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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU To End This

28 replies

ScrewYouTalkingTom · 16/04/2018 04:27

Ffs I typed this out amazingly and the page refreshed as I was proof reading! Typing again but I might miss things out Angry brutal advise and honestly welcome...

Backstory: work colleague of 4+ years separated from his wife just over a year ago, moved into his own place 8 months ago. Sepeated on bad terms with her wanting to see other people and him not wanting that. She’s happily dating someone new, but from what I’ve overheard from conversations is making his life hell during the divorce. I’d not spoke to him much in work and only really on the work Facebook chat outside of it. I’d always been attracted to him, but of course he was married etc so there was no office flirting or even ‘banter’. All very professional.

Around October - November last year he sent me a message on Facebook outside the group chat, asking if he could take me on a date. It was very out of the blue and I turned him down politely, stating I didn’t really know him that well and I wasn’t sure the timing was right (due to his messy divorce). Other factors were in play in my own mind, such as the fact that he’s 15 years older than me and I assumed he was a new bachelor trying to score with someone younger (i’m in my mid 20’s).

From that though we began talking. Although he’d sometimes suggest dating again it never went further than a friendship but we really got to know each other and I really warmed up to him, as we had a lot in common and he’s a really great guy. Fast forward to theee months ago, during a work nights out I had a one night stand with him.

The morning after awkwardness we had an open chat, in which he again expressed he’d really like to date me, more so now that we really got to know one another, as I initially it was because he’d just been attracted to me. I was still somewhat reserved and instead suggested we just keep things casual instead, as I still had this nagging doubt that he’d get back together with his wife somehow. He agreed.

All seemed perfect really. We talked loads still, the hook ups were fun in that we would usually watch movies or chat for hours and it was exciting. It worked. We both agreed to not see other people whilst hooking up and to let the other know if we wanted to end it. It was mutual. Then I ruined it all by catching feelings around three weeks ago. It just hit me - I was beginning to really like this guy. Only at this point things had begun to change and I didn’t like the changes.

We had stopped talking all the time like we used to and unless I initiated chat the only time he messaged me was to arrange a hook up. Although we still had a nice time together, the late night chats etc all stopped and I missed those.

He used to suggest we do things, such as see a movie we both said we’d like to see at the cinema, or do something we had both never done (like bowling - yes, I’ve never done it!) but they always seemed like a joke to me, as I secretly knew we never would as he’d suggest them and then never mentioned them again.

I actually realised I was more invested when he began to pull away and I missed what went used to ‘have’ so to speak, which was really a sort of relationship looking back on it without the dating, because we used to talk so much. I took advice from my friends, which was to purposely not initiate chat, but I’d get radio silence until he was asking for a hook up. To me this suggests he’s no longer interested and why would he be? He’s had his cake and eaten it too.

In my eyes a casual hook up is only casual when there are no feelings involved. Me beginning to like him and him becoming so distant suggests to me he was never serious all along and that this needs to end before someone (let’s face it me) gets hurt in the long run.

So, AIBU to end this purely on the grounds that I don’t want to get hurt? If it ends now I’m confident we can resume a work colleague relationship and remain friends. It’s not like we’ve suggested this be anything more and quite honestly, he seems to like it like this and I don’t want to complicate things by pushing for something I initially rejected, when it’s obvious (at least to me) by his pulling away he never wanted more, not really. It’s clear to me this is what he wanted all along, no strings attached. Whilst I was up for this, as I’ve got to know him I’m beginning to want more.

(My original post was more fleshed out but I think I covered everything )

OP posts:
Mightymucks · 16/04/2018 11:11

So if she said no to dates then he doesn't have to contact her, share jokes, treat her like a person?

No, he doesn’t have to treat her like they’re in a relationship. Long late night chats where you bear your soul are something you do with someone you’re in a relationship with emotional involvement. Cuddling up on the sofa watching movies is what you do with your partner. Going out on dates is what you do with your partner. When he’s suggested these things the OP has brushed it off as a joke.

He is entirely taking his lead from the OP in this relationship, as far as he knows he is doing what she wants. She has explicitly told him she wants a casual relationship and that is what she’s getting. I don’t see how it can be fair for the OP to demand that he continually emotionally invests in a relationship when she has previously told him she is not interested in a serious relationship and hasn’t told him that has changed. As another poster said above, she is interested in protecting her feelings from being hurt by getting overly involved in a relationship where the other partner has no real interest in a serious relationship; why on earth shouldn’t he feel the same?

DeathStare · 16/04/2018 11:14

I think he's probably very confused about what's going on. He has made it clear on a few occasions that he wanted a relationship - it was you saying no. It then morphed into what seems like a relationship - and you were still saying no it isn't. He did all the running - and got no real signs from you that you were interested. Then you are hurt that he has backed off.

I think either he has just run out of steam in chasing you or he has pulled back so that he doesn't get hurt.

Can you not talk to him about this, and ask him whether a relationship is what he'd still like? He has no way of knowing you are interested unless you talk to him about it, and up until this point everything you have said and done suggests that you aren't interested.

Joanna57 · 16/04/2018 11:14

He probably just got really bored.

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