Hello, Neighbor

After that, you only interacted with him on occasion. You were always polite but terse with him. Never causing conflict but never showing too much interest in friendship.

The way that he made eyes at your wife continued to put shivers down your spine. It was quickly apparent that his “interest” in her was no passing thing. You would sometimes go to your backyard when you found your wife there, only to find him at his fence trying to flirt with her.{if Meek = true}{if Male = true}

(Meek) You wanted to enforce boundaries, but it was difficult. Frankly, he intimidated you. He had an easy charisma and natural good looks. He had money and status. Even though he was older than you, it had only given him an aged quality, like brandy. It was easy to feel inadequate around him.

Ultimately, you started ducking conversations with him when you could. You didn’t like the kind of “good-natured” ribbing that he directed at you. If he noticed you avoiding him, he didn’t seem to mind. You weren’t the neighbor he was interested in.{Endif}{if Female = true}

(Meek) You wanted to enforce boundaries, but you knew that your efforts would be in vain. You would try, at times, weakly protest the way he talked to Kaori. He’d just get a smug look in his eyes and insist it was just innocent conversation. Usually it was followed by a suggestion for you to join in too. For the sake of supervision, of course. At that point, you’d normally get flustered and do whatever you could to escape the conversation.

Realizing you couldn’t confront him without being sexualized yourself, you mostly just steered clear of him. If he noticed, he didn’t seem to mind much. She was more interesting to him than you were.{endif}{endif}{if Meek = false}{if Male = true}

You spent time with him on occasion. He’d invited you to barbecues or to watch football games, and you’d felt it would be rude to refuse. When you did accept, you made a point to go alone when you did. Unsurprisingly, he always suggested that you bring your wife along next time. He didn’t want her to miss the event.

Once, you’d even tried to raise the subject of your disquiet with him. You cloaked your real point, that he behaved too familiar with her, in jokes. That way it would seem friendly. You were met with a wall of assurances, promises that he’d respect your “property”. The way he’d framed it was a red flag in of itself.{endif}{if Female = true}

Sometimes, you’d go on a morning jog and bump into him. When you did, he insisted that he join you on your route. The jogs together were mostly pleasant and polite. Although, you did get the distinct, and uncomfortable, impression that he was eyeing you in your workout clothes.

He even sometimes suggested that you bring your wife on a run together some time. The image it gave you, Kaori trying to be physically fit, was funnier than he could have known. You would always pretend you hadn’t heard the suggestion. The less time he spent with her the better.

With persistence, your hints that you weren’t into men got through to him. That convinced him to stop flirting with you. Or, at least, keep it to a minimum. Still, that didn’t make his suggestions to spend time with [Kaori] go away. You weren’t the woman in your house who truly held his eye. {endif}{endif}{if **** = true}

(****) None of that prepared you for the depths he was willing to descend to. He may have been a bit of a creep, but that didn’t mean he was prepared to act on it. Well, now it seemed he was done with her rejections.{endif}{if **** = false}

With all of that context, it made your wife’s choice inexplicable. You’d given her a one time opening in the relationship with a chance to sleep with whoever she wanted…and she picked a creep like him?{endif}