The break-up that tops my list of real life horror stories happened three years ago.

It was the first time I had ever dumped someone and it felt like getting a root canal without anesthesia – slow and painful. The “process” started with an email before dragging on into the longest week of my life.
 

Transformed
I had started seeing this really cool girl who I’d met during a capoeira class. She was fun to be around, but most importantly she seemed to be fiercely independent with her own active work and social life. But within a month she had completely transformed into a passive-aggressive drama queen.

Tricked
I felt like I had been tricked into dating her. I know everyone pretends to be slightly cooler than they actually are with people they are trying to impress but she had pretended to be a completely different person. At first she had said all the right things: “I really value having my own space”, “One’s life can’t just revolve around romantic relationships”, “I’m too young to make a lifelong commitment to anyone”, etc.

I was super excited about being with someone who wasn’t fixated on the idea of “happily ever after”. But suddenly she changed. She wanted me to hang out constantly and if I wasn’t with her she would call to find out where I was and what I was doing.

“Perfect boyfriend”
I was interning with a production house at the time and she kept nagging me to do a Masters in media because she thought people wouldn’t take me seriously without a degree. It felt like she had already planned out the rest of our lives and was busy grooming me to play the role of perfect boyfriend. I played along for around two months until one day I couldn’t meet her because I was working late and she decided to “drop by” my workplace for a hug.

Unforgiveable
That night I called her to say I was pissed off but she somehow twisted the conversation into how I didn’t value our relationship. It was insane. We had a 30-minute long “conversation” and she didn’t let me finish even two sentences. In the end I was left with no option but to do the unforgivable: I broke up with her over email.

Exhausted
The next day she showed up at my place for a five-hour long “conversation” during which I listened and she said a lot of things that didn’t make any sense: “You don’t deserve me”, “I hate you”, “If you don’t take me back, you will die alone”, “I hate you but I will forgive you”, etcetera.

I didn’t get how she could hate me so much but still wanted to get back together. When she left I thought it was finally over but I was so very wrong. She told all our friends about my email break-up and I was instantly branded as an “insensitive pig”. Of course, no one heard about the long abusive emails she sent over the next week.

She mailed two to three times a day calling me every foul name possible, detailing all my “flaws”, accusing me of “destroying her soul” and wishing me a life of loneliness and pain. It was a nightmare. By the time it was over I was so exhausted that I swore off dating for a year.

Dinesh (name changed) is a Production Assistant.

Photo: flickr / Motorboat4107

Do you think Dinesh could have handled this better? What was your most painful break-up experience? Join the discussion here or on Facebook!