That evening, I watched the footage again.
This time, I forced myself to watch every second.
And suddenly, I noticed something I had completely missed.
My son.
He was standing between them.
Daniel wasn't moving closer to Emma.
He was reaching toward my son.
Emma wasn't flirting.
She was handing Daniel a drawing my son had made at preschool.
The smile I thought was romantic?
It was pride.
The kind parents have when they see their child accomplish something.
I felt embarrassed.
But then another clip appeared.
One that I hadn't seen before.
6
In the video, Daniel sat beside Emma at the kitchen table.
They spoke quietly for nearly twenty minutes.
Again, my stomach tightened.
I turned up the volume.
What I heard left me frozen.
Daniel wasn't talking about a relationship.
He was talking about me.
Specifically, about how worried he was.
Over the previous months, I had been working longer hours, sleeping less, and constantly dealing with stress.
According to Daniel, I looked exhausted.
Emma had noticed it too.
Together, they had been planning something.
Not an affair.