

I found out about Philip's wife by accident. I told a gay friend of mine, Georgia, that he and I have been seeing each other. He was happy for me, since it had been quite some time since he saw a certain twinkle in my eye, but he told me to be careful. He wasn’t sure though but an old friend of his came from the same hometown as Philip. Like any other small hometown where everybody knows everybody’s business, it was no secret that he had a wife. I was flabbergasted, shocked that he had the nerve to do this to me but at the same time, I wanted to give Philip the benefit of the doubt. Maybe I was hoping he and the wife had separated. Maybe I was hoping that Georgia was just a mean gossip, jealous of my own happiness. Maybe I was hoping that it wasn’t true. So I kept the information tucked at the back of my mind, continued seeing Philip, pretending as if I didn’t know.

Oh, yes, there were times I wanted to broach the topic with him. A few times, I joked with him to greet his three wives for me. That had always been my style, to hide under the humor, the half-meant jokes, and the veiled laughter. I refused to face facts, hated confrontations and preferred pretending that reality doesn’t exist.

I was contented to live in my own perverted version of reality.

Until the day his wife requested to add me through my Friendster.

My Friendster profile is private. Before anybody can view my complete profile, he/she had to request for my permission. I have decided to keep my profile private because of certain people from my past that I wanted to stay away from. When I first saw Midge on the request list, I didn’t think much of it. I thought of her as probably a girl from my gradeschool days who remembered me or a friend of a friend. Imagine my surprise when I clicked Midge’s pic and saw her with Philip and their one-year-old son.

I could have walked away from my laptop then. Walk away and pretend I didn’t saw anything. One click and I could have pretended Philip was still the same person I first knew. But somehow, I found myself reluctantly attracted to the photos, clicking their pictures together one by one, like a show I couldn’t get myself to stop watching.

At the end of the day, I could no longer deny the truth.

I had been seeing a married man.