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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

Please help, I cant see the wood for the trees.....

106 replies

FrancisUnderwood · 22/09/2018 21:41

Please help, I'm really struggling to make sense of what has happened to me over the last 4 months, I feel broken and confused, i'll try to be as concise as I can.

4 months ago I met a man and we hit it off almost away, my age (37), similar hobbies, interests and humour. Although I had previously been of the thought that I was happily single and had all my life ducks in a row, he blew me away.
Within 2 weeks i'd met his parents, his children, there was talk of engagements, living together and potential children of ours. All my friends said it was crazy fast, and I knew it was, but it was utterly intoxicating to be so wanted. I fell hard and fast.

Within 3 weeks he'd called my boss (without my knowing) and arranged my time off work to go on holiday with him and his son, without consulting me first.
I was 50/50 as to whether this was absolutely insane/controlling or a deeply romantic gesture but for the first time in my life I thought i'd found The One.

Once I was on holiday with him, things changed. He'd ignore me for long periods of time while he played on his phone, he took his phone everywhere with him, but always had it on silent and spent several hours a day in the toilet on it. He wouldn't look at it if I was in sight of the screen. I spoke to him about the phone thing and he said it was his holiday and he was entitled to relax as he wished. Not wanting to be a nagging girlfriend I eventually took myself off for walks around the area to enjoy the country we were in. His entire attitude to me changed too, he became very cold and quite cruel in some ways, there was no affection, no sex, no hand holding, nothing. He would tease me till the point of tears if he saw it was affecting me in any way. He could be similarly cruel to his DS too, at times, in a strange way of persuing a line of questioning on something really banal until the DS was very, very upset. He seemed to enjoy it.
Once we got back I told him how I felt, and why and he said that nothing was insurmountable as long as two people loved each other, so we tried again.
I would stay at his some nights and some nights come back to mine, I found out that on the nights I was at mine he would have a female friend over. I asked why she never 'popped round' while I was there and he couldn't give me an answer, it transpires she'd been an internet date he had had a fling with earlier this year. That omission bothered me somewhat and we had words.
He's become increasingly cold and cruel, telling me he doesn't want to do the things I want to do and wants to do his own things (I've never imposed any activity upon him, but have had to keep a strict schedule of attending endless gatherings of his).
He keeps telling me about his terrible temper.
I wanted him to meet my parents this last weekend and he hung around the house forever in his dressing gown knowing we were scheduled for 12:00, playing on his phone before announcing at 12:00 that he needed to have lunch first and proceeded to start cooking. I was just astounded and rescheduled, but still took him to meet them several hours late.
While I was waiting I decided to de-limescale the kettle, he asked what I was doing and looked at me as if he hated me, it was horrible. I was wearing his jumper and he made a big song and dance about me taking it off as he wanted to wear it, then, once I had, put another one on instead.
We went to a festival over the weekend and a very drunk friend of his pulled me to one side and told me he'd told her that he was taking his Ex to it instead of me. When I told him what she'd said he was angry at ME and we had to come home early, ive honestly never had someone look at me with such hatred in their eyes.
He sent a message to a group chat I'm in (his friendship group) saying I wouldn't be attending another event scheduled for Christmas and then backtracked when he realised i'd seen it and said he meant his DS. He didn't.
The climax of all this came this weekend when a girl started to ring him and he'd reject the calls, he then went out to pick his son up (a 15 min drive) and was out an hour and a half, he said he'd called her back while he was out but she was just a customer. He told me about her husband and kids, their cars and life etc and I believed him.
On Monday I found out she was another 'ex', the one the drunk friend had told me about and was, in fact, very single. He'd lived with her not 6 months previous. I hit the roof and called him a liar, then called it off.
He hasn't said much only that he's not lied and she's just a customer wanting work done.

I'm broken. When I said I loved him, I meant it. He's completely changed towards me, blocked me on everything and gone cold as ice. 3 months ago I was his world.
I'm feeling such dissonance between the man I fell for and whoever this man is.....please help. I'm so lost.

(Please be gentle, i'm really very delicate at the moment.)

OP posts:
bluebell34567 · 22/09/2018 23:11

sorry for your situation. Flowers
i think its time to act with your brain not with your heart. he isnt the one. he is definitely a horrible person, a horrible father and a player.

Isawthesign · 22/09/2018 23:11

He's a narcissist .

Happened to me too.

Thought he was an angel. He wasn't. So so good you found out soon. Now you can heal & move on with your wonderful life.

FrancisUnderwood · 22/09/2018 23:16

He also liked to eat in restaurants and run without paying. It cost me £50 on my birthday.
I let it slide as just a one off, until it happened again on holiday.

And he drove really dangerously with his DS in the car until his DS was so scared he was screaming.

WTF have I been doing!?!

OP posts:
Nubian22 · 22/09/2018 23:18

Hi Francis,

I got caught by a man like this a few months ago! He was a real charmer in the beginning and made me feel soo loved but it was fake.

The man you met at the beginning was all an act. Notice how the minute he felt sure of your commitment he changed! This is who he really is. I read two books 'why does he do that' and 'stop caretaking the borderline narcissist'. I would highly recommend both.

I am two months down the line and have gone nc with him and feel my eyes are completely open. Never again will I get caught up with a man like that. He has down you a favour but please block him as he may come back to you and be all charming again to reel you back in. But if you fall for it. He will not respect you and soon revert back to who he really is and treat you like dirt.

Take care

merville · 22/09/2018 23:26

Text book love bombing narcissist.

2 ex wives and 3 ex fiancée's?!!! I mean ...

His poor son. As another poster said, can you tell his mum about the abuse, which it is.

MMmomDD · 22/09/2018 23:35

The man you fell in love with 4 month ago doesn’t exist.....
And - no matter how much hurt you are feeling now - it’s really not real life that went on between you.
It the initial hi, the wonderful idea of being loved and needed and wanted by someone.
You fell in love with a fantasy of love.
It wasn’t real. I am sorry.

It will pass.

subspace · 23/09/2018 00:14

Oh darling.

Your post(s) are so full of red flags about his behaviour there's nothing but a sea of red.

I think he will come back. It's really important that you don't take him back. You are over, you're not getting back together, and you're not keeping in contact.

It's not your fault. You didn't cause it, you can't control it.

HalloumiGus · 23/09/2018 00:29

Ffs run and don't look back. I don't believe for a second that this is the end of it. He will try and reel you back in. Don't let him.

Ariela · 23/09/2018 00:33

I'm sorry you have been a victim of such an unpleasant man.

There are others out there who have suffered the actions of similar lying men, please take a look here and sign the petition to help protect others www.change.org/p/creating-fake-online-profiles-for-sex-is-fraud-make-catfishing-a-crime

misszp · 23/09/2018 05:11

Sorry I got the term wrong.... future faking is the right one! Here’s a good link to start you off thoughtcatalog.com/shahida-arabi/2018/01/love-bombing-is-crack-cocaine-the-addictive-cycle-of-narcissistic-abuse/.

There are SO many threads and websites with advice if you type in ‘narcism’, ‘future faking’ or ‘love bombing’. I never knew these terms until I posted on here about a man very similar to yours which had left me knocked for six. It was such an eye opener and it taught me to watch out for behaviours that I didn’t realise were common signs of someone whose actually not a nice person.

It’s SO easy to get caught up in it because it’s feel SO real, so don’t blame yourself or that you should know better at 37. These people are very clever and very manipulative and in some cases the love bombing / future faking / Mr nice can last years before they switch... keep moving forward, keep him blocked and do not look back!

FinallyHere · 23/09/2018 06:43

blocked me on everything and gone cold as ice.

Agreeing that this is the best (sic) thing he could possibly have done for you.

By all means mourn the man you thought he was, the man he pretended to be, but that person never existed. I am so sorry that you are going though these, the stages of mourning: sorrow, anger etc. Let yourself go through them, knowing that to do so is part of the process

was I right to walk away? yes. well done, make sure you are prepared for him to try and add you to the string of exs he picks up and puts down. Don't be one of those. 💐 for you.

Overgrownyard · 23/09/2018 06:53

I actually felt a chill reading your post. He sounds so dangerous. Hiding behind a facade he can't keep up. The first time he hits you he will say "I told you I had a terrible temper and now you've made me do this"!

Run. Call social services and for the love of god, run.

dancingintherain1111 · 23/09/2018 07:52

So sorry you have had to go through this but you really have had a lucky escape.

It took two years for my stbxh’s mask to slip & by then I was married with a child to him.

I’ve been kicking myself too for having believed the bullshit but hey - we live & learn.

Hope you feel better soon.

HereIgoagainxx · 23/09/2018 07:57

He is very emotionally unstable. It's actually frightening. Get away. As already said, you fell for a character he is well used to playing to get his hooks in. You are seeing who he really is now.

I think you sound lonely. I don't understand if you were happy single why you would be devastated to this degree. He is clearly not worth your time.

Musti · 23/09/2018 08:11

He is a narcissist. Never talk to him again or he will ruin your life. His poor children :(

PussGirl · 23/09/2018 08:17

A lucky escape indeed. He sounds potentially dangerous.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 23/09/2018 08:19

He well and truly targeted you because he saw something within you (a decent empathetic personality) he can and has indeed fully exploited to his own ends.

I knew how your post was going to run even before I got to the end. The only decent thing he has done here is completely block you; that saves you that task.

What the others have told you, you have to take heed here for your own emotional health.

He idolised, devalued and now has discarded you; these are all trademark behaviours of a narcissist and you were also well and truly love bombed by him. Do read the links the other posters have put up for you to read.

I would also suggest you read the Loser www.drjoecarver.com/clients/49355/File/IdentifyingLosers.html

FrancisUnderwood · 23/09/2018 08:30

Thank you all, I keep coming back to this thread to read what has been written.

The more I think about his behaviour, the more I remember and more upset I am at the amount I let slip or explained away.

I think he's a bully really, we fell out once because he wouldn't stop doing something to me he knew I hated and even though it left me on the brink of tears when he did it, which was several times a day, every time he went to kiss me.

He'd often punch his DS on the arm HARD in the guise of 'messing about', but it was so hard it shocked me and i'd often look at the DS to see how upset he was. I could hear it land from across the room if I was looking the other way.

Apparently the police had been involved in a previous relationship although i'm not sure I heard the full story, apparently it was her 'crying wolf'. I reserved judgement at the time as I only had his side of the story but I'm not sure now.

All I heard on holiday from his DS was 'don't do that, dad doesn't like it' or 'dad doesn't like xyz' or 'dad doesn't like it when....' or 'don't do that around dad'. It was as if he could do anything he wanted to anyone, but try to have fun back, or do anything really and there'd be a problem. The whole holiday was very much tailored to his agenda too, despite the fact his DS wanted a pool day, or just to chill out and find other children to play with. We were very much dragged around and no one dare say much...

Someone said I fell in love with the the man he presented himself as in the first month or so, I did, and the promises for the future and plans and hopes, but the man I was left with was nothing like this first man.

I wish i'd started this thread months ago.

OP posts:
MaybeDoctor · 23/09/2018 08:38

What an escape...

One useful phrase I read somewhere is: ‘healthy people are consistent’. Not highs and lows, intense declarations, grand gestures or flashes of anger.

Nowadays I am very wary of people who are superficially charming, make big gestures in the public sphere or who will do anything for anyone. Scratch the surface and you are likely to find a spouse, partner or family that they treat like dirt. A good man would have had his priorities straight and spent that holiday giving time and attention to his children.

Be aware that he might try to pick things up with you in a few weeks time.

MaybeDoctor · 23/09/2018 08:41

Reading your latest post I think you should phone the NSPCC helpline for advice with regards to his children.

JK1773 · 23/09/2018 08:42

Look upon this as a learning curve. Learn from it if you can. To move forward and get over it stay NC, think about the man he actually was and not the imaginary person he pretended he was at the beginning. Focus on your life before you met him and getting back to that as soon as possible. I think you’ve been really lucky that it’s ended so soon. You could have been embroiled in this for years, it could have broken you but it hasn’t. You’re out of it now, embrace that Flowers

FrancisUnderwood · 23/09/2018 08:44

The eldest has recently left for Uni.
I will contact Mum regarding the youngest and have a quiet word.

OP posts:
subspace · 23/09/2018 08:57

I think youngest is a safeguarding concern. The right thing to do would be to report it to police or SS as a safeguarding concern. Tell them what you've told us. It's then up to the multiple agencies (the report will go into a multi-agency safeguarding hub, I think you might be able to Google that + your area) what to do.

subspace · 23/09/2018 09:00

Can you block a blocked contact on all of these apps? You definitely should, he will unblock you when he's ready to start the cycle again.

Santaclarita · 23/09/2018 09:06

He will no doubt unblock you in a few days and beg you to come back, pretending he's changed.

If you fall for it you're an idiot. Don't be an idiot.