My husband has a company that employs remote workers from all over. Some days ago, one of my husband’s employees was celebrating her birthday, and as customary, we all wished her a happy birthday and called on God to bless her new year. Everyone in the group celebrated her by posting her picture and wishing her well, including me.

Later that evening, my husband informed me that he had been invited to her birthday party in Ibadan.

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP CHANNEL TO RECEIVE ALL STORIES IN YOUR INBOX

Quietly, I went through his phone to see whether this invitation was indeed true or false. There was no birthday invitation from her to him. It was him, my husband, who had invited her out on a date.

The text read: “Where do you want to go?”

She replied, “Oh, there is a new place they’ve recently opened that I would like to go to.”

My husband encouraged her to check it out and let him know when she would be available. They concluded that it would be a date to spend time together and talk.

I left the phone exactly where I found it and slept over it as though I had seen nothing. Early the next day, I flatly told him that I would like to go to the birthday party with him, mingle, and finally meet his worker.

He laughed and said I wouldn’t be going with him.

“Why?”

He told me, “Because you were not invited to the party. Do you want to be an uninvited guest?”

But how would I be an uninvited guest if I was going with my husband? Are we not one, after all?

That evening, we argued about it. Yes, about a staff member’s nonexistent birthday party. He still didn’t know I had uncovered the fact that there was no birthday party, and I was also playing along to see how far this charade would go.

He insisted he would go because it was his worker’s birthday party. I argued that he wouldn’t go, and if he did, then I was going too. Or do you not see my point? This is a remote worker who lives in another state. Send her a gift or something, but why are you going there alone?

The morning after was a Sunday, the day scheduled for my husband’s date. He still didn’t know that I knew. I woke up that morning, stretched, and lazily laid back in bed after saying my prayers. I turned on my phone and started reading through my messages. Normally, I would rush into the wardrobe, pick out my outfit for church, and make breakfast, but I just lay there in bed.

He asked, “Why are you not going to church today?”

“We have a birthday party to attend, right? I don’t want us to be late.”

His facial expression changed from curious to unpleasant.

The long and short of the story is that both of us stayed in the room the whole Sunday. One person was agitated, while the other person, me, was resolved.

After more digging, I also found out that he had sent her money. He later gave her a lousy excuse, claiming he had somewhere important to be, so he had to cancel, and he promised to fix another date.

This is our fourth year of marriage, and this incident of him trying to cheat, or trying to date his workers, has happened before. Last year too, an employee of his was resigning to continue her schooling, and my husband asked her out on a date so they could spend time together since she was no longer working for him. These are just the ones I know about. There may be many others I do not know about.

Now I am here thinking that maybe I overreacted and probably could have handled this differently.

Men Don’t Like It When Women Do The Paying

According to him, nothing happened. He says he is just trying to be a loving boss. But should there not be a fine line between trying to be a loving boss and being a husband?

Am I doing too much, did I do too much?

—Chichi

This story you just read was sent to us by someone just like you. We know you have a story too. Email it to us at [email protected]. You can also drop your number and we will call you so you tell us your story.

#SB<>