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My Husband Banned Spicy Food for 3 Years—Then Cooked It for Another Woman
Novelix
Completed
For three years, Lena gives up every spicy food she loves because her husband Adrian insists that even the smell makes him ill. Then she overhears him flirting with another woman in the grocery store and sees him buying hot peppers for her. Adrian forgets their anniversary, lies about the relationship, and later cuts off access to money needed for Lena’s mother’s medical care. Lena takes a transfer to Chicago, rebuilds her career, and reconnects with a thoughtful old friend who remembers her favorite meals. Adrian follows, full of apologies. Lena has already learned what real consideration looks like.
Chapters (3)
Chapter 1
For three years, my husband insisted he couldn't stand spicy food.
"Even the smell of chili peppers gives me a headache," Adrian Bennett would say.
I loved heat. I'd grown up on hot sauce, pepper flakes, and my mother's blazing-hot chicken. But because I loved him, there hadn't been a single chili in our kitchen since our wedding.
Three days before I was due to transfer to my company's Chicago office, I stopped at the grocery store to make Adrian a special dinner.
From the other side of the spice aisle, a young woman laughed.
"Adrian, that spicy beef you made was incredible. My customers won't believe you cooked it. Can you come teach me again? Extra hot next time."
His voice came back warm and teasing. "You'll burn your tongue again."
"Then you can kiss it better."
He laughed.
I rounded the shelf and saw him placing bags of fresh red chilies into a cart already filled with hot sauce and seasonings. The woman beside him leaned into his shoulder like she belonged there.
So he could cook spicy food.
He simply wouldn't cook it for me.
I looked down at my cart: bland soup ingredients, the same things I'd bought for three years. I returned them one by one and picked up a jar of chili crisp instead.
That evening Adrian came home to steamed fish, plain vegetables, and the jar sitting in the middle of the table.
"Why is that here? Throw it out," he said.
"I bought it because I want to eat it."
"You know the smell bothers me. We've had the same rule for three years."
I looked at him. "Then why do you smell like chili peppers tonight?"
His expression tightened. He claimed he'd eaten with clients.
"I saw you at the store," I said.
After a long silence, he exhaled. "Maddie runs a food stall. She grew up without parents. I'm helping her out."
Adrian was the CEO of a company worth millions. He could have hired an entire kitchen staff if he wanted to help.
"So you cook for her?"
"I happen to know a little about spicy food."
"You told me the smell gave you headaches."
"When we were dating, you said you liked health-conscious men. I thought telling you I avoided spicy food would impress you. Then I got used to the story and forgot to clear it up."
Three years of meals I didn't want, explained away as a forgotten white lie.
My eyes stung, but I refused to cry in front of him.
Chapter 2
Adrian took my wrist. "I shouldn't have done that. Eat whatever you want from now on."
He said it as though he could give back three years with one sentence.
His phone lit up on the coffee table. I didn't touch it. The preview was enough.
*Maddie: Can you come early tomorrow? I can't handle the stall alone.*
Tomorrow was our third wedding anniversary. I'd reserved our old favorite restaurant a week earlier, and he'd promised to be there.
"You remember tomorrow?" I asked.
He glanced at the message. "I have something important at work."
I went to the food market the next evening and found him at Maddie's stall. His expensive suit jacket was thrown over a chair. He was wearing an apron, moving skillets and teasing her as if they were newlyweds.
Maddie saw me and smiled. "Adrian, do you know her?"
The man I'd married looked directly into my eyes.
"She's... a colleague."
The market was crowded and noisy. Inside me, everything went quiet.
"That's right," I said. "We work together."
His face flickered with surprise. Perhaps he'd expected me to cry, scream, or expose him.
Maddie eagerly offered me a taste of the food. Adrian hovered behind her, protective and pleased. On the very evening he'd promised to celebrate our marriage, he had chosen to play boyfriend to another woman.
I went home alone.
Chapter 3
For a moment, sitting in our living room, I considered declining the transfer. I'd worked hard for it, but some foolish part of me still wanted to believe Adrian cared about our marriage.
He came back late and complained that the food stall was struggling. Something had gone wrong with an order, he said, and Maddie had been terribly upset.
"It isn't your business," I replied.
"You don't understand. She has nobody."
I thought about the nights I'd sat beside my sick mother, the meals I'd prepared for Adrian, the career decisions I'd made with him in mind.
Apparently I didn't count as somebody.
The next day I confirmed my transfer. Three days. Then I would be gone.
