10 Years Of Marriage, This Couple Invites Other Women Into Their Lives To Live Poliamori

Stephanie, Hector dan Carissa (Instagram @poly.in.paradise)

JAKARTA - Married couples invite other women into their lives. Both want their relationship to be even busier.

Stephanie Alicea (31) and husband (30) Hector started dating as teenagers in 2008 before marrying two years later. Together, the couple from Florida, USA have two daughters; 12 years and five years, respectively.

But things started to change in 2020, when Stephanie and Hector decided to explore polyamory relationships. They started looking for other women to join them in their lives. Then, along came Carissa Barclay (30).

Entering the age of 10 years of their marriage, Stephanie and Hector have a polyamorous relationship with Carissa. After meeting on Facebook, the three of them hooked up at Starbucks and immediately knew there was chemistry.

The three fall in love and Carissa, along with her three children from a previous marriage, move into Stephanie and Hector's house. The three of them emphasized that their romance is not only about sex.

"We want people to understand that our relationship is not like a polyamory depiction in the media," Hector said, launching the Daily Star, Sunday, November 15.

"It's not about sex - we're not swingers even though there's nothing wrong with that."

Both Stephanie, Hector and Carissa received mixed responses from their respective families. Hector's mother is not happy about the unusual relationship that her son is in.

Stephanie even had to cut ties with several members of her extended family who disagreed with polyamory.

Not to mention their oldest child, initially found it difficult to fit in.

And when the three of them travel, they often receive cruel comments from the public. In fact, the kiss photos they upload on social media often get negative responses. But that didn't bother Stephanie, Hector, and Carissa.

Carissa explained in detail: "For us, polyamory means having the capacity to love more than one person in an intimate and very real way.

"We are all equal partners, equal lovers, and have loyalty in a triad.

"When we were all out together, people looked at us with confusion and curiosity mixed with slight amusement.

"We get a number of vomiting emojis in my kissing photo upload with Steph. Quite disappointing but mostly support us."

Then, whether the problem of jealousy arises between the three?

"I think we are all pretty good at talking about our feelings when they come up including jealousy. We are not immune to it, we just get over it. Great communication is very important in group relationships," Hector explained.

"We are closed polyamory which means we are not looking for additional partners and have no relationship outside of this. Our relationship is real, valid, and that is our normal," Hector concluded.