He told me he was single. Then I got a call from his girlfriend of 5 years.

I met him when my life was chaos. I was going through a lot, and he felt like the only good thing. He’d remember the tiniest details I told him, and made space for all my stories and dreams. He listened. He really listened. He told me I was rare. That he felt peaceful with me. When I started getting emotionally attached to him I asked him if he was seeing someone cause I had a strange gut feeling about this one girl. We were all from the same institution, so there were rumours. And every time I brought her up, he brushed it off, said they’d met a couple of times, and she was just too clingy to get rid of. That he didn’t like her. That they weren’t talking.

Obviously I believed him like a dumbass cause I really liked him and we were together for almost a year by then. He always gaslit me into believing I was overthinking every time I asked about her.

UNTIL ONE DAY, I get a call from her.

She introduced herself as his girlfriend of five years.

FIVE YEARS.

She then says “I’ve heard you guys have been meeting often. What’s going on?”

I froze. She wasn’t some clingy girl he was trying to get rid of. She was his actual girlfriend and I was the other woman, unknowingly. I felt sick to my stomach.

When I asked him why he lied all this time he said he’s sorry, and he was scared he’d lose me.

I obviously told her everything the next day. How he lied multiple times and never mentioned she was his girlfriend even once. And she deserved to know.

And the worst part? Even after she found out, he was still texting me. Telling me I was his peace. That he wanted me forever. That he didn’t want to lose me.

No, I didn’t want to be part of his life anymore. I wanted honestly. I wanted to be respected. And I finally walked away. He blocked me and I couldn’t care less about that.

She’s still not taken him back. He’s apparently begging and crying and playing the victim.

I know he liked me. Maybe not enough. But enough to make me believe it wasn’t all in my head. You cannot fake that kind of tenderness.

But if he loved her that much, why did he go out of his way to make me feel special and safe? If it was all just a lie, why did he play the part so convincingly?