| Hello everyone,
I have recently met someone I have connected to deeper and closer than anyone ever in my life. However, the situation has become extremely complicated.
Our feelings for each other developed very quickly, mostly because of how similar we are to each other. We get along on a level that I have never experienced with anyone else. We've known each other for about a month now, and both feel like we love each other. It feels like one of those connections that is just meant to be.
However, when I met her, she was actively participating in an open relationship. Seeing this woman for who she is, I jumped right into the mix without hesitation. However, I quickly realized that open relationships are not for me. Not necessarily that I am insecure or anything, but I am looking for a serious, dedicated relationship, and that seemed impossible to me as long as I was considered a "side bitch".
So, a competition began to win her hand. I did not berate her with negativity regarding her current relationships. She was dating a guy for over 3 years and considered themselves to be extremely serious. I inserted myself into the situation and now she feels so strongly for me, she reconsidered being with him, because he does not make her feel like I do.
During this time, we would discuss monogamy vs an open relationship. I was able to convince her how an open relationship makes people more prone to insecurity, and often creates trust issues in partners. In my mind, I knew that this could get ugly and I wanted to subtly expose any flaws that her current boyfriend had. And it worked, she told me she would never just leave someone for someone else, but rather would need to find a serious reason why the relationship would not work. As I started taking the spotlight in her life, the current boyfriend started showing his ugly side, attempting to manipulate her and make her feel guilty for not giving him enough attention.
This worked extremely against his favor, because apparently in their past, as she put it, he would often take her for granted, and would ignore her needs and desires, because of the security and comfortability of being in a long term relationship. She saw the passion and dedication that I presented as a new, fresh perspective, and began to take note of how her current boyfriend lacked these qualities.
Eventually these emotions caused a storm inside of her and she pushed back from her boyfriend, but also me. She needed time to think and process what she wants. Her boyfriend refused to respect her space, and would not give her any time at all, attempting to impose ultimatums on her. Meanwhile, I respected her agency and was patient with her, letting her know that I respect any decisions she would make, and that I would give her all the time she needed to figure things out.
It worked, much to my surprise, and she ended up breaking up with her boyfriend. Their situation is quite complicated now, as they lived together and still live together. She has a hard time with this, because he is a good guy, just not a dedicated partner. She cares deeply about him, and still has strong feelings for him. Unfortunately, she also ended things with me, claiming that she needed space to figure things out for herself and to "find herself".
So here I am, walking a very confusing line of dating and not dating. She spends every night at my house, we are intimate together and tell each other we love one another. We kiss and snuggle and occasionally do sexual things (She feels sort of guilty about this). We express our feelings and emotions just like we did when we were dating, except nothing is official.
She is still trying to decide if she wants to be with him, or if she wants to be with me, or if she wants to just be single and not date anyone right now. I feel like the unfortunate victim of circumstance in this situation, she has told me many times she would be official with me without hesitation if he was not in her life.
So, that is my current situation. I figure since I started with no ground or say in this relationship, I have progressed extremely well, except it is still an ongoing process. The other guy is still in college and broke pretty much 24/7, and she has told me how at times he would be dependent on her for finances. I am a college graduate working a nice, full time job, so I have been treating her right. We go on a lot of dates, and I keep things interesting. (For example, we have a surprise date on Sunday that I haven't told her what we are doing, we are going to go on a 2 hour drive to Hershey Park)
I have basically looked at this situation, and have been trying to exemplify qualities about myself that he does not have that she enjoys and admires. I have not focused any of my attention onto him, instead just promoting the positivity of our relationship. She has told me that she doesn't want to lose me no matter what, and that even if we ended things permanently, she doesn't think she'd be able to stop seeing me. I am not trying to promote a dependent relationship, however, and have kept my distance from her at times, which has only seemed to make me more desirable in her eyes.
I'm just looking for advice now. This is all unfamiliar territory for me, and I am pleased I have been handling it quite well. However, with the instability of the current situation, I fear that at any point things could tilt out of my favor and all this work would be for nothing. So, I'm just wondering if any of you have suggestions of how I should handle this. I can answer any questions you might have. Thanks
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