'I'm married but I'm falling in love with our tenant'
Landlords Mary* and John* have been married for six years and there's a lot of love there, but it's become apparent that something is missing from the relationship.
"Earlier last year, we had a new tenant move into our downstairs condo area," John shared to Reddit about his real life dilemma.
"It didn't take long to realise that, even casually, we had chemistry," said John, something that he felt was lacking with his wife.
"We would accidentally say the same things in a sentence," he elaborated, adding that he and his wife struggled to have more than a 10-minute conversation back and forth nowadays.
The new tenant, 26, was a young mum of two, and her children were struggling in school because of bad behaviour.
"I helped her kids (six and seven) learn more about respect, learning and love when they were about to be kicked out of school for bullying and being disruptive," said John.
"And I was fine with that, just having an extended little family that takes care of each other. But eventually, our relationship became different."
John revealed: "We'd say lighthearted things in a casual sentence that I realise now felt like flirting.
"She developed a weird habit of avoiding looking at me, but constantly smiles when she knows I'm looking at her.
"Soon after, her laughter started haunting my dreams, and I haven't been able to get a decent night's sleep since."
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John admitted to her that he was developing feelings, and apologised if it made her feel uncomfortable.
He wanted to give her the option of moving out, if she so wished, but insisted he would try to get over his crush.
John insisted she should tell him if he came across creepy or made her feel uncomfortable.
Acknowledging what he said with nothing more than a nod, John feels as though his crush is deepening.
"I later confessed how crazy she makes me, and how terrible I feel about it, but it wasn't enough for me to stop loving her," confessed John.
"She didn't respond to that," said John. "She has been avoiding saying anything about it directly, and it's driving me insane."
Now their conversations have become stilted akin to an "awkward teenage crush scenario where we both fumble over our words".
John admitted: "It's stupid, annoying. And it is crazy. I'm married, with a devoted wife who doesn't always appreciate me but has always been faithful.
"And my tenant has two troubled kids... I'm her goddamn landlord, a position of responsibility and power."
*Names have been changed.
