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Relationships

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Please help me process what on earth went on with me and DP last night

452 replies

everynowandthenifallapart · Yesterday 09:45

It was my birthday yesterday. DP came over after work and my main present was dinner somewhere nice local to me (this is what I had asked for). I’d arranged to have an empty house at mine for us so we’d have some time to ourselves.

Been together almost 2 years and been arguing a lot over the last few months. My kids caused some trouble between us and we both said some things that hurt the other and are trying to get through it. Argued earlier in the week about that but I genuinely felt that we were working through it.

Anyway, I don’t normally dress up but I put on a nice dress and heels. I know I looked nice as my DD said so. Answered the door to DP and he was really angry with how I was dressed as apparently he had turned up ‘looking like a scruff’ and it made him look back.

So no compliment on the effort I made and a couple of times thought the night made angry comments about it.

Other than that all fine at dinner. We got home and Dp went to sit in the garden and have a beer. It was dark and cold and I didn’t fancy being out there so I sat indoors entertaining myself playing music on the Alexa - not loud - and singing along to it. DP hates me singing along to music but I just thought well he’s outside, not listening and it’s my house and my birthday so I’ll entertain myself.

We then watched a TV show for an hour, all good.

Then just the weirdest thing happened - DP started having a go at me for playing Billie Jean and how he’d had to comment that MJ is a paedophile to make me stop playing it.

I was baffled as I don’t like MJ either, hadn’t played Billie Jean and didn’t know what he was talking about.

When I responded to that he got really angry going ‘I know what I heard, stop gaslighting me!!’ And I was literally like maybe it was coming from one of the kid’s Alexa’s upstairs and he went on and on about how I was telling him he was imagining things.

i said I wasn’t saying that just that I hadn’t played it. I said I’d been playing the charlatans as the last song and pulled out my play history on Amazon music and indeed it was the charlatans and a load of other 90s indie which is exactly my taste as he knows.

i thought that would just solve it all but it escalated and escalated about how he heard Billie Jean and I’d stopped as soon as he made the comment.

I said I hadn’t played Billie Jean but also it’s my house and if I wanted to play it I would.

I then decided I’d had enough and thanked him for ruining my birthday and went to bed. I didn’t know what else to do to de escalate things.

i could then see him on the drive waiting for a cab so I went down again to try and de escalate things. I said I felt the conversation was unnecessary and unkind, that I had no idea where he heard Billie Jean - he said it must have been on the TV I said maybe it was but I have no recollection of it or of the comment he made.

I tried to get him to calm down and come in, I just wanted a nice end to the evening but he wouldn’t back down.

It was the most ridiculous argument of my life and I also believe it has ended our relationship because where do we go from this?

Usually when we argue I initiate apologies and we smooth things over but I have no idea how or why I would apologise for playing a song I didn’t play. I feel like last night he was wanting an apology and it’s usually very easy to get one out of me, but not for something like this where I’ve done nothing.

His car is still outside so presumably he’ll come and get it today but I’ve heard nothing from him and don’t expect to.

This MUST be the end of our relationship right? I can’t live like this.

OP posts:
DilettanteRedRagger · Today 05:09

So, I’m not exactly psychic but…

  • your ex was controlling
  • his ex says he was controlling
  • he doesnt like being told he’s controlling
  • he tries to control you with his moods
  • you, as a result, KNOW he’s controlling

Now, this is just a shot in the dark, but I think he might be controlling!

I tried to put this as a bit of a joke @everynowandthenifallapart to soften the blow, but, please be aware: coercive control is a very real thing used by emotionally abusive people. They make you so afraid of triggering one of their moods or being punished with their sulks, that the whole house ends up walking on eggshells.

You said your 16 year old didn’t get you a card or gift, but you also said your DD told you that you looked nice - if that was the 16 year old who said that (maybe you meant a different DD), it means she was actually much nicer to you on your birthday than he was. It’s really sad facts, but the truth is that if you model a relationship in which it’s clear your partner doesn’t respect you and you don’t respect yourself, your children will grow up to not respect you either. I’ve seen this pattern play out so many times, it’s gotten a bit ridiculous.

Sexual and/or relationship partners are like buses. If you really want one, you can catch another one in 20 minutes. But you only get a single one of each of your kids, so maybe talk to your daughter about how she felt about your partner and if there’s anything she wants to talk about regarding him or the situation now he’s gone.

Randallscandal · Today 05:49

Have you tolf your other children the good news yet @everynowandthenifallapart ? That no more mum’s crappy boyfriend in their home almost of the time!

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