Id been in a relationship with my girlfriend for five years. We lived in different cities thanks to our careersshe worked in Manchester, I was stuck in Bristolbut we spoke every single day. We built castles in the sky together. Honestly, I was at the point where I was looking up engagement rings and imagining finally ending the long-distance nonsense. I trusted her. Shed never given me proper reason to question her.
Then, one day, my phone rang with an unfamiliar number. Of course I answeredcuriosity is a powerful thing and all that. On the other end was a calm, polite chap. He introduced himself and got straight to the point:
Im not looking for drama. I just think you deserve to know something.
He explained he was an IT engineer and had recently started seeing a woman. Nothing serious yeta few messages, coffee dates, a bit of flirty chit-chat the usual dance of figuring each other out. Shed never once let slip she had a boyfriend. It all seemed ordinary until a few oddities started cropping up.
He ended up talking to a mate who happened to be dating someone, too. In passing, he mentioned her name. His friend went silent and asked for a photo. Upon seeing it, his friend dropped a bombshell:
Mate, run a mile from that woman. Shes got a boyfriendfive years, official.
According to his friend, it wasnt rumourit was just known. He even described me: living in another city, her working up north, her using that distance as freedom to explore. Even more twistedhis friend told him she was also seeing another bloke, an engineer as well, who was actually mates with his friendand knew full well about me. And, apparently, absolutely couldn’t care less.
Thats when our man realised this wasnt some misunderstanding. Hed stumbled upon a woman running three parallel love stories: me, the other engineer who knew about me, and himself, blissfully unaware until now.
He told me he felt obliged to reach out. If theres such a thing as girl code, he said, there ought to be bloke code too. He said he wanted no part in her drama. Found my number on social media and decided a phone call was better than a dodgy inbox message. And he added:
If you want proof, just ask. Ive got nothing to hide.
I told him yes. Hung up. Minutes later my phone exploded with the full circus: chats, voicemails, photos, the whole saga. The way she spoke to him? Practically a script from my own conversations. Same words. Same compliments. Same empty promises.
I felt this tightness in my chest like Id swallowed a bowling ball. I loved her. Id been rearranging my entire life for herthinking of moving cities, popping the question, fresh start and all that.
I rang her up and confronted her. She didnt even try to deny it. First, she downplayed the whole thing. Then, she got angry because someone stuck their nose in. Then, tears. Said she was confused. Didnt know what she wanted. Hadnt thought Id find out like this.
I hung up.
Thats when something dawned on me, difficult as it was to accept: its not just blokes who are unfaithful. There are women out there playing just as strategic, juggling multiple relationships, and fully aware of every entry in their romantic calendar.
So yes, I lost a girlfriend. But honestly, hats off to the guy who, not knowing me from Adam, had the decency to warn me. Otherwise, Id probably be engaged today to someone running a doubleor triplelife with less remorse than a raincloud in July.
