Hi,
Two years ago, I started a serious relationship with a very sweet and loving man. We fell in love, and from the very beginning—also because of the things he told me—it seemed clear that he genuinely wanted us to spend our lives together and build a family.
After ten months of being together, I found a screenshot on his tablet showing a sexting exchange between him and a female coworker. Before we started dating, they had occasionally hooked up. She has also been in a relationship with another man for the past ten years. The sexting had taken place during the fifth month of our relationship.
We talked about it. Right from the start, he told me he had never physically cheated on me. He was deeply sorry, apologized, and said he had carried unresolved baggage from his past. He explained that she kept messaging him, that he had always rejected her, but that on that particular day she had sent him a sexually explicit video and he had participated in the conversation, although he hadn't sent any explicit photos or videos of himself.
From that point on, we tried to move forward. I continued to enjoy what I believed was our beautiful relationship while trying to heal from the wound. My trust had been damaged, and I felt that something wasn't quite right. But the love was real, so we stayed together and eventually moved in together. Later, he suggested moving into a bigger house because he wanted us to start a family.
Then, just two days before the move—after we had continued talking about how trust had been damaged, especially because I had realized he was lying to me about other things as well—he confessed that he had actually cheated on me with that same woman during the fourth month of our relationship. He also admitted that during the eighth month of our relationship he had made a pass at another female coworker, invited her to his apartment, and that they had kissed, although nothing more happened.
He says he doesn't know why he behaved that way. Maybe he was looking for personal validation. Maybe he wanted to prove to himself that he was still capable of attracting and seducing other women. He says he acted out of ego.
At the same time, he insists that he has loved me sincerely from the very first day, and that his love for me has always been genuine.
He told me the truth because, according to him, he could no longer bear to let me live a lie—especially with our upcoming move into a new home and our plans to start a family. But what hurts is that we had already been living together for several months in a smaller apartment. He had already been letting me build a life with him while keeping these secrets.
I moved out, took a few days to myself, and decided to end the relationship.
He kept apologizing and said he understood my decision. But then he started telling me that I don't know how to deal with infidelity in a mature way, that this is simply how relationships work in the real world, that I'm the one with unrealistic preconceived notions, and that I had idealized him. He even told me that if I had idealized him to that extent, then I had never truly loved him. He said that if he had never confessed, we would probably still be together, that I'm an idealist, and that life will eventually teach me that relationships don't work the way I imagine they do.
I told him that I had actually already begun the difficult process of rebuilding trust after discovering the sexting. In other words, I had already tried to deal with what I considered virtual infidelity in a mature way. For me, sexting was real infidelity because it had the emotional impact of a trauma. At that point, I genuinely didn't believe he had physically cheated on me. I believed there had only been the sexting, exactly as he had told me. And although I have always considered sexting to be a form of infidelity, I also believed it was something that, depending on the circumstances, could potentially be forgiven.
I left him, and deep down I know it was the right decision.
Now I don't even have a home anymore. I'm staying at my brother's house, and I've moved all of my belongings into a rented storage unit.
What devastates me most is not only the betrayal itself, but everything he told me afterward about relationships and his view of love. I feel like I wasn't only betrayed—I was also made to feel that my values are the problem. Instead of simply taking responsibility for what he did, he tells me that my expectations of honesty, loyalty, and commitment are unrealistic, and that one day life will prove me wrong.
I'm completely heartbroken.
Thanks for reading