Crossing the line and the beginning of an illicit relationship [MF]

This is the story of how the lines of fraternization between officers and NCOs were crossed resulting in an intense 18-month affair/relationship.

As a career NCO in the United States Army, many things are frowned upon. Fraternization is one of the ones that will end your career and jeopardize your benefits with the risk of losing it all. I have not been able to talk to anyone about this and to some degree, this serves as a measure of venting out in the search for closure.

Since this is meant to be a series of posts covering the entire affair, I’ll provide some background about myself. I am an enlisted NCO with plenty of years of active duty, I am what many would call a career Soldier. I have been married for pretty much the amount of time I have served, my marriage is not perfect but I have managed to keep it afloat through all the years. I began having more than the normal share of problems at home upon moving to a new duty station in Europe, this drove me away from home throwing myself into work to drown the stress of a failing marriage.

How did we meet:

For all tense and purpose, I will name her “Emily”. I first met Emily when she reported to the unit I was assigned to. Emily was married in her late 20s, she had transitioned from being prior enlisted and became an officer. Upon meeting her the first thing it caught my attention was her big blue eyes. Since Emily was an officer our conversations were short and professional. I have always understood that there are lines that can’t be crossed but something about those eyes bothered me in a good way. Looking at it now from that moment I was hooked on her and I didn’t even know it yet. Emily was very professional and courteous but somewhat flirtatious whenever we converse with each other.

Due to the high visibility of my job it is expected to communicate often with every member of my company including officers. The interactions between me and Emily were not different although looking into those big blue eyes made me look forward to the next interaction. Still, I remained professional through all that. A work-related trip opened up and a decision had to be made into who was going to attend the trip with me, I suggested Emily come as it would be beneficial for her career but deep inside I just wanted her close to me.

The trip:

The trip consisted of a few days touring a very famous part of Europe coupled with historical lessons and sightseeing. There were plenty of senior leaders on the trip the accompanied us during the day but at night everyone was free to do as they please. For fear of being targeted for fraternization, I went out at night by myself. As we toured famous places subconsciously my brain always knew where she was. Many times I caught her looking at me too but I tried to convince myself that I was seeing what I wanted to see instead of reality.

On the second night I went out for some drinks to the bar and I walked the streets of this European city and walked by this group of officers. Emily was sitting with them and to play it cool I said hello and kept on walking. One of my Officer friends called me and asked me to sit with them which I agreed with, they quickly made space for me and pulled up a chair right across from…..Emily. I tried to contain my excitement and calm but collected I sat down. We spend a few hours joking and laughing and having a few drinks. Although nothing eventful happened that day I felt as she also was keeping the same secret I had by the way she looked at me. It felt like time stopped every time our eyes crossed, an unspoken language between us.

I went back to the hotel that night feeling invigorated and thinking to myself that maybe just maybe I was not imagining this. The third and last night I went as usual on my own and headed towards a bar. While drinking a beer I got a text message from one of my Officer friends, he wants me to come to his location to hang out. Something inside me knew that heading there was going to change things forever and I was not wrong. Upon arriving at this small but lively Irish bar I can immediately tell all of the officers are there. I say hello to everyone as I walk inside the bar and someone runs towards me excited and happy I’m there….it’s Emily. We immediately sit down and share a drink. I know for fact I am breaking the rules fraternizing with her but I don’t t care. I am exactly where I need to be and not going anywhere.

For the next two hours, we played a couple of rounds of darts while drinking a couple of shots and some beers. The group got together and discussed heading towards a local popular club. We split into two groups and headed there. Emily ended up in the other group who made it to the club ahead of us. My group took a bit longer to get there as we stopped numerous times on our way there. Once we reached the club we quickly rejoined the group. I headed towards the basement and there she was with those piercing eyes looking straight at me. She bolted from her seat, grabbed me, and directed me to one of the corners of the basement where a lot of people were dancing and started to dance together. We were drunk but not to the point of forgetting our surroundings. Still, nothing had happened that validated my suspicion, for all I knew this was a one-sided thing and I wanted to enjoy it as much as possible. We finished dancing and we headed upstairs, that’s where it happened.

As we are headed upstairs in this narrow staircase my hand and her hand found each other. I was leading up the staircase with her right behind me. There was a level of passion and care as our hands touched that’s impossible to describe. She moved closed to me and put her hands in my hips grabbing me tightly and slowly moving it until she finally grabbed my ass. That was it, she had just given me the green light I needed. Although I am far from shy making the first move was out of the question due to the level of trouble I’ll be in the event I was wrong reading the situation. This gave me the assurance I needed to pursue this and see how far down the rabbit hole “this” was going to go. Little did I know this was the beginning of 18 months of pure passion, lust, and betrayal that almost destroyed me in the end.

I’m not a writer but I tried my best to describe everything that went down exactly how it did. The affair unfolded slowly but after it picked up speed it was almost unstoppable. I saw myself thinking of a future with her and came close to it if it wasn’t for what happened later on in the relationship. More to follow soon.

Source: reddit.com/r/gonewildstories/comments/taidxj/crossing_the_line_and_the_beginning_of_an_illicit