All Comments on 'Ask Me Why'

Loved it.

states are so overburdened paying for unwanted children they wouldnt investigate a guy who legally adopted his own family member with the blessing of the kids own parents

cucks get one star, she cheated, he accepts her cheating, that makes him a cuck

21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat,

and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.

22 For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head

and the LORD will reward you.

I don't leave many comments. This one tugged at my heart.

...given the time of year and given the plot I'm listening hard for the mating call of the nonces - 'cuk, cuk, cuk'. Fuck them and their one dimensional view of life; the current pandemic is illustrating perfectly how the rigidity of thought and action carries it's own consequences.

Thank you as always for you imagination.

AA

Thanks HDK! Didn't have your usual humor woven into it but it was very entertaining none the less!

Thank you for a most enjoyable read!

Killian

What's not to love? A great guy, a lovable waif, a woman working to change her life. This one of the most complex stories HDK has written, and a decided change of direction. Solid writing, no mistakes, and a happy ending. Five stars, of course.

chur m8 awsum story

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Well written , warm and funny. No real twists , and I guess her affair could be spelled out better , but it is apparent 3 special people who belong together end up that way. 5 stars.

The axe murders will scream that no one was dismembered, but a story that leaves a smile on your face and a warm fuzzy feeling inside is just what we need in dark times. Nice job, HDK.

Letting her away with allowing everyone to see him as the bad guy is showing her to be shallow and cowardly. No.basis for a marriage.

Excellent fag-cuck-shit, Mr. Knight. Use your quarantining and self-isolation to write more.

I love your stories and this one was great until the last page. Then it just went to hell

Not even well written ones.

Great story line. Could there be more in the future? Maybe a short series?

It was going well until the end, which felt far too abrupt.

Laura might have felt like shit for the last 6 year's for breaking Jack's heart, but it's hard to feel sympathetic when she let him take all the blame.

At the bare minimum, Laura should have gathered together all their friends and family, then confessed that it was all her fault. That Jack had been the best husband in the world, but he'd caught her cheating on him and she'd hurt him so badly he had to leave.

There's no real act of atonement on her behalf to try to make up for what she did to him. She pretended to be Kansas' mother because she already liked her star player and was desperate to worm her way back into Jack's life. That's not atonement, because she was acting in her own self-interest.

In the end, it felt like Jack just gave Laura a pass for being an unfaithful slut just because she's beautiful.

Crafted brilliantly. Thank you.

Brilliant story!

It just seemed tiresome after a while. The Secret is what makes reconciliation impossible. I'm surprised you held on to it.

Kansas? Oh well, tip of the hat. Lovely story. Nice read in tough times. Thanks.

Good Story. Thanks for the Write it helps with being on Lock Down.

That was a brilliant story, really something I could get into, but that last page just felt rushed.

Nice and original, even with the occasional awkward plot device. However, for the love of all the little fishes, please, please, never include soccer again in a story unless you make an effort to understand it a little. As you have it now, it's not suspension of disbelief, it's the vigil at the 10th year anniversary of the disbelief's passing, with the family sharing childhood stories about the departed being mistaken for a different child with the same name.

Good stuff, as usual. But Harddaysnight, since you're a great storyteller, you should improve your craft. The conversation near the front between father and daughter was extremely forced. They explained the entire nature of their relationship to each other, but of course they already knew this well, so they wouldn't be saying it all out loud like that as if for an unseen audience. It comes across as way too forced.

I totally agree with Powersworder he was too nice of a guy to begin with definitely would have stayed and watched that ass Die. If he was really sorry he would have apologized long ago not wait till he was on his deathbed to try one last ditch effort to get forgiveness. That show the true depth of his character just like the main character wife's character by keeping her secret so she came out as the victim she definitely should have told everybody or at least her family and his mother. Lastly the final confrontation and him leaving in a rage after being denied his own Revenge to running home to sleep with that woman in middle of a party and then happily ever after that felt to forced . Still a well-crafted story was entertaining... till the end

But then, I’m not surprised. HDK does not have a reputation for punishing cheating sluts. It’s also true, especially, I think, of the older, more established authors here, that beautiful women get away with a lot. Just as in real life.

Wonderful story.. Characters were well done and the events were clear and logical.. Thank you for sharing a wonderful story..On par with many of your other stories...

getting to be with another wonderful woman.

because, let's be honest, both cheaters simply cheated because they wanted it, and felt they deserved it. pretty vile, right? the only thing making them repentant, is the fact that they were caught. this isn't some great maturity journey they went on. the husband left! they were spared his wrath. they understood they deserved his wrath. that's probably the only reason they both feel shitty about it. they were caught, and not punished.

if jack really wanted to live well as revenge, he could have married another woman. the only thing keeping his current wife from cheating is the thought of losing her man, that's about it. when it came time to confess her sins to even her close family she took the coward's way out. fear is her prime mover and motivator. and how stupid is her family to not figure out that she cheated? she defends him to the teeth, but will never tell them why he left. that's pretty obvious to me. i can understand the parents turning on the bias, but her sister? siblings will love you, but they will also not tolerate your bullshit.

i gave this story full marks, because it's good. but the story's logic is weak at best. a reconciliation was possible in this story, but it felt forced and rushed. the husband needed more than a few drinks and a forced living arrangement to get over her betrayal.

Six years ago he walks out and doesn't tell anyone his wife won't tell the story but won't let anyone bad mouth him, and even goes so far as to insist that she was the one that fucked up, and you're telling me that NO ONE thought that she was the one cheating? add to that the fact that because this town is as small as they make it out to be gossip travels fast, so why wouldn't they have known him well enough to know he wasn't that kind of asshole.

And even putting all that aside what kind of adult walks up to a single parent CHILD that they don't know in a situation where they don't know what happened and tells them to leave right before calling their parent a deadbeat?

I ended up ok with the wife and the RAAC, but everybody else in that town is worthless scum.

Good story though 5 stars

Good non explicit story of human interaction at many levels, and the good ones win

As always this is a very well written story that left me smiling. Thanks Tom...stay safe and healthy.....Still hoping for the next book of the Lady in Red.

Yes! Top notch LW story with that typical HDK flavor. You even dared a reconciliation, which was absolutely justified in this case. Good job, easy 5*

Jack had the best revenge going against Laura of living as a family but not having love between them.

It is a really good story up to the point of Harding’s death and family bings introduced and Jack volunteering to look after them. From then on it goes from something realistic to a warped happily ever after fairytale.

There should have been some confrontation between Jack and Laura with her having to finally confess to everyone the reason Jack left.

I was interested to see how you would get there and I think you did a great job. It felt like a natural reconciliation which is far from the RAAC people will call this. Oh look we already have one

What do I say as someone has already said it this was superb. Especially from an extremely talented writer as HDK . In our time of need being stuck at home and trying to keep ourselves busy this extremely talented writer comes out of the shadows and delivers this superb piece of work. I now ask only if this extremely talented writer can write stories more quickly. To kill the pure boredom of being stuck at home . This type of story is the sort of stories that should be in the loving wife category. And I’m pleased to have him as one of my favourite writers. So thank you for sharing your stories with me and others and please help us get out of this dark times and best of all please look after yourself over there and the other readers ok .

Btw, here I am, glad that I've managed to somehow finish my story for the "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" event on June, 8th, and HDK just writes one in between events. Makes me look like a lazy bastard.

Just a great story! I am not a big fan of reconciliation stories however this one was so well written and made you like the characters. The reader was left to hope for a good outcome!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

. . . but five pages were too short.

Everyone could see that this was a reconciliation story, and Jack was as noble as he could be about it, in not revealing why he left Laura. Some commenters think that he didn’t exact enough payment from Laura by doing that, but he was being a man and protecting his wife. It’s easier for a man to bear that burden than put it on his wife, even if you think she deserves it.

The part I didn’t quite like was that he visited the dying enemy more than once; yeah, Jack hated him, but a man who behaved that well toward a wife who cheated on him wouldn’t visit that many times to revel in a dying enemy’s death. As was put in one of the Conan stories, once an enemy is out of the fight, a warrior pays him no more attention and moves on to the next opponent.

Still, I can see why the story went that way, but it made the ending a bit too contrived, and short.

Finally, just how does a man who was so concerned about there being nothing that might have the slightest appearance of impropriety just take his wife to bed in the middle of a party like that? This was the time when the story should have been longer, and Jack’s thinking explored in more depth for the ending. However, Jack’s questions to Laura about whether she wanted to be his wife again for real were well done.

As always. Well done.

No, no, NO!

You are a great writer but this story is awful. I won't rehash the other comments but Laura's narcissistic selfishness belies her repentance. She had years to name things right with her family's beliefs and never did. I have issues with the contradictory aspects of her character.

Absolutely Amazing story

HDK does it again. Five big stars, for sure. It lifted my heart at the end, and things ended perfectly.

And who is this Powersworder guy? He can't write worth a damn but has the balls to criticize a real work of art? Maybe he should try learning how to write instead of letting his jealousy show so blatantly.

I have no respect for people who demand a specific type of ending. BTB, RAAC, and everything in between are just fine. It's the author's choice, not the readers. Anonymous single-minded buttheads need to learn how to enjoy a good story and shut the fuck up.

I think if ever a story called for reconciliation this was it. But the deathbed discussion and Jack's abrupt change was a little too quick or too contrived.

Rest of story is excelle t. Loved all of the characters. So still 5*.

You are great love when you post a new story thank you for all of your hard work!!!

Totally one of your best. Thank you.

Lame! Limp Dick LAME!!!

She really should have cleared the air. I have no idea why she would not have told the truth for six years. Shows what little morals and character she has to allow the innocent guy to be thought of as a cheating bastard. Many can still hate how she just up and left but at least they would have the true reason for his leaving.

Also, if I am right she was 21 years old when this happened? Doesn't make it right but if she was so beautiful and only 21 why no divorce? Even if she waits a year she can go for abandonment and still be a young beauty. I can't believe she went on no dates, no sex, for six plus years. Same for him. Being so angry at what she did I can see not wanting to marry again but being a young guy who is in great shape and teaches women Yoga he doesn't want to get laid?

Entertaining story but far from believable. But still giving high stars for enjoyment.

Five pages of predictable prose, didn't do much for me.

And a very good one at that. 5* of course.

Usually not a huge fan of reconciliations unless they are well earned. This one was very well earned. Five stars for a realistic portrayal of all the characters.

Thank you 5*

You can write funny stories all day long but when you really turn it on you are a great writer.

Great feel good kind off talked however someone slammed on the brakes a bit early.

I needed a feel good story and this one fit the bill. Thanks. Refreshing to see the husband take the high road for a change. A better man.

“You’re the greatest guy who ever lived. Everyone adores you and thinks you can do no wrong. People talk about how handsome you are behind your back. Women stand ready to throw themselves at your feet. Even the woman who cheated on you is just absolutely obsessed with how perfect you are...because you really are perfect.”

I have just written the entire dialog of roughly 25% of all LW stories being posted these days. It feels so deeply insecure to me, for a reader to need to read that flattery targeted at their literary stand-in over and over again. We’ve many of us experienced the trauma of infidelity, but hungrily consuming that message over and over again isn’t overcoming your trauma. It’s hiding from it, reenforcing your injured pride on an endless, obsessive loop with no way out.

It doesn’t feel like good storytelling to me, either. This guy was never really in danger of his problems beating him...he was too busy receiving apologies and praise for that. There was a time when this author was above that trope, even for light or funny stories.

Hated it the woman was a cowardly self centred cheat and deserved to be thrown to the curb. She never declared the truth she did as she wanted and the whole sorry story left me dispising him and wanting her to be exposed for the slut she is. Sorry HDK but hated it. I'm so disappointed pointed I cannot be arsed to sign in to comment as it ticked me off no end. Just to be fair though and as I hate those that critisize from anonymity my name is Dunny69.

ending a bit abrupt.

Personally I would have liked some justification, maybe she was drunk or drugged.

You didnt write her as a cold cheater.

If it was for reasons you wrote about, she wasnt a nice person which wasnt how you wrote her otherwise.

And I hate when writers mention youth as a reason for cheating.

18 plus is not youth, Those are adults, expected to be adults.

This was a fairly good story- a Hallmark movie script until the end. He would NEVER have embarrassed Lara/Kansas in front of family/co-worker/friends in such a manor as a bedroom scene. He was always a gentleman and the ending was far from that.

One serious miss (for me) - the asshole who tried to get the state to rip Kansas from Jack in revenge for that on-field confrontation should have met some serious doom. Even if his actions did force Lara-Jack together.

Lara owed it to Jack/Kansas to clear the rift/deception she allowed to ALL in town. I think a scene of the Grandparents berating Jack in ear shot of Kansas and Kansas blowing up at them could have worked well to clear the air with Kate jumping in protection Kansas. Then Lara would need to atone to her parents.

I saw a 6* until the RUSHED RAAC end making it 3*.

Thank you, sir. May we have another, please?

@Powersworder: You cannot imagine how incredibly wearying authors find the constant litany of complaints about "abrupt" endings or "unfinished" stories. They are not "unfinished" or "abrupt," because we finished them. We said what we wished to say, and that is the ending of the story, no matter how much you might wish otherwise. A short story is a slice taken out of the lives of characters. They are not meant to be, by design and purpose, cradle to grave novels. They are a slice, and the author determines how thick or thin that slice might be. It may well be that if you were writing the story, you might slice it differently. Enough with this constant endless complaining about the slice the author handed us. The story is complete. It is posted. It is too late to adjust the thickness. Take it, or leave it on the cutting board. If we followed the character from birth to death, some of you would complain because we failed to specify whether they went to heaven or hell. Damn.

Great story, HDK. Thanks for the entertainment. Randi

Would've had Laura confessing her wrong doing that drove Jack away; without that this story ends feeling rather emotionally empty and unresolved.

I'm a little amazed with an early conversation in this story that Laura's mother didn't put two and two together when Laura defended Jack vehemently that he would never do that and, didn't come out and say "what did you do?" With conversation like that a lot of the and other events make some of the characters seem really niaeve and hollow.

With that I'm really torn at what to rate this writing was good but, some items with the way characters acted didn't make a lot of sense; some of the characters seemed a little to dense and slow of thought.

Well done, exceptional story.

I guess an author's reputation gets him a pass every once in a while, judging from the comments. I tried to like this. The plot has tremendous potential for being a convincing reconciliation story. Nevertheless, the execution was awful. The dialogue is clumsy, wooden, mawkish....at times it reminded me of the acting in old silent movies in which the "acting" consisted of absurdly exaggerated gestures. I'm genuinely baffled. It's as if someone less talented than HDK wrote this.

And this was indeed an abrupt ending but it needed to be. Like the day he left, once Jack had made up his mind what was the best course to take he took it. Now, with his new look at his life, he knew exactly what action to take. Good story.

Loved the story, but I feel @Powersworder hit the nail on the head. Ending seemed abrupt, but more importantly, Laura never tells anyone about her cheating. Not even her parents, who continue to believe Jack is to blame.

There is a certain amount of catharsis when one admits ones wrongs. It does not always work because people do often ask for forgiveness but don't always return it. She should have been honest with her own family, the town can say what they want. It was good of Jack to take care of Beth and the boy. Most men would not, he is a truly good man, and there are few in this world.

Forgiveness is mostly for the soul of the victim. Jesus said that by forgiving one "heaps hot coals upon their heads" this is a reference not to revenge or torture but to a practice common in that time of going around publicly showing that one had done wrong with incense in a special hat. Much like self flogging or kneeling and saying the rosary. In other words, if you forgive a persons sins against you, you make them have to deal with their own sins or that redoubles their sins and believe me, God does keep count. Every sin, no mater has small, must be accounted for.

A very novel scenario and almost a tear-jerkier! I loved it! 5*

A can not love a woman who can not be faith!

Did not see the twist with the perp coming. HDK you are like fine wine - better with aging. Loved the character development, including the ancillary characters as well as the three protagonists. Hope this couple can pop out a few rug rats now that they have already expanded the house, in fact, I would bet he knocked her up during the party.

Apart from a rushed feeling to the end it was one of the best stories I've read in awhile.

For such a short ending, but otherwise a great story

"He was the one who insisted no one speak of Laura." - Giving him important information that might impact him isn't "speak[ing] of her."

"She seemed to be liked and respected by the other girls." - Yeah, because they don't know she's a cheating slut.

Why would he NOT want her to clear the air on why he left? If they end up reconciling, it will just enhance his reputation.

"I screwed up the best thing I ever had. I deserve to be laughed at, and even worse." - Her parents don't question that statement? It's all but a confession that she was at fault.

Assuming the adoption is final, I don't see anybody looking into the adoption now. With her father being a relative, and Kansas verifying that there's nothing untoward going. While I suppose he COULD get into some trouble for lying on the adoption application, it turns out he WASN'T lying, and there's more than enough to allow the adoption to go through.

"I finally realized the pain created by revenge is mostly self-inflicted. " - Nobody gets the meaning there?

Lost points for me that Laura didn't have to make an open confession that it was her cheating that drove Jack away. Fortunately it was at five plus anyway, so still five stars from me.

It sure ended fast. Could have used a couple of more pages to close the open ends. Always great to get a HDK story. M

It always pains me when a great writer and a great story get f*****-up with grammar mistakes. It was great to see that the writer chose not to put in stupid little puns to placate his readership.

The next morning Jack had just getting ready to deliver the day's instructions to his men when Kate Johnson walked into the building.

Shouldn’t it be, The next morning Jack was just getting ready to deliver the day's instructions to his men when Kate Johnson walked into the building. Or, The next morning Jack had just been getting ready to deliver the day's instructions to his men when Kate Johnson walked into the building.

And this was classic

"Did he say that before or after he saw us shooting daggers at him?" asked Janet.

"I won't have it!" declared Brenda.

"Mom, Jack is not abusive! He'd never hurt me in any way," insisted Laura.

Janet was his mom, Brenda was her mom so why would Janet be shooting daggers at him?

I will say to you the same that you have said to others A good editor and beta reader will make for a better read.

Here you good at letting dudes creampie you woman . Eat this used condom. Bitch boy

Loved this story from beginning to end. Great job as usual HDK. 10 stars. I’m a sucker for forgiveness and reconciliation. Keep up the good work.

Rob

..I could not stomach your self serving, do gooder hero Jack who was actually one of the biggest arseholes ever put to print on this site. Why Laura wanted to go back to him found unfathomable. And I don't for one nanosecond consider even remotely possible even in a fiction/fantasy for him to get adoption of Kansas. Child safety authorities would have done their home work as always, & the fact he was married but with a wife in another town he had not seen in 6 years, would have been easy to find out. Not one of your better stories. Sorry maybe next time

And so cloyingly sweet. It's teen writing at its fairy tale worst!

Adverbs 69

Excellently written story. Thanks.

This has to be the dumbest story ever put on literotica! No humans would react like the people in this story!!!

The unlikely ending was rushed though. Also a minor wouldn't have been interviewed without a parent present. 4*

I think you may be overserved by your editor. Look at the names and overall structure, the morality play at the end. This was fine, a 3, but I’d rather see your own work.

Good story overly melodramatic ending

It seems the rumours of the demise of your writing skills were greatly exaggerated. Fantastic story! You are the best.

I always enjoy seeing a story with a different twist. The 6 year separation where both parties thought they were divorced. It certainly made for an interesting story. Well crafted and the cast was delightful and the story well crafted. Top Marks!

That is one reconciliation story I agree with. Nicely done.

Not only a great story, but distinct and original compared to most stories here. Very good. This one will stay with me.

Now that was a story worthy of it's author, who is without doubt one of Lit's very best. I enjoyed the entire story, and every character you portrayed. Jack was quite a guy, Laura the most repentant cheater, and Kansas was a dream daughter. Even Chuck, by dyjng, somewhat redeemed himself. Great story and a reconciliation that I was hoping for.

Good, but not up to your usual quality writing. I knew the ending by the second page.

Why I don't get is why let everybody off the hook? Laura cheated and you let everybody think your the lower than scum asshole. What is the purpose? You look like scum even to your mom. And your more pissed at the dude she fucked than her. You didn't marry him, you married the slut. I like how women say they're hit on all the time ans they know how to deal with it. Then they fuck some guy and its his fault. Never theirs.

4.6 = 5*

Too saccharin but still an OK read and the wordmanship was good.

and the comments went from 17 to two pages.

You know, I'm going to read the comments and do stars based on how each class of members of the commentariat respond to the piece. In this case, the anti is pretty weak, but so is the pro... hard to chose. By which I mean, I'll vote the other way. Except for Todd172.

My real take on the matter? HDK does Qhml, with the addition of the (patent pending) snarky teen-aged girl (dude, have you seen teenage girls these days? My son, who is pretty white bread, is leaning towards Asian girls 'cause they don't look like street people - I suppose you get a pass by putting it in a small town... but still.), and the remarks from the crowd about how totally wonderful the protagonist is. (I was pretty amused by the "must have a chaperone" thing - something required by the work release? And have you seen the photography by the Professor Charles Dodgson? So, I guess, it's all good...)

Now really, I rather liked the more recent stuff that many people didn't - really. I'm not kidding. And so, this one reminds me of another of HDK piece which seemed to be... annoyed. So, how about either a pseudonym or a secret group where authors can write what they damn well please and not get flack from... well, people who obsess about eating used condoms...

Oh wait... now I get it.

Anyway, good luck with it all, and hope you and yours are well and prosperous.

Green-something

The only happy ending is getting away from the source of pain. BTB

Hola!

from Google:

Paxifica City, una Ciudad del Futuro, HOY!

I suppose you are retired to the Yucatan?

And you give 3 starts to encourage?

Someone might have stolen your tag, and is running it anonymous... which is yet again another reason to get a real handle.

Green-something

(politics in the time of the plague... groovy.)

Why do people insist on making me have to play Devil’s Advocate.

Ximandabout 1 hour ago

1 star

She never suffered any consequences. The other man repenting for fear of burning in hell doesn't really regret what he did, he's only reacting out of fear because the end is a perceptible thing for him, with definable features, and there's no getting out of it.

I knew it was a RAAC from the very start, but I dislike it nonetheless.

How do feel she didn’t suffer? She became a Nun because of a one time mistake.

sbrooks103x

"She seemed to be liked and respected by the other girls." - Yeah, because they don't know she's a cheating slut.

Mr. Brooks, how do you determine the definition of cheating slut, if anything she was a cheating one time slut.

amyyumabout 1 hour ago

Oh John, you're such an old softy

A very novel scenario and almost a tear-jerkier! I loved it! 5*

Who’s John?

stev2244about 1 hour ago

Btw, here I am, glad that I've managed to somehow finish my story for the "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" event on June, 8th, and HDK just writes one in between events. Makes me look like a lazy bastard.

Is it really necessary to advertise an event that gets advertised at the start of the web page every other fourth or fifth day?

To say that the story was abrupt or rushed at the ending, try writing one of your own and see how that works out.

HDK, Your story was a five star story but the mistakes took it down. I would rather give you real feed back than both sides of the crap (praises – slams).

Thanks, I needed that. A fun read as usual.

After reading ALL of the comments so far, Im just amazed at the number of ASHOLES that come to this site, to leave comments that are from their father the DEVIL. Sick sick .

Half way through the first page and it is obvious how this is going to end. Still something to read while stuck at home. Thank You.

Well written story. I could see from almost the beginning that this was going to be a RAAC. I hate stories were the main protagonist is a perfect saint; almost ready to make miracles. The truth never came up. That was pathetic. That makes Jack to be a weak cuck in the end, and Laura a selfish coward. Not good for reconciliation.

Very seldom I find a reconciliation story well done and justifiably, not this one. The deus ex machina used: the child needing to be with a marry couple for her to remain with jack was weak. She was his niece. A blood relative. The father specified Jack to be her legal guardian. He didn't need to be married.

Three stars.

full of the great writing, the heart, and the humor that we treasure from HDK. I found the scene where he drags his wife off to the bedroom right in the middle of a holiday party a bit near the far end of plausible, but it was a wonderful, dramatic away to achieve a reconciliation! And I really liked that Chuck Harding got Jack to see what he was doing: punishing himself by not forgiving Laura. She amply displayed her remorse, and his finally wising up made a lot of sense.

Truly, there's only one way in which this story falls short of stellar: who on earth names a daughter Kansas? Try re-reading it with the daughter named Ohio, and you'll see it's a much better story that way.

Thanks as always to the master!

ohio

5* but

too sickly sweet with unlikely tgtbt characters and who the fuck is jake?

a good example

of friends voting for the author and not this ok *** story.

So, she cheated, he left, she let everyone think he abandoned her, he came back, they got back together and she got everything she wanted....I hate these stories.