How does one move on from a partner’s infidelity? For Maya, domestic life could not have been more perfect, Until the housewife discovered her husband’s affair with their daughter’s preschool teacher.
Maya’s* nightmare began three years ago, during a routine play session with her three-year-old daughter, Lily*. Maya was planning a weekend outing with the family, and had asked her little girl if she preferred the zoo or the aquarium. Lily chose neither, asking for ice cream instead.
When Maya refused her request, Lily threw a tantrum and cried, saying that Papa and Ms June*, her preschool teacher, always bought her ice cream. While Maya was thrown off by this revelation, that her husband and Ms June seemed to be in regular contact without her knowledge, she shrugged it off, choosing to console her child instead.
About two weeks later, Lily came home from school with an ice cream stain on her uniform. When asked about it, her husband, John* said he had given her ice cream for behaving well in school. Maya accepted this, though she felt that something was off. “Call it a woman’s intuition – a part of me knew something was up, but another part of me didn’t want to rock the boat,” she says.
However, her curiosity got the better of her one day, and she decided to ask her daughter what she thought of Ms June. Lily said she was her favourite teacher, as she was always taking her out to eat and giving her treats. Maya was alarmed to hear this – how was a teacher permitted to take a pupil out without a parent’s permission, and during school hours? She dug deeper, and wished that she had not.
According to Lily, Ms June and Papa had been spending time together with her after school at a nearby cafe. They even went to the zoo once, and Maya realised this was when she was staying over at her parents’ house to care for her sick mother.
Shocked, Maya felt sick to her stomach that her husband was blatantly cheating on her, and in front of their child.
“My whole world collapsed instantly. I didn’t want to believe it, but I couldn’t ignore it either. It was even more horrifying that my daughter had been unknowingly dragged into this affair. I really didn’t know what to do,” she recounts.
THE UNRAVELLING OF TRUST
Despite the trauma of discovering her husband’s infidelity, Maya still wanted to hear his side of the story. She mulled over it for a week before finally confronting her husband. He denied it, of course, and said that his meetings with Ms June were purely for professional reasons, and mostly to discuss Lily’s well-being in school. He reassured her of his love and faithfulness towards the marriage and family, and also promised to spend more time with them.
Although she had her doubts, Maya decided to take her husband’s word for it.
A few months later, Maya found out that she was pregnant with their second child. Elated, she dropped by her husband’s office to surprise him with the news during lunch, only to be told that he had taken the day off. Confused, she then decided to grab a meal at the couple’s favourite spot before going home, only to find John dining there with Ms June. They were behaving intimately – it was definitely not a professional meetup, as John had claimed. Trying to control her rage, she snapped a photo of the pair and stormed home.
Later that night, she showed the photo to her husband and demanded another explanation. He finally confessed, apologised for his momentary lapse in judgement, and vowed never to see Ms June again outside of school. The next morning, Maya went to Lily’s preschool and made a complaint against the other woman – it seemed the affair had been going on for nearly a year – who was subsequently fired. “She was supposed to take care of my child, educate her and instil good morals. Instead, she exposed Lily to a world of betrayal and secrets,” says Maya.
Text Azlinda Said