Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Relationships

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

This is unforgivable, right?

306 replies

HeidiSchmeidi · 04/03/2021 19:00

I think this is probably unforgivable but just want to run it by an objective audience. This happened a year ago and my ex is trying to get me to take him back (he has been trying for a year) and I wanted to see if I am crazy for even considering it.

My boyfriend and I were long distance at the time, and I hadn't seen him in three months. His ex started working with him. She is a woman (colleague from another office) who he had a brief relationship with (a few months) and he ended it because she was in love with him and wanted more and he didn't return her feelings.

When she arrived though, she relentlessly chased after him. To the point of propositioning him for sex and telling him if he did it she would never tell me and so on. She started sending him messages and so on about how she still loved him and didn't he miss her (he did tell her to stop and eventually blocked her) but it was quite blatant she was trying to steal my man.

In his defense he did tell her to please leave him alone because he was in a relationship (she didn't respect this request) and he was also completely honest and told me everything at the time and shared any texts with me so I was in the loop.

At the time, pre-pandemic, there were a lot of boozy work nights out almost every weekend, and I know my boyfriend very well and he is one of those people who gets absolutely blotto and does and says crazy things (loves everyone), so I was very uncomfortable with him getting wasted drunk if she was around. Not so much because I thought he would sleep with her, but just because I thought a conversation would start that he would not be in control of and so on.

So we agreed he wouldn't go to events which she was at, or if he did that he'd stay sober. Which he did for three months. Then one day there was an event she wasn't meant to be at, but she showed up to and he was already completely wasted when she got there. He was drunk at this point with no boundaries so he didn't think to leave.

She started hitting on him quite blatantly, and he ended up talking to her for a while. I happened to call him, and he told me where he was and that he'd chatted to her and in his drunk state he didn't see a problem at all with it. He actually got quite belligerent with me "I am an adult I think I can make a judgement".

I was home alone, I'd had a really stressful day and I felt very threatened by how persistently this woman was trying to steal my man and so I asked him to come home and call me. So he did and left five minutes later (it was about 9.30pm). He had been drinking all day on some corporate boat trip and he was absolutely wasted.

We never argued much, but I ended up absolutely raging at him, shouting, and told him I wanted to break up with him. I then blocked him on everything. This might seem an over-reaction, but at the time we were under a lot of strain being separated, and I felt he wasn't doing enough to get this woman to stop chasing after him (maybe his ego enjoyed it a bit) and it was making me feel really uncomfortable.

I'd stress we never had ANY problems with trust before (together two years) but this woman was blatantly gunning for him in the most obvious way and I was worried after so many months apart and her constantly trying to get him alone that something might happen everyone would regret.

Anyway, I did my dumping tantrum, and he (already wasted) decided to go back to the party and carry on drinking because he was upset and said he was on a self-destruct mission. She got him talking, he told her we had split up and cut a long story short he went back to her place and slept with her.

The next day he woke up really horrified but he believed we were genuinely split up so he went home. Later that day I called him to try and patch up our fight and sort things out and he confessed what had happened.

I was absolutely devastated, and told him I could never forgive him. He cried for weeks, tried everything he could to win me back but I just could not get past it.

Here we are over a year later and he is still trying to win me back, I am the love of his life and so on, it was a drunken mistake he made when he felt I'd dumped him.

Any thoughts on this? We do still love each other, but although my behavior was bad on that night I couldn't figure out why a few hours after our breakup he went and had sex with the one woman who had been making me feel unsafe for so long.

Obviously I;ve been very uncomfortable

OP posts:
Baws · 06/03/2021 11:15

I can’t believe you are so willing to believe his version of events. He clearly found her attractive enough to have a relationship with and to shag again. He couldn’t have been that drunk if he was able to do this as well! Plus the whole ‘stole my man’ thing! 🙄 Nobody owns anyone else, he is fully responsible for his actions. Also most people tend to give up chasing anyone who makes it clear they are not interested. It sounds like he was clearly encouraging her interest. Don’t even contemplate taking him back.

HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee · 06/03/2021 13:12

@Baws is such a good user name.

Baws · 06/03/2021 13:23

@HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee

@Baws is such a good user name.

Thank you! Grin

AnyFucker · 06/03/2021 13:38

What does Baws mean ?

HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee · 06/03/2021 14:06

Haha it’s a swearie wurd for balls.
Also used as in yer maws got baws
Signifies courage eg takes a lot o’ baws to dae that
Or a lot of front or boastful eg billy big baws

harknesswitch · 06/03/2021 14:20

With her mental health issues she's the last person he should have slept with, never mind the fact that she was the person causing the issues and you'd only just broken up hours before. It shows a spectacular lack of judgement on his part

shockthemonkey · 06/03/2021 14:25

Whether or not you're right for each other, this guy was massively provoked that night.

shockthemonkey · 06/03/2021 14:28

He was drunk that night - his judgement had gone out the window.

He has now judged it important to ensure he never gets that wasted again.

There are serious mitigating factors in what he did, is all I'm saying. It still doesn't answer your question of whether you should take him back. We don't know either of you well enough to help you decide.

AnyFucker · 06/03/2021 17:01

Thanks Smile

Baws · 06/03/2021 17:22

@AnyFucker

Today 14:06 HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee

Haha it’s a swearie wurd for balls.
Also used as in yer maws got baws
Signifies courage eg takes a lot o’ baws to dae that
Or a lot of front or boastful eg billy big baws!
Basically this Grin

Thanks @HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee

RootyT00t · 06/03/2021 17:30

@shockthemonkey

Whether or not you're right for each other, this guy was massively provoked that night.
Provoked to go and have sex with someone?
mylovelydd · 06/03/2021 17:54

So many posters these days seem to rush on these threads to defend the poor man's actions...
Bless the poor little lamb being provoked and having to stick his dick in this other woman Sad

This 'prize' of a man has treated both women badly in this scenario. Even if you had an argument and dumped him note how his first action was to go back and shag her. Did you go out immediately that night and shag some other guy? I highly doubt you did.

And it doesn't matter whether you think she was attractive or not. He clearly had fancied her enough to have a relationship with her.
Her propositioning him would mean nothing at all if he was actually exercising decent boundaries with her. He didn't though. He is your problem. Do not entertain taking him back ever.

MMmomDD · 06/03/2021 17:56

@HeidiSchmeidi
I am going to assume both of you are quite young. Both because of the amount of drinking and drama&angst.

My take on it all - and with benefit of age is that love is precious. And if both of you have this love that is still there after a year and all that has happened - than there are real feelings and throwing them away over a mistake on both sides is really a shame.
You may never meet someone else who you feel the same way about.

Do people make mistakes - yes. Do people do particularly stupid things when really drunk - of course. And especially when they feel emotionally hurt - surely. Are some people prone to do self destructive things when pushed beyond limit - absolutely.
Still - if he just got drunk and went for it - it’d be harder to forgive.
But given that you did explode at him in a very unfair way and pushed him away and finished the relationship - I think forgiving after a whole year of him being repentant - is possible.

But - his drinking does seem to be an issue that needs fixing in the long term.
And whatever insecurities and anxieties you have that lead you to be reacting this way back then - also need addressing. Because I don’t think they are only limited to that incident and you’ll have them pop up again in any relationships you have.

mylovelydd · 06/03/2021 18:05

@MMmomDD do you always excuse a mans cuntish behaviour and blame the woman? Because every time I see you rock up on a post you're doing just that.
She doesn't have DC with this man and she isn't married to him nor does she live with him. She owes him nothing and he's already cheated. She didn't make him do that, he did it himself.
Of course she will meet someone else ffs Hmm

CorianderBee · 06/03/2021 18:18

Honestly? I'd have probably forgiven my partner. If he was wasted, you'd broken up with him and gone mental then he wasn't exactly in his right mind. But that's my choice and boundaries and shouldn't have to be yours. He'd have had to promise to never spend time with her again though.

I do think you were out of order for going off the rails at him though. He had a short conversation with her at an event he didn't think she'd be at when he was drunk and she was persistent.

So, you were both shit to eachother but it depends on if you actually want to be with him now.

BillMasen · 06/03/2021 18:23

[quote mylovelydd]@MMmomDD do you always excuse a mans cuntish behaviour and blame the woman? Because every time I see you rock up on a post you're doing just that.
She doesn't have DC with this man and she isn't married to him nor does she live with him. She owes him nothing and he's already cheated. She didn't make him do that, he did it himself.
Of course she will meet someone else ffs Hmm[/quote]
Sorry cheated? When?

He had been dumped. So for how long after splitting up should she maintain any fi intros of him? Is it cheating after a day? A week?

BillMasen · 06/03/2021 18:24

Maintain any control over him, is what I meant to say...

mugginsalert · 06/03/2021 19:45

Haven't read every post. If he genuinely disliked the attention and took it seriously, why didn't he report it at work? From what you've said it was sexual harassment. Why just share it with you and make you complicit in the situation? Sounds like you both got caught up in a story about fighting for your love against this terrible woman, but how necessary was it if he'd just drawn boundaries properly at the start- given their history, he should have been avoiding all non work related conversation from the start. I do feel for you though having her attention waved in your face for ages, that will erode anyones sense of safety and judgement.
I don't think what he did was unforgiveable - there's always a choice about that- but forgiveness doesn't mean getting back together.

Ludo19 · 06/03/2021 20:04

He wasn't that drunk to offer up his cock to her though was he?🤔

EasterIssland · 06/03/2021 20:13

I would like to know what would be the outcome of this thread If a woman had left a party because her partner has asked so and when she got home she had been told off because she was drunk in a party an ex partner of her was and broke up with her for a few hours . Think most of you would be saying “he’s possessive and manipulative”

But this is munsner where not matter what the woman is always the victim.

BillMasen · 06/03/2021 20:16

@EasterIssland

I would like to know what would be the outcome of this thread If a woman had left a party because her partner has asked so and when she got home she had been told off because she was drunk in a party an ex partner of her was and broke up with her for a few hours . Think most of you would be saying “he’s possessive and manipulative”

But this is munsner where not matter what the woman is always the victim.

That’s my observation too Posters justifying expectations of controlling someone’s behaviour after they have broken up with him. It’s awful, and the other way round would look very different.
JM10 · 06/03/2021 20:19

I don't see what he did wrong at all for you to dump him

No, me neither. I can see why once he'd been dumped for nothing (as I'm sure he saw it) he thought why not do something that would make him feel better, even if just in that moment.

Lovelivesmile · 06/03/2021 20:26

So for all the women saying it was fine to run back and shag the ex - you would be fine if it was your partner? You would take them back and all would be forgiven, honestly? You wouldn’t feel hurt or disrespected that he waited an hour to shag the one woman you were worried about? Raced back to her and wasn’t that drunk because managed sex. Wouldn’t you feel you’d been right all along and he was leading her on, there was attraction? Wouldn’t your trust levels be different if you got back together?
And yes - if a woman had been in this scenario I would have the exact same view! Are mumsnetters supposed to be man haters or something?

EasterIssland · 06/03/2021 20:28

@Lovelivesmile

So for all the women saying it was fine to run back and shag the ex - you would be fine if it was your partner? You would take them back and all would be forgiven, honestly? You wouldn’t feel hurt or disrespected that he waited an hour to shag the one woman you were worried about? Raced back to her and wasn’t that drunk because managed sex. Wouldn’t you feel you’d been right all along and he was leading her on, there was attraction? Wouldn’t your trust levels be different if you got back together? And yes - if a woman had been in this scenario I would have the exact same view! Are mumsnetters supposed to be man haters or something?
I did say I’d not take him back. Mainly because their relationship is toxic and there is luck of trust since the beginning otherwise she’d not be so manipulative about what can he do or can’t. She’s not happy with him hence no point of being back together
Lovelivesmile · 06/03/2021 20:30

@EasterIssland their relationship aside - if your partner did this would you be able to take them back? If it wasn’t a random shag but someone they knew/ or you were worried about?