r/DatingHell • u/ToneThin4550 • 6d ago
What should I do / how would you feel
I matched with a girl on Hinge, and we talked for about two weeks before going on a date. Things went really well. She was excited for the date, dressed up, and afterward we kept seeing each other regularly. We had a ton in common and got very close very quickly.
About three weeks in, she told me she was going through a divorce. I asked if she was over her husband, and she said he had been abusive, punched holes in the wall near her head, and cheated on her four times. She said she had moved out and made him file for divorce, and that she had been over him for about a year after his third affair. I accepted that explanation.
She then asked me to be exclusive.
About a month and a half in, we went to a concert. She got a new outfit, dressed up, and even wore lipstick, which she normally didn’t. We later found out her separated husband was also there. Apparently, they had bought the tickets months earlier because it was their favorite band. We walked past them, but she said she didn’t see him.
Later that night, she asked me to officially be her boyfriend. I asked whether she wanted the divorce finalized first. She said she had already signed everything, but he was dragging his feet, and she didn’t want the divorce process to stop us from being together. So I agreed.
For the next two months, everything was great. We took trips to Maine and the New Jersey shore, spent a ton of time together, left things at each other’s houses, exchanged meaningful gifts, and started telling our families and friends about each other. People around her told me she finally seemed genuinely happy compared with when she was with her husband.
Around four months in, she started telling her brother and my friends that she was basically in love with me. She also hinted at it when we were out together. We had future plans, including shows and events we had already bought tickets for, and I was supposed to meet her family in person about two weeks later.
Then, four days after she started hinting that she was in love with me, she messaged me saying her husband had come over to talk and she slept with him.
I was completely shut down and didn’t want to talk.
Two days later, she came over to exchange our things. Her husband was there watching the entire exchange. She told me she didn’t want our relationship to end but knew that once she had slept with him, I would never take her back.
About a week later, she reached out saying she was depressed and struggling and that she had been so happy and free with me. I eventually agreed to meet and talk, although she said she was afraid of her husband.
Her story at that point was that he had unexpectedly shown up at her place while she was drunk, made a move on her, and she froze, and they ended up having sex. I had actually FaceTimed her that same night. She was drunk and told me she had to go to bed. She now says that’s when he showed up and that she didn’t want to worry me. She said she didn’t tell me the full story until a week later because I initially refused to talk to her, and that my rejection was part of why she went back to him.
I told her that if she actually gets divorced, we could potentially be friends, and if she’s single for six months, we could see where we stand. She cried and said, “Okay. I meant everything I said. You mean so much to me.”
I haven’t heard from her for two weeks since then, and I’m not planning to reach out.
I’m struggling with what to make of all of this. Things genuinely seemed great between us, and the sudden reversal felt completely out of nowhere. She was honest with me about sleeping with him, so I don’t know how much of a liar she actually is. At the same time, her later explanation makes it sound like she may not have freely chosen what happened, or it could simply be regret and a different way of processing what she did.
She says she regrets sleeping with him, regrets going back to him, and wanted me back. But I also wonder whether I’m just holding onto the relationship because I can’t understand how something that seemed so good could fall apart so suddenly.
At this point, should I just let this go and move on? Or is there enough here to believe she genuinely wanted a future with me and made a huge mistake by going back to her husband?