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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Text cheating at start of relationship

135 replies

Pandolly · 13/03/2025 15:19

Been with my partner 6 months. They've always been great, respectful, gentle, kind, loving.
I found out a few days ago, that 5 weeks into the relationship, they had text my sibling with some flirty messages with a few sexual innuendos. It occurred only at this time, and not since, and not with anyone else that I know of.

I am extremely hurt and at the moment am unsure if the relationship can continue. I don't know if I can build back the trust that has been broken.

They appear regretful, have profusely apologised and even shed tears saying they don't want to lose me.
I asked why they did it. They said they were just really stupid, that they were going through a tough family situation (which is true) and made a stupid choice. But is this all sincere, I don't know now as the trust is broken and I find myself questioning things.

I suppose I'm after outside views on this situation.
Would you forgive and give them another chance?
Would it be a firm no?
Have you found yourself in the same situation?

I've asked for some space to try and gather my thoughts.

So AIBU, and can people really make a genuine mistake, never to repeat it?
Or AINBU and this is likely to happen again?

OP posts:
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MsDogLady · 14/03/2025 23:04

@Pandolly, I’m sorry that you’ve suffered this double betrayal.

So a ‘tough family situation’ caused your BF to make a sleazy move on your sister?? Spare me. He fancies her and decided to chance his arm, and got a buzz from trying it on. It is disturbing that he so easily gave himself permission to cross that taboo line. As his boundaries and integrity are at zero, I don’t believe this was his only episode of infidelity and disloyalty.

This guy is capable of a hiding much deception behind a smiling and loving facade. Be aware that his current crocodile tears and dramatic, flowery words are a calculated manipulation tactic. The good deeds he is reminding you of are surely tainted by his defiling your relationship and subsequent subterfuge.

Stay with this con artist at your own peril, @Pandolly. You have been blessed with the knowledge of his taboo transgression and poor character, so you’d be very foolish to put your future in his hands.

As for your Sister, I would go low contact with her. She failed to read BF the riot act when he came on to her. She colluded with him to dupe you by hiding his sexual overture from you, and in doing so they robbed you of your agency and consent.

MuckFusk · 14/03/2025 20:24

Good hairy grief. Those messages are so puerile. This guy is lame AF.

StrawberryDream24 · 14/03/2025 13:16

Sorry, I skim read your thread to see if there was anything else worth saying now that it appears to be winding down and I feel like I have to say re. this, that you're wrong.

So as you can see, it's not outright coming onto them

"Bland? Well do you know what is missing? .....
Some Italian flavour and love, and that would be irresistible."

It is outright coming onto her.

Because he's referring to himself (using puns around food).

It is an outright come-on. He's not good heartedly & disinterestedly suggesting she find herself some random Italian man, he's referring to himself.

Your sister then defects with the pizza comment.

He keeps trying with the suggestive "pizza is messy ... unless you like messy?" comment.

Etc. etc.

It is an outright come-on. It might not be "wanna fuck?" but how often does anyone say that, especially when they're testing the waters with their girlfriend's sister.

StrawberryDream24 · 14/03/2025 12:53

Fwiw I would never trust your sister in life either.

I have no idea what she thought she was doing having one on one/private "getting to know you", chatty, unnecessary text conversations with your new boyfriend (unless this evolved from a convo about something necessary, even then it's not great).

She should have nipped them in the bud quickly and she should have told you.

You feel there is a jealousy/competition or something going on with her, and that wouldn't appear to be unfounded, because her behaviour was not kosher either.

That doesn't make him not the problem though.

Serpentstooth · 14/03/2025 12:48

Your sister? Absolutely off limits. Yes he'll do it again, you don't share the same boundaries. Sack him.

StrawberryDream24 · 14/03/2025 12:44

Sorry that smell was supposed to have an exclamation mark after it, not a question mark.

I'm not implying anyone smells 😀

StrawberryDream24 · 14/03/2025 12:34

Just to add - 5 weeks into a new relationship is when someone is supposed to be at peak excitement about you. You're both in the most new, exciting stage of a relationship. You'd be thinking about them loads, thinking about intimacy with them, looking forward to intimacy with them, trying to look and smell (?) your best for them, trying to think of nice dates, thinking of nice things to do for them etc. ..... Generally you are focused on (only) them.

What was he doing? Using whatever pretext to contact your sister, chatting with her seemingly totally unnecessarily (going by that bit of conversation anyway), flirting and - if she'd reciprocated/escalated - what was he doing next? (Since he essentially offered himself on a plate, no pun intended given the conversation, by saying he was what she needed).

He wasn't focused on you. To the contrary he was using your sister's contact details (gained through you) to come onto her as well - while presumably romancing you. He was trying to play the field, and with your effing sister, at that.

If that's what he's like when he's in the exciting, (should be) single minded stage of a relationship, you have to wonder how he'll be (behind your back) in the more boring or difficult stages of a relationship.

If you have a daughter or daughters, I wouldn't like to think how he'll be acting towards her when she passes puberty (and you're middle aged); because sisters are apparently fair game to him so ...

He doesn't want dumped because he's got himself a woman, who was faithful, nice, responsible, probably attractive (I'd imagine both you and your sister are) and ateotd his little attempt at getting her sister early on didn't go anywhere, and after 6 months, he knows she definitely won't be touching him now.

He just doesn't want kicked out in the 'cold" with no-one. And I doubt he wants to explain to his family and friends why your apparently going brilliantly relationship suddenly ended either.

StrawberryDream24 · 14/03/2025 12:00

Op, you're not stupid

You've been in an intimate romantic relationship for months, and clearly he's been telling you he sees it as permanent and you have come to think of him as your future life partner (even though it's relatively early, it's easy to think like that).

For that to disappear in a matter of hours is not an easy thing.

You are not a robot. You can't just turn off your feelings.

However, I don't think anyone could advise you to give someone a chance who was coming onto another woman .....and 100 times worse, your sister - in the early stages of your relationship.

Would you have done that to him (or to anyone) ??
The answer is undoubtedly no, and would always be no.

No decent person would act like that.

His excuse isn't really convincing.

There is no temporary insanity that makes you act like that.

He contacted her, unnecessarily (?) He stayed appropriate/tested the waters, then he tried it on, then he backed off when she didn't escalate, and when she tried to draw a line under it with the "I don't think we should tell her about this". She was letting him off the hook and he knew it. He also knew that might not last/be totally reliable; so he knew exactly what you were taking about when you confronted him. It was probably in the back of his mind and should have been.

It's not the behaviour of anyone you'd want to trust your heart and family (you'd be introducing him to your kids sooner or later) to.

It's exceptionally low integrity and skeezy.

I think you need a lot of time without contact with him, to absorb and process this.

You don't need to make a decision in the immediate future.

He's known about this for 5 months.

You haven't had that advantage! You can take as long as you like to process this.

And whatever you decide is not binding. You owe him nothing. Less than nothing given his behaviour.

Pandolly · 14/03/2025 11:08

I've just been to the gym and got out a lot of my pent up feelings.

I am still so torn. I know I'm even stupid for considering giving them 1 chance and I'm sure you'll all think I'm crazy.
But I'm not about to make that decision yet as I clearly need to think carefully and with less heated emotion leading my thoughts.

I have work, and a busy weekend, which should take my mind off things and give me the space I need.

OP posts:
StrawberryDream24 · 14/03/2025 09:25

Your sister should have told you at the time and getting rid of him would have been nowhere near so painful and upsetting, but .. you can only deal with things as they are now.

That is deal breaking behaviour and I wouldn't advise anyone to trust him or invest in him.

Not everyone is going to turn out to be a prospective long term partner.

And at least you hadn't actually introduced your kids, which (in spite of self righteous Mumsnet posters' opinions) many women would probably have done by now.

StrawberryDream24 · 14/03/2025 09:16

The messages were over 1 conversation. Conversations before and after were 'normal'.

I think he tested the water to see if she'd respond to normal messages and not contact you saying "why on earth is your new bf messaging me?" (unless there was some pretext), then when she responded and he didn't have you saying "my sister says you're messaging her, why are doing that when there's no need?", he escalated to the come-on, then when she didn't bite and implied it was inappropriate (but that she wouldn't drop him in it), he scaled it back to normal. He knew he couldn't keep pushing it.

He knew he was sailing very close to the wind and he knew he was risking your sister telling you; that's why he immediately guessed, even 5 months later, that it was about your sister when you confronted him.

I'm sorry but I can't think of any reason that a man going out with a woman would be messaging the woman's sister saying what she needs is to try an Italian (i.e him) if he wasn't interested in hooking up with her. It seems like at that point he honestly thought he would fuck around with two sisters at the same time.

There's not really any getting past that.

That's his character.

It didn't happen because he was going through a hard time. No-one becomes Iike that because they're having a hard time, if they're not like that.

Hard times don't turn non opportunistic chancers with normal boundaries around siblings; into opportunistic, sleazy chancers who have no boundaries around their romantic interest's siblings.

Maybe he is lots of other (good) things too, people aren't one dimensional. But the important thing is that he is the above.

Takenoprisoner · 14/03/2025 09:02

How did you find out @Pandolly

Those messages are utterly grim. he was just salivating over her. No woman is out of bounds for him, not even your sister.

Amonyme · 14/03/2025 08:36

Your sibling behaved appallingly.

Ditch the partner, it would be grim if they were messaging anyone like that but your sibling is a new low

FoxLoxInSox · 14/03/2025 08:31

Why were you already encouraging a relationship between this new boyfriend and your primary school-aged children? And how long had that been going on? Why were you facilitating them speaking on the phone, him asking about their homework etc? Him professing to care deeply about them etc already?

When you couldn’t possibly have known him properly after 6mo. And when it’s turned out he’s actually a sexually-suggestive sleaze who thinks nothing of sending unsolicited sexually-suggestive messages to members of your family?

😳

HomeBodyClub · 14/03/2025 08:29

They will have been and probably will be texting others the same.

Wht would you even bother to continue after 6 months? They’ve shown you who they are early.

StrawberryDream24 · 14/03/2025 08:28

Pandolly · 14/03/2025 08:13

I feel so stupid 😪

You are the only non stupid person out of the three of you.

Though, giving your sibling the be efit of the doubt, I think she minimised it and didn't want to be "responsible" for potentially wrecking the new relationship you seemed v happy in.

Zenana · 14/03/2025 08:22

Pandolly · 14/03/2025 08:13

I feel so stupid 😪

Why? You didn't make the Italian Stallion be a prat?

Imbusytodaysorry · 14/03/2025 08:22

@Pandolly i don’t agree your sister ignored it .
Her replied are planting the seeds for more innuendo .
She should have told him to piss off. .

Zenana · 14/03/2025 08:20

StrawberryDream24 · 14/03/2025 07:51

What was his pretext for messaging her if she lives quite far away and they'd only met once (or a small number of times)?

Edited

I know! And how did he get her number?

BlueMum16 · 14/03/2025 08:20

Pandolly · 14/03/2025 07:28

So as you can see, it's not outright coming onto them, but it's literally turning everything into something along sexual lines.
It makes me feel sick. But I'm equally annoyed that my sibling continues the conversation rather than shut it down. Then chose not to tell me about it for 5 months.

Why has your sister waited 5 months to tell you now?

Imbusytodaysorry · 14/03/2025 08:14

FidosMum84 · 13/03/2025 18:29

Jesus 🤮
Self pitying manipulative twaddle.
He’s still the person who tried to bed your sister.

I thought the same . Best take his small violin from him.

Oh please ! Pathetic .
Rest of his life ? he will be out looking for the next one soon enough.

Evaka · 14/03/2025 08:14

That's horrific. Sorry this happened, your partner is a massive creep and weirdo. There's no coming back x

Pandolly · 14/03/2025 08:13

I feel so stupid 😪

OP posts:
StrawberryDream24 · 14/03/2025 08:11

Pandolly · 14/03/2025 08:06

Yes, half.

Ah, so even more personal/suggestive then.

The "Italian" food represents him.
The Italian she apparently "needs" is him, right.

StrawberryDream24 · 14/03/2025 08:10

I always find it useful to reverse things.

I find we still let men away with a huge amount compared to women.

So, let's set the scene

You are seeing him for 5 weeks, you both presumably think you're exclusive. You meet his brother once or more. You have his brother's number for whatever reason. You message his brother, talking about food preferences in an odd, sexually suggestive way.
What does that say about you?

His brother doesn't tell him for wherever reasons, he finds out 5 months later, sees the suggestive messages .....do you think he'd still be involved with you? Do you think he'd accept "oh, I was going through a hard time with my ex, the kids, my family" as an excuse? He wouldn't find that weird and rather inexplicable?

Do you think he'd believe your protestations of deep.love and feelings having always been true and blah blah?

Wouldn't he be thinking "if your feelings have been true and genuine for me all along, how come you were messaging my brother suggestively 5 weeks in?"

He wouldn't be discounting you as a long term partner because you came onto his own brother, having got his number through him??

I think you'd be booted out.
I think he'd have a few choice names for you.
I don't think he'd want you around his kids.

If he didn't do that, I'd be worried about his mental health and self esteem and judgement, to be honest.

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