He Cheated, She Left

"so, you are leaving him?" her friend asked.

"yes. I couldn't take it anymore." she replied, "It was getting too much. The cheating, the 

lies, the constant fights, the yelling... It was messing me up."

"Was he sleeping with someone else?!" Her friends asked shocked.

"No, not yet, but he was hiding stuff. he met this girl recently and he didn't tell me about her. i found out when i accidentally logged into his email account. the mails they exchanged were not friendly. They were quite flirtatious." she replied.

"Maybe, you just took it in the wrong way. i guess you should talk to him."

"I did. i gave him a chance to come clean about it but he still didn't mention her. finally, i did and he had the nerve to get upset with me for logging into his account! and we ended up having a huge fight."

"Then, what happened?"

"After two days of constant fights, he finally came clean. he told me that he had gone out with her a couple of times and she had no idea he had a girlfriend. You know last month on his birthday, he was busy in a meeting and didn't come home till 11:30?! Well, guess who he was celebrating his birthday with?"

"Hmm... but hasn't he agreed to break up with her?"

"He said it didn't mean anything serious and he would break up with her."

"that's good right?"

"it doesn't make a difference. I don't think i would be able to trust him again."

"But he just went out on a couple of dates?! Can't you forget about the whole thing, forgive him and move on. You guys are so happy together."

"I can't forget and I can't forgive. I was happy but I guess he wasn't. It's not about the number of dates he went on, I found out about the whole affair and that's why he is forced to break up with her. I am sure if i hadn't, this would have gone longer. maybe he would have slept with her later. And the more I think about it, the more disgusted I feel! There were times when he was with me but his mind was with her. There were times when he lied to me so that he can go and meet her."

"So, what are you saying...?"

"I am saying that I can't be with some one who lies to me. It doesn't matter that he didn't sleep with her, he did go out with someone behind my back. I have to do this."

"Even though he said he still loves you..."

"If he did, he wouldn't have done what he did."

"But, I thought you loved him?"

"I love myself more." she smiled sadly.

"Are you okay?" her friend placed a hand on hers.

"I still hurts to think that he would do something like this. I trusted him so much but I also know this is something that I have to do. Leaving him is one of the hardest decisions I had to make and I am in pain but I know I will be fine." 

If you were in her place, what would you have done? Would you have left your partner if you found out that he went out with someone behind your back? Or would you choose to forgive him / her? Would you be able to trust him / her again? What is your definition of cheating? Which, according to you is worse - romantically thinking about someone else while he / she is with you OR physical cheating? Is walking out of a relationship easier than working on it? Do you believe, 'Once a cheater, always a cheater.'?