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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:
SoulofanAggron · 06/03/2021 20:35

I can't wrap my head around doing that just for sex. Knowing that when I found out I would never talk to him again!!!

But you have, haven't you?

YouokHun · 06/03/2021 21:20

the only thing that has stood out for me from this thread is that the woman relentlessly pursued your man...no she didnt..well yes she did but I think shes not that stupid and its not that simple,She carried on trying to get him because she had been given an indication somewhere by him that it was ok to do so

Quite agree @lazylump72 reading through the thread and reading the OP’s update I can’t help thinking he’s far more complicit in the woman’s continued behaviour than he either admits or realises. No doubt he’s kept this at bay by wheeling out the woman’s EUPD as a reason for her volatility, which it may be in part but I bet that’s not the whole story. This notion that he is “just a bit of a coward” - why is it that emotional cowardice is played down when it is hugely damaging? I must say, I am interested in why the woman has now moved on (because he’s now finally changed his behaviour and is not giving her the Amber and green light anymore?).

I agree with others OP, you knew you couldn’t trust him, you were right, he was flakey, he probably still is, so I’d leave it in the past were it belongs.

BraveGoldie · 06/03/2021 23:16

If we switched the genders here we would NEVER say that......

A man is sexually pursuing and harassing a woman, who consistently tells him no and blocks him.....and oh it keeps going...... so the woman must be asking for it or encouraging it in some way? And it is the woman's responsibility to stop it from happening? If she doesn't she is being a bad partner? And if this harassing man turns up at a party and she ends up in some conversation with him, then she's done something wrong, should be summoned back home by her boyfriend, raged at, then dumped????

EasterIssland · 07/03/2021 07:12

I was thinking people are blaming the man here for wanting attention. What’s op doing tho? If she didn’t want attention she’d have blocked him after breaking up a year ago and would not have carried on talking to him

1 she wants him back
2 she likes attention as much as him.

Lovelivesmile · 07/03/2021 09:01

@BraveGoldie

If we switched the genders here we would NEVER say that......

A man is sexually pursuing and harassing a woman, who consistently tells him no and blocks him.....and oh it keeps going...... so the woman must be asking for it or encouraging it in some way? And it is the woman's responsibility to stop it from happening? If she doesn't she is being a bad partner? And if this harassing man turns up at a party and she ends up in some conversation with him, then she's done something wrong, should be summoned back home by her boyfriend, raged at, then dumped????

But then the woman rushes back to sleep with this person an hour after her relationship ends? Hardly the innocent and harassed party
RootyT00t · 07/03/2021 12:34

@BraveGoldie

If we switched the genders here we would NEVER say that......

A man is sexually pursuing and harassing a woman, who consistently tells him no and blocks him.....and oh it keeps going...... so the woman must be asking for it or encouraging it in some way? And it is the woman's responsibility to stop it from happening? If she doesn't she is being a bad partner? And if this harassing man turns up at a party and she ends up in some conversation with him, then she's done something wrong, should be summoned back home by her boyfriend, raged at, then dumped????

I notice you missed out the bit where she ran back and slept with him...
BillMasen · 07/03/2021 12:37

After the relationship ended @RootyT00t @Lovelivesmile

Sorry, I f do not believe the man (in that scenario) should be able to control the woman’s actions after they split up. Do you?

RootyT00t · 07/03/2021 13:53

@BillMasen

After the relationship ended *@RootyT00t* *@Lovelivesmile*

Sorry, I f do not believe the man (in that scenario) should be able to control the woman’s actions after they split up. Do you?

After the relationship ended? You mean an hour after she totally lost the plot about a woman making a move on her husband and him entertaining it?

It's not about control. But to go out and sleep with the person who caused the problem in the first place...?

Lovelivesmile · 07/03/2021 13:59

Agree @RootyT00t, I’m sure if it happened to most of the these posters they would not be ok with their partner sleeping with an ex an hour after break up. Like to cause on argument about gender biases though just to argue Hmm

BorderlineHappy · 07/03/2021 14:24

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?
He wasnt her partner then,he was single.
The op broke up with him.

The op was worried without reason though.Her partner didnt do anything.He even left the party at her request. That still didnt satisfy her,and she threw her toys out of the pram.

And the other woman was a consenting adult.

Ritascornershop · 07/03/2021 14:30

You were on a break.

On the other hand he drinks to get drunk, a very bad sign.

Lovelivesmile · 07/03/2021 14:33

@BorderlineHappy

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? He wasnt her partner then,he was single. The op broke up with him.

The op was worried without reason though.Her partner didnt do anything.He even left the party at her request. That still didnt satisfy her,and she threw her toys out of the pram.

And the other woman was a consenting adult.

you haven’t answered the question would you be ok if your partner did this? On paper they are broken up ... but it’s been one hour .. he shags the one women he apparently wasn’t interested in at all ( big lie and ops spidey senses were right all along)
mylovelydd · 07/03/2021 14:33

After the relationship ended

yeah about 10 minutes after the relationship ended he went back to the party, went home with her and fucked her.
I don't think we can get the tiny violins out for him just yet...I mean OP was right wasn't she?
In any case he has now slept with someone else so it's over, isn't it OP?

herbivore15 · 07/03/2021 15:05

It's rare that a woman would chase a man so relentlessly without some encouragement. At the very least, the bloke hasn't been clear with this girl that romance is definitely not going to happen. I suspect that deep down you know this and that has what has bothered you so much about this girl. As others have said, her behaviour was not the problem, it was his. He sounds like a prick OP - get rid!

BillMasen · 07/03/2021 15:19

@mylovelydd

After the relationship ended

yeah about 10 minutes after the relationship ended he went back to the party, went home with her and fucked her.
I don't think we can get the tiny violins out for him just yet...I mean OP was right wasn't she?
In any case he has now slept with someone else so it's over, isn't it OP?

So yet again I ask. How long after breaking up should you expect to control what someone does. 10mins? An hour? A day?
BillMasen · 07/03/2021 15:22

@RootyT00t sorry let me be clear

If a man dumps a woman, for how long should that man be able to exert any co trol over that woman’s actions?

sheilatakeasheilatakeabow · 07/03/2021 15:25

We were on a break

BorderlineHappy · 07/03/2021 15:37

@Lovelivesmileyou haven’t answered the question would you be ok if your partner did this?

To be honest i just dont know.
But the op is coming across as controlling.Maybe her ex decided sleeping with the other woman would mean is was forever finished and theres no going back from it.

Lovelivesmile · 07/03/2021 15:38

[quote BillMasen]@RootyT00t sorry let me be clear

If a man dumps a woman, for how long should that man be able to exert any co trol over that woman’s actions?[/quote]
Well firstly you shouldn’t control anyone. Op was in the wrong controlling anything.
Secondly, you have no control or say after you break up. However, you do have a say about getting back with someone after you break up - would you willingly get with someone so weak they slept with someone ( you worried about) an hour or less after you split?
My answer is no thank you - I prefer someone who would not jump into bed with another minute when our relationship finished less than an hour ago. Then again I have standards.

Lovelivesmile · 07/03/2021 15:39

Woman not minute

Lovelivesmile · 07/03/2021 15:41

And why does it matter if the scenario is a man or a women ?? It’s shit to do that after a break up whatever your gender. This is nothing to do with that

BillMasen · 07/03/2021 15:44

@Lovelivesmile that’s not u reasonable. I think deciding not to be with someone because of decisions/actions they took whilst single is fair.

However, some posters have said he was awful, has cheated, and should not have done what he did because the op didn’t like it. That’s what’s wrong

occa · 07/03/2021 15:51

Would you be ok if your partner did this?

But the whole thing is, he wasn't her partner, he was her ex-partner. At which point he's free to do whatever he likes whenever he likes, with whomever he likes, of course. That's sort of the point of breaking up with someone!

She unilaterally decided to dump him, then blocked him, and there's absolutely no reason he should have then hung about knitting a hair shirt on the off-chance she'd change her mind!

A very wise relationship counsellor I know once told me that her number one piece of advice in all relationships is 'Never say it if you don't really mean it.' Don't say you love/don't love/ hate someone, don't say you want a divorce/ to break up/ to get married/ to move out or whatever unless you are sure you really really mean it. Saying such things in the heat of the moment never ends well, and OP found that out for herself.

SoulofanAggron · 07/03/2021 16:20

I don't think it's controlling to think someone going out and getting laid immediately after you split up is a bit seedy. Especially if it's someone you were suspicious about before.

The next day he woke up really horrified

You don't know what his real feelings were.

Either way, it seems like he's also a bit of a problem drinker.

BraveGoldie · 07/03/2021 16:25

To those who said him sleeping with her is proof that he was encouraging her, no I think we would interpret that differently with the genders reversed too....

... woman who is clearly, conspicuously drunk and is very upset because
her controlling boyfriend first dragged her back from a party at which she had done nothing wrong, then raged at her and dumped her ends up sleeping with a man who she has said no to numerous times when sober and less vulnerable.....

I don't think we would be saying this woman was asking for it/ encouraging it or irredeemably awful and the raging boyfriend shouldn't consider taking her back because of what she did....

We'd tell the woman that she had been getting involved with men who were no good for her and she should run from both, be single for a while, and probably take the freedom programme.