All Comments on 'Triad Ch. 04'

I always start out really enjoying your stories, but the addition of more and more partners just kills it for me. I had hope that with a title of of "Triad" this group relationship wouldn't just keep growing. Not a detraction from your skill, just not my cup of tea.

Please keep it to the three of them and don't add more people into it. Up to you its your story. Look forward to the next chapter

As in I'm not sure I love this story. I like it a lot, I really got into it at the beginning. I'm trying to be open-minded and hopefully, constructive. I started a couple of your other series, and when other relationships come into the group, I stopped reading. Perhaps it's just not my thing, but then again, I like harem stories. Not fair, huh? The good thing is that stories like this make me think. The main reason I'm not totally in love with this story is Anna. From her first intro, I didn't feel a connection, like Jim's relationship with her felt rather shallow, or even undeveloped, when compared to Abby. Perhaps it was meant to, since we don't know ultimately where you will go with the story. One reason I like some harem stories, is that while completely unrealistic, there is a great deal of openness and honesty. If my partner wants to leave me, or change the relationship, all I could ask for is honesty, I wouldn't be able to control how that person felt. Since Anna and her partner Sean were not open and honest, it just makes me dislike them. Kudos to Jean for asking the two to show Anna love. That's tough to do. And of course, a Hollywood starlet, probably loving a certain type of lifestyle should not expect exclusivity from herself or her partners. The way she jumped into their "marriage" was unconvincing, after wanting a certain distance earlier. So this development just feels off.

Love it. Life can be complicated. People err and cause pain. Jean is a wise women. Would I exchange my life with Jim? No. But story is good.

I strongly recommend everyone that reads this story NOT to listen to Jean's "wisdom." I've followed and loved this whole series so far, but this last bit really derailed things for me:

"Anger doesn't solve the underlying problem, and more often exacerbates it. Often it's a knee-jerk reaction because society taught you that response in that situation."

Anger at a cheating spouse is NOT something that is taught by societal customs, only reinforced by it. Anger is a natural response to a perceived injustice. When a partner has an extramarital affair without your knowledge or consent, that's cheating, which is betrayal. If you specifically pushed them into it (due to your own cheating beforehand, for instance) it doesn't spark the same anger, because it doesn't feel unjust.

Being angry or jealous because a spouse cheated is a purely instinctual response that we even share with many monogamous animals, who have no such movies, books, and other media to teach or reinforce such norms.

From my point of view, the worst betrayal was that Anna kept this affair a secret from both of her partners for so long. If she were truly open, honest, and repentant, she would have called them both the following morning after that first night of sex with Sean and confessed right then. The fact that she hid it for a month means she knew it was wrong and didn't want to face the repercussions. THAT is what Jean's advice should have focused on.

I truly enjoy this story. I also like to read the comments and was surprised that in earlier chapters, as here, the comments are mostly 5 years old.

So I read Indras comments and they were posted just 3 hours ago, and read them completely. I generally agree with her, but look at it a bit differently. While all three people excel in their careers, they are also human, fraught with human frailties. Monogamy is a norm, but there are exceptions. These characters are going into that area where few have traveled before, and I'm giving Anna the benefit of the doubt that she found that she is indeed human, too.

What happens forward will tell if this relationship is truly made of. Forgiveness is also possible.

You lost a star for forgiving Anna. She cheated, and has said it will continue... Why forgive her???

"Often [anger is] a knee-jerk reaction because society taught you that response in that situation." It seems to me that anger is often a second-order emotion - not a reaction to whatever happened, but a reaction to other feelings about what happened. If this were a real situation, I'd urge the people not to dismiss their anger as "knee-jerk" or whatever, but to look behind it to the feelings that caused it: jealousy, resentment, fear (of loss), betrayal of trust, etc. etc. The question of whether those in turn are "knee-jerk reaction[s] because society taught you that response in that situation" is a valid one - and more likely to be fruitful than addressing the anger itself, however one ends up answering it.

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@MarkT63 I don't see Anna as even slightly forgiven. They're giving her a chance to prove to them ... well, whatever they need her to prove; I don't suppose they know yet themselves what that is. And they're giving themselves a chance to see whether they can see their way to forgiving her. But they sure haven't done that yet. There's a wide gulf between kicking Anna right to the curb and "don't worry, it's all good, carry on". That they haven't done the former isn't even remotely an indication that they're in the latter place!

Yeah, what would you expect from Anna? I never bought that she was faithful previously. Just too unrealistic. That said, how about having this poly propaganda coming out of the mouth of monogamous Jean? Nice try, but too obvious. I'm giving this story a chance, wanted to see how the author would handle it. But the bullshit, masquerading as deep insight, is piling up.