Wife finds suspicious 'long hairs' in bathtub, but it's not what you think

When a wife began finding suspicious "long hairs" in her bathtub, she imaged the worst. Of course, anyone in her position would. She thought her husband had been cheating on her while she went to work and that her marriage was in trouble. What does one do when confronted with such a dilemma? Ask Reddit for relationship advice, of course. The wife created a "throwaway" account and asked Reddit users what her plan of action should be. Some suggested planting a hidden camera to catch her husband "in the act" and others recommended confronting him head-on. Ultimately, she chose to head home early from work just in case she was able to sniff the cheater out. What she discovered, however, was not what she expected at all.

Though she was deathly afraid that her home had become a refuge for a secret squatter, she wanted to make certain for herself. Therefore, she headed home from work early after asking her boss for a half-day, something she had never done before. This way, her husband, were he home, wouldn't suspect a thing either. She described in her follow-up post, "Upon returning home, nothing seemed amiss. I was expecting another car on the drive or parked outside on the street. There was no other car I didn't recognize. Quietly letting myself in, I was immediately confused. In the hallway, there was a pair of shoes I didn't recognize, and not only that, they looked like men's shoes."

As she decided how to confront her husband, thinking about whether she "should sneak around or make [her] presence known" immediately, her husband appeared in the hallway—with two cups of tea. It was obvious that he was surprised to see his wife standing there. "Playing along with naivete, I asked my husband how he could have known I was coming home early to make me tea," she shared. "Expecting my husband to lie, he surprised me by sitting me down and explaining everything." That's when she realized her husband is actually, quite possibly, the sweetest man ever.

The wife explained, "At the beginning of lockdown, his friend (someone I'm not all the close with because only met once) was evicted, lost his job, and had been couch surfing. So for some days over the past couple of weeks, this guy has been traveling to our house, and with the acceptance of my husband, using our bathroom to freshen up to attend interviews. He was also borrowing shirts and suits from my husband. As it turns out, my husband's friend has long hair and a beard. He also told me [he] was very embarrassed about the whole situation and didn't want people to know what he was having to do. So it turns out my husband isn't cheating on me but was hiding the fact his long-haired friend was coming over to use our shower." Once his friend had hopped out of the shower, she even got to meet him and he "turned out to be a very nice bloke just down on his luck."

When she told her husband that she suspected he had been cheating, he was taken aback; he hadn't even considered "those implications while attempting covering for his friend." The wife said the whole thing was plain ridiculous and even offered for his friend to live with them until he was back on his feet. She concluded, "Funnily enough, my worst-case scenario which was mentioned in the replies was either a homeless man or woman living in my walls and sneakily using the shower. And though this seems to be half the case, I'm glad it wasn't a stranger as such that wasn't unwelcome and someone that wasn't living in my walls."