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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Should I believe DH or am I being naive.

676 replies

Amisillyornot · 22/10/2021 08:32

3 years ago DH had sort of an emotional affair with a colleague. When i found out he was very sorry blah blah and I agreed to give the marriage another go. 3 years there has been no issues and I had no reason to doubt it, he moved jobs etc and no contact with the OW.
Yesterday he brought home a phone and said that he found it. I said go through the call log and try and call people. He said that it was left in the drawer and must have been there since Jan (they moved into this new building in Jan) and as he was working mainly from home, he only saw that yesterday. He asked at work and it wasnt anyone.
I said he should have just left it there at reception. I found that weird as DH would be the first to try and find the owner. He once found a purse in a coffee shop and travelled 40 mins to return it to an old lady.

I said look at the call logs and try calling someone and he said it is empty, must be an old work phone from the previous office people. I said check contact. I even said that it was weird that there was no password. He pressed contacts and his face changed and he tried to walk away with the phone pretending to make tea. However I managed to see that there were 2 numbers and it was the name of the OW. I asked for the phone and he pretended he didnt hear. I followed him and said that he either hands the phone over or we are done. He gave me the phone - phone was empty (no emails set up and nothing except for the 2 names in contact) - he must have deleted everything except he forgot this.

Now i got extremely annoyed and just said we are done. He tried to explain - I havent used this in 3 years, I saw it in the drawer and thought I would bring it home, havent spoken to her in 3 years, even i was shocked when I saw the name still there..... I am so upset that I didnt want an argument and just went to sleep in spare room.

Not even sure what am asking here but I suppose I just want to know what you MN make of this.

OP posts:
NeonTetras · 23/10/2021 14:56

OP tell him to stop the abusive muttering and behaviour or you'll call the police and have him removed. In fact if I were you I'd tell him right now if he doesn't leave in say 2 hours you'll call the police.

Do you have a father, a brother, BILs etc you can call to come around and make him leave?

Shizen · 23/10/2021 14:59

He’s pissed off that’s he’s been caught OP. Don’t buy into it. I’m not into the “once a cheater always a cheater” thing. I think people are humans and mistakes happen. BUT, he has now lied to your face and is refusing to admit to it, even though you have proof he lied. I don’t think you’ll ever trust him again and telling you to kill yourself is the lowest of the low

todaysdilemma · 23/10/2021 15:01

His reaction to getting caught out is defensive and angry, and that would tell me he's definitely done something wrong. If he had been genuinely remorseful, he'd be apologising for lying about the phone and doing whatever he could to convince you he's being honest.

This just sounds like a guilty conscience. Good on you for not contacting OW. She will lie anyway to upset you further and will enjoy the fact that 3 years on, it is still an issue.

Am so sorry. Think going on a short break with the kids will be good for you, and hopefully make him realise he cannot lie/gaslight and intimidate you this time.

I would try to recover what you can off the phone. There are definitely software solutions or you could try taking it to shop that can help.

Shizen · 23/10/2021 15:02

Also, I find him bringing the phone home at all very odd. He is either somehow getting off on this whole thing, that he “got away with it”, or he wanted to he caught. No one in the history of cheating is that stupid

WickedWitchOfTheTrent · 23/10/2021 15:05

He said you should go and kill yourself - wow that would be a dealbreaker for me

Shizen · 23/10/2021 15:07

@WickedWitchOfTheTrent

He said you should go and kill yourself - wow that would be a dealbreaker for me
Yup, agree. I’ve said some pretty horrible thighs in the moment as has my DH but telling someone to go and kill themselves is unconscionable. He can’t come back from that. So sorry this is happening to OP Flowers
Fluffycloudland77 · 23/10/2021 15:09

Are you in danger?

TheChip · 23/10/2021 15:13

Has he ever behaved this way before?

Amisillyornot · 23/10/2021 15:14

Hello everyone
No am not in danger..there's never been any physical violence. He has form for shouting and swearing when he cannot win an argument by conversing!
He's watching football and I am playing with the kids.

OP posts:
TeeBee · 23/10/2021 15:16

What an odious little man he's turned out to be.
I'd be telling his mother the history of that phone!

Amisillyornot · 23/10/2021 15:16

@TheChip

Has he ever behaved this way before?
He's not very articulate..so he loses his temper and shouts/swear. He has done it before. He did it 3 years ago when i found out. He always says afterwards that he didn't mean it and said it in anger etc. Now looking back I can see that he doesn't actually apologise..says he didn't mean it as an apology
OP posts:
TheChip · 23/10/2021 15:27

So basically whenever he is in the wrong he behaves this way to try and get you to back down.
Like a toddler.

octoberfarm · 23/10/2021 15:36

Everything else aside, if my DH told me I should go kill myself, even in anger, I would be done. What an awful thing to say to anyone, but especially your wife who you've betrayed and is now hurting. I'm still confused as to why there would even be a secret phone, with only her numbers on it, if this whole thing was just a close friendship blown out of proportion by you. Close work friends don't have burner phones with which to communicate to each other so their other halves don't find out. You deserve so, so much better than this, OP. He can be a good Dad from a separate home. You deserve to be happy too Thanks

Justilou1 · 23/10/2021 15:45

Do NOT give him back that phone. Don’t give it to his mum. Just remember HE’S the liar and the cheat. Talk to your friends and family and don’t protect his feelings or reputation. He chose to do this.

NeonTetras · 23/10/2021 15:49

Jaysus he sound like a vile abusive and hateful pig OP. I'd leave him and be done with him for good. In fact the first time he ever swore at me, and didn't apologise, I would have called him on it and said he never ever, EVER speaks to me like that again or he'd have divorce papers. Even swearing and cursing you just once is one too many, it would NEVER happen ever again. So he's never apologised to you for the Emotional Affair? Wow. No, I could never go back with no apology, and I'd definitely be filing online for a divorce if he told me to kill myself. He 'meant it', he meant every word then and now or else it wouldn't be in his nature to do it. And whether you're in danger or not (and all it takes is that one time, as every woman who has ever said 'my husband/partner would never hit me' and then he did) the fact is he disrespected you, he lied to you, and now he is verbally abusing you so I would get relatives to come around and get him out. I would be so angry with him I'd make sure I had someone around to threaten the bastard out of the home. He would not be here tonight.

Justilou1 · 23/10/2021 16:27

Make sure you take that stupid phone with you if you go anywhere. (Although I would be concerned about him changing the locks.)

Onthedunes · 23/10/2021 16:43

@Amisillyornot

I think he's lost the plot..he keeps muttering under his breath like he's cursing me when i walk past. He's got a face like thunder. Think he's pissed off that am not crying, keep askung for information etc like i did last time..or he may have realised that the phone has disappeared
You be careful, this man thinks he's about to lose everything, his wife, his children, his home, his finances and his reputation.

He is losing control, get away from his anger, I know you say you are safe but his mask is slipping and you could become vuneraable, no matter how much you say you know him.

Take care.

Justilou1 · 23/10/2021 16:50

This is very much like the behaviour of someone else I know. He is a very bad man. Please be very careful. Ensure that someone knows what’s going on.

Fluffycloudland77 · 23/10/2021 17:03

Legally he can’t lock op out. Unfortunately neither can op lock him out.

User983590521 · 23/10/2021 17:51

Being inarticulate isn't an excuse for raging at you because of his own behaviour.
I'm sure he's not so inarticulate that he couldn't give you his innocent explanation if there is one.
There clearly is no innocent explanation so he's tried to shout you down and bully you instead.

Derbee · 23/10/2021 17:53

OP, fuck the house, the holiday and the cars. Divorce this arsehole, and have a nice life without a cheating, abusive arsehole

Eeiliethya · 23/10/2021 19:13

Well he's actually made the decision a bit easier for you. If my OH told me to go and kill myself that would end the relationship quicker than any kind of affair! What a horrible bastard OP, you don't deserve that whatsoever.

MsDogLady · 23/10/2021 19:36

He is kicking himself that he actually handed you the smoking gun.

When you gave him the opportunity to come clean, he threw it back in your face with verbal aggression, deflection and stonewalling, hoping his manipulative tactics would shut you up. He’s desperate to hide the magnitude of his deception.

It is ludicrous to claim he never used that phone when it was clearly dedicated to Anna.

He is still in infidelity by lying and treating you with contempt in order to to protect what he had/has with her.

Isn’t it time to contact a solicitor to determine your options?

Onthedunes · 23/10/2021 20:15

I hope you are ok op.

Come back if you need us, we know how things go in these situations.
Trauma bonding and all.

We are always here for you.

Flowers
KeziaOAP · 23/10/2021 20:30

@Amisillyornot

He refused to talk Said he never used the phone, never topped it up, installed whats app but never used. Was given the phone Said he's had enough of me always making drama And he's got nothing more to say
"Was given the phone"

Could the OW have given it to him when he blocked her on his phone so she still had a way of contacting him?

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