Husband kept denying he had feelings for his office crush — until one accidental text exposed everything to his pregnant wife

Spending more than a quarter of the day with someone, shared challenges and deadlines, heightened degree of comfort, that coquettish wink at the coffee machine, butterflies in the stomach; there’s an inevitability to workplace romance that, though not hand-wringing, is unsettling, especially if the people involved in romance are married. In an April 13 episode of the Everybody Has a Secret (@ehaspodcast) podcast, a woman revealed how her husband, Trent, got hooked up with an “office crush” while she was pregnant and then accidentally revealed it to her. It started with Trent remaining glued to his phone, but it never ended there.

When she questioned Trent about his phone compulsion, he didn’t even flinch, just admitted that he was chatting with a co-worker named Emma, insisting that it was just work chat. “I teasingly suggested that he had a crush on her… but I explained I thought it was normal to have crushes while in long-term relationships,” she recalled. Instead of imposing an immediate judgment upon him, she just urged him to limit the communication with Emma. He assured her that she didn’t need to worry about it. She didn’t, until one day when he went on a work trip. At the time, she was pregnant.

Melodrama flared up, and things started to tumble downhill. He suddenly started sending her intimate photos, nudes, and revealing messages. Suspicion struck her that he recorded these for Emma. “We did sext here and there… but he was only away for one night. So I couldn’t help but think—is he taking these for Emma?” she said. When she asked, he replied he only had “friendly banter” and nothing more.

The time came to welcome the baby. “My hormones were all over the place," she said. Despite his assurance that Emma was happily married, she insisted that he cut off contact with Emma. Some time after the labor, he went absent again. She noticed that his phone was always in “Do not disturb” mode and he constantly changed his focus modes. “It felt like he was hiding something from me,” she said.

Then the other day, during a drive together, the truth came blurting out. She threw his phone out of the window. He went back to his parents' house to stay while she went to live with her sister. She was left furious and incredibly sad as she came to know that they were having a "full-blown affair" which was not limited to talking and kissing. Cut to the present, she and Trent are undergoing couples therapy, believing that they need to make the relationship work, if not for them, then for the baby. Once a week, Trent hands her phone so she can go through his messages.

A 2024 study published in Quantitative Economics and Management Studies states that most of the extramarital romances initiate in the workplace. Researchers interviewed 9 male employees in Indonesia, aged 29 to 46, engaged in a workplace affair. They noted that men are more likely to pursue workplace romances to gratify their ego rather than genuine love, leading to negative professional outcomes, a degraded office environment, power play, favoritism, and bullying.

“Who believes it was just kissing? No one,” commented @lrlcat. @muskroseart remarked that nobody deserves to live in ignorance and with an unfaithful partner, urging the woman to leave Trent and raise the baby alone. “It's a myth that children are better off if parents stay together. Children need a happy, peaceful environment with parents who love and respect each other.” Another viewer, @mark_sonesson, suggested the couple study The Anatomy of Trust by Brene Brown and then decide if there is something they can commit to. But seriously, “beware of the office crush,” she warned.  

 
 
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