6 Low-Key Signs Two People Are Having An Affair
How to tell who's cheating on who.
Rido | Canva People who go around cheating are not as sneaky as they think. People can easily spot a wedding ring, and social media makes it easier than ever to know anything about anybody. When someone is trying to lie and hide things from their partner, it just makes them look suspicious. Here are some other ways cheaters get themselves caught.
Here are 6 low-key signs two people are having an affair:
1. They give each other 'the look'
Athena Sandrini / Pexels
You know that look, right? It’s that look that is fleeting — rarely ever lasts more than a second. It’s part smirk, part knowing nod, and part secretive affection.
The best way I can describe it is that it’s a look of seeking approval while knowing you have that approval. While body language itself is technically a pseudoscience, I can’t help but notice that this seems to be a fairly reliable indicator that something’s going on between the sheets.
2. Something about their dynamic doesn’t add up
Mizuno K / Pexels
So, this is a sign I primarily notice around people who work together, but it can also happen in other situations. I knew a girl who was cheating with a coworker. The two of them should have been best buddies — at least, at first glance. I
f you're suspicious of your partner cheating, it might be wise to see how he acts around his coworkers. According to statistics from Techopedia, 31% of affairs happen with co-workers.
They were both people who had similar attitudes, similar interests and they both looked good. They looked like Barbie and Ken. At work, they acted icy toward each other. Sometimes, they’d play up how much they "hated" each other. To everyone watching this, it didn’t add up.
Or rather, it added up about as well as the boss that refuses to fire a woman despite her not doing work well. In this case, favoritism often doesn’t make sense without a little roll in the hay happening from time to time.
Generally speaking, people do not hide affairs as well as they think. If their dynamic doesn’t make sense at face value, you might want to ask why. If they seem too icy, unusually favorite-y, or overly professional around each other, it could be an affair.
3. Their finances or possessions are oddly intertwined
Jonathan Borba / Pexels
I remember realizing that my friend was having an affair with her coworker when her coworker asked her if she needed grocery money this week. They don’t live together, so why is he paying her bills? In most cases, this is a sign that they are hanging out together so much that they both benefit from pooling resources.
4. For one reason or another, they always end up being left alone together
Mizuno K / Pexels
A good friend of mine knew her husband was cheating on her when she noticed that he’d "go dark" around the same time her best friend would vanish. Surprise! They were alone together, hooking up.
In the office, this often means that the two "work spouses" tend to be the last ones to leave at the party. Or one of them will be so kind as to always drive the other back to the office, who oddly enough, never takes their car. A 2023 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 24% of workers have had a "work spouse."
5. One (or both) party is unusually flirty with the other
J carter / Pexels
A lot of people (myself included) cannot help but get touchy-feely when they start seeing someone new. If one person is playing grab-arm with the other or putting a hand on their thigh suggestively, it’s either a harassment case or a sign of something going on. This is doubly true if the person seems unusually insulted that the other individual won’t return their affections — as if they are used to seeing that kind of reciprocation behind closed doors.
6. Their whereabouts don't add up with the time of rday
Mikhail Nilov / Pexels
If one of your friends says they're going to Starbucks to get some work done but it's at 6 pm dinnertime, that may be suss. I had a roommate in college who would always say she was going to the library to study, but turns out she was secretly going out and seeing a married teacher's assistant.
Ossiana Tepfenhart is a writer whose work has been featured in Yahoo, BRIDES, Your Daily Dish, Newtheory Magazine, and others.