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Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Have I done the right thing?

8 replies

Jp23475 · 15/01/2018 16:33

My 5 year relationship ended badly last January when my ex cheated on me whilst I was away on holiday. About 2 months later I met someone new online (Badoo), he is almost too good to be true, he is kind, gentle, funny and drop dead gorgeous, we live 40 miles apart but met 2 - 3 times a week initially. He asked me straight away what I was looking for and I said I wasn’t really looking for anything serious but I might if it was with the right person, he said he is looking for a long term partner someone to come home to each night etc. He asked me to be his girlfriend a couple of times but I declined as I had recently come out of a long term relationship and felt it was too soon. We carried on meeting he took me on lovely dates, meals etc. and in October he told me that he loved me and we decided to be a couple.

Before we became official I noticed that on his social media such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook he was often adding attractive woman who lived local to him. When I go on Instagram on my activity feed it is mainly him liking various woman's revealing/bikini photo's as with on Facebook which I find disrespectful, also on Instagram he follows 800 attractive woman and adds more most days! I also looked at a message that popped up on his phone and it was a message from one of the woman he added saying "I'll do your eyebrows for you xxx" so he has obviously been pursuing these woman in some way.

I knew he was speaking to these people in the background but sort of ignored it, I did speak to my ex on a regular basis which he of course didn't really know the extent of. I never gave my ex any hope of getting back together or told him that i loved him but he has been going through a really bad time in his life and we both needed closure and decided to try and be friends. This was a sort of tit for tat situation i knew what he was doing, i knew i shouldn't necessarily be doing what i was doing but i wouldn't really lose anything if it came to heads because this guy was lying to me anyway.

Anyway, I gave him the benefit of the doubt that he would stop actively looking for other woman now we were a couple but after 2 months of the same I confronted him and he made out like he didn’t think these things would upset me and that he hadn’t been doing anything wrong. He is constantly online on Social Media and I have a hard time believing he genuinely loves me or has any good intentions when he is actively looking for someone else to be with. I am insecure because of my previous relationship but this doesn’t seem like normal behavior to me. He says I am his world he wants me to move in with him so he can come home to me every night but as soon as my back is turned he is speaking to people behind my back. He says they are not flirty conversations and I am his woman but I find it hard to believe. Why would he be asking to meet someone for her to do his eyebrows for a start!! What I don’t understand is if he wanted to meet other woman why didn’t he just leave our relationship casual the way it was instead of pressuring me to be exclusive with him? Is he the cat who got the cream?

He always does all of the pursuing and I rarely message him first but I am the one who drives to his house 90% of the time (he works 2 hours from my house and has a dog which he can’t bring to sleep at my house), we used to go for nice meals and on nice day trips but now i usually bring him dinner and we stay in and don't do much, am I convenient to him or being strung along? What does this man want from me if anything? Also how wrong is it of me to be speaking to my ex casually?

I have split up with this guy because actions speak louder than words, I dont want to get hurt again but i also dont want to chuck away the best thing to happen to me in a long time... also i am scared that i have ruined everything by speaking to my ex behind his back anyway. Advice anyone please!

OP posts:
Pixiebloom · 15/01/2018 16:50

I had a very similar experience.

You're right - why would he be pursuing these other women if he was happy? Because he can. Social media has brought a whole new opportunity for "browsing" potential partners.

You'll never be comfortable with this man and I don't blame you. It's a deal breaker and he doesn't appear to be changing his behaviour. It doesn't appear to these women that he is in a relationship. K

Lifeisabeach09 · 15/01/2018 17:08

Red flag.
Yes, he has you where he wants you. You are the one putting all the effort into the relationship (commute/dinners) while he drools over other women on social media (which he seems addicted to).
I'm sure he loves you (in his own way) but he has a roving eye. A likely prelude to cheating.
What will things be like if you move in together and, god forbid, end up pregnant?
Trust your instincts. And ask yourself if you really need a relationship so soon after ending the five year one?

WunWun · 15/01/2018 17:12

He wants to have his cake and eat it. He's told you he wants you to be exclusive because he doesn't want you to see anyone else.

You've known he was doing it from the start. Your options are to put up with it or get rid of him. It's very unlikely he's going to stop by the soijnds of it.

Jp23475 · 15/01/2018 18:36

@Pixiebloom thanks thats exactly what i thought, i was hoping someone would have a similar experience. I just dont get why he goes out of his way to tell me how much he loves me etc. when in reality i am one of many.

@Lifeisabeach09 he occasionally says i hate that you do all the driving, i feel guilty yada yada yada when in reality he drives for a living and earns more money than me, i suppose what you allow will continue as they say!

@WunWun so glad you agree. Another one bites the dust i guess!

OP posts:
Cricrichan · 15/01/2018 19:39

You did the right thing. The beginning is when things are best and if he's drooling over all these women constantly now, imagine when he's in a long term relationship.

C0untDucku1a · 15/01/2018 19:43

You did the right thing. He clearly stopped making an effort with you. Go out with girlfriends. Stop looking for dates.

nousername123 · 15/01/2018 20:01

I think men often test the boundaries at the beginning of a relationship. For example, my DP and his ex wife used to have the type of relationship where they both regularly cheated to get one up on eachother and were only together for the kids (she wouldn't let him see them every time he left) anyway that was years ago.
When I started seeing him I noticed that he kept adding random girls who don't even live in this area and they were all advertising sex. He would follow more and more girls on Instagram. I have been messed about so many times so I just confronted him about it and he apologised and said he would stop. He doesn't actively seek these people he tends to get a lot of random friend requests which he showed me. He's stopped and deleted these people that he didn't know. I confronted him before we were even "official". I honestly think that if they think they can get away with it then they will try it. Let him know it's not how you want your relationship to be and you're not going to be putting up with it x

AtrociousCircumstance · 15/01/2018 20:25

Yes, you have done the right thing.

Men who are serious about new girlfriends don't 'test boundaries', they are happy to have met the person they want to focus on.

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