Woman ‘Edges’ A Breakup With Her Boyfriend To See What It’s Like — But He Ends Things As Soon As She Changes Her Mind
Nobody deserves to have their feelings manipulated for entertainment.
New Africa / Shutterstock Breakups can be scary, sad, and even traumatic at times. So much time, energy, money, and emotion are invested in these connections that breaking them can feel too overwhelming to bear.
It’s exactly what one Reddit poster was forced to confront when his girlfriend randomly told him that “she was leaving.” Forced to confront all the emotions at once, the young man admitted that an even bigger shock followed.
The man's girlfriend ‘edged’ a breakup with him and immediately regretted it.
"We were at my place when something just changed in her demeanor," he wrote. "She walked over and simply stated, 'I’m leaving.'"
The man was shocked. After all, they had been happily watching TV together just moments before.
When asked, her only reasoning for the out-of-the-blue breakup was that it seemed "like the right thing."
“I get flustered and ask what is wrong, but she sits there silently staring at her phone and only speaking to give me updates about when a rider will arrive,” he wrote. “I just stopped pressing … I’m not going to yell, scream, or cry. I’ve just felt the same burning hot feeling and difficulty breathing in my chest [as] when my dog died."
It felt like the end of something that he held so sacred — an overwhelming sense of dread, fear, and guilt that everybody knows all too well if you’ve gone through a breakup.
Minutes later, his girlfriend claimed to 'change her mind,' calling the whole thing a joke.
Despite the trauma and clear distress the breakup conversation caused, his girlfriend jokingly admitted she’d “changed her mind” — saying she was “edging” a breakup to see what it’d be like. All of that for her own entertainment.
“I asked what that was about and she giggled almost playfully and said she just wanted to edge a breakup," he revealed. "I just ended things there. She immediately regretted it, asking me to reconsider."
Not only was this a complete lapse in judgment on his girlfriend's part — it was malicious. She jeopardized the trust and open communication that their relationship was supposedly built on and dehumanized her partner in the process by playing mind games.
Despite the breakup being a ‘joke,’ he can’t shake his confusion and disgust.
“The thing is, this happened before, early in our relationship, and she explained she has an impulsive habit of things,” he honestly added. “I’ve only seen this once, and it was when she ghosted me after just starting to date.”
Not only did he expect to be in a better, more trustworthy place with his girlfriend at this point in their relationship, but he thought she’d have enough love for him not to put him through that experience again. Although she tried to pretend the “fake breakup” was just a joke, his feelings were completely valid.
“I sent her home and haven’t spoken to her in a week … She seemed distraught and hurt," he wrote. "I want her back so badly, but I can’t trust her … I know she loves me, but I’m scared that I’m just being used.”
New Africa / Shutterstock
Readers understood where this man was coming from and empathized with him over the heartbreak of losing trust in someone you love — yet they were not so willing to let him overlook the severity of her actions.
“Who does that to someone?" one user questioned. "She hurt you to see what a breakup was like? She has issues and no respect for others’ feelings; you were right to dump her.”
At the end of the day, your relationship should never feel unsafe, insecure, or anxiety-ridden — and it's entirely valid to cut things off with people who make you feel that way. Regardless of the reason behind this “fake breakup,” hopefully, the real one gives this Reddit poster clarity into what he deserves.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango who focuses on health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories.