Back to Love: A New Beginning
Chapter 1

Chapter 1:.

Shane Hayes and I had been married for almost two years, during which time he had never shown much sexual desire.

And since I’d found out I was pregnant earlier in the year, he hadn’t touched me at all, saying he was afraid of hurting the baby. He had even moved into his studio apartment and slept in the small bed he had.

I was only twenty-six, married and pregnant, but I had to sleep alone every night. I was lonely and miserable.

Bored out of my mind, I ended up going online and asking around on certain forums. One comment in particular piqued my interest. Someone said that maybe his lack of interest was because he had already seen too many women’s bodies.

Shane was an obstetrician by profession, so this made sense.

But there was one little detail that kept running through my head.

He always locked the door whenever he stayed in his studio. We were the only people in this house. Why would he have to lock the door? Was he hiding something from me?

I had been thinking about this a lot, until it became my biggest concern. It bothered me so much that it began to disrupt my daily life.

Finally, on our wedding anniversary, I couldn’t take it anymore and decided to sneak into his study after he left for work.

The room was simple and clean. There didn’t seem to be anything unusual, except for the large drawer in his desk. It was locked.

Fortunately, I had a spare key to this drawer, unbeknownst to my husband.

Not that I wanted to invade his privacy, but I had ordered a copy out of consideration for him. If he ever lost his key, at least I had a spare.

I quickly opened the drawer, but only found some office supplies. Nothing out of the ordinary. I breathed a sigh of relief and closed it again. My business was done.

As I walked past her bed on my way to the door, my eyes inadvertently swept the pillow. I stopped dead in my tracks.

On it were two strands of curly red hair.

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I was a brunette and rarely went into her studio. There was no way that was my hair.

The wastebasket on the floor next to the bed caught my attention. The unmistakable smell of sex wafted from it, and I looked down to see that it contained several crumpled tissues.

Was she hiding another woman in the house?

As soon as the thought popped into my head, I broke out in a cold sweat.

My eyes roamed the study. There was no room for any adult person to hide in this room.

Was I overthinking things?

Besides, I didn’t think Shane would resort to this. Even if he wanted to trick me, surely he would continue his affair elsewhere, wouldn’t he? He wouldn’t do something as stupid as bringing his mistress into his own home.

He could have gotten those errant locks of hair from a colleague, or a client. As for what was in the trash? well, so he masturbated. He was a grown man with needs, after all.

Still, it was disheartening to know that my husband preferred to masturbate rather than have sex with me.

When evening came, I went to the supermarket to do my usual shopping. Given the occasion today, I chose a bottle of red wine, even though I couldn’t drink it.

I returned home looking forward to it. As the hours passed, however, it became painfully clear that Shane had forgotten what day it was. It was very late and he still hadn’t returned.

I felt a storm of emotions swirl inside my chest. I tried to take a deep breath to calm myself, but then my eyes fell on the bottle of wine in front of me. At the sight of it, my disappointment and anger rose to the surface, and I reached out and opened the bottle without a second thought.

It was after ten o’clock when the front door opened.

I jumped to my feet and lunged at Shane as soon as he stepped into the foyer.

His arms reached up to catch me, but his brows furrowed in a deep frown.

“Have you been drinking?”

I threw my arms around his neck and laughed. “Just a little.”

“You’re pregnant,” he chided in a disapproving voice as he struggled to support my weight. “Why did you drink in your condition?”

I closed my eyes and rested my head on her shoulder.

“I was hoping we could have dinner together. I waited and waited, but you weren’t coming, so I went ahead with the meal alone. Don’t worry, it’s just a little red wine; it won’t affect the baby. Today is our second wedding anniversary, so it’s a special occasion.”

“You say that, but you’re actually drunk. Let me take you to the bedroom.”

Shane took me into the bedroom and laid me down on the bed. When he leaned over me, I took the opportunity and wrapped my arms around him before bringing my lips to his.

“Kiss me, baby.”

But my husband only stiffened in response. He gave me a half-hearted kiss, but soon pulled away from my embrace.

“Don’t do it, Eveline Stone. Think of the baby inside you. You should be more careful.”

My arms were still around his neck. I stared at him in silent invitation, though I could feel my complaints creeping into my expression as well.

“You’re a doctor, you know it’s safe to make love after the first trimester. We just have to go slow. Don’t push me away, honey. Not tonight.”

In fact, she pushed me away. He straightened up and loosened his tie. “I’m going to take a shower.”

The truth was, I’d never had a drop of wine. I was pregnant and, of course, I knew better than to drink alcohol. All I did was pour a few drops of red wine on my neck and make it my perfume for the evening.

I heard the bathroom door close, followed by the sound of running water. It lasted about ten minutes and then Shane came out. He walked past the bedroom without even stopping.

Then I heard the creak of the study door opening and closing, as well as the unmistakable click of the lock engaging.

I threw myself under the comforter for quite a while. After about an hour, I was finally able to muster the courage to put on my headphones and pull out my phone. I clicked on the app that was connected to the bug I had purchased.

I purchased it this afternoon, at the same supermarket where I had bought food and wine for our anniversary dinner.

The studio was soundproofed, and I never had any qualms about it. I doubted Shane even suspected there was a microphone installed under his small bed.

As I accessed the microphone, the unmistakable sound of panting and moaning reached my ears. A lump lodged in my throat. My nose stung and my eyes instantly flooded.

It was clear to me now: it wasn’t that I had no sex drive. From the looks of it, he was brimming with libido to an almost uncontrollable degree. It was just that his desires were not for me.

But it was what I heard next that shocked me to my core.

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