In the closet

[Mr****]

My wife is by most any measure, traditional and understated. She’s attractive in a reserved, modest sense, and never felt the need to be garish or flashy for compliments or attention. Frankly, I wholeheartedly respect and love those traits in her. In that way, I get the best of both worlds. She’s incredibly beautiful for me (in the privacy of our home), while not trying to lure the eyes of would-be Romeos lurking in public. Secure is the husband who isn’t constantly worried his sexy wife might get hit on, or be cheating on him. That’s why I was so content in my life. That is, until recently.

You see, loose lips sink ships. Barb rarely ever drinks but a few nights ago we opened a large bottle of Bordeaux and had a few glasses by the fireplace. When I mentioned (in passing) that I was so grateful she reserved her beauty just for me, she dropped a bombshell that I could hardly believe. “You don’t have to worry about another man taking me away from you. Maybe another woman, but not a man.”

My jaw fell open. The words rolled off her *** tongue so matter-of-factly, I had to stop and compose myself. She was too drunk to censor herself and didn’t realize the reaction her secret little admission had on me. I tried to be ‘casual and ask for clarification. I didn’t want to tip her off that she was telling me something that she ordinarily wouldn’t dream of admitting. My heart raced. I felt shock, ***, dismay, worry; and then a growing range of titillation and perverse lust.

I’d previously asked what she dreamed about whenever she pleasured herself (in private). I assumed knowing my wife’s ‘go to’ fantasy subject matter would help me be a better lover, to her. At the time she demurred and wouldn’t answer. I assumed she wanted to keep those fantasies private (in order for them to not lose their intimate power in her mind). I never dreamed she might harbor fantasies I would feel threatened by. Certainly not ones where she fantasized about being with other women.

Here I’d been worried about having to compete with 50% of the world’s population. As it turns out, she was fixated on being intimate with the other 50%! I was floored. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t offer her the sweet taste or caress of another woman. Despite the female body being the universal object of desire in the universe, it never occurred to me she harbored those thoughts. All my pretense fell away, I had to know the details.

She sobered up just enough to realize she’d said too much, but by then she’s already admitted to setting up a Tinder profile to review female ads. Honestly, I was pretty hurt and felt threatened. She apparently harbored a distorted, ‘convenient’ view that it wasn’t cheating, if it was with another woman. She went on the defensive.

Then she tried to downplay her significant efforts to find a female partner as a harmless and rare lapse in her loyalty to me. The thing was, a few minutes earlier she also admitted she fantasied about other women over half the time when she masturbated. It was clearly a major portion of her sexual makeup. I had no idea.

I felt foolish, naive, and very hurt. I might’ve been able to accept she fixated on a handsome Hollywood MALE star (as an abstract concept), but I couldn’t compete with what I didn’t have. All of a sudden I felt incredibly undesirable to her. She saw the look in my eyes and tried to soothe me but ‘the cat was out of the bag’. The more she downplayed it as a minor, insignificant thing, the more I realized how significant it was to her.

Barb had recently asked me what my ‘ultimate fantasy’ was. Since she hadn’t answered when I asked, I elected to avoid answering too. It seemed prudent to avoid admitting something which might make her feel threatened or jealous. All of a sudden I realized what motive was in her mind all along. She was hoping I’d say the stereotypical male fantasy of a 2-girl threesome.

She wanted to introduce another woman to our bed, under the slick guise it was ‘for me’. Now everything was crystal clear. I barely slept that night as my bruised libido and ego took a major hit. She kept saying she only wanted me, but I’m not dumb. In her head, she was leading a rich, double life. I don’t have the feminine body parts she secretly craved.

The next morning in the ‘post-hangover haze’, she seemed to have no memory of our deeply revealing conversation. I didn’t let on or bring it up. I was still processing how I felt about my wife’s true desires being focused on other women. It was devastating but I tried to reason it out. As the traditional, passive ‘object’ of human sexual desire, many women feel left out. They occasionally want to be the aggressors and initiators. It wasn’t as easily achieved through heterosexual intercourse.

With us, she was always the submissive partner and there really wasn’t any way to adjust that. As the man, I am almost twice her size and if I’m not sexually motivated, it’s not going to happen. We both know that. I think a large portion of her fantasy was to be the dominant, aggressor, and also to fulfill the idea of doing something taboo for a straight female. Could a female still be ‘straight’ and yet desire intimacy with other females? The whole idea seemed ridiculous on the surface but the more I researched it, the more common it appeared to be.

Day and night I thought about it. Rarely a moment passed when her accidentally revealed desire wasn’t weighing heavily on my mind. She’s so feminine and passionate with me. I had a hard time getting past all the things I’d assumed about her; while feeling this new development was a dangerous intersection of possible change in our lives. It was terrifying to think what could happen to ‘us’ if she decided being a lesbian was the way forward for her. I went from feeling securely loved and desired, to hoping that (if it ever happened) she wouldn’t immediately divorce me, cut off all her hair; and then become an overnight ‘bull dyke’.

At some point she noticed my distraction and asked what was wrong. I certainly couldn’t tell her. It was hell wondering what private, undisclosed thoughts were going on in her mind. I didn’t want to know, but I ‘needed’ to know. Would she cheat on me? Was she already? I was a wreck but tried to keep it together on the surface. Outwardly she was exactly the same but a few glasses of wine revealed a side to her which made me feel like I didn’t even know her.

I could tell she suspected something was on my mind but she didn’t press me on it. Perhaps she worried she’d told me something incriminating while drinking, but she didn’t feel the need to unburden herself about her effort to find another female partner. That would have been tipping her hand over a latent suspicion. Barb was too smart to confess her naughty little secret, without better proof from me.

We played our little ‘everything is fine’ game for several days until I was called out of town on a business trip. I used an Uber to go to the airport and promised to let her know when I’d be flying back home. Here’s where I practiced a little sneaky deception of my own. I led her to believe the trip was going to extend a couple days longer than it was. Even a month earlier I wouldn’t have even dreamed of suspecting her of cheating, but a lot can change in two weeks. My ironclad trust in her faithfulness had been taxed by the recent slip of her tongue. If I came home ‘early’ and everything was normal, then it would be no big deal.

The entire trip, I had a hard time focusing on my job. My mind kept wandering back to what I would discover when I returned home. Would she be reclined in the chair watched ‘Desperate housewives’; or would I witness an entry from Penthouse forum? The flight back was uneventful and I almost slipped up and called her out of habit. I had to laugh at how close I came to tipping her off about my return.

My Uber driver dropped me off about a block away and I slowly made my way home. My heart pounded in my chest at the apprehension. Barbara’s Volvo was in the driveway, along with mine, and also a sporty white Camaro convertible I didn’t recognize. Seeing it made my hair stand on end. That alone wasn’t proof of anything, but it didn’t exactly point to innocence either.

Up until that point, it had been a theoretical issue. No matter how much you might not care for someone’s private thoughts, it was academic. You can’t hold something against a person for what pops into their head. Even if you have a pact with that person to be mutually faithful, thinking isn’t cheating. I knew that but the strange sports car in the driveway could point to a steep escalation in her actions.

I tried to not think the worst, but my imagination was running away with me. Then it occurred to me that it might even be another man! My heart skipped a beat in jealous terror. I couldn’t decide which scenario would be less terrible, but I was soon to find out. Years earlier, we installed a ‘panic room escape door’ from our bedroom closet which led out to the garage. Of course it was meant to flee outside in case of a robbery, but there was nothing to stop me from entering the code and sneaking into the closet from the outside.

My fingers trembled as I tried to enter the correct buttons. Somehow I managed and crept into our panic room as silently as I could. The house is wired with surveillance equipment which I could monitor from the control panel in the hidden closet. Naturally the purpose of the room was to be able to determine where the intruders are, within the house. I toggled between the room cameras until I saw Barbara and her unknown company in the living room chatting. She and a pretty blonde lady were together on the sofa.

For the most part, their conversation was innocuous and light but I sensed a definitely ‘electric’ charge in the air. They were sitting about three feet away from each other. The attractive visitor was telling my wife about herself and her job as a nurse, so it was obvious they didn’t previously know each other very well. The microphone and camera in our security equipment is top notch so I could hear and see everything perfectly. From their casual conversation, I learned that Barb’s guest was named ‘Christine’. I pressed ‘record’ on the evidence backup system, to capture whatever mischief was to transpire next.

“I just want you to know that I’ve never done ‘this’ before.”; Christine confessed demurely. “I’m a little nervous about this whole thing. It’s important to me that I’m also attracted to you emotionally and mentally, as well as physically. You had mentioned that you’ve never been with another woman before either, right? I’d like to explore this part of my sexuality with another person who is also new to it. I don’t want to feel like a clumsy ***ager embarrassing myself with a more experienced partner. Do you know what I mean? Let’s explore each other, and learn together.”

I could hardly believe it. ‘Christine’ slid closer to my wife and reached for her hand! My *** boiled. I was watching my wife’s infidelity unfold in HD. I couldn’t breathe. I felt anger, betrayal, fury, Indignation, nausea, ***ness, and confusion. My instinct was to violently fling open the door and confront both of them in the act of mutual seduction. It was gut-wrenching but I couldn’t stop watching. It was like a titillating reality ‘soap opera’ where my wife just happened to be ‘the star’.

“So, when is your husband due back home?”; The blonde seductress slyly asked Barbara. I found myself clenching my fists in impotent rage. They were already holding hands and caressing each other softly. The two of them were now right beside each other to subtly initiate more intimate contact. I wanted to shout at the screen but even with the soundproofing in my panic room, it might’ve leaked through and given me away. All I could do was watch and hope my sweet little wife would soon come to her senses and break things off before it went any further. Surely she felt some pangs of guilt or monogamous loyalty to me.

“He told me he would call before flying back from Seattle. Trust me. He’s as predictable as clockwork. I love him dearly and I’m never going to leave him but he would never understand ‘this’. Whatever these feelings are. I’m not even sure I do. I just want to explore another, buried side of my sexuality with someone who understands that whatever we do here, has to be a discreet secret. I never, ever want to hurt him. He’s a caring lover and all the man I’ll ever need. Hopefully you understand what I’m saying.”

I was dumbstruck. She was totally going through with the affair, but at least she was trying to spare my feelings. She was certainly right. I didn’t understand and I felt betrayed by her flimsy justification. Cheating was cheating, no matter who she was being intimate with. There was no justifiable exclusion for it being with another woman, but clearly it was something she felt strongly about. It was buried deep within her.

I could still stop it from happening, but what would that serve? She still had the feelings and if her desires were not fulfilled, she would still feel like something was missing. She’d resent me. I was numb and torn. Would I ever be able to trust her though after seeing she was willing to go behind my back, if it was really important to her? I watched in utter dismay as my wife leaned over and kissed ‘Christine’ passionately.

I had to remind myself I wasn’t a movie with actors, it was my very own wife and some Blonde home-wrecker about to go past ‘second base’. The woman caressed Barbara’s breast lightly through her blouse and I heard her let out a very unladylike moan. Sadly, it had been a while since she moaned when I caressed her that way. The fact is, it was impossible to compete with the newness of being intimate with a total stranger AND the taboo factor of it being another woman.

Slowly Christine unbuttoned my wife’s silk shirt and reached inside the cup material to touch her bare skin for the first time. Even without zooming in, I could see her nipples were standing up and demanding full attention. She was very aroused and their kissing became even more heated and urgent. There were *** moans coming from both of them. Barbara returned the favor and unbuttoned Christine’s shirt and took off her bra. For the briefest of seconds, I thought about averting my eyes. Can you believe that? My dear wife was cheating on me with another woman like a sex starved cougar in heat and yet I was temporarily caught up in misplaced modesty!

Barb took the swollen nipple in her mouth and erotically rolled her tongue around it. I could tell she was in ‘seventh heaven’ and fulfilling a long time sexual fantasy. Apparently Christine had incredibly sensitive nipples and areolas. It took my newly adventurous wife a couple moments to adjust to the natural differences in sensitivity between them. Her new lover kept kissing her while she unbuttoned her bra. Both ladies were now topless and panting in an almost ***aged lust on my sofa from their sexual exploration.

They kissed, they touched and rubbed each other into a frenzy of impure sexual arousal. Christine took Barbara’s erect nipples and squeezed them playfully. I was surprised to see my previously timid wife suddenly take control of the situation. Earlier she had been the more passive, hesitant participant but now she was in full-blown dominant aggression. Christine accepted the situation as my wife reached down with one hand and unbuttoned her lover’s pants.

They stopped kissing for a brief moment and locked eyes. I was spellbound by Barb’s ‘slutty girl’ transformation. It was the strangest sensation to be legitimately crushed by watching your spouse betray her vows of fidelity, while also feeling radiating waves of raw lust. I was mortified and greatly ashamed of what I did next. I unbuttoned my pants and freed my erect cock from it’s tight confinement. I was almost as aroused as they were. To be a lucky dog voyeur and witness two women’s first lesbian experience was incredibly powerful. The fact that it was my wife participating in this illicit extravaganza behind my back, was a different matter.

It aroused me immensely that she was so motivated by her secret desire that she had to answer them, no matter what. Ordinarily she had always been loyal and trustworthy. This ‘unstoppable’ desire to experience another woman compelled her to go behind my back and take care of her tantalizing lust in secret. After locking eyes in an apparent unspoken agreement to keep going, Barbara unzipped Christine’s pants and pulled them off of her. They began kissing again and rubbing each other as Barb shimmied out of her skirt.

My jaw dropped when my wife reached into her wet panties and fingered herself into a writhing lather. Then she pulled out her sticky fingers and offered them to Christine’s eager lips. I could hardly believe the glorious mindfuck I was witnessing firsthand! She was ordinarily so submissive and demure in our lovemaking. In a moment of bliss that I will never forget, she took the dripping fingers into her mouth and tasted my wife’s soaking pussy for the very first time. My cock was already twitching. I began to stroke myself furiously. It only took a few pumps to empty my balls onto the concrete floor in front of me.

At that point the lucidity of my post-coital orgasm might’ve returned me back to feelings of shame (over my bizarre reaction to being betrayed), but there was no time to feel shame or anger. My precious, loving wife lowered her face to Christine’s exposed pubes. Erotically, she kissed her way down her new lover’s smooth abdomen like she had probably witnessed in the adult videos we watched ourselves (on rare occasions). It was incredibly hot to watch and my spent organ started rising again. The moment she reached Christine’s little love button was obvious. Christine let out an involuntary gasp that triggered my wife to ‘go to munch town’.

In a textbook example of how most women pay better attention and learn more quickly, Barbara was incredibly gentle and passionate while servicing her. She’d obviously made mental notes of what she liked orally from me, and then applied that carnal knowledge to offer Christine an impressive first time same-sex experience. Only near the end did my wife increase the intensity of her cunnilingus. Christine began to buck violently against her lips and mouth but Barb kept licking and sucking her clitoris until she couldn’t stand it anymore. As if on queue, I shot another load watching the breathtaking live performance.

Both my wife and her new lover were panting like marathon runners. They kissed again and shared Christine’s love juices. It was mindblowing to see Barbara’s face so messy and smeared up from her lover’s dirty peach. It was sensory overload. I certainly didn’t think I had any more come in my tingling balls but after witnessing my sweet little wife secretly eat a stranger’s hairless snatch, anything was possible.

Christine got down in front of Barb to return the favor. My wife parted her thighs to offer full, unobstructed access. I actually zoomed in a little to witness and record her first time receiving oral sex from another woman. In perhaps a slight boost to my bruised ego, Christine’s first time wasn’t as successful in getting Barbara off but obviously with time and practice, anyone will get better. The ‘forbidden factor’ was a sexual perk that I could never offer my wife but by watching how she performed on Christine, it was an excellent indication of what she wanted more of.

In all our years together, Barb had never really given me any feedback on what she liked or disliked. I don’t know if she was worried it might hurt my ego, or she just didn’t want to stifle my style and creativity by offering critiques but I now saw that she preferred a more subtle, indirect approach. Watching her in action giving oral sex to her pretty lover (besides being incredibly arousing) was also quite informative. I made a mental note to mimic her technique the next time we were intimate.

Then it dawned on me that her whole view of sexuality might’ve just changed by the electric experience she just had. I was trapped in the polarizing mindset of ‘either-or’. Either straight or gay. I was worried after fulfilling her secret dream to make love to another woman, it might skew her whole outlook on ‘us’. That limiting idea terrified me. Would she still have love for me? Would she still enjoy sex with me or would she just be fantasizing about other women? Those were tough questions I was afraid to have answered but dealing with those things would have to wait. There was still one more ‘event’ to come.

In what could only be described as ‘the grand finale’ to end all finales, the two vixens began kissing again and touching each other playfully. It was understated in a subtle way I would’ve never pursued myself but clearly it was meant to lead back to more intimacy between them. I made a mental note that ‘less is perhaps sometimes more’. In a slow buildup, they reignited their passion for one another. If it were me having sex, I would’ve directed things straight back into ‘the action’ but they were in no hurry. Slowly, both ladies prepared themselves for one last shebang.

Barbara fell backward on the sofa and directed Christine to climb on top of her, facing the opposite side. In just about every man’s dream; they adopted a classic lesbian 69. While our surveillance system was top notch, it wasn’t able to shine light where there was none, but their sexy tryst was spellbinding enough without the graphic ‘crotch shots’ of professional porn I might’ve hoped for. From their reversed angle, Christine was better equipped to get Barbara off. Seeing my wife’s silky thighs trembling while wrapped around another woman’s face and writhing in ecstasy, was incredible. I couldn’t believe it was happening.

My manhood rose for the third time in 45 minutes! From my vantage point, I could see my wife ‘going to town’ on Christine’s swollen clit and pussy lips. As if that wasn’t enough to empty my balls again, Barbara briefly sucked on her middle finger and then inserted into Christine’s puckered asshole! She genuinely squealed in shock, as that digital invasion triggered an incredible, near simultaneous orgasm for both of them. I couldn’t believe this secret, lustful side to my wife. The wildcat had been released and I knew I’d never be able to put that ‘genie back in the bottle’ again.

After three powerful, highly draining orgasms of my own, I apparently passed out in the surveillance chair. I have no idea if my dreams were troubled or not, but I was awakened with a start. “You can come out now. Christine is gone.”

Barbara stood there in front of me as I was still slumped over in the observation chair. In a misplaced guilt reaction, I started to apologize for spying on them! Then my anger and indignation rose up over the infidelity and her secret lifestyle experiments. Just as I was about to berate her for being unfaithful, she cut me off with a clever retort.

“I‘m going to have a little bit of a hard time accepting you are deeply hurt by me since your spent cock is still hanging out of your zipper. How many times did you get off watching us?”

Sheepishly I stuffed my penis back into my pants and tried to compose myself. As angry as I wanted to be, she had successfully diffused the situation for the moment. “How did you know I was here?”; I asked. “Were you aware the whole time?”

“No, I didn’t know you were here at first and frankly I’m glad about that. I’ve never been able to confess my little secret to you and if I had known you were watching the whole time, I would’ve lost my nerve. I’m incredibly sorry I cheated on you, and yes of course it IS cheating but there’s a side of me that you didn’t know about couldn’t physically fulfill for me. You witnessed that tonight.”

“At what point did you know I was here? Did you say those things to her about always loving me, because you knew I was watching?”

“No, I didn’t realize until I was looking upward at the ceiling and saw the autofocus zooming in on us. Then I put two and two together. That’s part of why I had trouble climaxing the first time she went down on me. I knew the cat was out of the bag and I was worried of what you must have been thinking. When you didn’t come out and reveal yourself, I knew you were trying to come to terms with my secret. Then it became very arousing to know you were seeing my deepest, darkest secret and we’re letting me explore.”

“Ah, the damn autofocus gave me away, huh? Damn. I wondered if you knew earlier and wanted to soothe the surprise by trying to reassure me you wouldn’t turn over a new leaf and leave me.”

“Listen honey. I love you and I hope some day soon you can forgive me. Better yet, I hope you can find it in your heart to somehow accept and support this other side of my still-evolving sexuality. Just because I love ‘that’ doesn’t mean I going to stop loving being fucked deeply by you. Trust me, my occasional desire for more girl-on-girl sex like what just happened will not reduce my love or need for sex with you. The truth is, it will increase my libido to have a loving supportive husband, and there’s not another man in the whole world I want to be with. Maybe it sounds selfish but I just want the best of both worlds here. I hope you can understand.”

[De****]

Wow… that was a lot of really … unflattering standards on women, men, sexuality, and relationships. Just … wow.

[Mr****]

Human behavior is often unflattering and undignified. Lust isn’t a monolith, nor is it necessarily politically correct. It’s an emotional response to a logical scenario. 🤷‍♂️

[adrenalina75]

6 hours ago, DenverKitten said:

Wow… that was a lot of really … unflattering standards on women, men, sexuality, and relationships. Just … wow.

Oh my god. I couldn’t finish it.

[Gi****]

I'm not reading all that

[adrenalina75]

4 hours ago, MrVelvetongue said:

Human behavior is often unflattering and undignified. Lust isn’t a monolith, nor is it necessarily politically correct. It’s an emotional response to a logical scenario. 🤷‍♂️

The problem is that your ‘emotional response’ reveals your (outdated and problematic) thoughts and values about women, beauty and sexuality.

[Mr****]

I apologize. I posted it with paragraph breaks and a space inbetween. Somehow the formatting got lost.

[De****]

4 hours ago, adrenalina75 said:

Oh my god. I couldn’t finish it.

I got as far as “bull dyke” when I had to stop. Fet is supposed to be a place where people of all kinks, genders, and sexualities can feel safe to be themselves. I’m so confused as to how this was deemed acceptable by moderation.

[Mr****]

Freedom of expression is a fundamental right of a free society. You are perfectly free to feel offended or disagree with my points of view, characterizations or writing style. I’m also free to disagree or not be concerned with your interpretation or opinions. You’d have a pretty bland and narrow forum if all submissions suited your acceptable standards and viewpoints. If you do not care for my fiction, I would advise ignoring them. Cancel culture and being offended is a cancer. (My view)

[De****]

11 minutes ago, MrVelvetongue said:

Freedom of expression is a fundamental right of a free society. You are perfectly free to feel offended or disagree with my points of view, characterizations or writing style. I’m also free to disagree or not be concerned with your interpretation or opinions. You’d have a pretty bland and narrow forum if all submissions suited your acceptable standards and viewpoints. If you do not care for my fiction, I would advise ignoring them. Cancel culture and being offended is a cancer. (My view)

Absolutely, freedom of s***ch, as decided by the country you live in, gives you the right to speak you mind without being arrested. However, this privately owned, international app does not have any obligations let you say you whatever you want. In fact, if you view the rules and guidelines there are rules for posts and chats.

[Mr****]

So I can only post things which suit your personal standards? Are you the arbitrator of acceptability here? Dictating to others what is and isn’t acceptable is the opposite of a safe space. It’s fascism. Why don’t you just block me so you can avoid the temptation to be offended?

[adrenalina75]

2 hours ago, MrVelvetongue said:

So I can only post things which suit your personal standards? Are you the arbitrator of acceptability here? Dictating to others what is and isn’t acceptable is the opposite of a safe space. It’s fascism. Why don’t you just block me so you can avoid the temptation to be offended?

Blocking people does not stop one from seeing forum posts etc.

[FETMOD-BD]

Play nice please. It was written and the post was approved. The OP is entitled to write what he wants. If you don’t like it, scroll and roll!

[BruiseWayne]

On 11/21/2024 at 5:52 PM, FETMOD-BD said:

Play nice please. It was written and the post was approved. The OP is entitled to write what he wants. If you don’t like it, scroll and roll!

Okay sure but if he's entitled to post it we're entitled to voice our reaction to it as well.

 

So no, 'scroll n roll' doesn't apply here.

 

Free s***ch isn't freedom from the consequences of what you have to say.

 

 

Edited November 26 by BruiseWayne

[BruiseWayne]

On 11/21/2024 at 10:24 AM, MrVelvetongue said:

So I can only post things which suit your personal standards? Are you the arbitrator of acceptability here? Dictating to others what is and isn’t acceptable is the opposite of a safe space. It’s fascism. Why don’t you just block me so you can avoid the temptation to be offended?

You can post whatever you want but you're not exempt from hearing what other people have to say about it.

 

If you only capable of hearing positive things then save it for your friends and family. Don't share it publicly.

[FETMOD-BD]

8 hours ago, BruiseWayne said:

Okay sure but if he's entitled to post it we're entitled to voice our reaction to it as well.
So no, 'scroll n roll' doesn't apply here.
Free s***ch isn't freedom from the consequences of what you have to say.

You're absolutely right that free s***ch comes with responsibility. Here, that responsibility includes respecting the rules of engagement. If a post doesn’t break site guidelines then it will be approved. The expectation is to either engage constructively or follow the 'scroll and roll' principle. Let’s keep it civil and on track. 

Of course, if you choose not to comply with a FETMOD, then there is another option..........