Think about Van Gogh, Picasso, Paul Cezanne, John Keats, and Mark Twain…
All these men have one thing in common; prodigious creativity.
Yet, none of them, at the peak of their creativity, could be as creative as a cheater trying to hide their tracks.
Regardless of their creativity, most cheaters tend to use a series of stock phrases to hide their affairs that you will be able to recognize if you are observant enough.
Cheaters use half-truths and outright lies to cover up their tracks in a creative combo.
However, there is a pattern to this creativity and the things they say.
It is this pattern that we will be exploring in this article.
Why am I doing this?
To help you see beneath the surface of those seemingly innocuous statements cheaters try to hide behind.
Come, let’s go on this enlightening journey together.
7 Sneaky Things Cheaters Say To Hide Affairs
1. The “just a really close friend” excuse
This is one very common thing for cheaters to say in order to hide their affairs.
Their creativity with this statement may differ, but it all boils down to one thing…
You are overthinking their relationship with that friend of theirs who just happens to be very attractive and of the opposite sex.
Most of the time, they bring this out of their bag of tricks whenever you begin to feel uncomfortable with the closeness between your partner and that particular friend of theirs.
Yeah, there is the fact that you may just be insecure, but if your partner seems to be spending a lot more time with that friend than they do with you, then you may need to start considering that you are being cheated on.
This “friend” could be from anywhere; work, neighbor, or even the gym.
It really doesn’t matter where they are from, but the moment they begin to spend more time with your partner than you, it is enough to cast suspicion on the friendship.
Sometimes, it may just be actual friendship, but at other times, something else may be going on.
You should be able to talk to your partner about it and make them see the reason why their closeness to that friend is too much for comfort.
However, if your partner becomes defensive and repeatedly mentions that “we are just really close friends,” you may need to keep a watchful eye on them.
2. The “I have to work late” excuse
Right since I was a kid, this particular phrase has been saving some cheaters and, of course, implicating some others.
The movies I watched as a kid almost always depicted the man as a cheat, and invariably, their response to coming home late was that they had to work late at the office.
The movies were not wrong, the only thing they had off was the fact that they didn’t seem to realize that females used this same excuse too.
When your partner begins to seem so occupied by work that they spend most of their time working and the rest sleeping or majorly doing any other thing that doesn’t involve spending time with you, you may be suspicious that you are being cheated upon.
If they get defensive whenever you wonder what is keeping them out late and state that they have to work furiously, it may be a sign that they are trying to hide an affair.
You must also note that this doesn’t in any way conclusively state that your partner is cheating on you.
They may be actually stressed by work and this may be what is triggering their extreme defensiveness.
3. The “I have to go on a business trip” spiel
Is there any better way to hide an affair from your partner than making arrangements to actually carry out the cheating at the opposite end of the continent or even on another continent?
No, I don’t think so.
The major disadvantage is that you have to be stupendously rich to do this consistently.
However, whether they actually go out of town on a business trip or not, cheaters usually say this to cover for their absences at home.
Sometimes, they actually never leave town.
This reminds me of a woman whose husband left on a business trip to another state.
Feeling a little bored, she decided to hang out with a female friend at a restaurant.
Guess who she met at the restaurant?
Her husband, who was supposed to be on a flight heading for a business summit in Canada, with a girl young enough to be her youngest sister.
The hangout turned out to be a fiasco, but that’s not the point.
My point is that cheaters usually use business trips, especially weekend trips, as a way to cover their tracks.
If your partner has a job that actually does require a lot of travel, they may truly be going on a business trip.
However, that doesn’t discredit this point.
Even if they normally travel a lot, they may still be having an affair, and if your partner only recently started traveling a lot, this may be a sign that they are spending time with someone else instead of you.
4. The “you are imagining things” defense
When cheaters run out of creative excuses, they still have a few other strategies to utilize against you.
And they mostly turn toward gaslighting.
Yeah, gaslighting is bad and manipulative, but for a cheater, it is just another important trick in a big bag of tricks.
This is a form of emotional and mental abuse when someone tries to convince you that you are seeing a situation wrongly.
Cheaters often resort to twisting the reality of their partners just to avoid discovery.
For example, if you accuse your partner of cheating, they may tell you that you are just imagining things.
They will go like this, “Honey, you are just imagining things.. there is nothing between me and Todd. We weren’t cuddling that day, I was cold, and he was just kind enough to share body heat with me.”
Sounds silly, right?
But it’s funny what you will believe when you don’t even want to believe that your partner is cheating on you.
5. The “you must be out of your mind” phrase
This is still gaslighting, but it seems to be at a higher level than the one you just finished reading.
In this scenario, your partner doesn’t only try to twist your reality into whatever they want; they also try to make you feel guilty by sounding hurt and may even cast doubts on your mental health.
In this kind of situation, if you are not careful, you may end up believing that there is actually something wrong with you mentally.
They will do this even if you have evidence to back up why you think so.
One other thing cheaters are really good at is putting blame on other people to avoid being blamed for their actions.
6. The “my phone is my privacy” phrase
If your partner suddenly begins to be guarded about his phone, phone calls, and texts, it is a sign that something is wrong somewhere.
It gets even worse when you begin to feel curious and ask who they are calling and texting so frequently and intensely.
If they freak out and become defensive when you ask the questions, it is a sign that they must be hiding something on their phones.
Because your curiosity has been further awakened, you may want to investigate further.
This particular action is what will trigger the phrase, “My phone is my privacy.”
This is mostly used when they catch you going through their phones.
Their reaction would make you feel like you have just committed an unforgivable sin.
Of course, their reaction would fuel your suspicion but may discourage you from investigating any further.
7. The “you are cheating” phrase
Classic case of reverse psychology.
The cheater tries to hide their cheating by accusing you of cheating first.
By doing this, they are ensuring that they have you on the wrong footing already and you will be too busy defending yourself against their accusations to actually discover them cheating.
They could also be projecting their guilt onto you.
Regardless of their reason for doing this, cheaters do this to hide their tracks.
Now, you shouldn’t also discount the fact that your partner may not be cheating, and you have been giving them reasons to suspect that you are.
If this is the case, you may need to try to set clear boundaries in your relationships with the opposite sex.
Ultimately, this is a list of some of the common things that cheaters say to hide their affairs.
A lot of them are small and unnoticeable, except you are paying attention, while others seem to be giant billboards screaming “cheater” in capital letters.
However, I think that a quick disclaimer may be in order.
The fact that your partner says one of the above doesn’t automatically mean that they are cheating.
There are other explanations as to why your partner is behaving that way.
However, if they possess more than one of the above-mentioned traits, then it is wise to take matters seriously.
The truth may be bitter, but it is important to find out if your partner is cheating earlier to save yourself a whole lot of heartache.