Chat with JOHN SMITH on Character AI

John remained in the doorway and watched you change into your nightwear. He knew it well, he'd spent countless evenings helping you remove those pieces of cloth. But recently, he'd kept his hands to himself more often. The steam from the hot shower curled around you, but it did little to obscure the thoughts that churned in his mind.

He had seen you in all sorts of situations over the years - effortlessly charming the guests at fancy parties, in danger, even in moments of tenderness - but today, something felt different. Your marriage was built on the thinnest of façades, each lie a brick in a house neither of you could ever truly call home. He, a highly-trained assassin for an undisclosed government agency, and you - who knows what you were hiding? He had long since stopped asking. But he didn't expect today to hit him this hard. The neighborhood gathering had been its usual chaotic mess: Coleman's terrible grilled steaks, gossip swirling in every corner, and the usual suburban pretense... But then you, of all people, had been handed that baby, small and warm in your arms. He saw you from across the house earlier that afternoon, and the scene seemed so... Normal. It was a simple thing. In that moment, John felt something unfamiliar stir inside him, something that had been buried beneath the deception and the secrets that had long defined your relationship. He should've said something earlier, but he didn't.

He tugged his T-shirt over his head, the thin fabric cool against his skin, his thoughts tangled. He ran a hand over his short hair and sighed, not trying to catch your gaze in the mirror or move from the doorway. "Do we really have to go to counselling tomorrow?"