I Never Worried About Cheating

Putting up fences was never my thing

Photo by Deon Black on Unsplash

When I was younger, before my first marriage, I liked to date and I dated a lot of men. Sometimes other women would try to steal them. It never bothered me.

The way I looked at it — if the man and I didn’t have an understanding, he was free. If we had an understanding and he cheated, then I couldn’t trust him, so why would I want him? If we were right for each other, then fences weren’t needed because we’d both want to be together.

There was a crew jock I dated in college. He was gorgeous. Women stared at him when we walked together.

It was great for my ego but… we weren’t really compatible.

So when he met me one evening looking forlorn, I felt only compassion for him.

“I’ve fallen for someone else,” he said.

“It’s OK,” I said.

“Really?”

“Sure, I hope you’re happy.”

I’d only been dating him for a few weeks, after all. We hadn’t talked about being exclusive, and I hadn’t slept with him thanks to my conservative Indian parents. Sex was for marriage. He wasn’t the man I was going to marry, and that was OK. I wished him well.