His Other Life

American accent

Janet had been married to Greg for six years. They lived in a small house with their five-year-old son Leo and a black cat named Ben. Their life looked normal and joyful. Greg worked for a technology company and travelled a lot for work. Most weeks he was away for at least two or three nights.

“Another work trip,” Greg said one morning while putting clothes into his bag. Janet kissed him goodbye. Leo waved from the sofa. “Bring me chocolate!” Leo said. Greg smiled. “I will.” For many years Janet never asked questions.

One evening something strange happened. Greg had just returned from a three-day trip. Janet was washing his shirts when she found a small shop receipt in one of his pockets. The shop was in another part of the city. The time on the receipt was 7:10 p.m. the evening before.

Janet frowned. Yesterday Greg had called her from the airport. “I’m still waiting for my flight,” he had said. Janet looked at the receipt again. Then she placed it on the kitchen table. Maybe it meant nothing.

But two weeks later something else happened. Greg was in the shower, and his phone was on the kitchen table. The screen lit up with a message. Janet did not want to read it, but she did. The message said: “Emma keeps asking when you will come home.”

Janet stared at the phone. Emma? She did not know anyone with that name. When Greg returned to the kitchen, Janet said nothing. But now she began to watch him more carefully.

A few days later Greg left again for another “work trip”. The next afternoon Janet drove to the address from the receipt. The street was quiet, with small houses and trees. Janet parked her car and waited.

After some minutes she saw a car turn the corner. It was Greg’s car. He stopped in front of a yellow house. A woman opened the door and Greg kissed her. Then a small girl ran outside. “Daddy!” the girl said. Greg picked her up and carried her inside. The door closed.

Janet sat in her car for a long time. Then she drove home. Now she knew the truth.

A week later Janet returned to the yellow house and knocked on the door. The woman opened it and looked at her with surprise. “Yes?” Janet spoke calmly. “Hello. I’m looking for Greg.”

The woman shook her head. “No, Greg lives here. My husband’s name is Daniel.” Janet nodded slowly. “My husband says his name is Greg.” For a moment the two women looked at each other. Then Janet said quietly, “I think we have the same husband.”

An hour later they were sitting together in the living room. They showed each other photos and talked about dates and trips. Everything was the same. Two homes. Two wives. Two children. One man.

At first both women felt angry. But slowly another idea began to grow. “Why should he keep everything?” Sarah said. Janet looked at her. “You mean the houses? The money?” Sarah smiled a little. “Exactly.”

So, the two women made a quiet plan. Over the next few weeks they worked together. Janet moved the money from the bank account she shared with Greg. Sarah did the same. They sold Greg’s expensive watch, his computer, and even his car. They cancelled his credit cards.

Then one evening Greg came home. The house was empty. The television was gone. His computer was gone. The kitchen table was gone.

On the wall there was only one piece of paper. Greg walked closer and read the message: ‘We finally met. Thank you for introducing us.” Below the message were two names: Janet and Sarah. At the bottom was one more line: “The children say thank you for the new house.”

Greg stood alone in the empty room. For six years he had lived two lives. Now he had none.

📒 Key vocabulary

• trip – a journey when you go somewhere and then come back
• receipt – a small piece of paper from a shop that shows what you bought and how much you paid
• pockets – small cloth spaces in clothes where you can keep things like money or keys
• lit up (light up, lit up, lit up) – suddenly turn on and become bright
• parked (park, parked, parked) – stop a car and leave it in one place
• corner – the place where two streets meet
• plan – an idea about what you want to do and how you will do it
• shared (share, shared, shared) – when two or more people use or have something together (for example a bank account)

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