My Husband’s Mistress Lives Across the Street

Because I received a scam call about an "asset check" just as I was leaving, I arrived a bit late to pick up my daughter, Wendy Pruitt, from kindergarten.

It happened to coincide with the end of the school day for the elementary school across the street.

As soon as I got out of the car, my attention was drawn to a familiar figure at the elementary school's entrance.

There, getting out of a black Audi, was Samuel Pruitt, who was supposed to be on a business trip. He wasn't supposed to be back until tomorrow. What on earth was he doing here today?

I assumed he wanted to surprise Wendy and me and had mistakenly gone to the wrong school.

Just as I was about to walk over and call out to him, I saw a little boy in a school uniform run out of the school gate. Shouting "Daddy!" he excitedly leaped into Samuel's arms.

Samuel looked every bit the doting father as he happily picked the child up and asked, "Did you miss Daddy?"

I froze, standing there in shock, a roaring sound filling my ears as if everything around me had vanished. All I could hear was that little boy's voice echoing, "Daddy."

My mind went blank, unable to comprehend what I was witnessing.

Samuel… had a son in elementary school behind my back???

A week ago, Wendy came home from school and told me she saw Samuel picking up a boy at the elementary school across the street. The boy was calling him "Daddy."

At the time, I didn't give it much thought. Samuel had been on a business trip for almost two months, and I figured Wendy just missed her dad and had mistaken someone else for him.

But when she mentioned it for the third time, I began to get impatient and even scolded her harshly.

Knowing Samuel as well as I did, I couldn't believe he would betray me, let alone have a child with someone else!

Yet, the scene before me filled me with both guilt and shame. Samuel had shattered my trust in him, and worse, I had failed my daughter, causing her undue distress.

"Mom?" Wendy's voice snapped me back to reality. I felt as if I were falling from the clouds back into the harshness of the real world. Looking down at her bewildered eyes, I tried to suppress my swirling emotions and smiled as I patted her head.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Samuel turn away with the little boy in tow. Instinctively, I picked Wendy up and got into the car, skillfully avoiding Samuel's gaze.

I didn't have the courage to confront Samuel then, nor could I bear to let Wendy know the awful truth.

I drove home in a daze, running two red lights and hearing countless horns blare at me. I had no idea how I managed to get us home safely.

Just as I entered our community, I was shocked to see Samuel's car pull into the garage of the unit opposite ours. I could hardly believe my eyes. For ten years, I had trusted him completely, and now my world was falling apart.

I couldn't eat a bite of dinner, and after putting Wendy to bed, I stayed up all night, unable to sleep.

Samuel and I had been married for ten years, and Wendy was only five. But that boy, who called him "Daddy," was wearing an elementary school uniform and appeared to be at least seven years old.

If he really was Samuel's son, it meant Samuel had betrayed me shortly after our marriage.

A wave of tightness gripped my chest, and a sickening taste rose in my throat. I couldn't bear to think any further.