All Comments on 'Paradigm Shift Ch. 04'

I am invested in the characters which means you done your job well. Personally I think his sleeping around makes it so he doesn't have any moral high ground. But that is just me and the fact that I have feelings about these people means you have written a good story. I also think you have portrayed that she loves him enough to stay with him. good job

OK, my thoughts: I am not a fan of open marriages. They can be so loose that they eventually become unraveled. I think there have to be a boundry to a marriage that allow trust to develop. Trust can only be gained by meeting expectations. The boundry must be joint. Some examples: a closed group of people that all know one and trust one another. Certainly approval before participation with other than the mate. Applies to both in the marriage of course. It helps to be together, so foursomes with another couple work just fine. If I give my wife to you, then you give yours to me. Mutual trust.

I cannot relate to either Matt or KC in any serious way. Neither one of them is very mature. KC is in-lust, not in-love. Same for Matt. Marriage at this stage would be a disaster. Why does she still have an engagement ring? KC's "ultimatum" is just all about her needs and nothing about Matt's. If Matt wants this girl (not sure why he would), KC needs to agree to some boundries. Long term relationships require both people to change. They don't have to prohibit KC's needs but control it to something Matt can live with. Right now she can run of with local manager of the KFC to the Carribean and not tell Matt where she is going, who she is with and when she will be back. KC has not idea of she is going to be thrown out tomorrow. Neither trust each other, nor have any understanding of the rules. If this is resolved (and it can change overtime) then trust can begin to develop over time. In this way things once feared with no trust and be enjoyed with trust.

In real life these stories of KCs accomplish nothing and would very likely make the problem worse. Of course this isn't real life and you can do what you want. But I suggest start working on a deal between KC and Matt that falls short of what KC wants, but pushes Matt's boundries a bit in KC's directions. The deal can change over time. If you do that this story can easily end happily, but if not the story will not be believable. These characters need to grow up and eliminate this childish behavior. And it can't be that Matt changes and KC doesn't. Not real life.

But I think the focus is wrong and misses the point. He already knows that KC has fucked many men and women so 1 or 10 or 100 more won't make much physical difference. The feelings of betrayal he is having are not really about sex at all - it is about the cornerstone of any relationship - trust. Trust can mean many things but the most important aspect is trust of your partners feelings for you. It is not a big deal that KC had a quick fuck with a guy - what is a big deal is that she did it in secret without being on the same page as him first. I could have forgiven her the sex but I would have had a big job forgiving her the lack of trust.

You ignore the elephant in the room ?

She went behind his back and after caught she decided to be honest.

He is coming off as stupid and shallow to boot. All these deep feelings about things evaporate.

so far i am liking the story. It is far better than your new one. Character buildup is ok. I feel you have got a very biased opinion on open relationship message in this which is all good and stuff if you like that stuff in reality and it definitely fits the genre, but not many arguments against. No one sees what matt is going through and it is hard to change with a drop of a hat all of a sudden. im not sure that they are in love, i think its an infatuation with each other and they are each other emotional anchor but there is trust and no real compromise on the ladies part at least. So hence there is no love.