When Ambyr’s fella came home with a trim, she thought nothing of it. But when she found out why he’d shaved, she gasped…
As I chatted away to my friend Mel, my phone vibrated in my pocket.
Reading it, my heart started beating faster.
It was a message from Mark and he’d written: Meet me by the Smiler?
We were on a school trip to Alton Towers to celebrate the start of sixth form.
I’d spotted Mark a few weeks earlier and even though he was in the year above, we had a mutual friend.
We began swapping messages but hadn’t spoken in person yet.
I figured Alton Towers would be the perfect place to get some alone time, while our mates were distracted by the rollercoasters.
I managed to sneak away and spotted him among the crowd.
As I walked over, butterflies danced in my stomach.
He was just as good-looking in the flesh.
‘Hi, I’m Mark,’ he beamed.
We chatted all afternoon and lost track of time.
We were the last two back to the coach and as we stepped onboard together, my friends twigged what was going on.
‘So you and Mark, eh?’ Mel winked.
I blushed.
It wasn’t long before we were a couple.
We spent our time going to the gym and cooking together.
I left sixth form after a year and went to college, while Mark went to university. But we stayed together.
Three years later, I was working as a barmaid and Mark, an aspiring bodybuilder and coach, was between jobs.
‘I can put in a good word to my manager for you,’ I told him one day.
‘That would be great,’ he said.
Luckily, the pub was hiring and Mark was hired along with some other new starters.
One day, I clocked in and found I’d be working with one of the newbies, a girl called Ellie.
As we pulled pints together, she told me all about a guy she was seeing.
‘Do you have a boyfriend?’ she asked.
‘I’m with Mark who works here, we’ve been together since school.’ I told her.
Ellie was keen to know about my relationship and I was happy to tell her.
If it was a quiet day in the bar, gossiping with my co-workers helped the time go quicker.
She was a laugh and I always looked forward to our shifts together.
One afternoon, Mark came round to mine.
'You're my gym crush'
As he stepped into my room, he unbuttoned his shirt as usual to avoid getting cat hair on his clothes.
I loved my two kitties, Arya and Harper, but they shed their fur like crazy.
Only, when I clocked Mark’s chest, I couldn’t help but giggle.
Mark usually had a fuzzy layer of chest hair but now it was totally bare!
‘Why have you done that?’ I asked.
When we first got together, Mark had ‘manscaped’ his furry rug.
But I’d told him chest hair didn’t bother me, so from then on he’d kept it au naturel.
‘I don’t want it to feel itchy on your face when we cuddle,’ he explained.
I raised a quizzical eyebrow.
I’d never complained about his hairy chest before or said anything to indicate I preferred him clean shaven.
I laughed it off but deep down, something felt off about it.
That evening, Mark went to the gym, while I stayed at home scrolling Instagram.
As I refreshed my feed, a video popped up of Mark doing shoulder presses.
Mark usually mentioned if he was going to the gym with a friend, so I messaged to ask who he was with.
He replied quickly, saying he was with his usual gym buddy.
But as I rewatched the video, I looked closer and noticed a pair of pink wrist straps lying under the exercise machine.
Mark doesn’t have those, I thought.
Then, I clocked a pink water bottle and a pair of 14kg dumbbells next to Mark’s usual 24kgs.
‘Is he with a woman?’ I gasped out loud.
I turned detective and scoured through his Instagram follower list and discovered Ellie from work had recently followed him.
He’d never mentioned being friendly with her, so that evening, I quizzed him on it.
I bumped into her at the gym, he typed.
He explained that she was interested in being coached and they’d got talking, so he’d asked her to film his work-out.
Something wasn’t adding up.
I don’t know how I feel about this, I admitted.
It’s not like that, he replied. You’re overreacting.
Over the next few days, Mark’s gym session played on my mind and I realised I had to get to the bottom of things.
So I took a deep breath and messaged Ellie.
Can I ask what’s going on with you and Mark at the gym? Sorry, it’s embarrassing to have to ask, I typed.
Her response was swift.
The past few weeks, I’ve been wondering whether I should message you, she said.
I felt sick.
Then she sent over some voice notes that sent my head spinning.
She explained Mark had approached her out of the blue at the gym and asked if he could follow her on social media.
Since then, they’d trained together several times and even gone out to dinner.
As I listened to her describe one of their cardio sessions, my eyes filled with tears.
‘I made a joke that he didn’t need to worry about cardio because he can get sex on tap,’ Ellie said. ‘He told me I could too, and when I asked who with, he said: “Con migo.”’
I typed ‘con migo’ into Google and broke down as I read that it was Spanish for ‘with me’.
Then she sent me a screenshot of their messages, where Mark had written: You’re my gym crush.
It was sent on the same day Mark had unveiled his newly hairless chest.
Suddenly, everything clicked into place.
His sudden change in grooming habits hadn’t been for my benefit at all, he’d been trying to impress Ellie.
Talk about a smooth operator.
I threw my phone down in disgust and ran downstairs to see Mum.
‘Mark’s been cheating,’ I blurted out.
‘Oh love, I’m so sorry,’ she said pulling me into a hug.
I was devastated. I loved Mark and never thought he’d hurt me.
I sent Mark a message just saying: I know.
He responded instantly saying: You’re right. I betrayed you.
He didn’t even have the decency to apologise!
Since then, I’ve cut contact with both Mark and Ellie.
Although I respect Ellie for telling me what happened, I don’t believe she’s told the whole truth.
I believe they did far more than just flirt.
But even so, she knew I was with Mark and shouldn’t have entertained his innuendo.
They both quit their jobs soon after, so at least I don’t have to see them at work.
Now I want my story to be a warning.
If your partner suddenly changes their grooming habits, it might not be as innocent as they’d have you believe.
I’m just glad I found out about that rat when I did — talk about a close shave.
Ambyr Swales, 20, Sheffield, South Yorkshire