They say marriage is built on trust, but nothing rocks the trust boat quite like a mysterious new work bestie with tearful “I miss you” confessions. While work friendships are great, when lunch meetups turn sneaky and boundaries get blurry, it’s hard not to wonder where friendship ends, and something murkier begins.

For one wife, her husband’s budding “bestie” situation with a new female coworker went from casual office banter to emotional confessions faster than you can say “red flags,” and she’s asking the internet for advice.

More info: Mumsnet

Work friendships are a bit like office plants; they can brighten your day, but if you’re not careful, they might start taking over the whole desk

Image credits: Ketut Subiyanto / Pexels (not the actual image)

One woman started asking herself if she was being unreasonable after her husband formed a close relationship with a female colleague but said they were just friends

Image credits: Lovetoread2024

Image credits: Mikhail Nilov / Pexels (not the actual image)

The husband and his colleague started having one-on-one lunches outside the office every day, and he even offered her emotional support

Image credits: Lovetoread2024

Image credits: Racool_studio / Pexels (not the actual image)

The woman got suspicious when her husband let her know his colleague told him she missed him after he changed teams

Image credits: Lovetoread2024

The woman told her husband she didn’t want him going on “dates” with his colleague anymore, but they could hang out as a group with the rest of the team

Our protagonist has been happily married to her husband for 10 years, and they’ve built a beautiful life with their 6-year-old daughter. Everything seemed peachy until a new female colleague joined the husband’s workplace about a year ago. Apparently, they bonded over having kids of similar ages, a pretty innocent connection that’s as relatable as swapping diaper horror stories at daycare drop-off.

At first, it was all above board: casual texts and work chats, nothing shady. But then, things started to enter “hmm, that’s odd…” territory when hubby switched teams at work. His new bestie got all teary-eyed during a catch-up and confessed she missed him. I don’t know about you, but I think I might be spotting some red flags here. And so did our OP (original poster).

The husband assured his wife he was just being a good friend, and nothing more. But when she discovered they’d been sneaking off for one-on-one lunches out of the office, eyebrows were raised, and she became suspicious.

When confronted, her husband pulled the classic, “I didn’t tell you because I knew how you’d react!” defense. He claimed he was offering emotional support because the coworker was going through a rough patch. But his wife wasn’t buying it. If it’s no big deal, why keep it a secret?

So, our storyteller put her foot down: no more one-on-one lunch dates or tear-filled strolls down Emotional Lane. She’s fine with them catching up in groups but feels these private meetups are teetering on dangerous territory.

Her husband insists they’re “just friends,” and since they’re both married with kids, nothing would ever happen. But let’s face it, “we’re married” isn’t exactly an impenetrable force field against questionable choices, now is it?

You know, emotional affairs don’t always start with intentions to cheat—they just creep in disguised by innocent connections. Add some secret lunches and a sprinkle of secrecy, and suddenly you’ve got a recipe for trouble.

Image credits: Diva Plavalaguna / Pexels (not the actual image)

Emotional infidelity often sneaks in quietly, making it tricky to spot until it’s already causing damage. It’s not about a single act but a gradual shift of emotional closeness from a partner to someone else. To find out more on this topic, I interviewed Dr. Jane Greer, a marriage and family therapist and author of the book Am I Lying To Myself? How To Overcome Denial and See the Truth, for some comments.

She told Bored Panda that emotional infidelity happens when someone forms a deep, personal connection with someone outside their romantic relationship, eroding trust and commitment. While it may begin as a harmless friendship, it evolves into something more emotionally intense.

We asked Dr. Greer what some common signs that a friendship might be crossing the line into emotional infidelity are. She told us that a friendship starts to cross into emotional infidelity when it begins taking precedence over your relationship. If you’re spending more time talking to this friend than with your partner, or you start confiding personal thoughts and feelings to your friend rather than your partner, it can be a sign of trouble.

“Secrecy is another red flag—if you’re hiding the depth of the connection or downplaying it to avoid concerns, that often suggests you know it’s crossing a boundary.  Unaddressed physical attraction can further complicate the situation, making it feel less like a friendship and more like something deeper,” Dr. Greer explained.

We wanted to know how someone can differentiate between their own insecurities and legitimate concerns about a partner’s emotional connection with someone else. Dr. Greer explained that to tell the difference between insecurities and legitimate concerns, it’s important to reflect on the relationship and your feelings.

Ask yourself whether your partner is emotionally present and engaged. Are they prioritizing your time together, or is their focus elsewhere? If they share more with someone else than with you, that may be a sign worth discussing.

We also asked Dr. Greer if emotional infidelity is just as damaging as physical infidelity.  She told us that “Emotional infidelity can be just as damaging as physical infidelity because both break trust and challenge the foundation of the relationship. Sharing deep emotional connections or intimate details with someone outside the relationship can leave a partner feeling excluded and betrayed.”

Don’t get me wrong, genuine friendships are incredibly valuable. However, there’s a big difference between friendship and romance. So, does this mean men and women can’t truly be “just friends”? That’s an age-old debate with no clear answer—it’s more of a “maybe, maybe not” situation.

Many people have purely platonic friendships, but when one person starts to take priority over a romantic partner, it can raise eyebrows. If your significant other begins to feel like they’re being sidelined, it might suggest there’s more than simple “friendship” happening.

For those critics who are ready to type, “Well, obviously, this was bound to happen,” hold your horses—it’s not always that easy to spot when you’re in the middle of it. Research has looked into scenarios similar to what our protagonist experienced. Interestingly, women are more likely to believe that men and women can maintain a platonic relationship.

Men, on the other hand, often struggle with completely ruling out the potential for something more, and this difference in perspective often complicates friendships between men and women. Although both genders acknowledge that attraction in a friendship can create issues, men are less likely to see it as a negative compared to women.

So, what do you think? Is the wife being overly jealous, or is her husband’s “friendly lunches” story just a little too convenient? Drop your comments below!

Netizens are divided on this one, with some saying the woman is just being jealous, while others think the man and his colleague are having an emotional affair

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